HOW SHOULD CULTURES BE TAUGHT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE CLASS?

埼玉県越谷市There is no consensus among teachers on how to deal with foreign cultures in the English language class. Some teachers insist that English should be essentially acultural because it has already been the medium for international communication. Many teachers, however, contend that just for the same reason, it has been more and more important to induce their students to become aware of a variety of cultures of the world. In my opinion, most cross-cultural studies in the past have focussed on the contrasts between cultures and have tended to ignore their more universal features hidden under all human behavior. I will propose in this article to use the Kluckholn model as a means of analyzing the value system of a particular culture so that we can turn our students' attention to the more universal features of human culture. Thus our students will even-tually be able to take more sympathetic attitudes toward different cultures alien to them. 英語教育における異文化の扱いはあいまいである。英語は国際語だから「脱文化」でよいという意見もある。しかし英語教科書で見る限り，扱う文化はグローバルなものとなり，多様化しており，異文化の教育はますます重要となっている。従来，異文化の教育は文化間の表面的な違いに重点が置かれていたが，異文化に対する寛容な態度を養うという観点から，これからはもっと文化の普遍的特性に気づかせる指導が必要ではなかろうか。クラックホーン・モデルはそのような指導の可能性を示唆してくれる