Literature as a Medium Which Conveys the Culture of the Target Language Essay Example for Free

Literature as a Medium Which Conveys the Culture of the Target Language Essay The purpose of this paper is to familiarize foreign language instructors with the effectiveness of using literature as a mean of bridging the cultural gap between students and the target language. It will also discuss how teaching literature can help students become more effective communicators in the target language and at the same time making them appreciate other cultures different from their own. This may lead to say that, one of the major functions of teaching literature in a foreign language classroom is to serve as a medium to transmit the culture of the target language of the people who speak the language in which it is written. Therefore, literary texts can offer to the students a colorful world that reflects the culture of the language community. As readers; students get engaged within these texts, they come to understand how the characters in such literary works experience life and how they speak and behave in different settings. However , the study of literature can be considered as a method in which students can dive into the cultural experience of the language throughout the imagery and metaphors mentioned in a given text, as Gray points out: â€Å" Students learn to see a world through another’s eye,observing human values , different kind of living and discovering that others live very different societies. they will understand and become broadly aware of the social,political,historical,cultural events happening in a given society. . The role of literature in language teaching Literature, when defined as a subject of study, is an activity that involves and uses language (O’Sullivan, 1991). Ganakumaran et al (2003) stated that it is also referred to as the big â€Å"L† that focuses on the literariness of a text. It is an example of language in use and a context for language use. Literature is seen as a medium in which students’ appreciation of different system language organizat ion can be developed. Therfore, studying literature, on the whole, may not be considered as a reaction but rather as an interaction between the reader , the writer and their cultures. From an other parameter ,the teaching of literature in foreign language classrooms is essential and can be used as a perfect instrument to stimulate and speed up the teaching and learning process Carter and Long (1991). In other words, literature contributes in helping the students to explore knowledge ,promote their literacy development and fosters their language proficiency. Also, literature may provide effective, attitudinal and experiential factors which will motivate students to read McKay (1982). As a matter of fact, Obeidat (1997) said that literature has much to offer than language would normally do, since it has greater freedom and since it acknowledges no linguistic barriers which could refrain our ability to use language. Therefore, it is undeniable that literature helps to improve students’ command of language and the ability to use it freely, not solely as a linguistic, but as a cultural, intellectual, social and psychological medium of expression. In terms of using literature to teach language, Brumfit and Carter (1986) asserted that literary texts not only can grip the reader’s imagination more strongly but they can also be promoted for the examination of language at work. Littlewood (2005) also observed that although such texts were predominantly valuable for developing reading skills, it could be exploited for purposes such as explaining grammar teaching and indicating various types of language usage. Since literary texts contain language intended for native speakers, literature stands as a model for language learners to become familiar with different forms and conventions (Collie and Slater, 1991). Containing real examples of grammatical structures and vocabulary items, the literary texts raise learners’ awareness of the range of the target language and advance their competence in all language skills (Povey, 1967). Second, using literature in language teaching has the advantage of providing cultural information about the target language. Literary texts increase foreign language learners’ insight into the country and the people whose language is being learnt (Collie and Slater, 1991), which fosters learners’ ability to interpret discourse in different social and cultural target language contexts (Savvidou, 2004). . Literature as an instruments that stimulates the knowledge of the culture Teaching literature stimulates the imagination of the students and develops their critical abilities by getting them involved in interpreting the different symbols and meanings found in the text. They become more productive and adventurous when they perceive the richness and diversity of the language. Therefore, it is vital if educators create a harmonious literary atmosphere ,they may enable their students to immerse themselves in the story by turning the classroom into a cultural island where students interact with the text, share different viewpoints about the settings, the style, the language. Researchers have recognized that the benefits of using literature in three core areas: First , literature is beneficial to language development( John and Louis, 1987; Morgan, 1998; Myonghee, 2004;Sage,1987); second, literature enhances the knowledge of ulture and society which is too complicated to be captured by any single piece of expository writing; Third, literature fosters critical thinking by offering readers multiple perspectives especially in books with issues such as immigration, cultural differences, social upheavals (Edmondson 1995/6). John Lye (2003) believed that literature captures the complexities of the human situation, illustrating (dramatically, imaginatively, compellin gly) the grounds and the meanings of values, and the nuances of our experiences. It also allows us imaginatively to inhabit the lives, the experiences, the meanings of others. Lye(2003) added that literature challenges the sentimentalization of values, and those distortions of values which serve the ends of the powerful, the opportunistic, and those who want only to serve their own desires ,from an other parameter, literature explores and reflects conflicts in the culture itself, conflicts in the values and ideas of the culture, the conflict of social groups (ethnic, racial, class, gender, religious and so forth), in addition to that ,it offers a sense of identity and community, by establishing and founding narratives which capture the essence of what typifies the culture or community, or by dramatizing those particular stories and images which give the culture a sense of common meaning and purpose. 4.  Applying literature and culture in language teaching classroom When it comes to learning a new language there can be no substitute for actually living in a country where this language is spoken. Besides, teaching literature does not mean ,limit students to take a passive role but to stimulate students to be engaged proactively within the target language. However, foreign language teachers can provide literary texts best by turning their literature classes into a community where students can engage themselves actively with the culture and the language they are studying and where the emphasis in class could be on ‘cultural experience rather than cultural awareness. As Duff and Maley point out, â€Å"literature offers universal themes which are relevant to students’ own experience,it is also a mirror that reflects and heightens each learner’s perception of the social world. Thus, literary texts are opened to multiple interpretations and interactions†. Students cannot remain passive if they are to interpret and understand what they are reading. They are placed â€Å"in an active interactional role in working with and making sense of the target language guided by the teacher, they have to actively participate and interact with each other. Literature and culture in foreign language teaching can provide linguistic and artistic elements and perspectives to students.  Through literature as well as culture, students could have the opportunity to establish a connection with the target language and realize that their own personal, social,cultural and historical contexts have been influenced by a foreign language and a foreign culture and how, in a symbiotic process, this other culture has been nourished. Culture, on the other hand, offers an interdisciplinary field that includes artistic discourses, social conventions, and reflexive impacts. It opens the door for students to increase their knowledge of the target culture as they can contemplate and critically comment on people’s way of life, values, attitudes, and beliefs, and regard how these elements can have an impact in linguistic categories and forms. Indeed,language found a soulmate in literature, and they are inserted in culture.

History of Herman Melville :: essays research papers

Herman Melville was born in New York City on August 1, 1819. He was the third child of eight. Herman went to school early in New York City. His dad used to travel a lot and used to tell him stories which sparked his love of adventure. His father was always on boats and told stories about the giant waves and the ships breaking like sticks. His father also enjoyed talking about Liverpool also, being that it was one of his father’s favorite places to visit. His father was an importer of French goods and became bankrupt and insane and he died when Melville was 12. When his dad died the family moved to a small town along the Hudson River and he stayed there until 1835 which is when he went to the Albany Classical School for a year or so. Herman’s mother was left alone to raise eight children. When Herman was 7 he had scarlet fever in and it left Melville with permanently weakened eyesight. Richard Henry Dana wrote a book called â€Å"Two Years Before the Mast†. That book was published in 1840, and was at once talked of everywhere. Melville must have read it at the time. The next year after he read it he once more signed up for a ship, and on January 1, 1841, sailed from New Bedford, Massachusetts harbor in the whaler Acushnet that was going for the Pacific Ocean and the sperm fishery. He didn’t leave much information as to the events of this time, but he may of wrote â€Å"Moby-Dick† because of this time. Melville decided to abandon the vessel when it got to the Marquesas Islands and when he was there he wrote â€Å"Typee† and its sequel, â€Å"Omoo†. After staying on the Marquesas Islands he shipped for Honolulu. He stayed there for four months and worked as a clerk. He joined a ship called which reached Boston and the continued stopping on the way at one of the Peruvian ports in 1844. While he was there he used his experiences to wr ite â€Å"White Jacket† Herman Melville married Elizabeth Shaw on August 4, 1847. This was the end of all his travels on ships. Herman Melville and his wife lived in New York City until 1850. In 1850 they bought a farmhouse at Pittsfield. Herman Melville stayed here for thirteen years and continued with his writing, and taking care of his.

Annotated Bib Gender Roles

Gender Roles in the Workplace: Annotated Bibliography Karissa Roveda Oakland University Rochester, MI Adler, M. A. (1994). Male-Female power differences at work: A comparison of supervisor and policymakers. Sociological Inquiry, 64(1), 37-55. This article spoke of the positions of power between men and women, and how policymakers and supervisors distribute that power to men and women. In the work place, when considering for advancement, employers have undefined criteria such as personality characteristics and potential managerial qualities.These standards become the cause of inequality in authority and power at work place. Jobs that are available for women have low wages and also less authority. Similar research studies have shown similar points, in that inequality is found at the workplace because of such gender based characteristics. Even though women were shown to be more educated, they do not follow the same status. The researcher in this study used methodology to find these ineq ualities at the work place. The study consisted of four data points to test and used 531 women and 619 men for this data.The author collected data for power in wage labor, employment, sample characteristics and occupation by education. The results showed that men achieve higher positions and also showed they have a higher chance at a supervisory level and more authority than women. In the workplace, gender is a major part of determining positions of power. Also, it shows that education is more important to get supervisor positions, which is less effective for women. This study demonstrates the inequality between men and women that makes men more prone to positions of power than women.The data and research clearly showed that women have greatly less access to positions of power and authority at work place than men, and that gender is the key factor in determining those positions. Policymakers and supervisors may indeed make regulations promoting equality but gender bias is still obvi ously exhibited. Carbonell, J. L. , & Castro, Y. (2008). The impact of a leader model on high dominant women’s self-selection for leadership. Sex Roles ,58,776-783. This study had women observe a leader model of either gender model a task they would have to complete. The study looked at effects of ender role model in the decision of high dominant women to be leaders, given a masculine task to complete with a male co-worker. The hypothesis states that women would become leaders at a higher rate when a woman model is given rather than a male. The research took a total of 190 students: 95 women and 95 men. Each individual was given the California Psychological Inventory, measuring: impression, communication, and dominance. This study looked at dominance in particular. Only 15 pairs were exposed to women models. The study observed 2 groups to support or reject their hypothesis.Focused groups were made of high dominant woman paired with a low dominant man with a female model, and high dominant woman paired with a low dominant man with a male model. A chi square analysis showed a correlation between leader model and leader development, â€Å"The results are that 60% of women took the leader role when given a woman model compared to 20% in male model† (Castro, 2008). The study concluded in the presence of a female model, high dominant individual would be the leader. The gender of the leader model did not affect leadership for males. I believe this study shows importance of woman leader models in professional fields.The lack of exposure of woman leaders for women reduces the chances that they will take on leadership roles. Katz, D. (1987). Sex discrimination in hiring: The influence of organizational climate and need for approval on decision making behavior. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 11(1), 11-20. Previous studies have caused the idea that equally skilled men and women are assessed unequally when applying for jobs. The present study observes the inf luence from different organizational workplaces or â€Å"the quality of an organization’s internal environment† (Katz, 1987), and society’s need for approval on the notion of biased employees decisions.The study sought out three main hypotheses, if an unfair organizational environment would influence people to hire a male applicant over an identical female applicant. Second, that in a workplace a male applicant would be ranked as a better fit and more likely to stay with the company longer than a female applicant. And third, that those subjects with a high need of approval would match more to the demands of job on the hire and salary assessments than lower approval motivation applicants. The study included 161 male undergrads enrolled in a business class.They were given a booklet which contained experimental materials necessary in controlling organizational workplace. They were also given either a female or male completed application and asked for their judgment s on an applicant’s suitability for the position. Results from the experiment showed that as initially expected, males were favored over females in the unfair environment. The results also showed that males were chosen as fitting significantly better than females, and that men were also offered higher salaries in the same conditions.In my opinion, the implications of this study can establish that the workplace can deeply influence the decisions of hiring workers and lead to gender bias. McTavish, D. , & Miller, K. (2009). Gender balance in leadership? Reform and modernization in the UK further education sector. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 37(3), 350-365. The research question that this article attempted to answer was â€Å"Why are few women advancing into leadership positions despite a large number of women being employed into the further education sector? † (McTavish & Miller, 2009).The further education sector employs a high proportion of wome n yet relatively few women progress into leadership positions. The article seeks to provide explanations for this gender imbalance and argues that despite change and modernization initiatives, the further education sector remains gendered in many aspects of leadership, governance and executive practices. The only major difference between male and female academics was that female academics were twice as given to apply for promotion if supported by their line manager, and male academics were twice as likely to apply if there was an opportunity to influence college power.Also female academics were twice as likely to apply if they were obtained feedback through their staff review. There are many conclusions that were drawn from this study. Reform and structural change have definitely led to a larger number of possibilities for women. Changes in organizational policy have led to a friendlier environment for females. Women have to adjust to masculine managerial styles, such as competitive ness. In addition, even though it appears that the reforms are creating gender balance, in reality; women are still going to their stereotypical roles such as teaching and lecturing.Meyerson, Debra E. , and Joyce K. Fletcher. â€Å"A Modest Manifesto for Shattering the Glass Ceiling. † Harvard Business Review (2000): 127-36. â€Å"Gender discrimination is now so deeply embedded in organizational life as to be virtually indiscernible. Even the women who feel its impact are often hard-pressed to know what hit them† (Meyerson & Fletcher, 127). The authors believe that the glass ceiling will be shattered â€Å"only through a strategy that uses small wins-incremental changes aimed at biases so entrenched in the system that they're not even noticed until they're gone† (Meyerson & Fletcher,128).The small wins approach to change was developed by Karl Weick. The authors emphasize that real and lasting change can be made by small changes, and that these small changes are not threatening to any stakeholders. For example, one firm discovered it could recruit women more effectively simply by increasing the length of the interview time from 30 minutes to 45 minutes, which gave female candidates just a little bit more time to â€Å"bond† with their middle-aged male interviewers. Another firm reversed its high turnover rate for female middle managers by bringing more discipline to meetings, ensuring that meetings started and ended on time.This would be a change that freed all employees from the need to be available 15 hours per day. I personally think both strategies are very effective because at least these firms are putting in the effort to make a difference through the gender roles fairness in the workplace. Roos, P. A. (1981). Sex stratification in the workplace: Male-Female differences in economic returns to occupation. Social Science Research, 10(3), 195-224. The study causes the idea that there is a large earning gap between men and women.Ge nder differences in earning are important because it focuses on the gender-based inequalities of power at the workplace. The author of the study used a literature review to explain the gender gap in earning, and it showed that sex segregated characteristics still remain at the occupational level. It shows that women work at low paying jobs and they are less likely to use authority in those jobs. The main reason why there are gender differences in earnings is the belief of human capital theory, and it has a huge concern with the supply side of the market.The researcher used a non-institutionalized English speaking population to explain the data for gender influenced gap in earning. The sample included 959 men and 670 women. The results showed that women are paid low wages, and are in positions of low responsibility. Even when a women reaches a higher level job, their earning is much lower than that of men. The results also show that women’s low income is mainly because of thei r job characteristics, in that men and women are distributed differently across jobs.Men earn more than women, mainly because women are not considered employers. The study demonstrated that the characteristics of the workers create inequality at the workplace; this is also a reason for why there is a large gap in earning between genders. Human capital theory discourages women from working and it presents women as low rent employees. They have less understanding of the mean of production. The characteristics of this research show improvement in the earnings of men and women. Yuping Zhang and Emily Hannum and Meiyan Wang. Gender-Based Employment and Income Differences in Urban China: Considering the Contributions of Marriage and Parenthood. † Social Forces 86. 4 (2008): 156-159. Web. 2 April 2010. This article is based on the income differences and job opportunities of workers in urban China between men and women and why these differences exist. These authors argue that married women and parents receive the biggest disadvantage amongst female workers in China due to their lack of capital regarding education, energy and financially.These particular women are not able to make as many social connections as men do due to their role in the household and so they are at a great disadvantage. In China’s market it is essential to have these kinds of social connections. It is a capitalistic society where everyone is out for his or herself and so people must use other people to get what they want. If these connections are not present then these urban female workers will not be able to make nearly as much progress and therefore will be much less successful.It is these expectations that cheapen the women and set them at a great disadvantage if they ever plan on having a family and household to upkeep. This lack of opportunity in the article is summarized as a disadvantage of ‘time use’ due to being a wife and having children in comparison to those w ho do not. However, if a woman were to decide that she didn’t want a family and wanted to primarily focus on her work this would be frowned upon in society, due to how valued the dynamic of family is in China.

All Men Created Equal Essay - 1091 Words

All Men Created Equal America has undergone incredible hardships as a nation. No issue has had more impact on the development of the American definition of freedom than the issue of slavery. Did the Constitution specify which men were created equal? Surprisingly enough the phrase quot;all men are created equal with certain inalienable rightsquot; did not mean what it does today. The nation was divided on the issue of slavery and the rights of the black man in its early stages as a growing republic. Abraham Lincoln was a brave pioneer who dared to rub his hand against the grain of slavery bringing the original ideals of Americas founders to a new light. He was a man who felt he was witnessing a slow decay in the foundation of the†¦show more content†¦They did not mean to say all were equal in color, size, intellect, moral developments, or social capacity.quot; This statement was perfectly logical. The Declaration goes on to state that the quot;inalienable rightsquot; that human beings have are the rights to quot;life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.quot; This was the idea which Abraham believed was the quot;standard maxim for free society.quot; Abraham even used a parallel from the Bible. quot;As your Father in Heaven is perfect, be ye also perfect.quot; This quote from Matthew 5:48 was used to illustrate that God had set an impossible goal for us to attain, and in the same way the framers of the Constitution and writers of the Declaration of Independence gave mankind an endeavor to give equality to all mankind. Douglas argued that the writers only meant to give the British citizens in America equal rights to the British citizens then residing in Great Britain. Douglas argument for this hypothesis was: quot;they [the writers] referred to the white race alone, and not to the African, when they declared all men to have been created equalquot; It was terribly wrong because ‘white did not necessarily mean British. Where did this statement leave white immigrants from Germany and France who were not necessarily ‘British? The Declaration was not meant as a mere statement of liberation from Britain but as the basis of aShow MoreRelatedAll Men Are Created Equal1313 Words   |  6 Pagesthe principal of â€Å"all men are created equal†, would discriminate against women. In today’s society, the traditional roles, values, and thoughts placed upon women from prehistoric times still play a central part in the inequality women face every day. The day I no longer have to worry about what I’m wearing will label me as a â€Å"slut,† is the day that women will be thought of as more than just sexual objects. 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It was set and meant to last for a very long time. Thomas Jefferson was the one who made the phrase famous, but it was his great friend Philip Mazzei who first used the saying through a letter written to Jefferson called â€Å"JointRead MoreThe Declaration Of Independence, All Men Are Created Equal1442 Words   |  6 PagesThe Declaration of Independence states â€Å"all men are created equal.† However, that concept does not contribute to Fredrick Douglass and Red Jacket, who represent two different cultures with a similar dilemma. Both argue the hypocrisy of the document, that only applies to a certain population of the United States of America. In addition, Douglass and Red Jacket are defending their beliefs among the injustices that they have came across with the â€Å"whites†. Even though Red Jacket is speaking up among