YOUR LANGUAGE, YOUR IDENTITY: THE IMPACT OF CULTURAL IDENTITY IN TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Authors

  • Waquar Ahmad Khan Assistant Professor, Dr., Department of Languages and Translation, College of Science and Arts, Taibah University, Al-Ula, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46827/ejel.v5i4.3249

Keywords:

global language, cultural identity, cross cultural communication

Abstract

Language is part of one's identity. Many a research has been conducted to prove that there is a strong relationship between language and identity. Nelson Mandela in his appease quotes once said, “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his mother tonguage, that goes to his heart.” We all acknowledge, language is a means of communication, words establish meanings within the discourses and discourse vary in power. Language is having one of the powerful objects which completely shape one’s personal Identity. Without language, no culture can maintain its existence. Language is one of the primary and powerful means to explain us what we want, expect, and convey to the counterpart. In this changing world language is the one which identifies total ins and out of a speaker and listener. Today’s world is based on multilingualism; however, the scope of the mother tongue cannot be undermined. It is the mother tongue which established our identity, who we are, and from where we come from. It is the mother tongue which reveals about me and my location in macro and micro level. This paper discusses about how our language related to our identity, and the impact of cultural identity in teaching English as a foreign language.

 

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Author Biography

  • Waquar Ahmad Khan, Assistant Professor, Dr., Department of Languages and Translation, College of Science and Arts, Taibah University, Al-Ula, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    I, Dr. Waquar Ahmad Khan was born on  March 01, 1977, in a small village of East Champaran District, (Motihari), Bihar state, the work place of Mahatma Gandhi. After schooling at local village school, graduated in Linguistics (BA Hons) from the Aligarh Muslim University in 1996. Subsequently, I have secured my master's degree (MA) in Linguistics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi with first division in 1999, and continued my studies to obtain a Ph D from Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh in the year 2011. My major for the doctoral studies was Socio Linguistics and the minor in Applied Linguistics. Currently associated with Taibah University, Al Ula Campus, KSA as an assistant Professor, Linguistics at the department of languages and translation, College of Science and Arts.

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Published

2020-08-10

Issue

Vol. 5 No. 4 (2020)

Section

Articles

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