Discovering American Culture

Understanding one's adopted culture--whether adopted temporarily or permanently--goes hand-in-hand with understanding a second language. This new text by Cheryl L. Delk, Discovering American Culture, part of the Michigan State University Alliance series in English as a second language, seeks to enable the student to learn English while studying American culture. Discovering American Culture, the fifth text in the Michigan State University series for content-based methodology, integrates the study of American culture with the techniques for learning a language. The rationale for a content-based approach--in this text as well as for the others in the Alliance series--is that material relevant to the student increases motivation and promotes effective language learning. Discovering American Culture is aimed at the high-intermediate college ESL student. It teaches the English language through the vehicle of teaching American culture. Many students studying English in the United States have trouble understanding American traditions and values. By learning about American culture, they also acquire a higher-than-average level of language skills because of the relevancy of the language to the subject matter. Cheryl Delk is a language specialist at the Career English Language Center for International Students at Western Michigan University. She has master's degrees in French and TESOL from Michigan State University.