NURIA CALVO CORTÉS

Universidad Complutense

Language meeting culture in the foreign language classroom. A contrastive study

Lingüística aplicada

Languages are not abstract concepts that can be isolated from the culture of the countries where they are spoken. Therefore, when someone is learning a Foreign Language (FL), he/ she also needs to learn about the specific culture or cultures – as it may be spoken in different parts of the world, as it is the case both when referring to Spanish and to English language – where such a language is the people’s Mother Tongue (MT). The present paper shows the result of two practical analyses – one about Spanish as an FL in As and A Level British students and the other one about English as an FL in Bachillerato Spanish students – which included a multiple choice test and a written activity and which were especially designed for this survey. Such analyses were carried in order to see both if culture is taught in FL lessons and how it is taught as well as if students transfer from their own culture into the FL one when interpreting and producing that language they are trying to learn. As it is a contrastive study, the ways language meets culture in the FL lessons in both countries described will be compared. The conclusion will show that unless those cultural aspects are taught both in Spanish as an FL and English as an FL lessons, learners will not achieve full communicative competence and therefore, they will never be proficient in the language they are trying to learn.



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