Culture in Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language Cover Image

Култура у настави шпанског као страног јeзика
Culture in Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language

Author(s): Katarina A. Krstić
Subject(s): Language studies, Language and Literature Studies, Foreign languages learning, Philology
Published by: Универзитет у Крагујевцу
Keywords: culture;teaching methodology;foreign languages;intercultural competence;textbooks

Summary/Abstract: Bearing in mind that a foreign language is taught in order to be used in concrete situations, this article accentuates the importance of teaching culture with the aim to correctly adopt meaning and usage of formal aspects of a language. The paper begins by defining the term culture in a context relevant to foreign language learning. It proceeds to define the notion of intercultural competence, and explain its significance. Further, culture related content in Spanish textbooks Gente 1, Gente 2 and Gente 3, used in teaching Spanish in Belgrade’s grammar schools, is analyzed. Cultural content is divided according to the level of knowledge, and the paper proceeds to point to different ways of transmitting it to students. Finally, the paper recommends a methodological approach that would lead to a more efficient acquisition of foreign language and culture, as well as to auxiliary means, such as multimedia content which could have significant impact on the improvement of teaching quality and students’ motivation.

  • Issue Year: XIII/2012
  • Issue No: 47
  • Page Range: 205-215
  • Page Count: 11
  • Language: Serbian