Universitat Internacional de Catalunya
English Language and Culture
Teaching staff
Consultations with the lecturer will take place by email or in person, always by prior appointment. To arrange an appointment, students must request it by email, stating the reason for the consultation and suggesting possible time slots.
Dra. Christina Howes
chowes@uic.es
Introduction
Culture is part of identity and shapes the way people perceive, interpret, and describe the world around them. As a result, any communicative act can also be understood as a social act situated within a specific cultural framework. This relationship between language and culture is especially relevant in the teaching and learning of foreign languages, and even more so in the case of English, which now functions as an international language and a contact language among speakers from highly diverse linguistic and cultural contexts.
This module introduces students to the histories and cultures of the English-speaking world, with particular attention to the United Kingdom and the United States, while also considering other contexts in which English plays an important social, educational, or communicative role. The course connects these contents to initial teacher education so that culture is not treated as a mere accumulation of facts, but rather as a tool for developing intercultural competence, critical thinking, and the ability to select and design teaching proposals for Early Childhood and Primary Education.
The module is also framed within the multilingual context of Catalonia, where teacher education must prepare future teachers to work with several languages in an integrated and pedagogically coherent way. Catalan regulations establish Catalan as the language of education and guarantee learning in both official languages, while also requiring teacher education programmes to ensure strong linguistic competence within this framework.
Pre-course requirements
Students are strongly advised to have reached CEFR B2 in the four core skills: listening, reading, speaking, and writing. They are also expected to have sufficient command of English to follow classes, academic readings, debates, and presentations in that language.
Objectives
The main objectives of the module are:
- To analyse the relationship between language, culture, history, and identity in the English-speaking world.
- To understand significant moments, processes, and cultural expressions in the United Kingdom, the United States, and other English-speaking contexts.
- To develop students’ intercultural competence and their ability to critically interpret cultural representations in discourse and educational materials.
- To reflect on English as a global language and on the pedagogical implications of an approach not based exclusively on native-speaker norms.
- To design activities and teaching sequences that integrate language and culture meaningfully in Early Childhood and Primary Education.
- To promote critical thinking, teacher reflection, and transfer of course content to real school contexts.
Competences/Learning outcomes of the degree programme
- CEM-06 - To know the pedagogical dimension of interaction with peers and adults and learn to promote participation in group activities, cooperative work and individual effort.
- CEM-20 - To value the importance of teamwork.
- CEM-44 - To learn and master techniques of oral and written expression.
- CEM-45 - To be familiar with the oral tradition and folklore.
- CEM-48 - To manage language-learning situations in multilingual contexts.
- CG-07 - To be familiar with the elements that make up critical thinking, the different levels of proficiency and how to develop this skill as much as possible.
- CG-08 - To be familiar with the elements that make up reflective thinking, the different levels of proficiency and how to develop this skill as much as possible.
- CG-11 - To be familiar with the elements that make up the quality-based approach, the different levels of proficiency and how to develop this skill as much as possible.
Learning outcomes of the subject
By the end of the module, students will be able to:
RA1. Define and explain, in written and oral form, the concepts of culture, interculturality, English as a global language and World Englishes, using basic academic terminology and relevant examples.
(Linked competences: CEM-44, CEM-48, CG-07, CG-08)
RA2. Identify and contextualise relevant cultural processes, events and manifestations from the United Kingdom, the United States and other English-speaking contexts in written activities, presentations or academic debates.
(Linked competences: CEM-45, CEM-48, CG-07)
RA3. Compare cultural representations, varieties of English and communicative practices from different English-speaking contexts, arguing similarities, differences and educational implications.
(Linked competences: CEM-48, CG-07, CG-08)
RA4. Critically analyse textbooks, audiovisual resources, digital materials or ELT activities, identifying stereotypes, absences, cultural biases and orientations that are excessively centred on native speakers.
(Linked competences: CEM-06, CEM-48, CG-07, CG-11)
RA5. Interpret intercultural communicative situations and justify mediation, adaptation or clarification strategies that are appropriate for multilingual contexts.
(Linked competences: CEM-06, CEM-48, CG-07, CG-08)
RA6. Design an activity, sequence or teaching unit for Early Childhood or Primary Education that integrates linguistic and cultural objectives, material selection and coherent assessment proposals.
(Linked competences: CEM-06, CEM-20, CEM-48, CG-11)
RA7. Justify in writing the methodological and assessment decisions adopted in a teaching proposal, relating them to intercultural competence and to the use of English in global and multilingual contexts.
(Linked competences: CEM-44, CEM-48, CG-07, CG-11)
RA8. Present and defend orally a teaching proposal or a materials analysis in English, with linguistic accuracy, clear argumentation and suitability for the educational context.
(Linked competences: CEM-44, CEM-20, CG-07, CG-08)
Syllabus
1. Language, culture, and education:
The concept of culture; the relationship between language and culture; visible and invisible culture; the role of culture in language teaching.
2. Histories and cultures of the English-speaking world:
Introduction to significant historical moments and processes in the United Kingdom and the United States; exploration of festivals, folklore, literature, music, cinema, and other cultural expressions; inclusion of other contexts where English has social and educational relevance.
3. English as a global language:
English as a Lingua Franca, World Englishes, linguistic variation, accent diversity, and implications for the linguistic and cultural education of future teachers.
4. Intercultural competence and education:
Intercultural communicative competence; interpretation, relativisation, and cultural mediation; identity, otherness, and representation; application to Early Childhood and Primary classrooms.
5. Culture and teaching materials:
Critical analysis of textbooks, digital resources, audiovisual materials, and English teaching activities; identification of stereotypes, omissions, and reductionist approaches.
6. Didactic design and classroom transfer:
Design of tasks and teaching sequences that integrate language and culture; selection of resources; adaptation to multilingual school contexts; basic criteria for assessing cultural and intercultural learning.
Teaching and learning activities
In person
The module is based on an active, participatory, and competence-oriented methodology. Short lectures will be combined with academic readings, guided discussion, critical analysis of materials, oral and written activities, individual and cooperative work, presentations, microteaching, and didactic design projects. The course will explicitly promote the connection between cultural content and its application in English lessons in Early Childhood and Primary Education.
Evaluation systems and criteria
In person
Assessment must be aligned with learning outcomes, teaching methodology, and observable evidence of performance, in line with the quality criteria promoted by AQU Catalunya. Accordingly, a continuous assessment system is proposed, including a compulsory final written examination in accordance with institutional requirements.
| Final written exam (January) | 30% | Individual written examination on core concepts, cultural processes and representations, English as a global language, World Englishes, and critical materials analysis. It will include a short teaching-application question or mini-activity design task. | RA1, RA2, RA3, RA4, RA5, RA7 | CEM-44, CEM-45, CEM-48, CG-07, CG-08, CG-11 |
| Group blog-portfolio project | 30% | Collaborative production of six posts throughout the semester. The posts will integrate cultural content, critical reflection, resource analysis and proposed applications in Early Childhood or Primary Education. Final submission at the end of the course. | RA1, RA2, RA3, RA4, RA5, RA6, RA7, RA8 | CEM-06, CEM-20, CEM-44, CEM-45, CEM-48, CG-07, CG-08, CG-11 |
| Individual culture-integrated activity design task | 25% | Written design of an activity, short sequence or teaching proposal for Early Childhood or Primary Education integrating linguistic and cultural objectives, material selection and coherent assessment criteria. | RA4, RA5, RA6, RA7 | CEM-06, CEM-44, CEM-48, CG-07, CG-08, CG-11 |
| Group presentation: “Englishes & Cultures” | 15% | Small-group oral presentation on a cultural context, a variety of English or a communicative practice, linked to an age-appropriate classroom activity for Early Childhood or Primary Education. | RA2, RA3, RA5, RA6, RA8 | CEM-06, CEM-20, CEM-44, CEM-45, CEM-48, CG-07, CG-08 |
| Total | 100% |
Blog-portfolio project in pairs or groups of three (30%). Students will collaboratively produce a blog-portfolio consisting of six posts throughout the semester. Each post will integrate cultural content, critical reflection, resource analysis and proposed applications in Early Childhood or Primary Education.
Each post must clearly identify authorship and the contributions of each group member. The grade will combine a shared blog-portfolio mark (80%) and an individual final reflection on learning and personal contribution (20%). A confidential peer-contribution statement may be used to address documented cases of unequal contribution
Students must attend at least 80% of the sessions in order to qualify for continuous assessment. All assessed tasks are compulsory. The minimum passing grade is 5 out of 10. Regular attendance, preparation for activities and active participation in classroom dynamics are necessary conditions for effective engagement with continuous assessment, but they do not constitute an independently graded component.
Reassessment / Resit
Access to reassessment will be conditional on having obtained a minimum overall course grade of 3.5. Students whose overall grade is below 3.5 will not be eligible for reassessment.
Reassessment may be offered for continuous-assessment tasks (group project, oral presentation, individual critical analysis) and for the final written examination, but not for participation or for tasks that were never submitted. Any reassessed task cannot receive a mark higher than 5.0; the new mark will replace the original mark for that component and will certify the minimum level of competence required to pass.
Academic integrity, plagiarism, and AI use
Total or partial plagiarism in any assessment task, as well as inappropriate use of artificial intelligence tools (submitting AI-generated text as one’s own without authorisation or disclosure), will automatically result in a FAIL (0) in the affected task. That task cannot be reassessed or resat in any examination period.
This does not necessarily mean immediate failure of the whole course: the student may still pass if, despite the 0 in that task, they manage to achieve an overall course grade of at least 5.0 across the remaining assessment components. However, if the final overall grade is below 5.0, the student will not pass the course.
The use of generative artificial intelligence tools (such as ChatGPT or similar systems) does not exempt students from responsibility for authorship, accuracy, correct citation of sources, and the originality of the submitted text. Unless the lecturer explicitly authorises it for a specific task, students may not submit as their own any text produced by an AI tool, or any text substantially translated, rewritten, or paraphrased by such a tool, without explicit permission and appropriate disclosure.uv
If limited use of AI is permitted for support purposes, that use must be transparent, restricted, critical, and properly declared by the student. Presenting AI-generated content as though it were the student’s own work will be considered a serious breach of academic integrity.teqsa+1
Students’ level of English will be taken into account in the assessment of written work and oral presentations. In language production tasks, English level will represent 25% of the grade for each assignment. The linguistic criteria will be: grammar 30%, vocabulary 15%, cohesion 15%, organisation 20%, style 15%, and spelling 5%.
Bibliography and resources
Students will receive academic articles, book chapters, and additional materials through Moodle throughout the course. The following references are suggested as guidance:
Bigsby, Christopher (2006). The Cambridge Companion to Modern American Culture. Cambridge University Press.
Christopher, David (2015). British Culture: An Introduction. Routledge.
Cuncliffe, Barry (2004). The Penguin Illustrated History of Britain and Ireland: From Earliest Times to the Present Day. Penguin.
Higgins, Smith (2010). The Cambridge Companion to Modern British Culture. Cambridge University Press.
Byram, Michael, & Kramsch, Claire (2008). “Why is it so difficult to teach language as culture?” The German Quarterly, 81(1), 20–34.
Canagarajah, Suresh (2007). “Lingua Franca English, multilingual communities, and language acquisition.” Modern Language Journal, 91, 923–939.
Sifakis, N. C. (2019). ELF awareness in English language teaching: Principles and processes. Applied Linguistics, 40(2), 288–306. doi.org