Introduction

           Themes of culture can be ranked according to their levels and importance. For example, it can be looked; on the one hand, at grand themes such as great authors, important historical movements, and classical music, on the other hand, it can be also looked at more minor themes such as current popular trends or news items. These classifications of cultural themes into major or minor themes are frequently called Big “C” or little “c” culture (Jing, 2010: 18).

1. Big “C” Culture

             Great emphasis is put on distinguishing between cultural themes based on particular criteria. For Peterson (2004: 24), cultural themes can be ranked into two levels according to the importance scale. Big “C” culture is “the culture which represents a set of facts and statistics relating to the arts, history, geography, business, education, festivals and customs of the target speech community (Laohawiriyanon, 2012: 85).

             In this respect, any culture which focuses on the products and contributions to a society and its outstanding individuals, is often referred to as Large/Big/Capital/Macro “C” culture including politics, economy, history, literature, fine arts, sciences and geography (Jing, 2010: 5). (Lafayette, 1997) indicates those that fit the Big “C” category include recognizing geographical monuments, historical events, major institutions, and major artistic monuments. Brooks (1968) also defines “big-C” culture as the best in human life restricted to the elitists. Wintergerst and Mcveigh (2010) support Brooks’ view and maintain that the domain of big “C” culture is for the highly educated people. This social class has the power to understand big “C” culture themes because their nature implies a kind of intellectual efforts. Finally, big “C” culture is important in any research related to the issue of culture and language.

Themes

Definition

Example

Politics

  • The activities involved in getting, controlling and using power in public life, and being able to influence decisions that affect a country or a society
  • Legal provision
  • Political policies
  • Acts of government
  • Activities of leaders
  • International affairs

Economy

  • The relationship between production, trade and the supply of money in a particular country
  • Activities of enterprises
  • Statistical data of consumption
  • Economy and business

History

  • All the events that happened in the past, the past events concerned in the development of particular places.
  • History of nations
  • History of a farming

Geography

  • The scientific study of the earth’s surface , physical features, divisions,
  • Geographical descriptions

Literature “Art”

  • Literature: pieces of writing that are valued as works of arts.
  • Art: the use of the imagination to express ideas or feelings.
  • Paintings
  • Sculpture
  • Textiles and costumes
  • Literature

Social Norms

  • The behavioral cues within a society. When and where it is appropriate to say certain words, topics or wear certain clothes. 
  • Advice for interviewees
  • Using the appropriate questions in assessment
  • Resume

Education

  • A process of teaching, training and learning, especially in schools, to improve knowledge and skills
  • Organization
  • Curricula, courses,
  •  Institutions & organization

Architecture

  • The art of designing buildings, the design or style of a building “s”
  • Great architectures
  • A style and designs

Music

  • Sounds which are arranged pleasantly with instruments.
  • Types of music
  • Introduction to great works

 

2. Small “c” Culture

             Small “c” culture is another aspect of cultural themes. It refers to the daily aspects of life that embody everything as a total way of life (Laohawiriyanon, 2011: 85). For Lee (2009: 78) this type of culture is “the invisible and deeper sense of a target culture” including attitudes or beliefs and assumptions. Peterson (2004: 24-25) defines little “c” culture as the culture focusing on common or minor themes. It includes themes of the two types; the first one is the invisible culture such as popular issues, opinions, viewpoints, preferences and tastes, certain knowledge (trivia, facts). The second type is the visible culture such as gestures, body posture, use of space, clothing style, food, hobbies, music, etc. According to Lafayette (1997), the Little “c” culture includes recognizing and explaining everyday active cultural patterns such as eating, shopping and greeting people; every passive pattern such as social stratification, marriage and work; and acting appropriately in common everyday situations (Jing, 2010: 5).

            It is clear by now that small “c” culture is not restricted to any particular social class but it is intended for all categories and individuals within any society. Little “c” cultural knowledge is essential for intercultural communication situations because it affects the ways of thinking and using a language. The socio-cultural values, norms, beliefs and assumptions entailed in small “c” culture assists members of a particular culture or society to use “appropriate and polite” language within the target society. Therefore, if EFL learners know about small “c” culture in the target culture, they will better comprehend how those in that culture communicate with each other (Laohiwiriyanon, 2011: 85).

Themes

Definition

Example

Food

  • Things that people or animals eat; a particular type of food
  • Dietary characteristics
  • Types and etiquette of food

Holiday

  • A day when most people do not go to work or school.
  • Purpose,  symbols and signs
  • People’s particular activities

Life Styles

  • The way in which a person or a group of people lives and works
  • Activities and styles of family
  •  Styles of entertainment

Customs

  • An accepted way of behaving or of doing things in a society
  • Wedding ceremony traditions and Invitations

Values & Beliefs

  • Beliefs about what is right and wrong and what is important in life
  • Identifying what is good, useful, beautiful, appropriate

Hobbies

  • Activities of pleasure out of work
  • All leisure activities

Body Language

  • A movement that you make with your body to show meaning
  • All Body language signs which provide clues as to the attitudes

 

3. The Intersection between Big “C” and Small “c” Culture

             All researchers agree that both Big “C” and little “c” cultural themes are interrelated to each other. (Peterson, 2004: 25) recommends that people have to study a variety of issues relating to both big “C” and little “c” areas of culture. (Wintergerst and Mcveigh, 2010) maintain that learners possessing both big “C” and little “c” culture can effectively take part in intercultural communication situations because it affects the way of thinking, behaving and using a language. Peterson (2004: 25) adds more insightful matters into this issue “my point is that you should not make the mistake of focusing on only one limited area when you begin learning about a culture. Pick and choose a variety of subjects to explore from all four quadrants of the table below”. The following table shows that there are various ways of thinking about cultures: 

 

Themes of Big “C”

Themes of Little “c”

Invisible

Culture

“ Bottom of

the iceberg”

Examples:

Core values, attitudes or beliefs, society’s norms, legal foundations, assumptions, history, cognitive processes

Examples:

Popular issues, opinions, viewpoints, preferences or tastes, certain knowledge(trivia, facts)

Visible

Culture

“Tip of

the iceberg”

Examples:

Architectures, geography, classic literature, presidents or political figures, music

Examples:

Gestures, body posture, use of space, clothing style, food, hobbies, music, artwork

 

Table 1: The Intersection between Big “C” and Small “c” Cultures

4. Importance of Big “C” and Small “c” Themes

                Corresponding with the concepts of big “C” and little “c” cultural themes, many cultural frameworks regarding specific aspects of cultural learning in EFL classroom were proposed in relevant research. Chen (2004), for example, carried out a survey to examine Chinese students’ attitudes towards cultural themes in EFL classroom setting. In his study, Chen proposed a cultural framework which includes seven (7) themes under Big “C” (music, social norms, education, economy, politics, history and geography) and nine (9) themes under little “c” (daily routine, life style, holiday, food, gesture, weather , greeting, custom and values).

              Another cultural framework was designed by Lee (2009) to examine how culture was taught in Korean EFL textbooks. Lee’s framework consisted on 22 themes for Big “C” for example art, agriculture, education, sports, and politics and 26 themes for little “c” such as freedom, materialism, informality, fairness, and competition.

Last modified: Monday, 29 January 2024, 8:59 AM