Linguaculturology as an Optimal Approach in Studying Foreign Languages in a Multicultural Diverse Classroom

We live in the age of globalization where diverse cultures and nations mix and mingle. A lot of us live in a multicultural society in which macro- and microethnoses coexist. Cultures enrich each other, collaborate…and sometimes clash. Misunderstandings happen when people speak the same language, but do not share the same cultural codes. Edward Sapir, father of Sapir-Whorf "linguistic relativity theory" stated that "every cultural pattern and every single act of social behavior involve communication in either an explicit or an implicit sense." In the core of any successful verbal or nonverbal communication lays "a shared code," which contains mutual knowledge of traditions, culture, context, and connotations. Thus, by just mastering a grammatical structure and obtaining an extensive vocabulary it is not enough for a foreigner/language learner. "Foreign languages should be taught as the inseparable unity of the world and culture of the people speaking those languages," claims Svetlana Ter-Minasova, professor at Lomonosov Moscow State University. That is why we see the linguacultural approach in teaching foreign languages could be the solution and the remedy helping to avoid misunderstandings. Linguaculturology is a relatively new type of synthetic, scientific discipline which offers the most harmonious and synergetic approach in studying foreign languages and helping avoid cultural misunderstanding. It commenced at the intersection of culturology (cultural anthropology), ethnolinguistics, sociolinguistics, and cognitive linguistics. Linguaculturology as a metascience seeks to understand the world of human culture, not as a set of isolated facts, but gives a systematic description of facts in language and culture, studies their mutual connection and interaction in their functioning and reflecting the process as a holistic structure. This article demonstrates how the linguacultural approach, its methods and strategies can help educators to overcome challenges in a diverse and multicultural classroom, while making the learning process more inclusive and culturally aligned. [For the full proceedings, see ED652228.]