Are there specific cultural activities that help sustain language skills

There are specific cultural activities that effectively help sustain and enhance language skills. These activities typically involve active engagement with the target culture, boosting motivation, and improving language proficiency through meaningful context and social interaction.

Key Cultural Activities for Sustaining Language Skills

• Cultural Exchange and Interaction: Participating in cultural exchange activities, such as conversation practice between learners from different cultural backgrounds, helps develop linguistic competence, cultural communication skills, and intercultural understanding. These activities promote real-life use of language and cultural receptivity, essential for language retention and fluency. ^{1, 2}

• Literature and Arts: Using literature, including folktales, poetry, and plays, as well as music and songs, integrates language learning with cultural understanding. This not only improves listening, reading, speaking, and writing skills but also enhances motivation and multi-cultural awareness. ^{3, 4}

• Dramatization and Role Play: Enacting lessons or cultural scenarios through dramatization can improve speaking proficiency, fluency, and confidence. This immersive method encourages expressive and natural use of language, reinforcing verbal skills in culturally meaningful contexts. ⁵

• Cultural Heritage Activities: Engaging in traditional cultural practices or exploring heritage artifacts connects language with cultural identity, making the learning experience relevant and memorable. This supports both language skills and cultural humility, strengthening ties to the language community. ^{6, 7}

• Cross-cultural Training and Awareness: Programs that foster cultural sensitivity alongside language training improve communication by helping learners understand the values, behaviors, and norms behind the language, which is crucial for effective and nuanced use. ^{2, 8}

Benefits of Cultural Activities in Language Sustaining

• They provide motivation by connecting language learning with personal and social identity.
• They create meaningful contexts for language use beyond grammar or vocabulary drills.
• They promote intercultural competence that supports lifelong language use.
• They help learners internalize language naturally through culturally rooted experiences.

In summary, actively integrating cultural activities such as exchange, literature, dramatization, heritage exploration, and intercultural awareness training plays a significant role in sustaining and enhancing language skills comprehensively. ^{4, 8, 9, 2, 5}

References

• A Case Study on Cultural Exchange for Beginner-Level Learners in Korean Language Education at Overseas Universities : Focusing on Speaking Activities Between Japanese and Korean University Students

• Investigating the Impact of Cultural Awareness on Language Learners’ Motivation and Proficiency

• Teaching Multiple Skills through Songs

• LITERATURE-BASED EFL INSTRUCTION: BENEFITS FOR LANGUAGE SKILLS DEVELOPMENT, LEARNING MOTIVATION, AND CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING

• Enhancing EFL Learners’ Communicative Skills through Dramatisation of Lessons

• Lessons from the Navajo: Assistance with Environmental Data Collection Ensures Cultural Humility and Data Relevance

• Culture-Integrated Teaching for the Enhancement of EFL Learner Tolerance

• Cross-cultural Training and Second Language Learning

• The Impact of Cultural Based Activities in Foreign Language Teaching at Upper-Intermediate (B2) Level

• Exploring relationships among TPACK constructs and ICT achievement among trainee teachers

• Intangible heritage for sustainable future: mathematics in the paddy field

• Parent–child interactions longitudinally mediate the association between shared literacy activities and emergent literacy and oral language skills

• Investigating the Impact of Cultural Awareness on Language Learners’ Motivation and Proficiency

• Cross-Cultural Intelligent Language Learning System (CILS): Leveraging AI to Facilitate Language Learning Strategies in Cross-Cultural Communication

• Building Intercultural Competence through Language Education

• Interactive Cultural Cultivating in FLT.

• Diversifying the field: Activities to make linguistics more relevant

• Promoting Language Acquisition and Cross-Cultural Competence in Multilingual Environments: Effective Teaching Strategies and Educational Support

• Fostering Language Awareness in a Plurilingual Learning Environment

• Interwoven: Culture, language, and learning strategies

• Language Learning Through a Cultural Lens: Assessing the Benefits of Cultural Understanding in Language Education

• Creativity, challenge and culture in the languages classroom: a response to the Ofsted Curriculum Research Review

• Developing Cultural Awareness: The Text-Driven Approach as Evidence of a Good Language Teaching Practice

• Whose Karate? Language and Cultural Learning in a Multilingual Karate Club in London

• PLACE OF LEARNERS’ CULTURES IN SECOND LANGUAGE TEACHING

• How to utilise students’ cultural and linguistic experiences to promote language learning: Looking beyond the school