TEMA 5 - MARCO GEOGRÁFICO, HISTÓRICO Y CULTURAL DE LOS
PAÍSES DE HABLA INGLESA. APLICACIÓN DIDÁCTICA DE LOS
ASPECTOS GEOGRÁFICOS, HISTÓRICOS Y CULTURALES MÁS
SIGNIFICATIVOS.
The present essay aims to study the most important English-speaking
countries, providing the reader with a geographical, historical and cultural
outline of each one. For this purpose, I will divide the topic into two main parts.
In the first part of the topic, I will deal with the geographical, historical and
cultural environment of English speaking countries.
In the second part of the topic, I will deal with the didactic application of the
most relevant geographic, historical and cultural aspects.
Finally, I will compile the main conclusions and the bibliography of the topic.
In order to develop the first part of the topic, that is the geographical,
historical and cultural environment of English speaking countries, I will compile
the main characteristics of the United Kingdom, Ireland, and The United States
of America.
The United Kingdom
The United Kingdom (in full the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland, in abbreviation UK) is made up of England, Wales, Scotland and
Northern Ireland. It is a member of the Commonwealth. The capital city is
London but each country has its own capital. London is the capital of England.
Edimburgh, the capital of Scotland, Cardiff, the capital of Wales and Belfast the
capital of Northerm Ireland. The currency is the pound sterling (=100 pence).
It is a constitutional monarchy with two legislative houses (House of Lords with
700 members as of April 2010, and House of Commons with 650 members).
The chief of state is the sovereign —Queen Elizabeth II — and the head of
government the Prime Minister.
Bearing these general characteristics in mind, I will concentrate on three main
aspects: Geography, English History, Culture and Education.
As regards Geography, I will distinguish:
The land area of UK. It is divided into lowlands, uplands and highlands.
Climate: The climate of UK is temperate.
Flora and Fauna. Forests cover less than one-tenth of the total area of the UK
Mineral resources. The UK has very few mineral resources. By the late 20h
century, the mines of Cornwall and the iron-ore deposits of north-central.
British population. A census occurs simultaneously in all parts of the UK every
ten years. At the most recent census in 2001, the total population of the United
Kingdom was 58,789,194, the third largest in the European Union, and the
twenty-first largest in the world.
As regards British History, the country´s isolation has marked its history and
its non-conformist character. Next, I will point out some of the most important
historical facts that have taken place in Britain:
The early pre-Roman Inhabit Celtic-speaking people. Julius Caesar invaded
Britain in 55 and 54 BC, but the island was not subdued by Rome until the first
century AD. In the 5th century Nordic tribes of Angles, Saxos and Jutes invaded
Britain, driving many Celtic inhabitants into Cornwall and Wales. During the 8
and 9th centuries Vikings, particularly Danes, raided the coasts of Britain and
often sent conquering armies.
It was in the 11st century when Scotland came under the influence of the
English throne.
15th Century: The Tudors became the ruling family of England following the War
of the Roses.
16th Century: Henry VIII established the Church of England. Elizabeth,
challenged Spanish supremacy of the seas, and in 1588 the Spanish Armada
was defeated.
18th century, England and Scotland formed the kingdom of Great Britain; during
the reign of George III, the American colonies won independence in 1783. This
was followed by a period of war with revolutionary France and the empire of
Napoleon Bonaparte.
In the 19th century, Great Britain and Ireland joined to create the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
In the 20h century, after the World War II, the Irish Free State Became the Irish
Republic and left the Commonwealth. For that reason, terrorist acts increased
between Roman Catholics, seeking union with the Republic of Ireland and
protestants wishing to remain part of the United Kingdom. Finally, in 1973, the
UK joined the European Union. In 1997, Labour won a landslide victory. In
2020, after a long political process (Brexit) the United Kingdom left the
European Union.
With regard to English cultural aspects, two main considerations must be
undertaken: pop culture and education. Widespread changes in the UK's
cultural life occurred after 1945. The Beatles were only the first and best-known
of the many British rock music groups. British clothing designers for a time led
the world as innovators of new styles for men and women.
As far as education is concern, after World War II, the most important social
development was the rising standard of education. By law, all children of
compulsory school age (between 5 and 16) must receive a full-time education.
The UK introduced a National Curriculum in 1992 and state schools are
required to adhere to it until students reach age 16. However, independent or
'public schools are not obliged to do so.
National Curriculum defines four “key stages”:
- Key stage1: up to age 7 ( year 1 and 2)
- Key stage 2: age 7 to eleven ( years 3,4,5, and 6)
- Key stage 3: age eleven to fourteen (years 7,8 and 9)
- Key stage 4: age fourteen to sixteen ( years 10 and 11 preparation for
academic and equivalent vocational qualifications)
National Curriculum core subjects are: English, mathematics and science;
When students reach the age of 16 and have completed their GCSE´s they
have a few options to choose from:
- Find work
- Academic qualification
- Vocational qualification
Ireland
Ireland is a country in the Northwest of Europe. It occupies about five-sixths of
the island of Ireland. It is divided into twenty-six countries. The capital city is
Dublin and the currency is the euro. Ireland is a republic with a parliamentary
system of government. The Head of state is the President of Ireland.
One of the most important facts in Irish History was the Irish War of
Independence which took between 1919 and 1921 and the subsequent division
into two political units: a mainly Catholics south and a predominantly Protestant
North.
In 1949, the south became the independent Republic of Ireland. The six
countries of Northerm Ireland remained part of the United Kingdom. The conflict
intensified as the Irish Republic Army in the Ulster Defence Association carried
out bombings and performing other acts terrorism. Terrorism violence was still a
problem in the early 1990s. In 1994 the pro-Catholic IRA announced the cease-
fire. The Good Friday agreement (1998) was a historical treaty for the
pacification in Northerm Ireland.
The United Stated of America
Now that I have analysed Ireland, I will turn to the characterisation of USA.
The United States of America is a federal republic composed of a national
government and 50 state governments and a federal district, the District of
Columbia. There are 48 contiguous states occupying the mid-latitudes of the
continent, together with the state of Alaska (the largest) at the northwest
extreme of North America and the island state of Hawaii, lying in the Pacific
Ocean. There are two legislative houses (Senate with 100 members, and the
House of Representatives with 435 voting members). The head of state and
government is the President. The capital city is Washington, D.C. The monetary
unit is the dollar = 100 cents). The total area is 9,529,063 km2 and its
population estimate for 2010 is 309,834,000.
As far as Geography is concerned, the continental United States may be
divided into five major physiographic regions. They include the Atlantic Coastal
Plain and the Appalachian Mountains in the east and the southeast; the interior
lowlands, covering the nation' vast midsection; and the Western Cordillera, and,
contained within its branches, the Western Intermountain Plateaus. The
Hawaiian Islands, of which the Islands of Hawaii and Maui are the largest, were
formed almost entirely by volcanic action. Alaska, another geologically active
region, consists of an insular and cordilleran area in the south; interior basins,
plains, and tablelands; the Brooks Range in the north; and the tundra-covered
Arctic Plains in the far north.
As regards population, the United States is not a homogeneous but rather a
pluralistic society. The notion that it has been a great “melting pot” in which
people from all nations and cultures have blended into what are called
"Americans" is in many respects a myth. The United States population is
projected by the U.S. Census Bureau to be 309,834,000, including an estimated
11.2 million illegal immigrants. The third most populous nation in the world, after
China and India, the United States is the only industrialized nation in which
large population increases are projected.
The people of the United States in the late 20th century comprise a large white
majority (80%), a black minority of 13% and smaller numbers of Asians,
American Indians, Eskimo and Aleut, and Pacific islanders (7%). The Hispanic
population (of any race) amounts to a 15% of the entire population.
English is the de facto national language. Although there is no official language
at the federal level, some laws standardise English. In 2006, about 224 million,
or 80% of the population aged five years and older, spoke only English at home.
Spanish, spoken by 12% of the population at home, is the second most
common language and the most widely taught second language.
In relation to History, the thirteen colonies that became the United States were
just one of many attempts f build empires in North America. The Spaniards
reached Florida as around 1513; the French began their exploration of the
Mississippi valley in 1673 and the Russians reached Alaska in 1741. The most
successful colonisers were the British; in 1617, Jamestown became the first
permanent British settlement and the foundation of the Virginia colony. It was
followed 13 years later by the "Pilgrim Settlement" at Plymouth. New England
was settled by Puritans fleeing either the harassment of Charles I or the
orthodoxy of Massachusetts Bay, the most important puritan settlement.
It was on July 4, 1776 when America declared her independence, and victory
over the British came in 1783. The election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, whose
republican party advocated the prohibition of slavery in federal territories, lead
South Carolina to secede, joined by 10 other Southern states by the next year.
The war against Spain brought with it widespread territories and world
prominence. But this prominence meant that the United States could not remain
outside the World War I. Its entry was decisive in bringing about an Allied
victory. All this came to an end in 1929 when the stock market crashed and the
Great Depression began. Roosevelt's New Deal legislation revolutionised the
country, but full recovery was never achieved until war production became
massive on the eve of World War II. The Allied victory in 1945 left the United
States the leader of the Western world, but embroiled in a cold war with the
Soviet Union.
At the beginning of the new millennium, the United States found itself attacked
by Islamic terrorism, with the September 11, 2001 attacks in which 19
extremists hijacked four transcontinental airliners and intentionally crashed two
of them into the twin towers of the World Trade Center and one into the
Pentagon. The twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsed, destroying the
entire complex.
In response to the attacks, under the administration of President George W.
Bush, the United States (with the military support of NATO and the political
support of some of the international community) launched Operation Enduring
Freedom.
On November 4, 2008, amid a global economic recession, Barack Obama was
elected president. He is the first African American to hold the office. In 2010, le
oversaw the enactment of major health care and financial system reform.
Culture and Education in U.S.A. American culture has produced many
outstanding writers and artists. The country's 19" century literature was
dominated by such names as Twain, Poe, Melville, Whitman and James.
Among the great American writers of the 20th century we can mention the
following: Hemingway, Faulkner; Steinbeck; The country has developed several
distinctive types of popular music: jazz, the blues; country and Western; and
rock and roll. It has also lead important artistic tendencies such as Abstract
Expressionism; Pop-Art and Minimalism; and architecture in Chicago.
In relation to education, a distinction should be done: state schools, known as
"public school", which are free; and private schools, which charge fees. Eight
out of ten children attend public schools. There is no fixed school-leaving age,
but all states require a child to attend school between 6 and 16. Classes are
organised in grades: grade K: kindergarten or nursery school grades 1 to 5:
elementary school pupils grades 6 to 8: junior high school students grades 9 to
12: senior high school students. There is no national curriculum, but basic
subjects in elementary schools are language arts, penmanship, science, social
studies, music, art, and physical education. In high school they are English,
science and mathematics, social studies and physical education. There are no
national examinations. Pupils are assessed on a continuous basis. Students
wanting to go to university must take the Scholastic Aptitude Test or SAT.
Once we have studied the main geographical, historical and cultural aspects of
the most important English-speaking countries, I will deal with the second part
of this topic, which is the didactic application of the most relevant geographic,
historical and cultural aspects.
The key question is how this sociocultural knowledge relates to and is
formulated in language, and in particular a second language. Pavlenko and
Lantolf (2000) argue that traditional models of second language acquisition
account for the way we acquire lexical, phonological and grammatical units of
knowledge, but that in order to understand language use in context, and
therefore the pervasiveness of culture in communication, a model which
accounts for learning as participation is necessary. Celce-Murcia et al. (1995:
24) suggested a model consisting of the following components of sociocultural
competence:
SOCIOCULTURAL FACTORS:
PARTICIPANTS VARIABLES (age, gender, status, social distance and
relations). - Situational variables (time, place and social situation).
STYLISTIC APPROPRIATENESS FACTORS
- Politeness conventions and strategies.
CULTURAL FACTORS
- Sociocultural background knowledge of the target language community.
- Awareness of major dialect or regional differences.
- Cross-cultural awareness (differences, similarities, strategies for cross-cultural
communication).
NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATIVE FACTORS
- Kinesics factors (body language).
- Proxemic factors (use of space).
Let move on to the third part of the topic: some practical considerations to be
used in the English classroom:
As Hamford (2002) claims, the role of the teacher is to provide this information
in the most accessible and meaningful way possible. The controllable
environment of the classroom is ideally suited for this purpose (Widdowson,
1990). Interestingly enough, raising cultural awareness, and more precisely the
development of intercultural competence, becomes even important in the
Organic Law 3/2020. In the R.D 126/2014, divides the contents for the area of
foreign language in Primary Education: Block 1: Understanding of oral texts;
Block 2: Production of oral texts, expression and interaction; Block 3:
Comprehension of written texts; and Block 4: Production of written texts,
expression and interaction. All these contents contribute to the development of
the different components of communicative competence in the foreign
language. Among the socio-cultural aspects can be included:
a) respect for human dignity b) the importance of overcoming negative
stereotyping; c) intercultural competence for living in a multicultural
reality: d) guidance on how to live with respect for differences; e)
promotion of mutual enrichment through cultural encounter, etc.
We may use activities focusing on the following aspects to foster the acquisition
of sociocultural competence in Primary Education, dealing with information
about:
GEOGRAPHICAL FACTORS:
- The main English speaking countries, using maps students can locate
the main countries where English is official language such as Great
Britain, the USA, Canada or Australia.
- Main cities and capitals, such as London, New York or Sidney.
- Interesting facts about the Britain weather and its influence on
landscapes or lifestyles.
- Population or how different cultures, races and religious coexist. The
following resources could be used in order to teach geographical
aspects.
- Maps students can locate the main countries where English is official
language, as well as important cities.
- Flags, students can match nationalities and countries with their flag.
- Puzzles, we can make a puzzle of Great Britain or the USA by cutting its
parts into pieces so that students can join them later.
- Listening and interesting activity would be listening to a weather forecast
while completing a map.
CULTURAL ASPECTS
- Festivals such as the Bonfire Night or Thanksgiving.
- Music such as Big Ben or Statue of Liberty
- History and Literature, such as Henry the VII and his wives or the great
writer William Shakespeare.
- Sport and the fact that most of them are English borrowings like football,
gold and tennis and also typical British sports which are less popular in
Spain such as cricket. We can use comics, texts, songs, videos and films
of historical backgroung.
SOCIAL FACTORS
- Courtesy formulas, also called formulaic language and their use in each
situation such as Hi/hello, Goodbye/ bye-bye
- Education aspects such as British or American schools, uniforms and
school subjects.
- Food and drink in those countries such as English breakfast and their
different eating hours.
- Money and the familiarization with British and American money and with
the value of sterling pounds and dollars in euros.
To sum up, in the first part of the topic, I have developed in this essay a
framework of the most important English speaking countries: the United
Kingdom, Ireland and the United States. In the second part, I have dealt with
the didactic applications of the most relevant geographic, historical and cultural
aspects. Third, I have provided some practical considerations to be used in the
English classroom, presenting the main pieces of information about English-
speaking countries that may be analysed in Primary School such as famous
English people, typical customs and holidays or popular songs and tales.
In order to develop this topic, the following bibliography has been used:
- Bromhead, Peter. Life in Modern America. London: Longman, 1988 (3rd ed.).
- Bromhead, Peter. Life in Modern Britain. London: Longman, 1991 (revised
edition).
- Celce-Murcia, M., Z. Domyei, and S. Thurrell. Communicative competence: A
pedagogically motivated model with content specifications, Issues in Applied
Linguistics: 6 (2): 5-35, 1995.
- Halliday, M. A. K. Language, Context, and Text: Aspects of Language in a
Social-Semiotic Perspective. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
