Sociocultural factors

Definitions of culture

Many definitions, all valid to a degree

 Behaviorist viewpoint:

◦ Culture consists of observable behaviors or sets of behaviors, such as habits, customs or traditions

◦ DEF. - Culture is all learned behavior which is socially acquired (Nida, 1954).

 Cognitive-anthropological viewpoint:

◦ Culture consists of both observable behaviors, the rules that underlie those behaviors (rules are inferred
from the behaviors themselves) and the individual’s perceptions and interpretations of the culture

◦ DEF. – “Culture refers to the individual’s role in the unending kaleidoscope of life situations of every kind
and the rules or models for attitude and conduct in them”.

◦ According to this view, people are expected to think, believe, say, do, eat, wear, pay, endure, resent, honor,
laugh at, fight for and worship, in typical life situations.

◦ The emphasis is on the meanings and interpretations of the culture – people may become competent in
more than one culture.

 Symbolic-anthropological viewpoint:

◦ DEF. – “Culture is a system of symbols or meanings”

◦ The focus is on the relationships among meaning, experience and reality from a symbolic point of view.

 A combination of the definitions from the cognitive-anthropological and symbolic-anthropological perspective is

used in language programs – it offers learners the freedom to develop their own cultural interpretations.

 In this approach, culture learning is an ongoing, dynamic process in which learner’s cultural perceptions can change,
unfold and mature over time.

 DEF. “Culture includes observable and non-observable behaviors, their underlying rules, the attitudes and values
suggested by these rules and any interpretations and symbol systems used by individuals in understanding their
society or another society”.

Categorization

• In order to manage the enormous quantities of information, people tend to use mental economy strategies

• Categorization: grouping, sorting, classifying objects, events, or living things into identifiable groups based on the
belief that members share certain features or characteristics

• It is an essential cognitive mechanism, it organizes and makes manageable the natural and social world
Usefulness of categories

• They help people reduce uncertainty

• They increase the accuracy of predictions about others

• They help us make attributions about the behavior of others

• They help us recall and recognize information

• They help ICC, which is full of uncertainty and unfamiliarity

How are categories formed?

• On the basis of perceived conspicuous differences

• Based on easily seen similarities or differences

• Skin color, dress, language, occupation

• Others are classified as ingroup or outgroup

• This classification, unfortunately, often leads to intergroup discrimination and intergroup bias

• Stereotyping, ethnocentrism, racism

Stereotypes

• Categories help the human mind to process information more efficiently

• Stereotyping: members of one group attribute characteristics to members of another group

• Either positive or negative evaluation – stereotypes are attitudinal categories

• Stereotypes usually refer to membership in social categories (sex, age, race, profession) that are believed to be
associated with certain traits and behaviors

• Stereotypes are a normal categorization strategy

• The problem arises when negative values are ascribed to stereotyped groups

• Can lead to ethnocentrism, prejudice and discrimination

What stereotypical traits are associated with these young women and men?
Some examples

• American stereotypes:

• Melting pot: peoples of different cultures immigrating to the USA “get stirred up in the great pot until
cultural differences are boiled away and a single culture remains – American”

• Stereotyping potentially damaging, a destructive social force

• Action to rid people of their stereotypes

• In Europe and Canada:

• People presume that society is culturally diverse

• Proud of various group memberships

• Significance of cultural diversity – mosaic, montage vs. melting pot

Ethnocentrism

• A view of things in which one’s own group is the center of everything and all others are scaled and rated with
reference to it

• Natural condition, most people do not like foreigners and openly display hostility

• People have a tendency to put their own group in the central position, making it worth while

• This creates and reinforces negative attitudes and behaviors towards outgroups

• Ethnocentric people have different attitudes towards their ingroup and outgroups:

• Biased in favour of the ingroup

• Often at the expense of the outgroup

• Ethnocentric attributional bias:

• Ethnocentrics construct internal attributions for the positive behavior of the ingroup member and make external
attributions for their negative behavior

• External attributions are made for the positive behavior of outgroup members and internal attributions are made
for their negative behavior

Racism

• A belief that one racial group is superior to others and that other racial groups are necessarily inferior

• Racism presupposes ethnocentrism but not vice versa

• Racist ideology – biological component

• It then translates into cultural and social superiority – a superior race produces a superior culture
Foreign culture acquisition

 Language learners undergo culture learning as a "process, that is, as a way of perceiving, interpreting, feeling, being
in the world,... and relating to where one is and who one meets" (Robinson, Stuart & Nocon: 1996, 432).

 Culture learning is a process of creating shared meaning between cultural representatives. It is experiential, a
process that continues over years of language learning, and penetrates deeply into one’s patterns of thinking,
feeling, and acting.

 It involves the acquisition of a second identity

Culture shock

 American, living abroad for the first time

At first, things in the cities look pretty much alike. There are taxis, hotels with hot and cold running water, theaters, neon
lights, even tail buddings with elevators and a few people who can speak English. But pretty soon the American discovers
that underneath the familiar exterior there are vast differences. When someone says "yes" it often doesn't mean yes at all,
and when people smile it doesn't always mean they are pleased. When the American visitor makes a helpful gesture he may
be rebuffed; when he tries to be friendly nothing happens. People tell him that they will do things and don't. The longer he
stays, the more enigmatic the new country looks.

 Stages of culture shock

 It is common to describe culture shock as the second of four successive stages of culture acquisition:

1. A period of excitement and euphoria over the newness of the surroundings.

2. Culture shock emerges as individuals feel the intrusion of more and more cultural differences into their own images
of self and security. Individuals rely on and seek out the support of their fellow countrymen in the second culture,
taking solace in complaining about local customs and conditions, seeking escape from their predicament.

3. A gradual, and at first tentative and vacillating, recovery; "culture stress": some problems of acculturation are
solved while other problems continue for some time. But general progress is made as individuals begin to accept
the differences in thinking and feeling that surround them, becoming more empathic with other persons in the
second culture.

4. Near or full recovery, either assimilation or adaptation, acceptance of the new culture and self-confidence in the
"new" person that has developed in this culture
Social distance

 Social distance refers to the cognitive and affective proximity of two cultures that come into contact within an
individual.

 e.g., people from the United States are culturally similar to Canadians, while U.S. natives and Chinese are, by
comparison, relatively dissimilar; the social distance of the latter case exceeds the former

 Social distance consists of the following parameters (Schumann, 1976):

1. Dominance - in relation to the TL (target language) group, is the L2 (second language learning) group politically,
culturally, technically, or economically dominant, nondominant, or subordinate?

2. Integration - is the integration pattern of the L2 group assimilation, acculturation, or preservation? What is the L2
group’s degree of enclosure – is its identity separate from other contiguous groups?

3. Cohesiveness – is the L2 group cohesive? What is the size of the L2 group?

4. Congruence – are the cultures of the two groups congruent/similar in their value and belief systems? What are the
attitudes of the two groups toward each other?

5. Permanence – what is the L2 group’s intended length of residence in the target language area?

“Bad“ language learning situations

 The TL group views the L2 group as dominant and the L2 group views itself in the same way. Both groups desire
preservation and high enclosure for the L2 group, the L2 group is both cohesive and large, the two cultures are not
congruent, the two groups hold negative attitudes toward each other, and the L2 group intends to remain in the TL
area only for a short time (Americans living in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia).

 All the characteristics of the first situation except that in this case, the L2 group considers itself subordinate and is
considered subordinate by the TL group (Navajo Indians living in the southwestern part of the United States).

“Good“ language learning situation

◦ The L2 group is nondominant in relation to the TL group,

◦ both groups desire assimilation (or at least acculturation) for the L2 group,

◦ low enclosure is the goal of both groups,

◦ the two cultures are congruent,

◦ the L2 group is small and noncohesive,

◦ both groups have positive attitudes toward each other

◦ L2 group intends to remain in the target language area for a long time.

 Under such conditions social distance would be minimal and acquisition of the target language would be enhanced
(American Jewish immigrants living in Israel)