Here are some key points the groups may discuss about the statements on page 74: - The essentialist view that cultures have clear boundaries and people exclusively belong to one culture is an oversimplification. Cultures are fluid and dynamic, with blurred boundaries. - People have multiple, overlapping cultural identities that change over time based on their experiences and interactions. They cannot be reduced to a single cultural label. - Understanding someone from another culture requires seeing them as a complex individual, not just as a representative of their presumed culture. Stereotypes are limiting and often inaccurate. - Culture is a verb - it's something societies and groups do and display through complex, evolving characteristics. It can't be pinned down or essentialized

1. ENGLISH 343-001
Cross-cultural issues in TESOL:
Examining cross-cultural practices
in the context of teaching English
as a global language

2. Learning to teach is not just about learning a body of knowledge and
techniques; it is also about learning to work in complex sociopolitical
and cultural political space and negotiating ways of doing this with our
past histories, fears, and desires; our own knowledges and cultures; our
students’ wishes and preferences; and the institutional constrains and
collaborations.
Alan Luke from Critical Pedagogies and Language Learning

3. Agenda
PART I:
• Welcome back!
• Who are we?—Hemmingway's Six Words Memoir
• Why are we here?—Course objectives
• Reading the syllabus
• Common abbreviations in TESOL/Applied linguistics
Part II
• Essentialist and non-essentialist views of culture
• Personal definition of culture
• Holliday and Kumar readings
• Assignments for next week

4. Why are we here? What do we hope to achieve?
The goal of this class is:
• Help you understand theories of language and culture while enhancing
their awareness on the non-essentialist approaches to culture.
• reflect on personalized cultural beliefs and values and analyze how they
shape second language classroom pedagogies.
• develop a culturally sensitive vision of TESOL which de-centralize and
decolonize knowledge and English language teaching.
• examine macro issues such as language ideologies, multilingualism,
language policies and planning and micro issues such as classroom
interactions, participation patterns and cross-cultural issues in curriculum
and material development.
• obtain an understanding on issues such as cultural assimilation, cultural
globalization, otherization and how these apply to language learning and
teaching.
• understand how race, class, gender and ethnicity impact language
teaching and learning in the global context.
• analyze and critically evaluate ideas, arguments, and interpretations, and
engage in scholarly dialogues about different theories of language and
culture.

5. Some critical questions we will tackle this
semester:
• What is culture? What is the relationship between language and
culture?
• What are some of the different perspectives in defining culture?
• Why does culture matter in English language teaching?
• What culture do we teach when we teach English as an
international language?
• How can we teach culture more effectively in the classroom?
• Are there privileged/underprivileged cultures that enhance ESL/EFL
learning and teaching?
• What are ESL/EFL teachers’ role in promoting culturally sensitive
pedagogies?

6. Reading the syllabus
• Read:
Course Descriptions
Course Projects
Class Civility
• Take about 5 minutes to skim through the syllabus: What
questions do you have so far?

7. Common Abbreviations
• See the abbreviations handout. Work in pairs to fill it out in your
best ability. We will then gather as a group.

8. Definitions of culture
• Compose your definition of culture (e.g. write, draw, act)
• Share it in your groups and discuss why culture matters in language
teaching.

9. CULTURE NEVER JUST
“IS” BUT INSTEAD
“DOES”
Heath & Street, 2008

10. Assignments
• Open a blog account
• Create a first entry
• Send it to : lseloni@ilstu.edu by Friday
• Readings and critical blog responses by Monday 11 a.m.

11. CULTURE AND TESOL
English 345 week 2

12. AGENDA
PART I:
• Reminders: Class readings, class blog, discussions
• Your voices
• Holliday: Essentialist vs non-essentialist view of culture
• Discussions from Holliday articles
• Kumar’s Chapter 2: Culture and its complexities
• Atkinson’s TESOL & Culture Article
• At 8:00, we will wrap up the discussion to allow time for the
followings:
Sign up for the class discussions, assistance with blogs, answering
questions related to syllabus/projects

13. • Books are available @Alamo!
• Class readings are available in digital reserve. Bring them with you
in each class.
• Class Blog: http://crossculturalissuestesol.blogspot.com/
• Learning log contents (550 words minimum—2 pages, double
space):
1) Summary of the articles
2) Your reflections, critique.
3) Connection to your own teaching and learning experiences
4) Further questions
Recommended: Bring a copy of your blog entry/critical response
paper to class each week.

14. YOUR VOICES
Critical responses to the articles

15. Ryann comments on Atkinson’s article:
• On the first day in this class we wrote down our definition of culture
on an index card. The definition I wrote down has already changed.
Specifically after reading this article, I have realized that “culture”
does not have a clear definition. The article is filled with scholars
trying to define this one term and yet there still is no one agreed
upon one concrete definition. One change I have made to my own
definition comes from a realization- that culture can be
individualistic. One part of the article states that cultures are not
“neatly bound and mutually exclusive bodies of thought and
custom” which are shared by each and every member. Cultures are
not groups of brainwashed robots who think, feel and act the same
way but instead consist of living, breathing, unique individuals.

16. Ryann continues…
• In the conclusion of this article there is a reference to the
relationship between a forest and its trees. When I read this I saw
the overall forest representing a culture but each tree representing
a member, unique from the rest. This article helped me see that
culture is actually very individualized. As a future teacher it is
important to know this because you cannot assume something
about an individual, or about your student based on what you
believe their culture means. Each person has their very own culture
and their own set of beliefs, values and norms. One comment Zamel
made which was stated in the article was “teachers and researchers
who see students as bound by their cultures may be trapped by
their own cultural tendency to reduce, categorize and generalize”.
Educators need to be careful not to make assumptions and as one
of the six principles in the articles states “All humans are
individuals. Teachers and researchers need to view students as
individuals, not as members of a cultural group"

17. Sarah Dime says…
• As I read the article by Atkinson I realized that there is no one correct way
to define culture itself. There is no one way to identify to a specific culture
either. Culture is defined as fluid and ever changing. (Zamel, 1997). This is
the obvious in the United States, but as an American, how do we define
the ever changing cultures of others. How do we get rid of our
stereotypes or what we know little about and refrain from continuing to
believe that's the only way it will ever be?... As a bilingual education
major, I have spent an enormous amount of time in Little Village with
Hispanic students. We are constantly talking about developing a student's
L1 before worrying about L2; he or she must have the foundations of
learning to build upon. When I was in Chicago, I was shocked at how
surprised I was to realize that these children were learning the Spanish
alphabet, sounds, and phonics. I appreciated how this article emphasizes
the different approaches to culture and how one can choose to identify
themselves; but also that a student does not necessarily have to 'be' of a
certain 'something' in order to learn. They are a student with a history and
traditions which are not necessarily set in stone in every single family in
today's world.

18. Joseph says…
• I also agree with the post-modernist view of culture as dynamic and
“anything but homogenous”. If each individual is unique, how can a
group of millions of individuals be classified as homogenous? Atkinson’s
point that, “The term culture is sometimes avoided by those working in
this vein as one that is so encumbered and compromised as to be
misleading or dangerous,” is very interesting to me. I interpret this to
mean that a teacher should not central on a student’s culture but rather
the student’s individual identity.
• Another useful piece from this article that I will use in my classroom is the
section about the dangers of making cultural assumptions. Unfortunately
some teachers “rhetorically construct” the identities of their students.
This means that teachers assume that certain students have certain
characteristics or belong to a particular cultural group. For example, a
teacher could assume that a Japanese student belongs to the Chinese
culture. Stereotyping can have very serious negative consequences.
Atkinson also reinforces the point that if culture is fluid, stereotypes will
become old and inaccurate very quickly. According to him, the best
approach is for teachers to view students as unique individuals as
opposed to members of any particular cultural or social group.

19. David says…
• In the Atkinson reading, the thing I found most interesting were
the Six Principles of Culture. It definitely helped me understand
culture better as a whole, and not just as a word with one standard
definition. Some questions I have include: Why is it only foreign
language teachers that seem to be taking on the role of teaching
culture in today’s schools? What happens in TESOL when several
different people from different cultures are all trying to learn
English? Are they taught the same type of English or does it vary
depending on what “culture” they come from?

20. Sara S says…
• After reading this week’s article by Atkinson I take away many
thoughts regarding the term culture. The one part that has stuck
with me since I have read the article was in the conclusion section.
Atkinson mentions that it is his belief that we can develop a “notion
of culture in TESOL that takes into account the cultural in the
individual, and the individual in the cultural.” However we talk
about culture, whatever way we try to define the term, it is
important to remember the individual. As teachers, we are
dedicated to learning about each of our learners and putting
together their cultural puzzle. I am beginning to think that each
person has their own culture. They draw upon cultures around
them and pull ideas from many different cultures to develop their
own cultural identity. I am an elementary teacher so bear with me,
culture is like an “onion.” Each layer is a culture that an individual
prescribes to and there are many different layers that make up one
person.

21. Moon refers to a personal anecdote…
• When I read Atkinson’s article, it was very interesting. While I was reading
this article, there was an argument that how the TESOL teachers need to
see the students as individuals rather than cultural groups. I believe that it
is important to understand the students’ cultures. I think the people act
differently depend on where they grow up. I came here when I was 13
years old. I only hung out with Korean friends until I was a sophomore in
high school. For a while, I was having troubles looking at elder’s eyes. The
reason is that when I went to junior high school, my ESL teacher was
talking to me. However, I looked down because in Korea, it is very rude to
look at the elderly person’s eyes when elderly person is upset. My ESL
teacher got very upset and she grabbed my face and told me to look at
her eyes when she talked to me. I knew that American’s norm is different
than Korean’s norm. However, because I was used to Korean norms, it
was hard for me to accept American’s norm that is completely different
than Korean’s norm. I was so shocked when this even happened. I was
more scared to talk to white people after that. If the teacher acted
differently, I wouldn’t take a long time to adjust American culture. I have
so much experiences that I realized how significant it is for the teachers to
know their students’ cultures.

22. Lyudmila says…
• today each culture is a hybrid culture as the result of the cultural
globalization. What used to be considered as a local or national
matter is now perceived as international or global. Marshall
McLuhan, a Canadian educator, suggested that the world is a global
village where "cultures reposition themselves between visual and
acoustic space." Ethnic reductionism which takes place not only in
political rhetoric, media, and academic literature, but also happens
in every day life, and confines ethnic minorities to dismissive
referential images, is only a sign of narrow-mindedness and simply a
pursuit for domination.

23. Alice says…
• I have experienced life in various international and American
communities, and I strongly agree that culture is always changing and
difficult to capture. There are so many perspectives and nuances of
culture! As Holliday, et al suggest, we must embrace a complex view of
culture in which diversity is the norm (54). I believe that maintaining this
view will allow us to not only develop solid relationships with students
based on true understanding of their individual personalities (individual
cultures!), but it will also help us avoid stereotypes that could isolate a
student as “the other.” As Atkinson says, “knowing students individually
also involves knowing them culturally” (643). Just this morning, I met a
student at ELI who is a Brazilian of Japanese ethnicity. She was quite
talkative, and I found myself surprised at her outgoing nature. Without
consciously realizing it, I had stereotyped her due to her Japanese
heritage and assumed that she would be quiet and reserved. (Ironically, I
didn’t even consider any stereotypes associated with Brazilians!) Even
though I recognize the flaws in the essentialist view of culture, I realize
that this view influenced my first impressions. This experience reminded
me of Atkinson’s third principle that “social group membership and
identity are multiple, contradictory, and dynamic” (643).

24. Alice continues…
• Everyone belongs to a variety of social and cultural groups, and it is
impossible to pigeon-hole someone based solely on his/her membership
to a single cultural group. I think that we, as both educators and learners,
need to foster this idea that the concept of culture is dynamic and
somewhat amorphous. That being said, I agree with Kumaravadivelu’s
assertion that culture exists outside the bounds of definition; however, I
also believe it still exists within the bounds of description. I think the trick
is being able to describe patterns of behavior in order to talk about
culture without perpetuating negative or limiting stereotypes. Believing
that culture is diverse will allow us to build meaningful relationships in the
classroom and take away limitations we might have due to cultural
(mis)understandings.
Question: All this discussion of culture got me to thinking…how much
should we, as educators, directly engage issues of culture with our
students?

25. Two paradigms
Small Cultures: any cohesive group with Large Cultures: Essential differences
no subordination between ethnic, international and
national entities
Non-essentialist, non-culturist Essentialist
No ONION SKIN RELATIONSHIP, No Small and subcultures are subordinate to
necessary subordination large cultures
Interpretive, ongoing: a process of Normative, static: social world is divided in
(re)making fixed categories
“The world is made up of a vast complex “Mutually exclusive types of behaviors
of shifting, overlapping , swirling, connected with nationality”—African
combining and splitting cultures” culture, Chinese culture…Culture is a
(Holliday,2005) geographical place.

26. Discussion
• Atkinson (1999) writes:
“ all human beings exist in multiple social worlds, have multiple
social allegiances, and play multiple social roles—all of which are
continuously changing” (p.643)What are some of the social
allegiances you bring to your profession? What small cultures do
you identify? Focus on one of them and discuss what discernable
set of behaviors is characteristic of this small culture.

27. Group Work (create your own chart based on
Holliday et. al table and article on page 72-75!)
Essentialist view of culture Non-essentialist view of culture
Culture as a noun: It has a specific entity. Culture as a verb: Societies display
It’s homogeneous. complex characteristics which are hard to
pin down. Culture as “unbounded,
kaleidoscopic and dynamic” (Heath &
Street, 2008)
People in one culture essentially different Cultures flow as people intermingle.
from people in another Cultures have blurred boundaries
People belonging exclusively to one People can belong to and move through
national/linguistic/cultural group multiplicity of cultures within and across
societies.
For successful communication with Understanding the complexity of who the
someone foreign, we must first person is. Moving beyond media
understand the details and stereotype of representations. Being open minded.
their culture.

28. Discussion: Task B02.4
• In your groups discuss what you think of the statements on page
74.

29. Positivist/Essentialist sequence
• National stereotypes are acknowledged as problematic but remain
as starting point.
• Us-them overgeneralizations are made such as “While the west
focuses more on the learning process as a means in itself, the
Chinese tradition is more oriented in learning outcomes”
• A sense of uncrossable boundaries: “members of different cultures
have certain beliefs, values and practices which suit them”.
• Cultural essentialism is not only practices by West: People from the
east and the South also essentialize their own cultural identities.,
through the display of traditional dress, dances, rituals…tpo
maintain and acquire power. “Exaggeration of Self to suit people’s
perception of other can help one to gain acceptance (Holliday et.
al, 2004)

30. How can we avoid the trap of over-generalization? By
Deconstructing images and representations and
engaging in a dialogue on the critical intersections:
Identity
Power Agency
Culture and
Language
Education
Representation Difference

31. Recent examinations of culture
Post-modern/post structural: Culture is no neatly packaged entities.
They are NOT exclusive bodies of customs, values and thoughts. They
are NOT perfectly shared by all who subscribe to them.
Contact zone: The social spaces where cultures meet, clash, and
grapple with each other, often in highly asymmetrical relations of
power, such as colonialism, slavery, or their aftermaths as they lived
out in many parts of the world today”. (Pratt, 1991, p. 34)—
bordercrossing/borderlands by Andaldua.
Cultures as travelling (Clifford): Unrooted, permeable, ever-
developing and changing.

32. Subjectivity, Agency, power
Subjectivity
• Various social forces and their possible implications on our identities.
Personhood is fragmented and conflicting (conflicting ways of looking and
being in the world)
• People are NOT simply members of homogenous, unified cultural groups.
They come from a particular
class/ethnic/national/political/religious/sexual/educational/racial
backgrounds.
Agency
The will of individuals, especially those in positions of disempowerment to
decide their own life courses. The ability of individuals to resist the
influence of dominant ideologies and discourses.
Power
Power is diffused throughout the social world. The groups who have power
in the society also define and represent culture in ways that tend to benefit
them and promote as natural their own social practices.

33. Six principles of culture (Atkinson, 1999)
1. All humans are individual
2. Individuality is also cultural
3. Social group membership and identity are multiple,
contradictory, and dynamic.
4. Social Group membership is consequential.
5. Methods of studying cultural knowledge and behavior are
unlikely to fit a positivist paradigm.
6. Language (learning and teaching) and culture are mutually
implicated, but culture is multiple and complex.
What do these statements mean? What are the implications for
TESOL?

34. Holliday et. al. book: B.0.1: Culture and
community in everyday life
• Hannerz writes “We have an old habit of speaking about ‘cultures,
the plural form, as if it were self-evident that such entities exist side
by side as neat packages, each of us identified with only one of
them—this is indeed a time-worn implication of at least one
anthropological concept”.
• Bauman also writes that people see themselves “ as members of
several communities at once, each with its own culture, and that
making one’s life meant ranging across them.
In looking back at notes you made in identifying your small cultures,
do you see any overlaps, cross-cutting allegiances or hierarchical
orders? How does your own life mean “ranging across” these
communities? What are the significant parts of your own “personal
cultural repertoire” as in-service and pre-service language educators?

35. Discussion: Definitions of culture
• Which, if any, of the descriptions do you feel successfully captures
the complete of a partial meaning of culture? (p. 69)
1) A culture is “a text the vocabulary and grammar of which its
members learn” (Fay, 1996)
2) “Culture is a verb” (Street, 1991)
3) Culture is an “evolving connected activity, not a thing”. (Fay,
1996).
4) Believing…that man is an animal suspended in webs of
significance he himself has spun, I take culture to be those webs
(Geertz, 1973)

36. Important terms and concepts
HOLLIDAY ET AL.:
• Ethnic reductionism (Baumann)
• Cultural essentialism
• Nonessentialism
• Exoticized account of a culture
• Liberal multiculturalism
• Small cultures and large cultures
KUMARAVADIVELU, 2006 CHPATER 2
• Habitus
• Cultural capital
• Otherization/cultural otherization
• Orientalism
• The principle of linguistic relativity
• Whorfian hypothesis (strong vs weak version)

37. Assignment
• Readings
• Blog entries