Алдабердикызы Айдын

Академический Инновационный Университет, г.Шымкент, Республика Казахстан

Ethnocentricism as A CULTURAL HANDICAP in TEFL

There are truths on this side of the Pyrenees

which are falsehoods on the other.

Blaise Pascal 1623-1662

As mentioned earlier, culture is the context within which we exist, think, feel and relate to others. A language is a part of a culture, and a culture is a part of a language. The two are inseparable and none of them is more significant than the other. Therefore, the learning of a second language is also learning a second culture to some extent.

There is a tendency for us to believe that our own reality is the 'correct' one. Our so-called accurate perception of a person, a custom or an idea is sometimes 'jaded' or 'stilted' in the eyes of someone from another culture. Therefore, misunderstandings are likely to occur whenever two cultures are in contact.

This article attempts to focus on some of the important problematic issues in the relationship between learning a second language and learning its cultural context.

The tendency to believe that one's own way of doing things is the 'correct' one is a natural human attitude. Our perception is so firmly shaped by our culture that it never occurs to us that our perception is somewhat subjective and another way may possibly exist to do things until we encounter them. Byram (1989:49-50) states that people show a tendency "... to assume that their own are universal, and when they do meet them, to suppose that they are dealing with members of their own species at all but with some sort of inferior imitation, until they met different customs...". As Byram put it when this encounter with the new does take place, our reaction is to see them as inferior creatures. This tendency is called ethnocentricism. Phillipson (1992:47) defines ethnocentricism as "...the practice of judging other cultures by the standards of ones own". This notion is defined in The American Heritage Dictionary Of the English Language as the “belief in the superiority of one’s own ethic group.” Oswalt (1970:19) gives the following example of ethnocentricism:

Among many tribal peoples this attitude is well reflected in the name that they have for themselves. For example, we call a group of primitives in northern North America Eskimos; this name, originated by certain Indıans to the south of the Escimos’ own name for themselves is not Eskimos but is Ipunik, meaning ‘Real People.’ By their name they provide a contrast between themselves and other groups; the latter might be ‘people’ but are never ‘real.’

Varying examples of ethnocentricism can be seen through the history of humankind. After Romans declared themselves Christians in the 6th century A.D., they continued naming eastern nations “Barbars” despite their belonging to the same religion (Phillipson yy.ty.). Russians still name Germans “nemets“, which in direct translation means “dumb” (Etimologicheskii slovar russkgo yazika 1987). This can be a result of the repeated situations when Russians failed to understand or/and explain something to Germans and this nation began being called in this way. Turkish folk name representatives of some nations “gavur”, which has the following meanings according to Türkçe Sözlük (1998):

· Someone who is not Muslim,

· Someone who is irreligious,

· Merciless, pitiless, stubborn

It is interesting to note that when this word is used in the word-combination ‘gavur dili’ it gives a meaning ‘a language which is spoken by non-Muslims or just a foreign language’.

If ethnocentricity rises in the classroom, the learning environment will be disturbed as a result of tension added by ethnocentricism. This tendency, obviously, threatens what we are trying to establish in the language classroom - tolerance for other cultures. Each culture must be judged on the basis of its norms. The Ethnolinguistic Identity Theory claims that high ethnocentricism demotivates the learners and does hinder the learning environment. Ethnicity is a sense of group identity deriving from real or perceived common bonds such as language, race and religion. An individual cannot separate himself from these as they are the pre-set patterns that help him develop a sense of self and that of others. Thus, if the language learner regards the target language as inferior or as a threat to his own identity he will develop high barriers to language learning.

Finally, ethnocentricism is a natural attitude shown against the unknown and the new. However, it is one of the biggest barriers to successful language learning and teaching. In order to diminish its negative effects, an understanding of cultural relativity - that is, no culture corresponds to another with all its components and each culture must be judged along its norms - should be developed in language classrooms.

List of references:

BYRAM, M., MORGAN, C. and COLLEAGUES, 1997. Teaching and Learning Language and Culture. Great Britain: WBC.

BYRAM, M. 1989. Cultural Studies in Foreign Language Education. Clevedon, Avon: Multilingual Matters.

PHILLIPSON, C., The International Law and Customs of Greece and Rome. Yy., ty.

TÜRKÇE SÖZLÜK. 1998. Türkiye/Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi. (The Dictionaty of the Turkish language. 1998. Turkey: Ankara.)

Этимологический словарь русского языка. 1987. Mосква.