The Dilemma of Languaculture

For #TESL0100

In the discussion of the "Languaculture Principle" in Brown & Lee (2015, Ch. 4), the first guideline for incorporating languaculture into L2 classrooms encourages, "emphasizing that no culture is 'better' than another, but that cross-cultural understanding is an important factor of learning a language." Another guideline urges, "Screen your techniques for material that may be culturally offensive." To me there is a conflict between these two. This may be valid if one is teaching English in a country other than one's own. It is also appropriate if one is teaching children. And there is cause for being sensitive to people who have come to Canada as refugees and who may have experienced trauma - one should take care when discussing sensitive topics. However, if I am teaching adults who have come to Canada, either to become citizens or to learn the language and culture for the purpose of study, I don't think I should have to try to sanitize or avoid aspects of my culture because someone else might get offended.

Yes, be sensitive, let students know they can express their opinions and disagreements on an issue, and certainly be prepare to deal with some high feelings. The #ELTChat community refers to this as teaching the PARSNIPS.

I've come across the reference to PARSNIPS while participating in #LINCchat and #CdnEltchat a few times. At first I understood it to mean topics that nobody likes to talk about or that are sensitive or taboo in the classroom. When I looked it up, I found this Blog post by Brave Learning blogger Wiktor K where he defines PARSNIPS as an acronym for Politics, Alcohol, Religion, Sex, Narcotics, -isms and Pork. He discusses some of the ideas that came out of a #ELTchat session in 2010, as well as linking to a summary and the full transcript of the chat. He also links to another blog and an article in The Guardian on the subject, both worth a look. They are all skewed to a discussion of different stakeholders' attitudes towards these subjects on their exclusion in coursebooks and the resulting blandness of the books, but they touch on some ways that teachers are using to get around this problem when needed. 

Since many coursebooks for ELT are published in the US, the conflict between the "left-wing political correctness" and the "right-wing religious fundamentalism"  leave us with little to talk about beyond the weather. (Thornbury, 2010)

Refernces:

Brown, H.D. & Lee, H., (2015), Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy, 4^th ed., Pearson Education Inc., White Plains, NY, pp. 82 - 83. 

Thornbury, S. (2010) T is for Taboo,  [blog], An A -Z of ELT retrieved fromhttps://scottthornbury.wordpress.com/2010/06/27/t-is-for-taboo/