ELT Journal Advance Access originally published online on May 23, 2008
ELT Journal 2009 63(2):116-125; doi:10.1093/elt/ccn018
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press; all rights reserved.
Raising sociocultural awareness through contextual analysis: some tools for teachers
Troy McConachy holds an MA (Applied Linguistics) from the University of New England, Australia. He is currently conducting his doctoral research on intercultural language teaching through the Research Centre for Languages and Cultures at the University of South Australia. He also lectures on English and intercultural communication at Rikkyo University, Tokyo
Email: mcconachyt{at}hotmail.com
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Abstract |
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Despite long-standing recognition of the importance of sociocultural context in meaning making, criticisms have been levelled at communicative language teaching (CLT) for failing to effectively address this at the level of classroom practice. In fact, it has been argued that the way CLT presents content reveals a fundamentally reductionist view of communication. This paper uses examples of dialogues from the New Interchange series to briefly illustrate what can be considered a typical shortcoming of many modern commercial English language textbooks: the neglect of the place of sociocultural context in dialogues and dialogue-related activities. This paper shows two ways in which this neglect is manifested and then suggests some concrete ways that teachers can use the SPEAKING model developed by Hymes (1972) to increase their awareness of elements of sociocultural context and also develop analytical questions for learners.