Language and Culture: Intertwined for Human Perception - Essay Sample

Introduction

According to Guessabi (2013), there is a significant relationship that exists between language and culture and they continue to impact each other. The author asserts that language and culture have continued to evolve together, affecting each other as well as what is perceived to be human. Culture arises from people's interaction, which then holds that acts of communication are part of the human culture. For instance, when different cultures interact, it is through language that they understand each other. Language in itself is also culture because a given language can be associated with a given social group (Guessabi, 2013). This implies that one can only learn about a given culture through language, and it is also through the culture that one learns language. Proper names are representative of objects that peculiar to a given culture. Thus, it is through language that we can understand the relationship of a given object to culture. Language represents people's behavior, and we can only learn of their behavior if we acquaint ourselves with their culture. Therefore, it can be concluded that proficiency in a foreign language that is dependent on the knowledge of the country and their culture.

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I strongly agree with Fatiha Guessabi's that language and culture coexist. I believe that language represents a given culture. For example, when I am communicating with a person speaking a different language, I am interacting with the culture. As such, it is not possible to learn a new language without interacting with the culture. Our cultures are different, and we can only know about it through communication. The world is made up of different cultures, and we can be related to a given culture when we use the language used by the culture. Another supporting assertion for Fatiha's arguments is cultural transmission. A given culture can be transmitted to another social group, mainly through language.

Welcoming Classroom Environment

The difference in culture between the ELLs and the Native American cultures creates challenges for learners. As such, techniques that can be employed to help learners quickly adapt to the new environment can be informed by the stages of cultural adoption. The first skills that need to be taken into consideration are those that I believe can help the learners quickly learn the second language. These techniques include inviting using an interpreter, learn their names, and assign a peer partner and use of daily visual schedule, Label classroom objects in both languages (Colorado, 2019). After that, employ the techniques that will make them feel that their culture is also valued. As such, the second set of procedures will include invite their culture into the classroom, Use materials related to your ELLs' cultures; the last technique will be Help your ELLs follow established rules.

There is always a significant impact of first language proficiency in learning a second language. As such, the future interaction of learners will majorly depend on how first they can learn the second language to feel part of the new environment. As such, I believe that the first want way to help learners in transition is to help them in the first acquisition of the second language. Therefore, engaging them in ways that will help the teacher evaluate their proficiency in the first language will be crucial in effecting the transition (Colorado, 2019). However, not all students will adapt to the new environment at the same time. As a teacher, you should not develop the assumption that all the students have understood. You must focus on individual students to ensure that all of them shift to the new environment. Lastly, after they have started moving to the new environment, helping them follow established rules will prevent problems with the other students.

Higher Level Thinking Questions

Educators have got a variety of ways to necessitate the application of what the students already know. One of the most significant steps is giving students high order tasks that can help apply the skills learned while responding to any prompts they are given (Linde, 2019). Giving students high order questions allows them to relate what they already know in addressing the problem presented to them. When students are given tasks that require them to apply certain aspects of what they learned, it limits their ability to use the skills. This also related to my experience in how the department of education has always engaged learners in developing their skills. The research questions and projects that students from the department are given help students to apply what they have learned in handling the projects and the research questions. I have been compelled to critically use what I was taught in addressing most of the research projects. Therefore, when you are given questions that you do not merely want you to recall specific information, you have to think about what you have learned and apply in questions you give to handle.

Most of the assigned tasks help students recall certain information, but they have designed their testing to allow students to apply in their analysis of specific educational scenarios. Educators can engage with students and give them practical tasks that demand the application of knowledge learned (Linde, 2019). Here, such engagements should be learner-centered, and educators should only act as guiders and leave most of the work to be done by the students. When students are allowed to address a specific concept after being guided by the teacher, they are likely to apply the skills taught.

Integrated Curriculum

A multidisciplinary approach focuses on establishing a central theme that is centered on different subjects. This approach aims to establish a connection between the different disciplines and enable students to understand the chosen topic better. Educators can use this approach by coming with a central idea that touches on various subjects to help students understand the relationship between the disciplines and how they all relate to the theme. As such, a multidisciplinary approach can be applied to curricula by having thematic units that combine the viewpoints of different subjects about the topic (Boyd, 2019). The strategy would involve showing how the relationship between the subjects content, which enhances the understanding of the other disciplines. For example, developing a thematic unit in mathematics that expounds on the relationship between different mathematical concepts such as decimals and fractions will help students to understand other disciplines. A multidisciplinary approach looks topics that are incorporated in various disciplines. For instance, a given concept can be taught in chemistry as well as physics, and thus such concepts taught in one unit.

An interdisciplinary approach involves creating a program that combines various subdisciplines within a given subject. For example, educators can develop and interdisciplinary math program that integrates various areas in the subject. This kind of integration focuses on how students can create connections between multiple subdisciplines and relate what they learn with the environment around them (Boyd, 2019). A given discipline may have various subdisciplines that are related. Thus, the approach can be applied to curricular by talking about the subdisciplines in a single unit to show how they relate. The purpose of the method is for students to understand other subdisciplines by connecting to the relationship between various subdisciplines.

State Standards and the English Language Proficiency Development (ELPD) Framework

ELL students require English learning proficiency program that can help teachers to meet the individual needs of ELL students. Therefore, English language proficiency standards need to be informed by the benefits that ELL has on the entire learning environment (CCSSO, 2019). The English language proficiency development program provides approaches that ELLs can be helped to be proficient in the new language with improved academic achievement. Educators have the role of influencing the state standards to align with the English language proficiency program's proposals (CCSSO, 2019). Educators need to be at the forefront of making sure that new state learning standards are in line with the English learning proficiency program demands. State standards have a significant impact on the instruction and assessment of ELLs. Therefore, ensuring that the two entities have standards that agree with each other is one of the meaningful ways of ensuring that they are incorporated into the instruction and assessment of ELLs.

Educators have to undertake planning for instruction and assessment of ELLs by being guided with the aspects that match both the ELP standards and the framework. This brings out the degree of alignment between the framework and the ELP standards (CCSSO, 2019). One of the approaches educators can employ is to ensure their future practices are guided by what is spelled out in the ELP standards and the framework. Therefore, educators should undertake planning for instruction, and ELL assessment is guided by practices spelled out in the framework. This should include the adoption of instruction strategies that considered sufficient for the ELLs.

Content Based Instruction

Content-based instruction has remained one of the best methods for enabling students to learn a second language quickly. It is an approach that focuses on allowing the students to learn about a given topic using the second language. Therefore, its goal is to increase student mastery of the content while at the same time learning the new language (Possey, 2019). Students are allowed to choose topics of interest, and then use resources to learn about the topic that is presented in the target language. Therefore, it will not matter the subject area that students have chosen, but as they do the work, they become proficient in the target language. It facilitates students' engagement in a language learning process, making them quickly learn the language. To ensure that the goal is achieved, the teacher will have to ensure they strictly learn about the content in the intended language.

In addition to getting proficient in the target language, they can improve their academic skills, such as note-taking. The main focus will be learning the second language as they try to research the content. It improves their academic achievement because they can better understand the topic. As such, the second goal is to master a given content in the intended language (Possey, 2019). As such, a teacher may be focusing on helping the students to understand a provided content by allowing the students to do more research on the subject area. This widens their knowledge about the given content. Again, Students engage in learning strategies that improve their academic performance because they have solved the problem that they have been given. Academic skills are essential to a student's excellent academic performance because they help students find and apply correct information.

Developing Effective Lesson Plans

English language learners have a challenge of understanding some content areas because teachers can often formulate a lesson plan that focuses on language learning. It is, therefore, necessary for teachers to come up with effective lesson plans that will address both language proficiency and content mastery. A well-designed lesson plan identifies and addresses the challenge areas that may result in the problems (Colorado, 2019). Here, excellent lesson plans should address issues such as creating an interactive class that is mind...