THE IMPORTANCE OF CROSS-CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING

Abstract

Learning English as a foreign language is not only learning the four skills of language, reading, writing, speaking and listening, but also life skill to enable the learners to communicate .Language and culture are interrelated , hence, teaching and learning language will include the culture of its speakers. Language teachers must have knowledge of cultural understanding, Cross Cultural Understanding (CCU). It refers to basic ability to recognize, interpret and react to people and situations that are open to misunderstanding due to cultural difference. Different cultural background can create conflict, frustration, and even shock. Therefore, learners are expected to master about CCU, so that it would minimize or overcome such problems. They need to know properly the culture of the country and the people where the language is from. This is a review of literature research, based on the results from several previous study. This study reveals that there are some cultural knowledge that can be learned and taught to the students, while some others need to be practiced in the class room, or applied in the real classroom communication practice.
Keywords : CCU (Cross Cultural Understanding), Foreign Language Learning