Reading at school lacks cultural aspects

Setiono, Lecturer, Faculty of Education, Atmajaya Catholic University, Jakarta

One particular area of language teaching in which new questions are being asked about the relationship between language and thought is in the teaching of reading. If viewed psycholinguistically, reading may indeed involve an interactive process between language and thought. It means that to understand a reading passage not only has one to decipher the meaning of certain words and linguistic symbols, but one must also be able to grasp beyond the message that the author intends to convey.

Reading skill, as one of the four language skills that an English learning student has to possess, has become the main objective of Teaching English as a Foreign Language in Indonesia. The product of this language teaching policy can be viewed in at some different points.

Teaching materials designed are overwhelmingly enriched with reading passages; and secondly, testing materials, especially the national evaluation system and the entrance examination to the universities, are always given in the form of reading passages, based on which the students answer their questions.

Ironically, despite the fact that reading has become the emphasis in 1994 curriculum, many students, even in university level, are still weak in their reading comprehension.

One of the sources why many English teachers fail to teach reading skills is their unawareness or probably their ignorance toward the importance of the cultural background that a student should possess whey they are learning a foreign language.

Teaching reading hitherto has been focused on vocabulary memorization and linguistic signs recognition. Those two skills, though they are necessary to understand a reading passage, is not sufficient.

In most cases, however, it is inevitable for a teacher to provide their students with cultural background as most of the passages taken from reading materials are culture bound. It is believed that the more cultural background knowledge the students possess, the more likely they will be able to comprehend reading passages.

To illustrate this argument, consider, for example, an EFL reader who is given a passage containing references to events such as Halloween and Thanksgiving. The passage he reads could be empty and nothing at all provided that he has no knowledge of such cultural specifics.

In contrast, if a student is given a text containing the aspect of promptness in American culture, he/she will find out that promptness is highly valued in American life. The text, thus, gives the student new information, that is, promptness is not appreciated as highly by Indonesians as by Americans.

To learn a foreign language is indeed almost impossible without learning about the culture of the people using that language. When we teach the language without, at the same time, teaching the culture in which it operates, we are teaching meaningless symbols or symbols to which the students attach the wrong meaning. Thus, culture is a necessary component of language pedagogy.

In reading, meaning is derived not only from information contained in the text, but also from background information (such as culture and familiarity with the topic, to mention a few) the readers possess about the content of the text. In this case, reading is an interaction between writer and reader, which cannot be obtained without an insight into the culture of the target language (TL).

It is not adequate for students merely to decipher the surface meaning of a reading text because reading can be regarded as a multifaceted skill as well as complex decoding operation.

From the above arguments, it can therefore be inferred that inasmuch as reading comprehension depends on the necessary background knowledge, it is mandatory for teachers to try to determine whether or not students have the needed cultural and background knowledge to correctly interpret the text they are given.

Finally and most importantly, in order to avoid misinterpretations and prejudices, reading teachers are obliged to increase awareness of their students' own attitudes as well as sensitivity to cross cultural differences. Developing intercultural sensitivity does not mean that the students need to lose their cultural identities, but rather they recognize cultural influences within themselves and within others.

It seems obvious now that because many materials in reading passages are culturally oriented, it is imperative for reading teachers to provide their students with cultural background information. The lack of cultural background will undoubtedly bring a detrimental effects on students. They will not be able to comprehend reading text successfully unless they have any ideas about the culture of the native people of the target language, in this case English.

From the classroom observation, there is a growing amount of evidence that one very important factor affecting the reading comprehension of learners is the lack of the necessary cultural background knowledge.

In order to facilitate successful reading comprehension and develop proficiency in reading culturally unfamiliar materials, it is worth considering the following suggestions:

* Select and develop culturally appropriate reading materials based on the students' interest and language competence since it is believed that the more interesting the materials are, the greater their comprehension will be.

* Provide the students with adequate knowledge of the background culture of the reading materials.

* Assign them with activities that will focus on the texts and on the cultural assumptions on them.

* Finally, encourage the students to generate questions at various points in the passage they read.

The role of teachers in assisting their students with cultural background have a significant effect on the success of the students in accomplishing reading comprehension.