Introducing Target Language Culture through Movie Watching and Discussion



The  aim  of  this  research  was  to  find  out  whether  or  not  movie  watching  and  identification  of cross  cultural  aspects could improve the students‟ comprehension and their activities in Cross
Cultural Understanding Class. Besides, the research was also to discover problems faced by both
the students and the teacher during the implementation of the technique. It was a clas
sroom based action  research  conducted  in  two  cycles  in  the  even  semester  of  the  academic  year  2006/2007.
The subjects of the research were the second semester students of English Department Diploma 3. The result showed that (1) students‟ comprehension in Cross Cultural Understanding Class was fairly  good  in  which  all  students  have  passed  the  course,  (2)  more  than  50%  of  the  overall
students  were  actively  involved  during  the  teaching  learning  activities  both  in  group  discussion and   class   discussion,   and   (3) the   students   were   somewhat   still  had   some   difficulties   in understanding  native  speakers  speech.  Yet,  Cross  Cultural  Understanding  is  a  content  subject matter which requires students to be competent in mastering language skills.

Why  is  it  important  to  learn  about
another  culure? For those who have been learning a foreign language   is   even   required   to   be   aware   and understand about the culture of the people of the target  language.  Regarding  its  importance,  cross cultural    understanding    is    therefore    mainly
included in the curriculum of the English Depart
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ment of Undiksha and is believed to be included in   other   studies   of   foreign   languages.   When
communicating   with   people   from   the   target language,   being   aware   of   the   difference   of
cultural   backgrounds   is  one   important   aspect which  determines  the  success  of  cross  cultural
communication.Cross  culture  communication  is  communi
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cation  between  people  from  different  cultural background  in  the  meaning  of  different  in  race,
ethnic, as well as social and economic (Tubbs & Moss,  2001
). Many  people  may  not  be  aware  of their  own  culture  until  they  are  faced  with  those
who    come    from    another    culture.    This    is confirmed by O‟Sullivan (1994) who illustrates
that  one  may  not  be  aware  of  culture  in  their daily life until it becomes „visible‟.
As an exam
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ple,  the  issue  of  culture  will  occur  when  one work with someone from another culture, teach a
class  of  students  from  different  cultural  back
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ground   or   talk   to   a   neighbour   from   another culture  or  dealing  with  foreign  clients.  While
Porter  and  Samovar  (in  Mulyana  &  Rakhmat,
2003:  11)  describes  that  “our  mobility  is increasing  therefore  space  has  merely  become  a
problem”. They believe that people have a lot of chance to communicate and having cross cultural
relationship in the daily life. Lin   (2006)   mentions   that   language   and culture are inseparable. She further mentions that learning  a  foreign  language  makes  a  language
learner appreciate one‟s own language more, as well as cultures from other countries. In learning
a  foreign  language  and  to  be  ableto  commu
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nicate  in  the  target  language,  one  needs  to  be
aware   of   the   target   language   cultural   back
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ground. It is important for learners to understand and  perceive  other cultures as well as their own.
Hasibuan    (1995)    statesthat    in    order    to understand    people    from    other    culture,    the
references   on   how  they   value,   interpret,  and accept things in their own way of life are needed.
Being unable to appreciate that people are cultu
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rally    different    may    cause    misunderstanding which can lead to serious conflicts.

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