MEANINGS OF THE PHENOMENON OF CULTURE AND INTEGRATING CULTURE INTO ENGLISH CLASSES

Öz

Culture is a distinctive trait of the human being as s/he is the one having the required competence to generate the entity of culture, which mainly involves the use of mind and language. Culture functions as the mental and social adaptations of the human being to meet the challenges of his/her environment. All elements in culture, the material objects, patterned behaviours, interpersonal relations, and shared beliefs, values, ideas, and feelings, are symbols representing various meanings. The culture is indeed a polysystem of meaning systems, the technological, the social, and the ideological. The culture as a polysytem is heterogeneous and dynamic due to the societal processes of inheritance, adaptation and invention. The intra- and intersystemic interactions between centres and peripheries make culture an energetic process of improvement in a constant state of change. The shared ideas, symbols and behaviours within culture are the results of collective problem-solving mechanisms and these elements are continuously transmitted from generation to generation. Thus, culture is a set of learnt and taught phenomena produced and reproduced across generations and language is the basic tool for the continuity of the process. This article analyses the multifaceted meanings of culture as a social, symbolic, systemic, and language-related phenomenon. The article also focuses on the integration of culture into English language teaching. Viewing the issue from the perspective of English as a lingua franca, it is suggested that local cultures of learners and non-native speakers of English be incorporated into English classes.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Culture;
• meanings of culture
• characteristics of culture
• language and culture
• culture in English language teaching
• English as a lingua franca
• Kültür
• kültürün anlamları
• kültürün özellikleri
• dil ve kültür
• İngilizce dil öğretiminde kültür
• ortak bir dil olarak İngilizce

Kültür Olgusunun Anlamları ve Kültürün İngilizce Sınıflarına Entegre Edilmesi

Öz

Kültür insanın ayırt edici bir özelliğidir çünkü insan, kültür varlığını oluşturması için gerekli olan ve temel olarak akıl ve dili kapsayan yetinin sahibidir. Kültür insanın çevresinde olan zorlukları çözebilmesi için gerekli akılsal ve sosyal adaptasyonlar olarak işlev görür. Kültürdeki tüm ögeler, maddi nesneler, örüntülü davranışlar, kişilerarası ilişkiler ve paylaşılan inanç, düşünce ve duygular, çeşitli anlamları temsil eden sembollerdir. Kültür aslında teknolojik, sosyal ve ideolojik anlam dizgelerinin çoğul bir dizgesidir. Çoğul bir dizge olarak kültür, kalıtım, adaptasyon ve icat şeklindeki sosyal süreçler nedeniyle heterojen ve dinamiktir. Merkezler ve çevreler arasındaki dizge içi ve dizgeler arası etkileşimler kültürü sürekli değişim gösteren bir durumda olan enerjik bir gelişim süreci haline getirir. Kültürde paylaşılan düşünceler, semboller ve davranışlar kolektif sorun çözme mekanizmalarının sonuçlarıdır ve bu ögeler nesillerden nesillere sürekli olarak aktarılır. Buna göre kültür nesiller arasında üretilen ve yeniden üretilen, öğrenilmiş ve öğretilmiş olgular bütünüdür ve bu sürecin devamlılığı için dil temel bir araçtır. Bu makale sosyal, sembolik, dizgesel ve dille ilişkili bir olgu olarak kültürün çok yönlü anlamlarını analiz etmektedir. Makale aynı zamanda kültürün İngilizce dili öğretimine entegre edilmesine odaklanmaktadır. Konuya ortak bir dil olarak İngilizce perspektifinden bakılarak öğrenicilerin ve ana dili İngilizce olmayan konuşmacıların yerel kültürlerinin İngilizce sınıflarına dahil edilmesi tavsiye edilmiştir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Kültür
• kültürün anlamları
• kültürün özellikleri
• dil ve kültür
• İngilizce dil öğretiminde kültür
• ortak bir dil olarak İngilizce

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