Introduction
Learning a second language can be challenging for second language learners, for they are not learning just the language, they are learning a whole culture and socio aspects of this language. Activities are a major role in helping second language learners to get to know the cultural aspect of the target language. Additionally, language acquisition researchers stated that learning a language in an interactive social environment would be beneficial for the learners to get to know the language and some of its pragmatics. Through class activities, learners will improve their language use, develop critical thinking, and increase their social skills.
However, some studies suggest that ESL classes, which are designed to teach English as a second language, can be used as an instrument to teach students about particular culture. Generally, in Australia, United Kingdom, United States, and South Africa, English is spoken at large scale or we can say that inhabitants of these countries speak English as their first language. When international students, who speak different language and belong to a different culture, take ESL classes, they can also learn about culture of particular countries, such as Australia or the United States
It is a known fact that language is a component of a culture, which means that language, in many ways represents the culture. For instance, different idioms, of a particular language, contain valuable information regarding the evolution of both 1) culture and 2) society. One such example is a storm in the tea-cup. This implies that someone is worried about a matter or phenomenon of lesser importance. This depicts that in American cultural and societal settings, only important matters are to be focused or emphasized. Another example is a term free-lunch, which reveals that in American economic-social system is primarily based on the precepts of classical capitalism. One has to invest his/her energies or efforts to generate income. Neither state nor does the society would provide financial assistance to the lazy or lethargic individual. This is also evident from the fact that in United States unemployment allowance is a controversial subject in the United States. In addition to idioms, the literature, which is used to teach international students English language, can play a pivotal role in making students understand a particular culture. Classical Literature, among all literature, has great relevance, in context of using ESAL classes to introduce students to a foreign culture. In fact, classical literature provides great detail regarding the evolution of both culture and society.
Studies suggest that ESL classes can be devised with the intention to provide a comprehensive understanding of particular culture through the English Language. For instance, in the course, classical literature, such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, can be included to provide authentic and relevant understanding pertaining to the development of Post-Industrial American culture. In addition, contemporary classical literature, such as Little Woman, can be included to provide comprehension regarding the evolution of American Culture, after World War II. It is acknowledged that literature is a vital sub-component of any language. It not only provides information regarding factors, which contemporary culture and society, but also reveals how these factors impacted it. Some studies assert that contemporary literature/art gives direction to social and cultural evolutions; they yield political-economic-social thoughts and percepts
In addition, it has been observed that verbal interactions, with the native speaker of the particular language, to an extent, facilitate learner of certain language to understand the culture of the speaker, who is speaking the native language. This suggests that social interactions, in which a learner speaks or compelled to speak the second language, provide essential information regarding the culture of the speaker, who is speaking the native language.
Tomalin and Stempleski (2013) stated that teaching culture would help students to be able to understand social factors such as sex, age, and social class. Also, it can help to build the awareness of the social language skills in the target culture. This is an interesting finding, which endorses the arguments and results, which we have discussed in great detail during the discourse.
We have also established, during this discourse that class course and activities, of ESL, can be devised in such manner that not only it teaches English as a second language, but also culture through the instrument of English Language. However, it is also imperative to test these arguments and assertions, in a controlled environment, so that results, of particular settings, can also endorse these arguments, assertions, and findings of previous studies (Tomalin & Stempleski, 2013).
Abbas poured. al., (2012) emphasized the importance of culture in second language learning education and the different approaches that help integrating culture into second language classrooms. They strongly advocate the idea of that culture be a skill should be taught with the language itself because of its importance as an integral part of the language.
This contemporary study aims to understand, how class activities can help in not only learning the language but also in learning the culture, in our case American Culture. The major question that is to be investigated in this study is if the practices and the class activate help the learners to socialize in the American culture and what other elements that helped in introducing these non-native speakers to the target culture.
We have several research instruments at our disposal; however, most of these research instruments pertain to qualitative research. From the systematic study of literature available on this particular subject, we have identified systematic and methodical observations as the instrument to retrieve relevant data from the natural environment (ESL class). This method of research will be inductive and it will consist of schematic analysis (Abbaspour, Rajaee , & Zare, 2012).
Research questions
- If the class activities can provide communicative, and social settings for second language learners?
- If these activities managed to teach or induce some of the target culture pragmatic “social skills”?
Methodology
1-The participants
The participants were ESL students in level 3 at the English language institutes at CSULB which is called ALI “American Language Institutes”. This program helps second language learners to be prepared for American universities; it offers reading, writing, and listening classes. The classes in this program were very suitable and had every element that can help and facilitate the learning process.
The class that I observed consisted of 10 international students mainly from Asia with the different linguistic background. Three students were from Japan, one from China, three from Saudi Arabia, one from Kuwait, and two females from Korea. The participant’s age ranged was from the age 19- 28 years old. Additionally, the teacher of this class was an American in her mid-thirty and her name is Sara. Sara got her TESOL degree from Fullerton state university. She also has an experience in teaching English for non-native speakers overseas. She taught English for five years in China, and she speaks Chinese as her second language.
2-Materials
The methods that were used to collect the data in this study were interviews and observations.
I did three observations and each observation took about an hour and a half every Tuesday and Thursday. In order to collect accurate data, the observations sessions were recorded by cell phone app called “record plus”, and notes were taken during these sessions.
3-Procedure
The class was observed twice a week during reading and listening sessions, for I thought is the suitable time for the student to interact and have class activities. The activities in the classes were mandatory for the students to finished and earn grades, the reading class is aimed help the student to learn new vocabulary, and increase and expand their vocabulary level. During the class time, I observed the class’s activities, interactions, and ways of socialization that were present.
4-Observations sessions
During the first two observations, I did not want to disturb the students nor making them shy because of my present; I arrived before the class and sat in the back. My first observation took place in mid-September; it lasted an hour from 9-10 am. The teacher started the class by introducing a new vocabulary game called “the train game”, there were different train stopping stations and each station had a specific task for the player. For the first station, the first player would choose an envelope, and envelop will refill a new word. The next player will stop at the second station; in this station, the player must define the word from the first station. After that, the player chosen for the third station would give a synonym of the target word. The final step is to write sentences using the word and its synonym with the antonym, then the teacher would ask the students to read their sentences and if they ever heard of this word and where it was heard such as a store, café shop, bus stop, movies. The goal of this activity is to expose the students to new vocabulary and improve their knowledge and to learn how to use them in complete sentences. The duration of this activity was about 20 minutes. The teacher gave feedback to all the students and she was certain to ensure that all students understood the new word usage.
During the student’s interactions in class, speaking another language than English was not accepted, to enhance their English conversational abilities. If any of the students needed an explanation, she would always encourage them to ask her and not to seek help from other classmates.
The second-class activity was watching a cartoon movie and write up some new words that the participants never heard of it. It was Halloween season so, the teacher played a Halloween cartoon movie to students; the movie was about 7 minutes and it included some new adjective that some of the participants might not know. After the movie ends all the students wrote, the new vocabulary and the teacher took turns so, each student can say what words were new to him.
Then the teacher would write every word and tries to explain its function and part of speech. Some of the words that the students did not know were creepy, spooky, haunted, and wicked. In addition, the teacher explained the meaning of each word, how it is related to Halloween and American culture, and put them in sentences to make it easier for the students to memorize. According to language acquisition researchers, it is easier for the L2 learner to acquire a language when they noticed it and understand it.
The second observation took place on August 2nd; in this day the teacher divided the class into four groups and asked each group to pick a name for their group and a leader. Each member of the group will have to act a word without making any sounds and only with hands and facial expression. The rest of the group had to guess the word and put it in a sentence in order to get the point. The winning team will have an advantage in the next vocabulary. This activity lasted 15 minutes and the main goal from it is to know and practice different part of spoken words.
During these sessions, I focused how the students were engaging in the classroom and how they were interacting with the instructor and with each other. I was looking into a general idea of the effect of vocabulary activities on ESL students. After I have observed the classroom two times, I have refined my research questions to look at the effect of vocabulary activities that promote cultural socialization of the ESL students into the American culture.
5-Interviews
I interviewed the instructor and two of the international students to gain more insight into the role of activities in helping ESL students to socialize into the American culture. I conducted the interviews in the classroom after they had finished the activities. The following is the interpretation of the interview. The following questions were used in the interview with the teacher.
1- Could you describe a typical day in the reading, writing, and vocabulary in class; how they helped you understand American Culture?
2- What kinds of tasks or activities were difficult for the students? How can students overcome these difficulties and do these activities aided in comprehending American Culture?
3- What kinds of tasks or activities were enjoyable for the students and facilitated in learning language and culture in a fun way?
4- What kind of activities, which helped students to socialize into the American culture? Can you describe one?
5- In the light of socialization, what is the benefit or importance of socialization and how can enhance that through classroom activities?
The instructor, Sara, said that the best part of the class to the students is learning new vocabulary. She believed that the students were enjoying moving around the class and interacting with each other even if they had some difficulties practicing English. In addition, this vocabulary is aiding students in understanding a culture through language. For instance, words are embedded in culture and they provide a certain kind of understanding regarding the culture. In fact, some of the words provided a very comprehensive understanding regarding the American Culture. Furthermore, she believed that socialization in the classroom helps the students to shape and define their social skills. It helps international students to explore cultural values and norms in the US. She continued stressing the importance of socialization that its part of learning a language. Learning a new language always requires interactions with native speakers of the target language. Interacting with other people will help the students to shape their, listening and speaking along with enhancing their knowledge about the cultural values.
For ESL students, it is important to them to understand that they can learn the academic aspect of the language from school or even later in college but to gain full knowledge about a language it requires more than that. It requires being opened to other opportunities to learn the language of the native speakers regarding the social and cultural aspects of interactions with other people on their daily basis. She stressed the importance of the activities in the classroom.
Activities that promote socialization into culture help students to expand their experience and their knowledge. It helps students to recognize the difference between their culture and the culture they are socializing in as well as it helps teachers to know their student’s culture more. In addition, activities allow students to be actively involved in the learning process. It helps students to develop other skills such as critical thinking, analyzing information, and interactively sharing and receiving knowledge.
Secondly, I interviewed one male student from Saudi, and another student is a female from Korea, and both of the participants are 20 years old. They said, “they liked the activities because it kept them active and involve all the time. One of the students said that these activities are perfect because the class starts very early and they do not even feel sleepy because the teacher keeps them engaging all the time in the activities. Another student talked about the difficulty sometimes to guess new words or to understand them without using a dictionary in their native language, but the teacher helps them to understand these words either by explain it, show them pictures, or draw it on the board. The students explained that they saw activities as a very helpful tool because they can practice speaking while they are learning new words at the same time.
They add that the more they practice speaking, the more they improve their grammar because the teacher gives them feedback and correct their speech if they made any mistake. Some of the students did not like speaking outside the class because they have a heavy accent, and they had trouble interacting with people. I asked them whether activities helped them, they answered that the most thing they liked is that how activities helped them to socialize into the American culture and help them to understand it. It helps them to see the similarities and the differences between cultures. Lastly, they stated that they do not have to adopt the other culture, but it is a good to understand these cultural differences.
Findings
I found that activities in the classroom, in general, help the students to engage in the classroom. It helped in creating an active environment for the students to improve their cognitive skills, critical thinking, and problem-solving and thinking skills. Students were interacting actively with the teacher and with each other. I focused on the effect of classroom activities that promote socialization into the American culture through vocabulary instruction. Throughout these observations, I noticed that the role of the teacher is to encourage the students to talk about their culture and to talk about the similarities and the differences between their culture and the American culture. The students were participating in the activities and having fun.
Concerning the research question, which is concerned with the facilitation in the class to learn English as a second language, it has been revealed that students can learn more effectively. A student may utilize all activities or tools, provided by the faculty to enhance the visibility of learning. For Instance, teachers in classes may enable the student diversity and form different groups to let them collaborate and share different things. When a student collaborates with another student, which contains the English language as his first language, obviously, there are many things that he can lean to make the communication effective (Tosky King & M. Scott, 2014).
Relative to the second question of the study, the student can increase social skills through learning the English language. Being a second language learner, there is a good chance for a student to integrate with the culture of America. Despite existing in a society, which is based on individualism, still, a student need social skills, and interestingly, all social skills are triggered by language. Thus, ESL students get this remarkable opportunity. For Instance, a student has to target some areas in which he /she has to interact or collaborate with others the society. Collaborations with students and other social stakeholders can be the target soar the students a, and through learning the English language, the objectives can be attained in an effective manner (Machata, 2013).
Discussion
The aim of this ethnographic study is to look at the effect of vocabulary activities on helping ESL students socialized into the American culture. Several questions were investigated through observing ESL students’ interaction in the classroom. The first question is linked with the possible social setting for students.
The classroom instructions provided the students with opportunities to express their opinions, thoughts, and beliefs by comparing and contrasting their culture with the American culture. The best activity is making teams or groups and forms the activities, which contain can help students to reduce barriers to the learning process. In the classroom, the student should be assertive and proactive in learning different things and derive insights (Lee & Heinz, 2016). The second question, which is integrated with the pragmatic social skills, actually depicts the target areas. Of course, when an individual adopts English as a second language, he may be directive towards some target areas. This is facts that complete a cultural adaptation is tough. Therefore, as far as the pragmatic social skills are concerned, the English language can play a vital role. It can be said that classroom activities provided a social, interactive, and communicative environment for the students. It helped the students to practice speaking while learning new vocabulary and it encouraged students to engage and socialized into the American culture. The last question was, does the use of activities have a positive effect on learning vocabulary? From the previous questions, we can conclude that activities have a positive effect on learning vocabulary since it provided an interactive environment in which the students were communicating and socializing actively using their past knowledge, experiences along what they are learning in the classroom to communicate with the instructor and with each other (Carstens, 2015).
We can also state that class activities, which we have devised after systematically studying previous studies and methods, which have been adopted to produce results, produced the desired results and we can infer that because of these devised class activities, students not only learned English language, as their second language but also learned about American Culture (Tomalin & Stempleski, 2013).
As seen from the observations, classroom activities helped the students to engage and socialize with each other and with the instructor. In addition, it helped the students to use the language through telling stories and engaging in discussions. Moreover, these findings supported Vygotsky’s argument that interactive environment helps language learners achieve higher knowledge of the language. It also supported that learning a second language requires students to involve socially and culturally with the language. It supported that teaching culture help students to understand to develop an awareness of the social language skills (pragmatic language) in the target culture as well as to understand how to interact and behave with native speakers (Tomalin and Stempleski, 2013).
Conclusion
In conclusion, the aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of vocabulary instruction in helping ESL students to socialize into the American culture through classroom activities. The results support previous studies that either emphasized the importance of classroom activities or language socialization. Due to time limitation, several observations could not have been conducted. As a further investigation regarding this area, I would like to see whether the results would be the same if few observations conducted in more than one classroom and compare different vocabulary instructions to see what kind of vocabulary activities are more effective regarding helping students to socialize into the American culture.
References
Abbaspour, E., Rajaee , M., & Zare. (2012). How to integrate culture in second language education. Journal of education and practice , 20-24.
Carstens, S. (2015). Bilingual Education for Global Citizenship: Creating an Integrated Language/Culture Curriculum for Mandarin/English Students. Human Organization; Oklahoma City , 74 (1), 16-26.
Lee, J., & Heinz, M. (2016). English Language Learning Strategies Reported By Advanced Language Learners. Journal of International Education Research; Littleton , 12 (2), 67.
Machata, M. (2013). The Role Of Second Language In Negotiating Emotions And Identity. Romanian Economic and Business Review; Brasov , 18, 139-156.
Tomalin, B., & Stempleski, S. (2013). Cultural Awareness-Resource Books for Teachers. Oxford University Press.
Tosky King, E., & M. Scott, L. (2014). English as gatekeeper: linguistic capital and American schools. Journal for Multicultural Education; Bingley , 8 (4), 226-236.
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