Cultural Identity and Stereotypes

   In our profession as language teachers, we have been talking in class about how it is important to teach our learners that language is much more than form and grammar and that learners need "to use the language in socially and culturally appropriate ways" (Byram, 2002, p.7).  This would become the groundwork for communicative language teaching in which intercultural awareness is promoted. What is the purpose then? To help language learners be self-aware of their cultural identity and those of others, being able to communicate with foreign language speakers without any prejudice or stereotypical thoughts.

    Another important topic that had been discussed regards to how cultural identity is formed. Essentially, we can understand that stereotypes, altough common and hard to avoid, are not what form our cultural identities and neither is our personal likings. Our cultural identity is then revealed by way of values, symbols or specific behaviours associated with a certain community. Therefore, identifying ourselves within a group's particular setting and beliefs is what constructs this cultural individual. Now, it is important to have in mind that in the "global village" in which we all live today, the concept of cultural hybridity is already a consolidated concept, which means that anyone can identify with more than one culture and, therefore, become a versatile and fluid individual. However, it must be taken into consideration that these identities are constantly changing.

        In a classroom environment, questions of cultural identity are very important because we professors must be very careful not to promote any type of stereotype with our learners. It is very common nowadays to have learners from various places of the world, with different backgrounds, different physical aspects and I can imagine that it is already very difficult to feel integrated in a classroom where you are the minority. In order to mitigate these problems, professors must find good strategies. Here is where the intercultural dimension is key. As Byram states: "[...] the 'best' teacher is neither the native nor the non-native speaker, but the person who can help learners see relationships between their own and other cultures, can help them acquire interest in and curiosity about 'otherness', and an awareness of themselves and their own cultures seen from other people's perspectives." (Byram, 2002, p. 10)

            Good strategies to spike this interest in otherness could be, for example:

1. Use a comparative analysis strategy, in which the learners would interact with each other and present the main aspects of each one's culture
2. Find the main stereotypes associated with that culture and analyse them in order to understand how they are wrong
3. A role-play activity in which learners would "swap" cultures and present the other's culture as his own, having in mind what he knows about that specific culture

References

Byram, M., Gribkova, B., Starkey, H. (2002). Developing the Intercultural dimension in language teaching: A practical introduction for teachers. Language Policy Division, Directorate of School, Out-of-School and Higher Education.