Culture

My understanding of culture used to be quite limited—shaped mainly by my personal experiences within Mauritania and abroad. I saw culture as encompassing many visible aspects of life: people’s traditions, clothing, music, and everyday ways of living. Intercultural Communication for Language Teachers (ICLT) helped me move beyond this surface-level understanding and guided me to see culture as a dynamic and deeply personal part of identity. It allowed me to reflect on myself as a cultural being and to recognize how my background and worldview influence how I teach, learn, and relate to others.

Before taking ICLT, my idea of culture in the classroom was rather narrow. To me, it had two dimensions: first, the shared experiences and values that my students and I held in common, and second, the cultural content embedded within the target language I taught. In practice, this meant that culture only appeared in my lessons through materials that reflected aspects of the English-speaking world.

The ICLT course profoundly challenged and expanded this perspective. It encouraged me to view teaching through a multicultural and intercultural lens and to see culture as a living exchange rather than a set of facts or customs. I began to understand that being an effective teacher involves being open to the multiple identities and perspectives students bring into the classroom. The course inspired me to reexamine my teaching practice, to engage with learners more empathetically, and to create space for multiple cultural voices.

Most importantly, ICLT equipped me with a critical framework for understanding both self and others. It strengthened my awareness of how identity is constructed and negotiated in interaction and heightened my appreciation of my own cultural roots while deepening my respect for difference. This experience helped me grow not only as a teacher but also as a global citizen—someone continually learning to connect across cultural boundaries with curiosity, humility, and respect.

Sub-Competency A.2: Teachers Need to Be Knowledgeable About Culture as a Subject Matter in Language Teaching

Supporting Documents

Before taking the Intercultural Communication for Language Teachers (ICLT) course, culture played a minimal role in my language classroom. One of the main reasons for this absence was my limited theoretical and practical understanding of how to address culture in an ESL/EFL context. During my professional training at the Teacher Training College, the focus was primarily on content and pedagogy, while culture remained at the periphery. When I began my teaching internship, I faced a significant challenge for the first time—teaching in a classroom that was both linguistically and culturally diverse. The shift from a monolingual to a multilingual environment required a new kind of awareness that I was not yet equipped to handle.

ICLT broadened my perception of what culture truly represents, both in the classroom and beyond. Previously, I equated culture with visible elements such as music or food. Through this course, I came to understand culture as a far more complex and multifaceted phenomenon—“a dynamic construction between and among people” (Moran, 2001, p. 5). ICLT introduced me to culture as a process of communication, interaction, and meaning-making. It also helped me explore four interrelated dimensions of culture: persons, communities, products, and practices. The learning activities I engaged in allowed me to see how these dimensions interact to shape identity and influence how people understand one another.

Both my Ethnography Reflection Paper and Personal Manifesto to Teaching Language reflect this shift in understanding. The ethnography project, in particular, deepened my awareness of how to study and interpret culture. Conducting field research enabled me to compare and contrast people, practices, and perspectives not only across different cultures but also within the same culture. For instance, my group’s study of the “Sports Bar” culture in Brattleboro, Vermont revealed that our initial assumptions about American bar culture changed significantly as we collected and analyzed data. By our final visit, we had developed a more nuanced understanding, recognizing that the Sports Bar culture in Brattleboro differed substantially from that of other regions in the United States. We illustrated this realization using a Venn diagram—where the external parts represented the generalized knowledge we began with, and the overlapping section reflected the shared elements that remained consistent across experiences.

Reflecting on my learning about culture also helped me articulate my evolving beliefs about how culture should be learned and taught. In my Personal Manifesto to Teaching Language, I emphasized that “understanding one’s own culture must precede understanding other people’s cultures.” This self-awareness, developed through exploring both “own” and “other” identities, is what I now recognize as the foundation of cultural fluency and ethnorelativism—the ability to understand culture through lived experience rather than stereotypes. The ethnographic research experience epitomized the type of knowledge ICLT fostered: a convergence between the everyday and the scientific. I learned that teaching culture involves not only understanding the culture of the target language community but also valuing the diverse cultural backgrounds of learners themselves. This broader perspective has encouraged me to integrate culture as an essential dimension of language instruction—one that nurtures empathy, mutual respect, and meaningful cross-cultural understanding in the classroom.

Sub-Competency B.5: Teachers Need to Be Skilled at Exploring and Analyzing Cultural Phenomena and Applying These Analyses to Their Teaching Context(s)

While working with my group on the Sports Bar Culture project, I had the opportunity to explore the underlying cultural components of a seemingly ordinary setting through ethnographic research. What initially appeared to be a mundane cultural space soon revealed itself to be a rich site for analysis. As we integrated ourselves into the community and observed its practices, I discovered that many of my initial assumptions about sports bars were based on generalized, surface-level knowledge. This experience taught me that meaningful cultural integration in teaching requires first-hand understanding, and that ethnography provides the tools to achieve this—from the inside (emic) rather than merely from the outside (etic) perspective.

A metaphor that helped me conceptualize this idea came from a discussion with some PIM students: the bird’s-eye versus fish’s-eye view. To explore and analyze culture effectively, one must adopt both perspectives. The bird’s-eye view offers a broad, comparative understanding of culture—seeing general patterns and relationships among cultural phenomena. The fish’s-eye view, on the other hand, focuses on the lived experiences, values, and practices of individuals within a community. The striking differences between my group’s initial impressions and our later conclusions after conducting field research illustrated how even within a cohesive cultural phenomenon, such as a sports bar, there exist numerous variations when viewed through the eyes of its participants.

The insights I gained from this ethnographic exploration emphasized the importance of connecting cultural analysis to classroom practice. Understanding culture in depth should lead to tangible, inclusive, and engaging ways of teaching it. With this in mind, my colleague, Rachelle Parker, and I co-presented a paper titled Building Cultural Understanding Through Cultural Codes for our final ICLT class. The presentation emerged from an informal conversation about how advertisements—such as commercials for refrigerators or cars—reflect cultural differences. We discussed how the same product could be marketed differently across cultures, depending on which values or features each culture prioritizes.

This conversation led us to consider how teachers can use everyday language and imagery to engage students in meaningful discussions about culture. Simple words like tea, snow, or rain carry deep cultural connotations that vary across societies. Encouraging students to compare and contrast these meanings invites reflection on how culture shapes perception and communication. Visual materials such as pictures, videos, and short clips can further enrich this exploration by making abstract cultural concepts tangible and relatable.

Through these experiences, I learned that analyzing cultural phenomena is not an abstract academic exercise but a pathway to practical and transformative teaching. Integrating both insider and outsider perspectives allows teachers to design lessons that are inclusive, inquiry-driven, and culturally responsive—helping students develop not only linguistic competence but also intercultural awareness and empathy.

Sub-Competency C.9: Teachers Need to Hold Attitudes of Engagement in Understanding Culture and Intercultural Communication

The experience of studying abroad is both rewarding and challenging. It provides an invaluable opportunity to encounter a different culture from an insider’s perspective. When I first came to the United States as a Foreign Language Teaching Assistant for Arabic, my understanding of American culture was largely shaped by what I had seen in movies and the media. Through direct engagement, I realized that these images represented only a fraction of what culture truly is. I came to understand that being physically present in a culture is not enough; genuine understanding emerges only through active engagement and reflection.

Although I participated in various cultural events, I initially felt that I had not gained a deep understanding of American culture. The Intercultural Communication for Language Teachers (ICLT) course helped me move beyond passive observation toward meaningful engagement. It encouraged me to explore American culture in relation to my own, fostering greater appreciation for cultural difference and self-awareness. I learned that cultural understanding involves both experiencing and analyzing difference. Thomas Kuhn’s principle, “to understand something, understand what it is not,” became a guiding concept for me. By contrasting my own culture with another, I developed insights that now inform my approach to intercultural communication in both personal and professional contexts.

The ethnographic interview and reflection assignments provided concrete evidence of my engagement in understanding culture. Yet, they also raised an important question: Does engagement necessarily lead to the right attitude? Reflecting on my interaction with Tyler, an American student, helped me answer that question. Through Tyler’s Interview Biography, I gained a deeper appreciation of how cultural experiences shape individual perspectives and behaviors.

The interview revealed valuable insights into Tyler’s navigation of diverse cultural contexts. Comparing his experiences to my own enabled me to recognize patterns of cultural adaptation and misunderstanding. Tyler’s feelings of frustration when being “handled” by his Korean and Eritrean friends illuminated the need to interpret people’s behaviors within their cultural frameworks. What he perceived as interference might, from their cultural standpoint, have been expressions of communal care and inclusion. This realization reminded me that in intercultural encounters, interpretation is never fixed—what feels intrusive in one culture may signify warmth and solidarity in another.

Reflecting on Tyler’s experience was, in essence, a journey of mutual discovery. It deepened my awareness of how personal identity and cultural background interact in shaping perception. More importantly, it helped me understand that genuine engagement with culture requires openness, empathy, and reflexivity. I learned to view both “self” and “other” as participants in an ongoing process of meaning-making—an understanding that continues to guide me in fostering intercultural communication and cultural sensitivity in my teaching practice.

Sub-Competency D.14: Teachers Need to Be Aware of Their Own Cultural Views and Identities

Through Intercultural Communication for Language Teachers (ICLT), I learned that comparing and contrasting my own culture with others can illuminate aspects of my identity that I might otherwise overlook. However, before making such comparisons, it is essential to first develop an awareness of one’s own cultural self. One of the most enlightening activities for me was the “I Am Poem,” which resembled a Cloze Procedure exercise. Although it appeared simple, I found it surprisingly difficult to complete because its structure reflected cultural assumptions that did not align with my lived experience.

For instance, one line asked us to fill in the blank with a “plant,” “flower,” or “tree near home,” while another referred to mementos kept “under my bed or on the wall.” These descriptions of home felt unfamiliar to me because, in my culture, we do not sleep in beds or hang pictures on the wall, and trees are rare in the northern part of Mauritania where I grew up. For those living in the south, where the climate is more temperate, the same imagery might have felt natural. This contrast revealed how seemingly ordinary cultural references can carry profound meaning for some and none for others.

This experience was eye-opening because it revealed how culture shapes perception, thought, and expression. My difficulty in completing the poem reflected how my cultural identity influenced what felt meaningful or relevant to me. The exercise made me realize that language and culture are inseparable, and that even a simple poem can unintentionally impose cultural norms on learners from different backgrounds. While the poet who created the original version did not intend to ascribe a specific identity, the act of presenting a culturally loaded text in a classroom setting effectively “ascribed” one to those whose cultural contexts differ from that of the author.

My Culture Bump Paper offered further insight into how cultural values differ across societies. During my Fulbright Orientation at the University of Kansas, I engaged in a discussion about the notions of collectivist versus individualistic cultures. The debate centered on practices such as nursing homes and retirement communities. Many international students viewed these institutions as signs of neglect or disrespect toward elders—a perspective I initially shared. However, reflecting on this experience and discussing it with peers helped me see the importance of understanding the values underlying such practices before making judgments.

As I later wrote in my paper: “As I reflect on this experience, the picture became more accurate to me. Differences do exist between cultures, and we must respect them whether or not we fully understand or appreciate them. More importantly, we need to grasp the perspectives and values behind the practices we observe before forming conclusions. I came to realize that what may seem negative in one culture is often only perceived as such when viewed without context. In my dependent and collectivist culture, we value interdependence, whereas individualistic cultures place higher value on independence.”

These experiences collectively deepened my understanding of my own cultural identity. They reminded me that awareness of one’s own beliefs and assumptions is the foundation for intercultural sensitivity. As a teacher, this awareness helps me approach cultural differences with humility, openness, and a genuine desire to understand rather than judge—qualities that are essential for fostering meaningful cross-cultural communication in the classroom.

Agenda for Future Learning

• Investigate the teaching of culture in Mauritanian classrooms, focusing on both the culture of language learners and that of the target language.

• Develop a balanced approach to teaching culture, addressing the frequent oversight of cultural dimensions in classroom instruction.

• Explore the issue of linguistic diversity and examine how teachers can foster it within their classrooms.

• Conduct an ethnographic study to understand Mauritanian teachers’ perceptions, opinions, experiences, and interpretations of culture.

• Design a set of activities and strategies that provide practical approaches to integrating culture into language teaching.

• Read Culture and Teaching by Daniel P. Liston and Kenneth M. Zeichner.

• Read Linguistic Diversity and Teaching by Nancy L. Commins and Ofelia B. Miramontes.

• Continue exploring my identity as a cultural being within both the “mother culture” and the “second culture” through journaling and comparative reflection on learning and living experiences in Mauritania and the United States.

Supporting Documents