The Place of Culture in EFL Classes: Perceptions and Challenges of Pre-Service and In-Service English Teachers

Year 2018, Volume: 6 Issue: 2, 260 - 272, 30.06.2018

Hasan Şerif Baltacı Selin Tanış

Abstract

This study aims to investigate Turkish EFL pre-service and in-service teachers’ perceptions of the place of culture in English language teaching in addition to uncovering the difficulties they face while teaching/integrating culture into their practice. A total of 40 participants were administered a comprehensive questionnaire the results of which were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. The findings of the study revealed that pre-service and in-service teachers did not differ in terms of their perceptions of culture in their practice. However, the ways of integrating culture and experienced difficulties vary to a considerable extent between the two groups. The results showed that in-service teachers are inclined to make use of course books as a way of teaching culture whereas pre-service teachers favor authentic materials to integrate culture into their teaching. Regarding the challenges faced by the teachers, the lack of time allotted for teaching of culture which is restricted by the curriculum and the dominance of UK and US culture in the textbooks were addressed as the major problems. The present study offers critical implications for foreign language teachers, teacher education programs and curriculum specialists.

Keywords

Culture, teaching culture, teachers’ perceptions, cultural competence

The Place of Culture in EFL Classes: Perceptions and Challenges of Pre-Service and In-Service English Teachers

Abstract

Keywords

Culture, teaching culture, teachers’ perceptions, cultural competence

References

• Baleghizadeh, S., & Moghadam, M. S. (2013). An Investigation of Tensions between EFL Teachers'. Beliefs and Practices about Teaching Culture. GIST Education and Learning Research Journal, (7), 35-53.
• Bentahila, A., & Davies, E. (1989). Culture and language use: A problem for foreign language teaching. IRAL, 27(2), 99-111.
• Brown, H. D. (1990). M & Ms. for language classroom? Another look at motivation. In J. E. Alatis (Ed.), Georgetown University Round Table on Language and Linguistics (pp. 383-393). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
• Brown, H. D. (2007). Principles of language learning and teaching (5th Ed.). New York: Longman
• Bruner, Jerome (1986). Actual minds, possible world. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
• Byram, M. (1988). Foreign language education and cultural studies. Language, Culture, and Curriculum, 1(1), 15-31.
• Byram, M. (1991). Teaching culture and language: Towards an Integrated Model. In 116 Buttjs, D. & Byram, M. (Eds.), Mediating Languages and Cultures. Clevedon, Avon, England: Multilingual Matters.