The cultural aims of modern language teaching: why are they not being met?

Research from both England and France indicates that modern language teaching and learning continue to have little effect on pupils’ knowledge of and attitudes towards other cultures. Speaking of empirical research carried out in the University of Durham, Byram, Morgan and colleagues (1994) comment on the greater influence of forces outside the classroom: ‘Our research demonstrated that young people acquire some information but very little knowledge of the foreign culture through language classes; the influence of extracurricular forces such as the media is greater – and more insidious -than the intuitive and unsystematic efforts of the teacher.’ Byram and Morgan refer also to similar research carried out by Cain in France and to analogous conclusions reached: ‘Cain and her associates have shown that stereotypical views of other cultures and peoples are tenacious and scarcely differentiated during the process of language learning in the classroom.’ (ibid) Such conclusions are supported by the evidence of research from Northern Ireland on the graded objectives approach, with its emphasis on language for practical communication. The graded objectives experience, while having a positive effect on pupils’ attitudes to learning a foreign language, would appear to have no significant impact on their attitudes to the foreign people and their culture. National stereotypes and generalisations based on learners’ personal experience are believed to have greater impact on attitudes than anything that goes on in the classroom (Salters, 1991). This article will seek to examine some possible explanations of the apparent lack of success encountered by modern language teaching in the fulfilment of its cultural aims.