profile 3.p65


Although our ultimate goal is to enable our learners to become autonomous and efficient in their
use of the foreign language, whether or not
they have the opportunity to ever live and
interact in a foreign language setting, our
work as teachers must involve a conscious
analysis of the different factors involved in
this process, as well as the conscious effort
to put all the intervening factors into action.
Furthermore, it is our responsibility to
develop the learners’ thinking skills as they
increase their competence in the target
language and at the same time make them
aware of their responsibility for their own
processes and success by enhancing their
autonomy and making them aware of the
value of learning strategies. It is our task as
teachers to be present on this journey and
guide our learners towards becoming
architects and masters of their own foreign
language construct. In order for this journey
to be a successful one, we must make sure
we provide the learner with a correct supply
of building blocks.

In this paper we present an analysis of
the main components comprised in teaching
English as a foreign language, including a
historical overview of methods, approaches,
s t r a t e g i e s ,  t h e  c o n c e p t  o f  l e a r n e r ’ s
autonomy, social and psychological factors,
aiming at contributing to every teacher’s
reflection on his/her task in the school
context.

FROM BUILDING BLOCKS TO ARCHITECTS

EMPOWERING LEARNERS FOR SUCCESS

Juana Mahissa Reyes M.Juana Mahissa Reyes M.Juana Mahissa Reyes M.Juana Mahissa Reyes M.Juana Mahissa Reyes M.
Foreign Languages Department, Universidad Nacional de Colombia

juana.reyes@cyclelogic.com

1. F1. F1. F1. F1. Foreign language acquisition in theoreign language acquisition in theoreign language acquisition in theoreign language acquisition in theoreign language acquisition in the
classrclassrclassrclassrclassroom, a historical overoom, a historical overoom, a historical overoom, a historical overoom, a historical over viewviewviewviewview

Throughout the years, teachers of a foreign
language have been trained according to
certain beliefs, theories and methods which
at the time have been considered the most
effective and successful ones. However, not
one of those different approaches or methods
has lasted longer than a few years. Why does
the way of teaching change so much? It may
be due to the fact that mankind is evolving
constantly and the ways of our ancestors have
become obsolete nowadays, when learners are
surrounded by a completely different world.
Let us take a look at some of those
predecessors to the ways of teaching we favour
today in order to later on analyze why we
have moved forward since then.

1 . 11 . 11 . 11 . 11 . 1 Behaviourists: Learners as parBehaviourists: Learners as parBehaviourists: Learners as parBehaviourists: Learners as parBehaviourists: Learners as parrrrrrotsotsotsotsots

What is the nature of learning, and how
can we determine if learning has successfully
taken place? For behaviourists (Skinner: 1957)
language learning was the result of imitation,
feedback, reinforcement and habit formation.
These ideas originated in the audio-lingual
method, which considered the mother tongue
as a problem when learning a new language.



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Corder (1967) proposed the notion of
contrastive analysis, which defended the idea
that learners would produce some mistakes
which were predictable, and they were tackled
using drills, mimicking, memorization, and
repetition. The role of the learner was similar
to the one of a parrot, and there was little or
no real communication taking place. His/her
only responsibilities consisted of memorizing
expressions and vocabulary. Perhaps the only
benefit of this method was practicing
pronunciation and intonation patterns, but it
is difficult to imagine that the learners were
ever able to successfully transfer any of the
classroom “knowledge” to the real world. The
role of the teacher consisted of supplying
material, assessing the students, and being a
model for the target language, with little
reflection on the task or its use for the learner.

1.2 Innatism, the genetic capacity for1.2 Innatism, the genetic capacity for1.2 Innatism, the genetic capacity for1.2 Innatism, the genetic capacity for1.2 Innatism, the genetic capacity for
learning languageslearning languageslearning languageslearning languageslearning languages

A different perspective on learning came
from innatism, on which Noam Chomsky
based his theories on language acquisition
(Chomsky: 1959). According to this view,
human beings have a Language Acquisition
Device (LAD), and the environment which
they grow up in provides them with samples
which will trigger this device. Chomsky also
refers to a Universal Grammar (UG) which
exists in the human brain since birth, and which
has some common underlying principles to
all existing human languages. Through
exposure, children will activate their UG with
the specific characteristics of their native

language. According to this view, there was a
critical period for learning, after which it
seemed, the opportunity to learn a language
would be gone. For Foreign Language
Learning, the implications of this model would
be that the learner would benefit from
exposure in order to activate his UG for a
new language. However, it has not been
clarified whether there exists a critical period
for second or foreign language acquisition.
Based on Chomsky’s concepts of competence
and performance, learning of a foreign
language was a process for creating the means
for the formation of Competence in L2
through exposure to real language
(performance). In this view, the role of the
student was similar to the role of a plant:
being exposed to the sun rays and carrying
out internal processes, with little idea of his
own role. The teacher’s responsibility in this
case consisted of providing a graded series
of materials and oral instances of the target
language, but other essential aspects such as
psychological and social factors were ignored.

1.3 Learning vs. acquisition1.3 Learning vs. acquisition1.3 Learning vs. acquisition1.3 Learning vs. acquisition1.3 Learning vs. acquisition

Within the framework of innatism, Stephen
Krashen (1982) thought that the development
of knowledge by learners of a second/foreign
language occurs in two possible ways:
learning vs. acquisition. Learning takes place
when the student has gone through a
conscious process of study, and acquisition
occurs when the learner is exposed to
language he understands. In his view, only
through the process of acquisition will the
learner be successful in fluent, natural
communication. Acquisition takes place only
through exposure to what Krashen called
comprehensible input, which is input slightly
above the student’s level of competence.
Learning would not lead to success in the



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21 PROFILEPROFILEPROFILEPROFILEPROFILE

target language, as students would be too
focused on form rather than meaning, and
they would be blocked by what Krashen
defined as the monitor (a self-correcting
mechanism used by the learner), and also by
an affective filter which would block the natural
evolution in the language.

Communicative language teaching based itself
greatly on Krashen’s ideas. In this view the learner
is involved in more meaningful interaction, and
he receives comprehensible input. He/she is also
involved in activities which lower his/her affective
filter, and focus on rules is no longer required.
From this perspective, the learner’s needs are
given more consideration, and we can say that
the teacher becomes more involved in the
learning process by providing opportunities for
real communication, and coming up with more
enjoyable lessons. Although some of these
contributions have enlightened the field of EFL/
ESL teaching, and are still valuable, it is also
true that the value of explicit instruction cannot
be ignored. The concept of comprehensible
input alone may not be enough to cover all the
dimensions of language teaching and learning,
and the fact that the process of acquisition is
considered to be an unconscious one does
not cover the development of students’
autonomy and self awareness of their learning
processes. Another problem within this
conception lies in the fact that social interaction
is not given importance. Further developments
in this area would help eliminate these
weaknesses.

1.4 Interaction and affective factors1.4 Interaction and affective factors1.4 Interaction and affective factors1.4 Interaction and affective factors1.4 Interaction and affective factors

The interactionist position, supported by
Ellis (1984a, 1986), Hatch (1978), Teresa
Pica (1987) and Michael Long (1983), among
others, stated that although input was an
important component in the acquisition and

development of a second/foreign language, it
is not enough in itself. Conversational
interaction plays an essential role in this task.
For Ellis, a key factor in the language acquisition
process is “the opportunity afforded the learner
to negotiate meaning with an interlocutor,
preferably one who has more linguistic
resources than the learner and who is adept at
‘foreigner/teacher talk’” (1984a, p.184).
Learners need an opportunity to interact with
other speakers allowing modification of speech
to take place, leading learners to negotiate
meaning through interaction. These ideas were
also similar to Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory
of human mental processing (Vygotsky: 1978):
through interaction with “better peers”, the
learner makes progress and moves on to what
he called the Zone of Proximal Development
(ZPD). In order for this collective construction
of negotiated meaning to take place, the learner
should be involved in cooperative activities and
project work which are interesting to them.
The implication of these ideas is that learners
are indeed able to transform the knowledge of
the target language and fulfil communication
tasks for the purpose of negotiating and
processing information in a cooperative
situation. The role of the teacher in this
perspective would be providing students with
opportunities for meaningful interaction, and
establishing content which motivates the
students, so there is a real need and willingness
to negotiate meaning. Effectiveness of
communication would be favoured over
accuracy in order to allow for the development
of automaticity. This perspective would also
shed light on the concept of autonomy. By
enabling learners to take responsibility for
their tasks we are allowing them to explore
their own problem-solving skills and socio-
pragmatic competence, which is essential if
they are to negotiate meaning in the foreign
language setting.



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2. Comprehensible output2. Comprehensible output2. Comprehensible output2. Comprehensible output2. Comprehensible output

In addition to the relevance of input and
interaction, Swain (1985) defines the
importance of output in the process of
acquisition. Comprehensible output allows the
learner to confirm or correct hypotheses about
the target language, and reinforce the idea of
meaningful interaction. Through exchanges
with peers, or native speakers of the target
language, the learners are not only receiving
meaningful input, but they are also testing the
efficiency of their output and the ability to
“get the message across”. Besides, they are
testing their ideas about the language and
creating meaning through negotiation:
“Comprehensible output…. is a necessary
mechanism of acquisition independent of the
role of comprehensible input. Its role is, at
least, to provide opportunities for
contextualized, meaningful use, to test out
hypotheses about the target language, and to
move the learner from a purely semantic
analysis of language to a syntactic analysis of
it (Swain: 1985, 252).

Here we can think about the syntactic
aspect of language, and the importance of
interacting with “good models” in order to
improve accuracy. In an EFL situation, the
opportunities for interacting with native
speakers are limited, and therefore, there is a
risk of developing pidginized forms of the
language which even the teacher could suffer.
In order to minimize this risk, instruction on
form should be given its own place in the
classroom. This area could also be the object
of the students’ autonomy and self-assessment,
so they become aware of the importance of
accurate form after succeeding in “getting the
message across”. It is also the responsibility
of the teacher to keep up to date with the
mastery of the target language, and not

content him/herself with being a successful
facilitator of the learning situation.

3 .  M e t a l i n g u i s t i c  a w a r e n e s s .  H o w3 .  M e t a l i n g u i s t i c  a w a r e n e s s .  H o w3 .  M e t a l i n g u i s t i c  a w a r e n e s s .  H o w3 .  M e t a l i n g u i s t i c  a w a r e n e s s .  H o w3 .  M e t a l i n g u i s t i c  a w a r e n e s s .  H o w
important is it?important is it?important is it?important is it?important is it?

Allowing for opportunities to engage the
learners in successful communication,
negotiated interaction in a foreign language
learning situation, together with explicit
grammar instruction helps develop
metalinguistic awareness, which is the ability
to see language as the object of inquiry. This
awareness is associated with an increased ability
to learn a language. Within the classroom
situation, metalinguistic awareness is developed
by involving the learners in negotiation. As Gass
and Selinker explain: “….learners are made
aware of errors in their speech (…) through
the questioning and clarification that often goes
on in negotiation. In other words, negotiation
is what makes effective learners aware that there
is incongruity between the forms they are using
and the forms used by the native speaking
community. In order to respond to an inquiry
of non-understanding, the non-native speaker
must modify his or her output. For this to take
place the learner must become aware of a
problem and seek to resolve it. (…) One can
presume that negotiation, because it leads to
heightened awareness, ultimately leads to
increased knowledge of the second (foreign)
language”. (Gass and Selinker: 1994, 220)

So far, we have explored the different
conceptions involved in the acquisition of
knowledge in the target language and the
implications of setting up a successful learning
situation. Now we are going to analyze the
components, or “building blocks” which will
give our learners the ability to become efficient
transformers and creators of knowledge in
their use of the foreign language.



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23 PROFILEPROFILEPROFILEPROFILEPROFILE

4. Assembling the building blocks for4. Assembling the building blocks for4. Assembling the building blocks for4. Assembling the building blocks for4. Assembling the building blocks for
a successful constructa successful constructa successful constructa successful constructa successful construct

Communicative competence (comprising
grammatical, discourse, sociolinguistic,
pragmatic and strategic competence) is a key
element in human interaction, and all its aspects
are present in L1 or L2 interaction. While
grammatical competence involves the capacity
to make correct use of the devices a language
has in order to create native-like pieces of
language, discourse competence refers to the
capacity to create language that fits naturally
within larger pieces of language known as
discourse. Sociolinguistic competence, on the
other hand, refers to the ability to produce
language which responds to the needs of a
specific social group or situation, involving the
cultural aspects necessar y to achieve
communication. Pragmatic competence is the
capacity to make use of the language in order
to achieve a practical purpose, such as fulfilling
a basic need or getting something done,
whereas strategic competence refers to other
resources a speaker might turn to in order to
achieve his goal, including gestures, body
language, and so on.

Grammatical competence, which
comprises the study of morphology and syntax,
seems to be the least popular among both
teachers and students. First of all, this
component of foreign/second language
learning is unpopular among learners, who
think of rules and vocabulary as being boring,
monotonous components of a process that
eventually leads them to a kind of plateau.
For teachers and experts in the EFL/ESL field,

the role of grammar has been controversial,
dreaded by some, and favoured by others. It
is our view that in an efficient second/foreign
language learning situation, grammar (or
rather, the study of grammatical competence)
should be given the status of an essential
component.

The first reason why an optimal EFL/ESL
situation should involve the explicit study of
grammar lies in the fact that learners in the
classroom are building up their competence
in the target language. As explained earlier,
meaningful interaction will allow the learners
to develop their communication skills. It is
essential to provide explicit guidance on form,
so students do not fall into pidginized uses
of the language, and fossilize in a form of
language that is communicatively effective,
but which is not accurate. By enabling learners
to develop their target language in an accurate
way, we are allowing them to internalise the
target language code in a manner that is not
alienating to them, and which will eventually
allow them to interact successfully with the
users of that language at a dignified level.

Secondly, as suggested earlier, the study
of morphology and syntax develops
metalinguistic awareness in the learner. This
awareness is not a hindrance, as Krashen
suggested with his monitor model. On the
contrary, by enabling the learner to be aware
of certain standards required for the code to
be efficient, we give him the tools for self-
correction and self-adjustment, thus
developing his autonomy as a language user,
and expanding his possibilities for success in
his continued transformation and creation of
knowledge in the target language. This idea
stresses the importance of setting the study
of grammar within a context and content, so
the process of constructing the language takes



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24PROFILEPROFILEPROFILEPROFILEPROFILE

place in a way that makes sense to the student
and their mental processes, and fits in with
their idea of the target language as a whole.

The integration of grammatical competence
in an interactive way with the other areas of
communicative competence is essential.
Although this paper does not focus on the other
components of communicative competence
(discourse, sociolinguistic, pragmatic and
strategic competence), we want to stress their
fundamental role in establishing a solid model
for our students and in making the learning
process communicatively meaningful.

5 .  C o n s t r u c t i n g  s u c c e s s  t h r5 .  C o n s t r u c t i n g  s u c c e s s  t h r5 .  C o n s t r u c t i n g  s u c c e s s  t h r5 .  C o n s t r u c t i n g  s u c c e s s  t h r5 .  C o n s t r u c t i n g  s u c c e s s  t h ro u g ho u g ho u g ho u g ho u g h
learning strategieslearning strategieslearning strategieslearning strategieslearning strategies

According to Chamot and O’Malley
(1994), students can learn to use learning
strategies through instruction, and the use of
learning strategies can improve performance
on language learning tasks. This component
of the second/foreign language instruction has
recently been the object of a great deal of
analysis. Successful learners, consciously or
sub-consciously make use of a series of
strategies that facilitate their learning. The
choice of strategy seems to be made according
to the learner’s intelligence type, the type of
task, and the level of complexity. In addition,
the use of learning strategies for language
learning transfers to new tasks, promoting the
development of autonomy in learning, and
improving the organization of the thinking
processes. For Douglas Brown (1994),
“successful mastery of the second (or foreign)
language will be due to a large extent to a
learner’s own personal “investment” of time,
effort and attention to the second language in
the form of an individualized batter y of
strategies for comprehending and producing
the language”. (Brown: 1994, 20)

This is what Brown refers to as “strategic
investment”, which is an essential component
in the development of learners’ autonomy.
O’Malley and Chamot (1990) have identified
three major categories for learning strategies:
metacognitive strategies, cognitive strategies,
and social and affective strategies. As we can
see, the scope of learning strategies goes
beyond the organization of content or skills,
in order to involve awareness of mental
processes themselves, as well as the social
and affective domains, thus expanding the
conception of the learner as a whole human
being whose multiple dimensions interact
towards his success or failure. In order to
promote learner awareness and involvement
in their own development processes, we
should favour the explicit study of learning
strategies in developing autonomy.

6. Skills integration6. Skills integration6. Skills integration6. Skills integration6. Skills integration

Integration of the “four skills” is another
basic component of second/foreign language
instruction. The integration of the four
language skills is essential in meaningful
learning and communication. Language in the
“outside world” occurs naturally as a whole,
and one mode feeds on another. Skills
interrelate and derive from each other, and
production and reception are two sides of the
same communication and negotiation process.
Listening provides opportunities for speaking
and writing, reading leads itself to writing and
speaking responses (comments, discussions,
feedback), so this integration flows naturally.
Skills integration allows for a motivated and
dynamic classroom atmosphere, maintaining
a connecting thread through meaningful
content, cooperative learning, and the
development of the social and affective
components. With respect to the written
mode, the negotiation and creation of meaning



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25 PROFILEPROFILEPROFILEPROFILEPROFILE

take place as an interactive process between
the writer and the reader. The reader
constructs new meaning after relating to the
written text, and at the same time is able to
produce comprehensible output, after making
sense of what has been read, thus developing
his own construct. When the reading material
comes from other members of the class,
students can become more engaged in the
cooperative construction of meaning, and
their response to their classmates’ writing is
more “loaded” with their personal experience.
The living nature of the written word becomes
evident in this way, and from there, endless
opportunities for getting involved and
developing other skills flow naturally. We thus
favour the ideas of the whole language
approach, which believes that “language
should not be separated into component skills,
but rather experienced as a whole system of
communication.” (O’Malley and Chamot:
1994, 20).

Adding to the idea of integrating the four
language skills, we can mention the integration
within the classroom of other “modes” which,
in spite of their non-linguistic nature, are
nevertheless means of expression which lead
themselves to creating responses from the
learners. Music, painting, and dancing, for
example, can be incorporated into the
classroom as ways of promoting involvement
from the students, and evoking their responses
at a different level compared to the stiff,
traditional educational models. In this way
we give opportunities for other intelligence
types to relate in the target language and make
it their own. A poem, for example, would elicit
a drawing response which later on could
become the topic for written or oral
communication. Allowing the learning
situation to incorporate other manifestations
of human expression provides the students

with new ways of appropriating the language
and makes it a part of their own personal
expressive power and their individual nature.

7. Can we contribute to cognitive7. Can we contribute to cognitive7. Can we contribute to cognitive7. Can we contribute to cognitive7. Can we contribute to cognitive
development?development?development?development?development?

Traditionally, second/foreign language
teachers have considered it their responsibility
to be limited to the teaching of a code, and
assess the learner’s grasp of such code, and
then hope the learners will transform that code
for their own use in an effective way. However,
we have become aware of the importance of
incorporating other dimensions in order to
compound the possibility for learner success.
SL/FL Teachers are also responsible for the
Cognitive Development of their students, and
the way in which a second/foreign language is
learned can serve as a means to develop the
learner’s thinking skills, both in L1 and L2.
Within the framework of Cognitive Academic
Language Learning (better known as the
CALLA approach) (O’Malley and Chamot:
1994), the language needed by a student in a
content area requires a certain number of
functions, such as explaining, informing,
justifying, and comparing. The successful
accomplishment of these functions requires
the use of what O’Malley and Chamot call
lower-order and higher-order thinking skills.
In an EFL setting, contents have traditionally
been somewhat “light”, and therefore, many
of the language functions and development
of higher-order thinking skills have been
neglected. EFL textbooks have in general failed
to provide the learners with opportunities to
develop their cognitive academic language
skills. Learners who later on incorporate
themselves into an academic setting using the
target language often lack the necessary skills
to interact in the language at a demanding
cognitive level. Even if learners never find



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26PROFILEPROFILEPROFILEPROFILEPROFILE

themselves in an academic setting of the target
culture, they are often dealing with cognitively
demanding English in their areas of study. It
is in this area where Content-Based Language
Instruction would be most useful. (For further
discussion on how to develop thinking skills
through academic content see O’Malley and
Chamot, The CALLA Handbook, Addison-
Wesley Publishing Company, 1994).

8 .  H o w  i s  a u t o n o m y  b a s i c  i n  o u r8 .  H o w  i s  a u t o n o m y  b a s i c  i n  o u r8 .  H o w  i s  a u t o n o m y  b a s i c  i n  o u r8 .  H o w  i s  a u t o n o m y  b a s i c  i n  o u r8 .  H o w  i s  a u t o n o m y  b a s i c  i n  o u r
constructconstructconstructconstructconstruct

Another important component in the
architecture of foreign/second language
learning and also the object of reflection and
consideration is the concept of learner
autonomy. In the words of David Little,
autonomy is “a capacity –for detachment,
critical reflection, decision-making, and
independent action. It presupposes, but also
entails, that the learner will develop a
particular kind of psychological relation to
the process and content of his learning. The
capacity for autonomy will be displayed both
in the way the learner learns and in the way he
or she transfers what has been learned to wider
contexts” (Little: 1991, 4). It is our goal as
foreign/second language teachers, to ensure
our learners become successful in the creation
of their own construct of the target language.
Learners must develop independence, self-
confidence, and competence to interact within
the foreign language setting.

The development of autonomy involves
awareness raising in students and accepting
responsibility for their own learning, needs,
preferences, weaknesses, cognitive style and
intelligence type. Allowing learners to take
part in the decisions with respect to content,
materials, assessment and follow up are ways
to promote this independence and self-

responsibility. Related to this idea we find the
promotion of cooperative learning to enhance
student autonomy. By allowing for a variety
of different associations (as opposed to
teacher-centred instruction) to take place in
the classroom, learners become aware not only
of their own strengths and weaknesses, but
also develop a kind of “cooperative
autonomy”. Being aware of their peer ’s
different styles and strategies, learners devise
new ways for negotiation within a group, and
thus reflect upon their own strengths and
weaknesses, and assess their own hypotheses
about what works for them as individuals and
what does not.

Autonomy also refers to the learner’s
capacity to develop mastery of the range of
discourse roles that a native speaker of the
target language is involved in “real life”. In
order for this kind of autonomy to develop,
all the range of possible discourse roles should
be made available in the classroom. This does
not mean that we should involve our students
in role-play situations all the time (although
role play does have its place and value in the
methodological scope). Student interaction
takes place in cooperative work, project work
devised by the students, peer teaching and
assessment, research and meaningful content
through students’ selection of topics,
activities, materials, and even assessment
tools. This type of involvement develops
autonomy because it engages the students’
personal construct systems (Little: 1991, 32).
This notion relates to the idea of
comprehensible output and within this
concept, the activities and cooperative work
are well-structured to achieve an end goal. In
order to promote autonomy the learner’s
goals, assumptions and attitudes must be made
explicit. Students’ prior knowledge is
activated, so that they realize what their point



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27 PROFILEPROFILEPROFILEPROFILEPROFILE

of departure and their goals are. According
to Little, “successful language learning requires
language to be medium and content” (Little:
1991, 33). These ideas fit in well within the
framework of natural language, the
interactional view, and content-based
instruction.

An additional enrichment to an approach
which aims for learner autonomy is syllabus
negotiation. By involving the students in the
decisions made prior and during their
learning, their individual wants and needs are
considered, and their awareness as to the
components of their learning process is raised.
Motivation enhancement would bring about
greater engagement from the part of the
students, and they will also become
responsible for their own process. Fulfilling
the students’ suggestions and requests during
the course by means of reflection and feedback
sessions is important in making them feel
respected and valued. Students can also be
made responsible for presenting some of the
content to peers, and carr ying out the
assessment in a way they think appropriate.
Projects could involve research work outside
the classroom as well as exchanges with
experts within the university or through the
World Wide Web. Finally, learners might need
to be made aware of the endless possibilities
they have when asked to participate in the
decisions for their own course, and also be
guided so that the possibilities remain at a
realistic level. Questionnaires and reflection
sessions at the beginning, middle and end of
the course can help narrow down the number
of goals and specific objectives the students
want to accomplish, and define the kinds of
activities and cooperative work they prefer.
Self-assessment worksheets, journal writing
and follow-up charts will provide concrete
information in order to define what needs to

be reinforced, what needs to be taught again,
and what skills have to be improved. By
becoming creators and transformers of their
learning situation in a warm, cooperative
atmosphere, learners will be capable of further
evolving as independent and autonomous
human beings.

9. Empowering learners for cultural9. Empowering learners for cultural9. Empowering learners for cultural9. Empowering learners for cultural9. Empowering learners for cultural
awarenessawarenessawarenessawarenessawareness

Our analysis of the components of the EFL/
ESL situation takes us to the dimension where
the target language is derived from, and in
which we aim for our learners to evolve
successfully: the cultural dimension. As
mentioned earlier in this paper, we strive to
make our learners efficient transformers and
creators of knowledge in the foreign language,
and, if need be, in the foreign language setting.
We are aware of our responsibility in the
transmission of the target culture through its
language and vice-versa. But how can we
empower the learner to successfully integrate
with a foreign language culture in addition to
teaching him the “code”? Is there a way, for
example, to prepare a student of English for
interacting successfully within an English-
speaking community, when English-speaking
communities themselves are so diverse, and
made up of so many different colours,
backgrounds and interpretations in different
parts of the world? Our aim then is to develop
in our learners some kind of sensitivity called
cultural awareness.

The first way in which the cultural dimension
of the target language appears to the student



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28PROFILEPROFILEPROFILEPROFILEPROFILE

is through content. Language and content are
the windows through which the learners will
expand their view of the foreign language
setting, and we cannot isolate, even from the
first stages of the learning process, the target
language from a meaningful, culturally-
embedded context. In the case of English, the
sources of cultural information flood our
senses with images and role models coming
from the United States of America, so we can
say, the American culture as a target is not
unknown or exotic to our learners. How much
of that image is the real image of the North
American people, and how distorted is the
view presented by the movie industr y,
consumerism and the idea of perfection?
Furthermore, what about the millions of
English-speaking people who live in Canada,
Australia, Great Britain, South Africa, and so
many other diverse places around the globe?

Raising cultural awareness in our learners
will expand their views on the planet as a whole,
developing ideas of tolerance, and breaking
away from pre-conceived ideas and propaganda.
It will also prepare them for conflict and
adjustment, and for dealing with acculturation.
Through discussion and reflection, learners can
become aware of the fact that not all cultures
interpret the world in the same way, and that in
cultural terms, there is no right or wrong.
Becoming aware of different patterns of
communication also involves becoming aware
of non-linguistic devices which different cultures
interpret and use in different ways: body
language, publicity, religion, social and political
tradition, they are all relative and variable
concepts. Understanding these concepts and
being aware of their scope will provide our
learners with enough baggage to allow them to
integrate successfully, and to get over clichés
and over-generalizations with respect to other
cultures.

As language teachers we have the possibility
to integrate the cultural dimension into our
classrooms through content: readings,
movies, publicity, native speaker presentations,
news, etc, can all be subjects of reflection
and discussion, and we can enhance a critical
and tolerant view of other cultures and our
own, inside our think-tank, the classroom.

Finally, it is also our task to open roads for
the students into diverse aspects of the target
culture, such as literature, history and arts,
keeping at the same time a sense of proportion
and respect for our own Colombian and Latin-
American values, and establishing comparisons
for the purpose of understanding that there is
no better or worse, just different, and that failing
to develop this sense of cultural respect and
self-respect has been the cause of much suffering
throughout the history of mankind.

ConclusionsConclusionsConclusionsConclusionsConclusions

We have considered the different
components of the second/foreign language
learning situation, from a historical
perspective, and also through the analysis of
those aspects which determine success in the
process of acquisition. Theoretical
developments have enlightened teachers on
the nature of second/foreign language
acquisition, and the processes involved
therein. Advances in the study of the different
components of the teaching/learning situation
have expanded our views and defined broader
paths for learners to become fully engaged in
their own processes. The integration of skills



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29 PROFILEPROFILEPROFILEPROFILEPROFILE

and the importance given to meaningful
interaction have shifted the focus of lessons
towards a more humanistic and holistic
approach. In addition, the realization of the
prime importance of learning strategies and
the development of thinking skills have
broadened the learner’s role and empowered
him/her to take active part in his/her own
transformation and construction of
knowledge in the target language. The road
towards learner autonomy is open, and it is
the task of the teacher to keep an open mind
and a self-critical frame, so that he/she can
incorporate new developments into his/her
teaching. A reflective position will also allow
teachers and students to consider the cultural
dimension of the language teaching and
learning situation, and nurture cooperative
learning in the construction of success. The
task might seem complex, but the rewards of
this common endeavour are worth the effort.

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