Module teaching and integrating language skills lesson 1

Sociocultural Influence on English Language Learning and Teaching.
English language learning and teaching involves more factors than cognitive functioning or phonetic development. Cultural influence of both the native and target cultures impact learning styles, instruction approached and language skills such as listening or speaking. Cultural education provides insight to the relationship between cultural backgrounds and language learning; awareness of cultural impacts on English language learning can influence classroom decisions and lead to an increase in positive learning outcomes.


History
Though culture has always been an element in English language learning, it was during the 1960s when psychologists, linguists and educators began to place cultural education at the forefront of language learning. Most experts believed that cultural education in language learning should focus on educating the learning about the language of the target or foreign language (English). In 1974, Howard Nostrand presented the Emergent Model of language learning that established six categories of influence for language learning; the first category was culture, and his model provided a framework for English language teachers to incorporate comprehensive cultural education into the English language learning classroom. In the 1990s, researchers Michael Byram and Carol Morgan published a report that asserted the importance to recognizing the learner's cultural background as well as the culture of the target language.