CRITICAL BOOK REVIEW

ENGLISH CULTURE IN ELT

DISUSUN OLEH :
ASER PENIAL SITEPU
CLARISA FRIENDIKA SAGALA
CLASS : DIK 2022 A
PRODI : ENGLISH EDUCATION
DOSEN PENGAMPU: Rika, S.Pd., M.Hum.

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
STATE UNIVERSITY OF MEDAN
 TABLE OF CONTENT

FOREWORD...........................................................................................................................................3
CHAPTER I..............................................................................................................................................4
INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................................4
1.1 Background of CBR................................................................................................................4
1.2 The purpose of CBR…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………4

1.3 The benefits of CBR ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….4

1.4 Book Identity……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………4

Book 1................................................................................................................................................4
Book 2................................................................................................................................................5
CHAPTER 2.............................................................................................................................................6
SUMMARY.............................................................................................................................................6
2.1 Book 1..........................................................................................................................................6
2.2 Book 2..........................................................................................................................................6
CHAPTER 3.............................................................................................................................................8
DISCUSSION...........................................................................................................................................8
ADVANTAGES DAN DISANVANTAGES....................................................................................................8
3.1 BOOK 1........................................................................................................................................8
3.2 BOOK 2........................................................................................................................................9
BAB 4...................................................................................................................................................11
CLOSE..................................................................................................................................................11
4.1 CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................................11
4.2 SUGESSTION..............................................................................................................................12
 FOREWORD

We praise and thank God Almighty for the presence of God Almighty because with His
mercy, grace, as well as taufik and guidance, the author was able to complete the critical
book report with the book "Culture" to fulfill the assignment for the English Culture In Elt
course well even though there are many shortcomings in it. And I also thank Ma'am Rika
S.Pd as a lecturer in the English Culture In Elt course at UNIMED who has given
assignments and guidance to the author.
The author really hopes that this critical book will be useful for readers in knowing the
contents of the book and the advantages and disadvantages of the book. The author is also
fully aware that this critical book contains shortcomings and is far from perfect. Therefore,
the author hopes that there will be criticism, suggestions and suggestions for improving the
critical book that the author has written in the future, remembering that nothing is perfect
without constructive suggestions.

Medan, Maret 2024

Penulis
 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of CBR

The Critical Book Review is an assignment in which the students are asked to compare two
books and to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of each. In order to analyse and evaluate
the content of the two books used for comparison, this assignment aims to improve students'
critical thinking skills. This assignment also aims to deepen the reading and to test how much
we have understood about the content of the book.

1.2 The purpose of CBR

The purpose of creating a CBR is as follows :
1. To fulfill assignments in English Culture in ELT
2. Improve way of thinking to be more critical in reviewing books
3. Explain the strengths and weakness of the book

1.3 The benefits of CBR

The benefits of creating a CBR is as follows :
1. Increase knowledge about Culture
2. Improve the ability to find the essence of a book
3. Train yourself to think critically in order to find the information that is given in the
chapters that you have read and reviewed.

1.4 Book Identity

Book 1

Title: Cross Cultural Understanding (The road the travel the world)
Writer: Dr.Ima Isnaini Taufoqur Rohmah,M.Pd
Publisher: Perkumpulan Rumah Cemerlang Indonesia ( ANGGOTA IKAPI JAWA BARAT)
Year: 2021
Pages: 83 pages
ISBN: 978-623-5847-64-1
City Publish: Cipedes Tasikmalaya
Book 2

Title: Cross Cultural Understanding A Hanbook To Understand Others’s Cultures

Writer: Umi Pujianti & Fatkhunaimah Rhina Zuliani
Publisher : CV.Hidayah
Pages : 166
ISBN: 978-602-1230-55-8
City Publish: Yogyakarta
 CHAPTER 2

SUMMARY

2.1 Book 1

1.. Definitions
The concept of culture is deeply contested. Between 1920 and 1950 alone, at least
one-hundred-and-fifty- seven definitions were presented (Kroeber and Kluckhohn 1952,
149). Having undergone dramatic transformation over the course of at least two centuries, the
notion of culture is ubiquitous in political discourse yet conceptually elusive.
By this definition, only a portion – typically a small one – of any social group “has” culture.
(The rest are potential sources of anarchy!) This sense of culture is more closely related to
aesthetics than to social science. Partly in reaction to this usage, the second, as pioneered by
Edward Tylor in Primitive Culture (1870), referred to a quality possessed by all people in all
social groups, who nevertheless could be arrayed on a development (evolutionary) continuum
(in Lewis Henry Morgan’s scheme) from “savagery” through “barbarism” to “civilization”.
Arnold(1993) held that culture is ‘a pursuit of our total perfection by means of getting
toknow, on all the matters which most concern us, the best which has been thought andsaid in
the world; and through this knowledge, turning a stream of fresh and freethought upon our
stock notions and habits’; ‘the culture we recommend is, above all,an inward operation’. For
Arnold (1993) culture was a remedy to such humanfailings as ‘the want of sensitiveness of
intellectual conscience, the disbelief in rightreason, the dislike of authority’.

2. Aspects of Culture
If we explain the above definition, we can identify three aspects of a given culture; 1.
culture is a pattern of behavior, 2. culture is learned, and 3. culture is transmitted from one
generation to the next.
Culture refers basically to the style of behavior. This style is found to be present in the
behaviors of the majority of people living in a particular culture. This pattern varies from
culture to culture, and as a result, consumptions vary among countries. The pattern of
behavior you will see in SouthAsian culture will definitely not be seen in other cultures. The
behavior established by culture is found to be practiced by the majority as it satisfies their
needs. Someone not following the established pattern of behavior is likely to be condemned
by others in society. Since the majority follows the same style of behavior in a particular
culture, it becomes a pattern.
The second important aspect relating to culture is that we learn it through experiences
and interactions. The aspects of culture are not found in an individual right from his birth. He
rather learns those from others in the society as he follows, observes, and interacts with them.
Since experiences vary among people of different societies, they learn different things
resulting in differences among cultures. For example, a South-Asian child grows in a
European country among the Europeans and will definitely not learn South-Asian cultural
aspects but the European cultural aspects, influencing his It clearly indicates that culture is
learned, not present from birth, why people of different cultures see the same object or
situation differently. The reason is that their learning differs. For example, wearing mini-
skirts by females is seen negatively in South-Asia, where it is seen positively in Western
countries. Since people of two different cultures learn differently, they are likely to view the
same object differently. People learn about their cultures from their parents and different
social society and groups. This will be discussed later.
We have in our culture in terms of values, ideas, attitudes, symbols, artifacts, or
others, and we are likely to conform to those. We follow the patterns of our cultures and
teach them to the next generation to guide them. This process of transmitting the cultural
elements from one generation to the next is known as ‘Enculturation”. Thus, cultural
elements do not persist in one generation but are transmitted to the next generation and
survive the entire life span of an individual. That is why a lot of similarities in behaviors are
found between people of two different generations.

3.Components of Culture
The basic component of any culture is one relating to people’s knowledge
about the universe’s creation and existence. This aspect is based on either people’s
observation or on certain factual evidence that they have. An individual of a backward
culture believes in gods, superstitions, and other objects as a part of their cognitive
aspect. But, in a technologically advanced society, the cognitive aspect is based on
scientific experiments and their applications. The cognitive component of an
advanced society’s culture is quite distinct from that of a primitive one because of the
refinement of knowledge through systematic testing and observation.
 Another important component of any given culture is the material feature of
society. It consists of all the tangible things that human beings make, use, and give
value to the material component varies from culture to culture as the cognitive
component. It is based on the technological state that society has achieved and
understood, looking at society’s artifacts.
The other important component of a culture is the normative component. The
normative component is composed of society’s values and norms, which guides and
regulates behavior. In other words, it consists of the values, beliefs, and rules by
which society directs people’s interactions.

2.2 Book 2
CULTURE AND LANGUAGE
Cross-cultural understanding is concerned with understanding people from different cultural
backgrounds/culture of the people so we can construct our attitudes and world view, more
tolerable and generous toward strange ways that may be shown by other citizen of another
country.
A. Culture
1. Definition of culture
English anthropologist Edward Tylor : Culture is that perplexing entire which
incorporates information, convictions, expressions, ethics, regulation, custom and
some other limits and propensities obtained by man as a citizen.
Clifford Geertz expressed that culture is an emblematic importance framework. Social
images encode an association between a connoting structure and a flagged meaning.
From the standpoint of contemporary cultural anthropologists, culture is characterized
by the following four basic features:
1) Culture is a kind of social inheritance instead of biological heritage;
2) Culture is shared by the whole community, not belonging to any particular
individual;
3) Culture is a symbolic meaning system in which language is one of the most
important ones;
4) Culture is a unified system, the integral parts of which are closely related to one
another.
In general, culture can be divided into three categories:
- Material culture as the product of human manufacture
- Social culture as the people‘s form of social organization
- Ideological culture including people‘s belief and values.
The outer piece of a culture including conduct, clothing, food, is the littlest part. In the
mean time the inward part, including convictions, values, standards, and demeanor, is
underneath the water level of mindfulness. The conviction arrangement of a general
public incorporates all the insight specifically thoughts, information, odd notions,
fantasies, and legend, shared by most citizenry. Social standards are rules of standard
way of behaving acknowledged by citizenry. Standards are called folkways when
adjustment to them isn't thought of as crucial to the government assistance of the
gathering and when the method for implementing congruity isn't plainly
characterized. In American folkways determines that on conventional event, a man
should wears a tie. The discipline of this similarity is that he might be flowned
upon,or discussed. Sanction is a penalty, or some coercive measure, intended to
ensure compliance. Value is a collection of guiding principles; what one deems to be
correct and desirable in life. Cultures have values that are largely shared by their
members, which identify what should be judged as good or evil.

2. Cultural Universal
Koentjoroningrat (1990) categorizes cultural universal into seven, namely:
1. Language
2. Knowledge system
3. Social organizations
4. Life tool system
5. Livelihood system
6. Religion system
7. Art

The idea of cultural universals itself runs contrary to cultural relativism. Cultural
relativism is the idea that all norms, beliefs, and values are dependent on their
cultural context, and should not be used in the study or description of another
culture.
Cultural relativism is, in part, a response to Western ethnocentrism.
Ethnocentrism is the tendency to look at the world primarily from the perspective
of one's own culture ang judging another culture solely by the values and
standards of one's own culture.

3. Types of Culture
The word “culture” doesn‘t mean just national culture, but the whole range of
different types of culture. These include:
1. Corporate culture (for example, the culture of Apple, Microsoft)
2. Professional culture (for example, the culture of doctors, lawyers)
3. Gender (different cultures of men and women)
 4. Age ( the different cultures of young, middle-aged, and old-people)
5. Religious culture (for example, Catholicism, Islam, Budha)
6. Regional culture (for example, Western, Eastern)
7. Class culture (for example, working class, middle class, upper class)

4. Cultural Patterns of Behavior

George Peter Murdock in Tomasow (1986) mentions seven cultural patterns of
behavior, namely:
1. They originate in the human mind.
2. They facilitate human and environmental interactions.
3. They satisfy human basic needs.
4. They are cumulative and adjust to changes in external and internal conditions.
5. They tend to form a consistent structure.
6. They are learned and shared by all members of the society.
7. They are transmitted to new generations.

B. Language
According to Sapir (1921), ―language is a purely human and non-instinctive method
of communicating ideas, emotions and desire by means of voluntarily produced
symbols.
Three major functions of language are:
1. Language is the primary vehicle of communication;
2. Language reflects both the personality of the individual and the culture of his
history;
3. Language makes possible the growth and transmission of culture, the continuity of
societies, and the effective functioning and control of social group.

C. The Relationship Between Language and Culture

Each culture has its own peculiarities and throws special influence on the language
system. For example, referring to the same common domestic animal “dog”, but
when a Turkish visitor to the U.S refused to eat a “hot dog” because it was against his
beliefs to eat dog meat.
We can summarize the relationship between culture and language as the following:
- language is a key component of culture. It is the primary medium for transmitting
much of culture. Without language, culture would not be possible.
- Children learning their native language are learning their own culture; learning a
second language also involves learning a second culture to varying degrees.
- Language is influenced and shaped by culture. It reflects culture.
- Cultural differences are the most serious areas causing misunderstanding,
unpleasantness and even conflict in cross-cultural communication.
 CHAPTER 3

DISCUSSION

ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES

3.1 Book 1

A. ADVANTAGES BOOK 1
 This book provides an in-depth analysis of culture theory, helping readers understand
complex concepts clearly.
 One very useful advantage is that there are summaries, evaluations and reflections in
each chapter. This helps readers strengthen their understanding and evaluate the extent
to which they understand the material.
 This book also provides examples of the practical application of cultural theory in
various contexts.

B. DISADVANTAGES BOOK 1
 Due to its in-depth nature, some readers may find it difficult to understand complex
concepts in culture without a strong background in this area.
 Sometimes, due to space limitations in the book, some concepts or arguments may not
be developed in detail, which may leave some readers with unanswered questions.
 Although this book provides examples of practical applications, not all contexts may
be covered in depth, so readers may need to seek out additional resources to broaden
their understanding of culture in various situations.

3.2 Book 2
A. ADVANTAGES BOOK 2
 The explanation of culture has been explained in a simple yet easy to understand
way for the reader, in one chapter it is also explained about language and the
relationship between the two.
 The author also includes pictures so that readers can understand the material better
and provides exercises at the end of the chapter to test understanding and
 encourage readers to explore in-depth understanding from other sources not
described in the book.
 The language used by the author is quite easy for the reader to understand and the
structure of the explanation of the material is quite well structured.

B. DISADVANTAGE BOOK 2
 The book cover is still not attracting the attention of readers
 The author does not give enough examples in each explanation
 On page 6 of the second paragraph, the sentence "Ethnocentrism is the tendency to
look at the world primarily from the perspective of one's own culture. judging another
culture solely by the values and standards of one's own culture."
The author puts a full stop in the middle of the sentence and makes the reader a little
confused and gives a little misunderstanding to understand the sentence.
 BAB 4

CLOSING

4.1 CONCLUTION
While both books offer valuable insights into British culture in English
Language Teaching (ELT), there is still some room for improvement. Book 1
provides detailed analyses of cultural theories with practical examples but may
have complicated concepts, while Book 2 focuses on cross-cultural understanding
and language-culture relations but may lean too much on cultural relativism.
In general, this review suggests that both books can be improved by addressing
their respective shortcomings, such as providing more examples and clearer
writing in Book 1 and elaborating more deeply on cultural relativism with
language in Book 2.

4.2 SUGGESTION
Based on the critical review of the books, some suggestions for improvement may
include:

Book 1:
Provide more examples to help clarify complex concepts.
Strive for clearer writing to improve understanding for readers.

Book 2:
The book does a good job of providing material but the author could include more
practical examples to illustrate the relationship between language and culture.
By implementing these suggestions, both books have the potential to increase their
effectiveness in conveying insights into British culture in English Language
Teaching (ELT).
REFERENCES