Folklore, Literature, Ethnography, and Second-Language Acquisition: Teaching Culture in the ESL Classroom

Abstract

Recognizing that to learn about culture will aid the new Canadian in attaining cultural awareness, this article argues that it is imperative to develop strategies for teaching about culture. Using folklore as a critical methodology in the ESL classroom is such a strategy. Because folklore is an intrinsic part of everyday life, its use promotes and enables cross-cultural understandings and the understandings of North American cultures. Moreover, through the use of folklore, students and instructors come to recognize that their expectations are mutable or living elements of culture.