English For Academic purposes

CULTURE SHOCK AND LANGUAGE LEARNERS

Facing totally different thing in new environment might cause both exciting and stressful for some people. It is commonly happened when the one who learns a new language will face some cases. According to Stern (1983), language learning is a process that can be traumatic and lead to language shock and culture shock, furthermore, Hofstede (1997, p.207) culture shock can be caused by the fact that appropriate behavior, language, underlying beliefs,values, and attitudes[1]. However, when the one learns a language, it doesn’t mean the one learns only a language itself. But since the time, the one has unconciously affected by culture shock. They learn many things else beyond it. That’s why a language learner has something special dealing with culture shock. So that the writer briefly would like to state some ideas about  the relationship betwen culture and language learners also  how the culture effects the language learners.

Whoever they are, wherever they live, and no matter what their belief are,  when they come to a new circumtances, they will absolutely get such a shock feeling  that is usually called Culture shocked. It is the phenomenon  individual commonly experience when they are confronted with the realities of the different cultural environment. The phrase of culture shocked is used to describe the feeling of individuals when they are encounter different social norms, values, belief, and way of doing[2]. This kind of things happened to every single person in the world who face the new thing for the first time in their life. In addition, the stage of culture shock has different level for everyone. The more people deal with the culture, the more people adjust to it. According to Shary, a girl from Tobaggo Island, “she said that, it’s hard to learn a language without understanding the culture, when someone learns a language, it means that someone learns its culture unconciously, and try to get used to it. As this  indonesian language learner’s  example when she first came to indonesia she got shocked to see some of Indonesian having chit chat with their family by unfolded the mat on the floor and then sat down on it. “ Actually it was quite strange for me, but  that’s indonesian culture and I have to try to understand”. she replied. Also as she has traveled alot, she had more comprehension toward cultures in such a way that she never tries to compere among them. So, by understanding the culture more, it will  get us easier to understand the language.

  There are many theories about language and culture, according to Konjaranigrat in his sociolinguistic, language is apart of culture, language and culture are two system that adhere to a human. If a language is a system that coordinate human’s interaction in the society, so that a language is a system that functioning the interaction ongoing[3]. It’s totally not false to state that it’s impossible to be a good language learner without understanding its  culture, because language and culture are like two side of a coin. furthermore, when a language learner learn a target language without understanding its culture it will be tasteless,  why I said so, because learning a language needs “sense”. It is used to choose the words properly based on the context or to state the idea according to the target language means, eventhough a language has very strong relationship with the culture, it doesn’t mean  that a good language learner will not effected by culture shock when they are coming to the area of target language. Nevertheless, according to Stern, A good language learners are often believed not to have to face culture shock[4]. In my mind, there is a question displayed about what kind of a good learner that should not face a culture shock. Perhaps, this statement would be appropriate if we have  another assumption Such as the language learner has  experiencing different aspects of culture while they learn a language,  or  the language learner has dealing with many kinds of culture in the world that means they do not focus on one language only, but they put a head on several of languages that they are having much knowledge about cultures so that they can look something from different perspective and might understand the differences among others.

In conclution, there isn’t any of a good language learner who doesn’t  get a culture shock eventhough the one has already known the culture very well.  Because the process of teaching-learning in the classroom itself has immersed the target language environment creating  affective problems and  triggering such a language shock, stress and culture shock. But at least, as being a language learner the stage of culture shock the one gets can be manageable and handled, and is able to go beyond the comparison of similarities and differences and think to construct something new by taking the positive things to understand the diversity and accept dissimilarity.

written by : Mutia Elviani
project paper of EAP class

submitted on november 27, 2012

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[1] Lesson from Good language learners, Stern, 1983, pp.411-412,

[2] Culture shock, crossing culture in the language classrom pg. 108

[3] Rayapost.blogspot.com

[4] Lesson from good language learners, (stern,1983 pp.411-412)

Classification text

TRANSPORTATION

Nowadays, the world is getting advanced in all aspects of life. Even in technology, food, fashion, or transportation. All of these have function to enable people doing their activities easily. For instance, transportation is a crucial thing and keep growing up until now. Based on the effectiveness of the time, transportations are divided into several categories.  They are: on land, by water and by air.

On land transportation is the most commonly used by people. It is a kind of mobilization from one place to other places as road and trail way track as the media to through by. People can choose a kind of vehicles needed to go to one place regarding to the time spent. For example, bicycle is a good choice to travel for a short distance. It is good to reach the nearest place as going to school which is not so far away from house, the nearest market and the media for jogging. While motorcycle is use for those who have average distance, such as from one regency to another regency. Besides, for long distance travelling, such as from one city to another city. People will choose public transportation like car, bus and train. It is not only more save and efficient, but also it is not spend much money.

There is another kind of transportation. That is water transportation. It is normally by using ferry or ship. Water transportation is a good way to bridge the island. Because it only one way to go to destination place.

The last is air transportation. It is a kind of travelling by using plane, helicopter, jet, rocket and etc. if you want to have travelling and the place that you want to go is very far away. For example from one country to other countries like Indonesia to Alexandria, air transportation is a good solution for us. Even though it spends a lot of money but it does not take much time and it is not a big problem for those who really consider about the time.

Altogether, these three kinds of transportation have their own advantages and disadvantages. People will decide to select one of them according to the distance, time spent, and the budget they have.

written by : Mutia Elviani
Writing II with Mrs. Chamisah M.Ed

Visit Aceh 2013

Description text

BURJ KHALIFA

2010 is being an unforgetable moment for the people in the United Arab Emirate. Because on january 4, 2010, a huge and incredible skyscraper in the world was officially legitimized by the president of UAE, Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Recently, this bulding became one of the most awesome places to visit in the world, the height and the sophisticated style of this building will be explained in the following paragraphs.

Burj khalifa is located in Dubai, UAE. The name of Burj khalifa comes from Arabic which means the tower of king. It was built to honor its president. Many people from around the world come here to witness it. Its  height is very impressive and draws people to go there. Honestly, I was suprised when I saw the image of this building on the internet. Furthermore, it has 828 meters or 2717 feet. Its height as if  it penetrated through the blue sky. In addition, The architecture of the building is totally different from the other buildings. It is not square, but it is like several charts that arranged from the lowest to the tallest and formed to a huge isosceles triangle. It has 160 floors. This building is not only as the offices but also as hotel, residentials, libraries, mehcanical, Communication & Broadcast, coorporations and many more. The unique things are that the swimming pool is an 78th floor and the mosque is located in 158th floor. It is very amazing to be there. Many tourists spend their holiday in this world’s site destination every day.

Many people sometimes feel phobia of the tallest building. However, it doesn’t need to happen if you are living in Burj khalifa. In addition, this building provides sophisticated things to enable people doing their work. It has the the fastest elevator in the world which travels at 18 m/second. It only needs 5 second from the first floor to the top. The elevator is very comfortable and safe. Furthermore, this elevator is only available in Burj khalifa, Dubai. So, it will make the residents and visitors make better efficient in using their time.

In conclusion, visiting this marvelous building is everyone’s hope. The height of this building and its sophistication are becoming one of the atraction  included in travelers’ lists as a place to spend their holiday.


Written by : Mutia Elviani