Module 1: Introduction to Culture
These videos - Part 1 (4:21) and Part 2 (3:37) - introduce key concepts about culture. These concepts form the foundation of our discussions about culture throughout the course. There is a quiz after these videos, to confirm your comprehension of these key concepts.
You can read the transcript of the entire video below or download it here 
. Click HERE to download a PDF of the video slides. If you are having trouble viewing the videos, or you would like to download them, click the following links: Part 1, Part 2.
Transcript
What is culture? The word culture is used frequently, and not just by language teachers or cultural specialists. Pretty much everyone feels comfortable using the term. But how can we define it? I invite you to try right now to define the term culture. If you're listening to this as a sound or video file, press pause and try to put into words what culture means. If you're reading, set this text aside while you try to define culture.
Give yourself at least 5 minutes to write a definition for the word culture.
…How did it go? What does your definition include? When you start really thinking about culture, you realize that it includes or at least influences nearly everything in the human experience. Anthropologist John H. Bodley defined culture as, "what people think, make, and do" (1994, p. 22). This broad definition has been developed in further detail by what is called the 3P model of culture (Frank, 2014). The 3P's are perspectives, practices, and products. Let us look at each of these.
Perspectives describe "what members of a culture think, feel, and value" (Frank, 2014, p. 3). This includes ideas about what is important in life, and beliefs about how younger people should relate to older members of society. Perspectives define what members of a particular culture consider appropriate and inappropriate behavior.
Perspectives shape practices. Practices include the traditions and typical behaviors in a culture. The way people communicate can differ greatly from one culture to another, not just in terms of language but also what people talk about; with whom; how direct they are when communicating; the gestures they use; their use of eye contact; etc. Practices include other behaviors as well, from the formal – for example wedding ceremony traditions – to the informal, such as how people dress and eat on a day-to-day basis.
Food is often the first cultural product that people think of when they think about another culture. The special foods associated with a particular culture are often the first thing someone unfamiliar with the culture learns about it. Other cultural products include clothing, music, and literature.
Culture is strengthened through its expression. The more people engage in the traditions and ways of living of their culture, the more that culture's perspectives, practices, and products are reinforced. A tradition that has been practiced for hundreds of years is a very strong tradition. Culture is not static, however. On the contrary, culture is dynamic. A culture's perspectives, practices, and products can change over time. As we will discuss in later modules, this is particularly likely when there is contact between cultures.
In today’s globalized world, most people have encounters with members of other cultures, and for many people, this is on a regular basis. These encounters happen in social, political, and commercial contexts. It is therefore important for people, in all areas of their lives, to be able to interact successfully with people who are from cultures that are different from theirs. This ability is called intercultural competence. Intercultural competence is needed for people from different cultures – with their different values, practices, and ways of communicating – to avoid conflict and misunderstanding. Intercultural competence requires people to be flexible in their thinking and to recognize that people are complex. To see people in ways that are simple and not complex is to stereotype people.
Intercultural competence is not an all-or-nothing ability. People have different levels of intercultural competence, among themselves, and from context to context. People’s intercultural competence will be more or less effective depending on their familiarity with the particular culture they are encountering and the particular stereotypes that they may believe.
No one can be completely prepared for all the intercultural experiences they will have in the future, and so intercultural competence requires flexibility. It requires the ability to think critically about differences. Critical thinking is also necessary to negotiate differences and use strategies to minimize conflict and misunderstandings.
As English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers, we are preparing our students for future intercultural encounters. In order to understand differences, the first step is to understand “Different from what?” A necessary step in developing intercultural competence is to have a very clear understanding of oneself as a cultural being. That is, we need to understand what our own culture is and how it affects us day to day.
The development of intercultural competence is an ongoing process; it never ends. In many activities in this course, we will explore our own cultural perspectives, as well as other cultural perspectives. This will put us in an excellent position to help our students go through a similar process.
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