This document discusses several key concepts relating to sociocultural factors and language acquisition. It begins by defining culture and explaining how culture provides a "blueprint" that guides behavior. It then examines stages of second culture acquisition, including excitement, culture shock, recovery, and full recovery. Additional sections explore concepts like social distance, parameters that influence cultural integration, language policy, native versus non-native English teachers, and the relationship between language, thought and culture. It emphasizes the importance for language teachers to be sensitive to cultural differences and promote cultural understanding.

1. SOCIOCULTURAL
FACTORS
Shazliah binti Hamzah GS36004
Sumainya Mohamed GS35927
Yazdan Shamami GS33443

2. A way of life. It is the context
within which we exist, think,
feel and relate to others
(Donne, 1924)
“Blueprint” that “guides”
the behavior of people in a
community & is incubated
in family life
(Larson and Smalley, 1972)
CULTURE

3. STEREOTYPES OR GENERALIZATIONS?
• Due to our own perception view to others
(Open- minded vs. Closed –minded).
• The key= to understand cultural differences
• Turn individual perception into appreciation.

4. SECOND CULTURE ACQUISITION (1)
Psychological Factors
MOTIVATION ATTITUDE
CULTURE
SHOCK

5. STAGES OF CULTURE ACQUISITION
• TENTATIVE
RECOVERY
• FULL
RECOVERY
• CULTURE
SHOCK• EXCITEMENT
Stage
1
Stage
2
Stage
3
Stage
4

6. SOCIAL DISTANCE
Social
Distance
Refers to
cognitive &
effective
proximity of two
cultures that
come into contact
within an
individual.
Distance is used
in a
metaphorical
sense to depict
dissimilarity
between two
cultures.

7. PARAMETERS
• Dominant, nondominant or subordinate?Dominance
• Integration Pattern such as assimilation,
acculturation or preservation
Integration
• Is the L2 group cohesive? What is the
size of the L2 group?
Cohesivenes
s
• Are the 2 group congruent? Similar in
their value & belief systems? Attitudes
towards each other?
Congruence
• L2 group intended length of residence in
the target language area
Permanence

8. Teacher:
needs to be sensitive by using techniques that promote
cultural understanding
Best model of the combination
 2nd language 2nd culture learning
Students who learn a 2nd language in a country
where the language is spoken natively.
INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE

9. CONCEPTUAL CATEGORIES
Individualism
Power Distance
Uncertainty Avoidance
Masculinity

10. COLLECTIVIST VS INDIVIDUALIST
COLLECTIVIST SOCIETIES INDIVIDUALIST SOCIETIES
The young should learn, adults cannot
accept student role.
Permanent learning.
Students expect to learn how to do. Students expect to learn how to learn.
Students will only speak in individual
groups.
Individuals will only speak in large
groups.
Education is a way of gaining prestige
in one’s social environment.
Education is a way to improving one’s
economic worth and self respect.
Teachers are expected to give
preferential treatment to some
students.
Teachers are expected to be strictly
impartial.

11. LANGUAGE POLICY
• Language policy (LP) is the deliberate attempt to
change an individual’s or community’s use of a
language or languages or a variety or varieties
(Omoniyi, 2004).
• Every County has policies that affect the status of its native
language(s) and one or more foreign languages.
•Explicit, “Official”
• Implicit, “Unofficial”.

12. WORLD ENGLISHES
• Different varieties of English in different parts of the world
are calledWorld Englishes .For example Malaysian English
,Indian English.
• In certain countries, learning English does not involve
taking a new culture for example :Indian English or
(Indianization of English).
• Nativization of English is a process which has spread from
the inner circle to the outer circle( Richards, 1985) .
.

14. NATIVE VS NON-NATIVE TEACHERS
Native English speaking
teachers
• Have superior model of oral
production ,very proficient in
the language.
• Ideal English language
teachers.
Non native English
speaking teachers
• Some researchers show that
they have more advantages.
• Teachers who have gone
through actual process of
learning English are more
skillful.

15. ESL AND EFL :
ESL
• Learning English in a country
where it is natively spoken.
• Learning English in countries
where it is accepted and
widely used in education, or
business within the country.
• In other contexts where
English has no official status
but occupies such high profile.
EFL
• Learning English in a country
where English is not one’s
native language.
• EFL countries do not use
English as a medium of
instruction but English is
taught in schools.

16. LINGUISTIC IMPERIALISM
 also known as “Linguicism” calls attention to the
potential consequences of English teaching worldwide
when Eurocentric ideologies are embedded in
instruction.
 It involves the transfer of the dominant language to
other people.
 Aspects of the dominant culture are usually
transferred along with the language.

17. Culture
Thought
Language
LANGUAGE, THOUGHT & CULTURE

18. FRAMING OUR CONCEPTUAL UNIVERSE
 1. Advertisements – use of language to shape,
persuade, and dissuade consumers. (eg. “weasel
words”)
Words shape our lives

19. 2. Euphemisms (Nice ways to say bad things)
For Example:
Taboo Subjects
• Death
• Sex
• Chronic Illness
Taboo Words
 Blind – Sight Deprived
 Dead – Deceased
 Old person – Senior Citizen

20. 3. Framing & Verbal Labels
 Language & verbal labels shape the way people think. (Lakoff, 2004).
 Framing refers to:
 The social construction of a social phenomenon.
 selective influence
 perception
eg. Political Rhetoric - carefully framed to invoke positive images
and feelings.

21. Words are not the only linguistic category
affecting thought.
The way a sentence is structured will affect
nuances of meaning.
eg: Questions can effect the answer a person gives

22. Question:
“did you see the broken head light?”
“did you see a broken headlight?”

23. Cultural patterns of cognition and customs are
sometimes explicitly coded in language.
 eg. Conversational discourse styles – may be a factor
of culture.
(American vs. Japanese)
Lexical items used by a person shows the
intersession of his culture and cognition.
 eg. Colour categorization

24. The Whorfian Hypothesis
Does language reflect cultural world-view?
Vs.
Does language shape cultural world-view?
• Language shaped a person’s weltanschauung, or worldview.
Wilhelm Von Humboldt (1767-1835)
• The way people think is strongly affected by their native
languages.
Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf

25. Whorf Claims:
Influence of language on
behaviour was
“undifferentiated, all pervasive,
permanent and absolute”
Guiora (1981, p. 177)
criticizes:
Claims are “extravagant”
Clarke, Losoff, McCracken, and
Rood (1984, p. 57) disagrees:
“The Whorfian Hypothesis was
not nearly as monolithic or
casual as some would interpret
it to be”
After vigorous attack from
critics, the hypothesis is now
believed by most linguists only
in the weak sense that language
can have some small effect on
thought, though, the fact
remains that learning a L2 may
very well involve learning new
ways.

26. CULTURE IN THE LANGUAGE
CLASSROOM
Cultural activities in the classroom must include:
1) Customs and belief systems.
2) Analysis of stereotypes.
3) Degrees of willingness of the students to participate
openly.
4) Analysis of linguistic imperialism.
5) Treatment of Students’ Uncertainty Avoidance
6) Roles of males and females
7) Connections between specific language features to
cultural ways of thinking, feeling, and acting.
8) Previous experiences on students’ native culture.

27. CLASS ACTIVITY
Brainstorm stereotypes for the
people of their assigned country

28. THANK YOU