1. Integrating the
Teaching of Culture
and Social Identity
TESOL
Philadelphia, PA
March 30, 2012
Joe McVeigh
Ann Wintergerst

2. 1. Define a common
vocabulary to talk about
culture

3. Have students articulate their
own definitions of culture
• Definitions of culture

4. Have students articulate their
own definition of culture
• Products, practices, and perspectives
• Artifacts, actions, and meanings (Moran, 2001)
• A set of basic ideas, practices, and
experiences that a group of people share

5. Have students articulate their
own definition of culture
• The shared beliefs, norms, and attitudes that
guide a group of people’s behavior and help
explain their world (DeCapua & Wintergerst, 2004)
• “A complex frame of reference that consists of
patterns of traditions, beliefs, values, norms,
symbols, and meanings that are shared to
varying degrees by interacting members of a
community” (Ting-Toomey, 1999)

6. Have students articulate
their own definition of culture (3)

7. Have students articulate their
own definition of culture
Culture = an integrated system of
learned behavior patterns that are
characteristic of the members of any
given society. Culture refers to the total
way of life of particular groups of people.
It includes everything that a group of
people thinks, says, does and makes—
its systems of attitudes and feelings.
Culture is learned and transmitted from
generation to generation (Kohls, 1996)

8. 2. Explore
concepts
of personal
identity

9. What is identity?
• Our sense of self
• The way we see ourselves as individuals
• The way we interact with others
• Within our first culture and other cultures

10. Ways to categorize identity
• Primary identities and secondary identities
(Ting-Toomey, 1999)
• Primary identities impact our lives ongoing
• Secondary identities are changeable
• Primary: personal identity, gender identity,
cultural identity, and ethnic identity
• Their formation and communication is
interconnected with our culture

11. Personal identity?
• Exists in each human being
• Influences the ways in which we interact
• Affected by our experiences, background, and
personality traits
• Family plays a key role in defining who we are
• Sets us apart from other individuals

12. Age
• Plays out differently in each culture
• High status of the old and respect from the
young in collectivistic cultures
• Age has no status in individualistic cultures
(Gudykunst & Kim, 2003)

13. Social class
• We each belong to one and identify with one
• How viewed depends on one’s place on the
social scale
• Social class structures differ from one society
to another
• Factors of social class identity are similar
across cultures

14. Religion
• Helps define a sense of self and a world view
• Religious beliefs give a sense of place in the
universe
• Interacting with “sacred wisdom” (Samovar & Porter,
2004)
• Gives rise to moral and ethical beliefs and
behaviors

15. Personal identity linkage
• To cultural and social identities
• Threatened cultural identity is an affront to our
sense of self
• People stand up for their country when it’s
disparaged
• Language difficulties threaten personal identity

16. What the teacher can do
• Must have a good sense of their own identity
• Achieved by self-reflection, journaling, talking
• Makes them good models for students
• Use questionnaires, discussions, journaling,
writing assignments, reading/discussion of
essays, stories, biographical writings of others
• Use Activity 2 for student self-exploration

17. Activity 2: Exploring Personal Identity
1. The goal is for students to create a collage to represent their personal
identities. A simple form of collage involves selecting, cutting, and pasting
photographs, printed text, hand-written texts, drawings, digital images
and text onto paper.
2. Prepare a model of the type of collage that you would like to see your
students produce. Show students your collage to introduce the activity.
3. Two weeks before the start of the project, ask the class to bring in
magazines and newspapers with photographs. Encourage students to
bring all types of magazines so that there will be a variety of photographs
and text to choose from.
4. Decide if you want to devote class time to this activity or ask students to
do their collages as homework. Instruct students accordingly.
5. Tell students the project is to make a collage that represents their
personal identity. They should include information they feel represents
who they are, their interests, their views, etc. Point out that they can use
photos, bits of text, their own drawings or writings – anything that helps
portray how they see themselves.
6. Have students bring their completed collages to class. Display them
around the classroom. Ask students to walk around the room and enjoy
the collages. Give the class an opportunity to ask any questions about
their classmates’ collages

18. 3. Explore gender
identity and roles

19. Gender and Identity
• Influence of individual
• Influence of society
• Women and power -- expectations

20. Gender and Identity
• Fundamental aspects
• Roles expectations can be learned and
unlearned
• Differences across cultures

21. Gender and Identity
• Expectations across cultures
• Expressions of sexual identity
• Use of language and nonverbal
communication

22. Activity 3: Exploring gender identity
• Create a poster
• Brainstorm characteristics
• Collect visual images
• One poster each for men and women
• Discussion

23. 4 Build awareness of social
identity and roles

24. Build awareness of social identities & roles
• “Show me who your friends are and I’ll tell you
who you are.”
• People around us, groups we belong to, roles we
have
• Social identity: commonalities with others and
how they see us
• Social roles: the socially expected behavior
patterns we hold

25. Social identity
• Linked to our roles in life: student, teacher,
parent, sibling
• To our physical features: ethnicity, gender, age
• To memberships we hold: organization, club,
political party

26. Social identity
• Children view themselves initially as family
members
• With awareness of social groups, they form
social identities
• Growing older, group memberships expand
based on interests
• In-group membership is key to our identity (Lustig &
Koester, 2003)

27. Social Identity
• Belonging to a cultural group adds to our social
identity
• Learning about our traditions, language, religion,
social structures
• Internalizing our culture’s beliefs we connect and
identify with it
• Groups related to work, religion, or others mold
our social identity

28. Social Roles
• Social structure includes formal rules, behaviors,
social roles
• The roles played contribute to our social identity
• Cultural expectations of how people in a social
position are to behave (DeCapua & Wintergerst, 2004)
• Some social roles are given to us: gender, age,
social status
• Others depend on actions gained by: education,
hard work, marriage

29. Aspects of social role identity
• Differences in the level of formality
• Degree of hierarchy in role relationships
• Status or relative position of importance
• Certain forms of address make roles explicit

30. What the teacher can do
• Call attention to the many groups to which
students belong
• Point out the function of roles as part of social
identity
• Use Activity 4 to help students recognize what
social identity is
• Role play allows students to get a sense of the
concept

31. Activity 4
• Activity 4 Exploring social identity and roles
• Make copies of the handout. Pass them out to the class.
• Explain the concept of a role play. Students choose a character and role-play how
this person would act in the situation. Remind students that they are taking on the
character's social identity and social role. Have them think about any differences in
social status of the characters, etc. Provide a model by demonstrating one of the role
plays with a student in front of the class.
• Form pairs and assign role plays. Ask students to imagine what the character is like
based on her social identity and role. They might invent the name and age of the
character, where she is from, and what she looks like.
• Give the class time to practice. Walk around and provide feedback as needed.
• Have students act out their role plays in front of the class.
• To finish the activity, ask the class to discuss the following questions:
– How did you feel about taking on the role of another person? What was easy about the
role? What was difficult?
– How was it different when you switched roles?
• What ideas or thoughts do you have about culture and identity after role-playing your
character(s)?

32. 5.
Recognize
differences
among
cultural
identities
www.flickr.com/photos/varun/4294741565/

33. Cultural identity
• Relation to social identity and personal
identity
• Strength varies
• Positive and negative perceptions

34. Cultural identity
• Sense of self
• Strength of identification
• Individualism vs.collectivism
• Multiple identities
• Social distance

35. Activity 5: Dimensions of cross cultural
identity
• Make copies of the handouts for Activity 5
• Review with students that a critical incident is a cross-
cultural problematic situation. The incidents are concerned
with various dimensions of culture. Inform the students that
there is no right or wrong answer, but that there are
solutions.
• Ask students to work in groups of 3-4. Pass out the
handouts. Assign each group one critical incident. Have
students read the critical incidents and questions and
discuss what they think caused the conflict.
• If a group finishes early, assign them another critical
incident.
• As a class, discuss each critical incident, the solutions from
each group, and the area of cultural conflict manifested.
Share possible interpretations with the class if none of the
groups have already suggested them.

36. 6. Identify cultures as either
individualistic or collectivistic
www.flickr.com/photos/elvire-r/2451784799/

37. Individualistic / Collectivistic
• Cultural identity deals with the nature of the
culture in which we find our identity
• Individualism – primary importance is on the
individual
• Collectivism - the well-being of the group
takes priority
• Implications for how students learn
• Relationship between the individual and the
group at the heart of identity (Hofstede, et al., 2002)

38. Individualism-collectivism index
(Hofstede et al., 2002)
Highly Individualistic ---------------------- Highly
Cultures Collectivistic Cultures
Individuals take care of
themselves and their
immediate family first.
The autonomy of the
individual and the self
are most important.
Characteristics
Individuals work for the
good of the group and
suppress their identity for
the benefit of the group.
The needs of the group
come before the needs of
the individual.
United States, Australia,
Great Britain, Canada,
Hungary, the
Netherlands, New
Zealand, and Italy
Example
cultures
Guatemala, Ecuador,
Panama, Venezuela,
Colombia, Pakistán,
Indonesia, and Costa Rica

39. Predictors of individualism-
collectivism
• Economic development:
– Wealthy cultures tend to be individualistic
– Poor cultures tend to be collectivistic
• Climate:
– Cultures in colder climates tend to be
individualistic
– Cultures in warmer climates tend to be
collectivistic

40. Effects on student learning
• learning style preferences - (Ehrman & Oxford, 1990)
• English speakers rated individual learning highest; ESL
students did not (Reid, 1987)
• American students studying a foreign language preferred
individual work; ESL counterparts preferred group work
(Wintergerst, et al., 2002)
• Russian ESL/EFL students and Asian (Chinese, Korean,
and Japanese) ESL students preferred group work over
individual work (Wintergerst, et al., 2003)
• Chinese learning is characterized by cooperation (Nelson,
1995)

41. What the teacher can do
• Ask students to think about their own culture
and identify their cultural characteristics
• Bring in readings illustrative of individualism
and collectivism, i.e., short stories or articles
• Refer advanced students to Lustig and Koester’s
Intercultural competence: Interpersonal communication
across cultures, pg. 125, which gives 69 country
ratings on the individualism-collectivism
dimension adapted from Hofstede

42. Activity 6: Alone or with others?
• Present the concept of individualistic and collectivistic
cultures. Draw a continuum showing the characteristics
of each type culture.
• Write the students' home countries on the board. Ask
students if they think their own culture is more
individualistic or collectivistic.
• Ask students to think of examples of phrases,
expressions, situations, or proverbs that illustrate either
the collectivistic or individualistic nature of their culture.
Write examples on the board: The nail that stands up will
be hammered down. The squeaky wheel gets the
grease. All for one and one for all.
• To finish the activity, have volunteers share their ideas
with the class.

43. Examples
• Strongly Individualistic United States
•Somewhat Individualistic Switzerland
• Neutral Japan, Russia
• Somewhat Collectivistic China
• Strongly Collectivistic Guatemala

44. Individualistic or collectivistic?
Guess where these countries fall on the chart:
Two are neutral
Two are strongly collectivistic
Two are strongly individualistic
Indonesia, Netherlands, New Zealand,
Pakistan, Spain, Turkey

45. Answers
Strongly Individualistic: New Zealand,
Netherlands
Neutral Spain, Turkey
Strongly Collectivistic Indonesia,
Pakistan

46. 7. Show how
ethnic identity
influences social
identity

47. Ethnic identity
• Categorization based on ethnicity
• Cultural, social, psychological, physical
• Members vs. non-members

48. U. S. historical perspective
• Assimilation: melting pot
• Pluralism: salad bowl / mosaic

49. Ethnicity and language
• Emotional connection = solidarity
• Level of identification
• Strength of identity and content may
differ

50. Activity 7 – Ethnic identity in film
• Make copies of the handout. Pass them out to the class.
• Choose a film that highlights ethnic roles within a culture.
Some suggestions are: My Big Fat Greek Wedding
(2002), Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967), Bend it
Like Beckham (2003), Pleasantville (1998), and Witness
(1985).
• Discuss the questions with the class before watching the
movie.
• During the movie, stop as often as necessary to explain
any key plot or language points that may be difficult for
students.
• Form pairs. Have students answer the questions.
• To finish the activity, discuss the answers with the class.

51. Questions
www.flickr.com/photos/eleaf/2536358399/

52. Check out
our book at
the Pearson
booth or
online !

53. Thank you
Thank you !
Download copies of the handout
and PowerPoint slides at
www.joemcveigh.org/presentations
www.flickr.com/photos/tacitrequiem/2970523639/