Reading Literature Cross-Culturally

Reading Literature Cross-Culturally

Name : Rizqiatul Rochmania

Class/NIM : B 2018/185300071

English Education of Universitas PGRI Adi Buana Surabaya

What is literature?

Fictional or realistic texts (e.g, novels, poems, short stories, etc...) which convey their message by paying considerable attention to language which is rich and multilayered. literature might reflect aspect of the milieu of its production.

What is culture?

Edward Tylor defines culture as "complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a number of society

What is cross-cultural?

Multicultural literature as writings about people from diverse cultural, socioeconomic, linguistic and religious backgrounds and who have traditionally been marginalized and are considered outside of mainstream society (Louie, 2006, p. 438)

What is reading literature cross-literally?

Cross cultural understanding simply refers to the basic ability of people to recognize, interpret and correctly react to people, incidences or situation that are open to misunderstanding due to cultural differences.

Some concerns

• Readers invariably interpret texts in the light of their own world-view and cultural experience.

• For example, a text in English by a writer of a similar cultural background to the group of students studying the text may be more culturally accessible than a text written by an author from a culture far removed from the students' own society may prove to be both accessible and absorbing.

The next explanation...

• The relationship between a literary text and the culture in which it is procedure is highly complex, since few texts are mere factual representations of their culture.

• There is a strong argument for saying that exposing students to literature from other cultures is an enriching and exciting way of increasing their awareness of different values, beliefs, social structures and so on.

Strategies for Overcoming Cultural Problems

• Personlising

• Providing explanations/glosses

• Asking students to infer cultural information

• Making associations

• Making cultural comparisons

• providing for overcoming cultural problems