CRITICAL BOOK REVIEW

ENGLISH CULTURE IN ELT

(2020)
Created By:

FANYA HANDAYANI (2183321024)

INDAH SYAFITRI (2183321004)

ENGLISH EDUCATION 18 D

LECTURER RIKA, S.Pd., M.Hum.

ENGLISHG CULTURE IN ELT

FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND ART

STATE UNIVERSITY OF MEDAN
MARET 2020

PREFACE
Praise and thank you, we pray to God Almighty, because with His grace the author can complete
the Critical Book Review today.
The author also wishes to express his deep and sincere gratitude to Maam RIKA, S.Pd., M.Hum
as a person who has provided much guidance to the author during this course.
This Critical Book Review was carried out for Maam Rika assignment. In this Critical Book
Review discusses the contents of two books.
The author is also aware of many mistakes in this Critical Book Review, therefore the author
apologizes if there are statements and errors in writing. The author also expects criticism and
suggestions to make the task better.
The author is grateful. Hopefully useful and can increase our knowledge.

MEDAN, MARET 2019

AUTHOR

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION…………………………………………….1
1.1 BACKGROUND…………………………………………..………….......1
1.2 OBJECTIVES OF CBR…………………...…………………………........1
1.3 BENEFITS OF CBR……………………………………………………....1
1.4 BOOK IDENTITY………………………………………………………...2
CHAPTER II SUMMARY OF THE BOOK CONTENT………………....3
2.1 SUMMARY OF THE FIRST BOOK……………………………………..3
2.2 SUMMARY OF THE SECOND BOOK……………………………….....4
CHAPTER III DISCUSSION……………………………………………......5
3.1 DISCUSSION……………………………………………………………..
3.2 STRENGNESS AND WEAKNESS OF THE BOOK……………………
CHAPTER IV CONCLUSION………………………………………….......

CHAPTER I
 INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND
Indonesia is a country known for its rich cultural diversity from various different tribes in the
country. Cultural diversity has become an amazing icon of many other countries that feel
jealous of the cultural richness of the archipelago. Almost every region has local wisdom
values that are expressed creatively in beautiful cultural products, to form cultural image that
has its own allure and charm.

Culture is a way of life that develops, is shared by a group of people, and is passed down
from generation to generation. Culture is made up of many elements, including religious and
political systems, customs, language, tools, clothing, buildings, and works of art. Language,
as well as culture, is an inseparable part of human beings so many people tend to think of it
as being genetically inherited. When someone tries to communicate with people of different
cultures, and adjust their differences, proving that culture is learned.

1.2 OBJECTIVES OF CBR

 Review the contents of the book,
 Search for and find information in books,
 Train yourself to think critically in finding information provided by each chapter of the
book, and
 Comparing ENGLISH CULTURE topics in the first and second books.

1.3 BENEFITS OF CBR

The benefit of CBR is to provide comprehensive information or understanding of what is
seen and expressed in a book on ENGLISH CULTURE that invites readers to think, ponder
and discuss more about the information and problems in this book.

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1.4 BOOK INDETITY
 FIRST BOOK
1. Title : CROSS CULTURE UNDERSTANDIN:
A HANDBOOK TO UNDERSTAND AND OTHERS’ CULTURES
2. Edition : IX
3. Author : Umi Pujiyanti & Fatkhunaimah Rhina Zuliani
4. Publisher : CV.Hidayah
5. City of rise : Yogyakarta
6. Year of publication : 2014
7. ISBN : 978-602-1230-55-8
 SECOND BOOK
1. Title : Culture and the Language Classroom
2. Edition :-
3. Author/Editor : BRIAN HARRISON
4. Publisher : Modern English Publications and the British Council
5. City of rise : Hong Kong
6. Year of publication : 1990
7. ISBN : 0-333-48724-9

CHAPTER II
 SUMMARY OF THE BOOK CONTENT

2.1 SUMMARY OF THE FIRST BOOK

CULTURE AND LANGUAGE
 Culture
British anthropologist Edward Tylor first gave the definition of culture which is widely
quoted: Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, arts, morals,
law, custom and any other capacities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.
Clifford Geertz stated that culture is a symbolic meaning system. It is semiotic system in
which symbols function to communicate meaning from one mind to another. Culture
might also be defined as ideas, customs, skills, arts, and tools which characterize a given
group of people in a period of time.

In general, culture can be divided into three categories: - Material culture as the product
of human manufacture, - Social culture as the people‘s form of social organization, -
Ideological culture including people‘s belief and values.

 Culture Universal
Cultural universals are elements common to all human cultures, regardless of historical
moment, geography, or cultural origin. Koentjoroningrat (1990) categorizes cultural
universal into seven, namely: 1. Language, 2. Knowledge system, 3. Social organizations,
4. Life tool system, 5. Livelihood system, 6. Religion system, 7. Art.

 Language
According to Sapir (1921), language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of
communicating ideas, emotions and desire by means of voluntarily produced symbols.
Language is a part of culture and a part of human behavior.

 The Relationship Between Language and Culture

It is obvious that language plays a paramount role in developing, elaborating and
transmitting culture and language, enabling us to store meanings and experience to
facilitate communication. The function of language is so important in communication that
it is even exaggerated by some scholars. The most famous one is the hypothesis
concerning the relationship between language and culture, which Nida and Taber (1982)
regards as misconceptions constituting serious difficulties for cross-cultural
understanding.

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We can summarize the relationship between culture and language as the following:
  language is a key component of culture. It is the primary medium for transmitting much
of culture. Without language, culture would not be possible.
 Children learning their native language are learning their own culture; learning a second
language also involves learning a second culture to varying degrees.
 Language is influenced and shaped by culture. It reflects culture.
 Cultural differences are the most serious areas causing misunderstanding, unpleasantness
and even conflict in cross-cultural communication.

2.2 SUMMARY OF THE SECOND BOOK

CULTURE, VALUES and the LANGUAGE CLASSROOM
The ability to speak the language of the country in which one lives has obvious value; but
English is also useful for those whose mother tongue it is not, given that it is the second most
widely used language in the world. It has an unsurpassed richness in terms of vocabulary, and
hence in its scope for giving precise and detailed understanding of the world. However, it seems
that we sometimes get cold feet in this enterprise and worry about our right to proceed, largely
out of fear of what may be termed 'cultural imperialism'.
Any programme of teaching involves behaving in ways that may shape values and beliefs. At the
very least, teachers provide exemplars of particular attitudes, assumptions and values. Some
teachers, such as missionaries, have quite deliberately sought to instill particular beliefs and
values. But even those who do not are bound to represent certain values, even if they are only
procedural values such as a belief in rationality or impartiality, by the mere fact of teaching what
they teach in the way in which they teach it.
If we concede that in practice the manner and extent of people's thinking is governed by the
limits of their language, it follows that different languages may make a material difference to the
nature of thought in different communities. For example, classical Greek indicates a concern
with, and allows for sophisticated reasoning about, individual freedom, which the
contemporaneous language of the Persians does not. Similarly, the various languages associated
with Islamic culture reflect this association, inasmuch as they are dominated by certain words
and concepts rather than others. The Latin word 'gravitas' may be roughly translated as 'gravity'
or 'dignity', but to be Roman or to learn the Latin language involves arriving at a different and far
more subtle, rich and distinctive concept of 'gravitas' than could ever by conveyed by and
amongst English speakers using the word 'gravity'.

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At this point, then, I want to accept the view that different languages do enshrine different
values, different beliefs and different ways of thinking; but I also suggest that the differences
may be exaggerated, and that some beliefs or values may be inadmissible. The last point leads
into what is surely the most interesting aspect of the argument surrounding teaching English as a
Second Language: the idea that we ought not to impose on or influence people's ways of
thinking.
In conclusion, I suggest that self-doubt and fears of cultural imperialism amongst teachers of
English as a Second Language are misplaced. English does indeed enshrine a variety of ways of
thinking, values and assumptions that may be absent from, or at variance with, the
presuppositions of other languages, just as it may fail to recognise certain ways of viewing the
world that are implicit in other languages. But, while it is conceded that therefore to teach
English may involve changing the way in which people think,
(i) it does not necessarily do so. Provided that we avoid indoctrination, we are merely providing
the opportunity for people to see things in new ways. (ii) in the context of teaching English to
those who have become citizens of English speaking communities, it would seem entirely
reasonable to take active steps to initiate people into the common understandings that the
language enshrines. (iii) in some particular cases what is implicit in the English language may
represent a better or truer way of understanding the world than is represented in certain other
languages. (iv) the reverse may of course also be true, but there are grounds for associating the
richness and diversity of a language with superiority in terms of providing a true perspective, on
the principle that the ability to make fine discriminations is part and parcel of subtle and realistic
thinking and understanding. English, on these terms, is a relatively powerful language.

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CHAPTER III
DISCUSSION