Culture in EFL Teaching: Teacher Beliefs and Pratices in Ivorian Secondary Schools

AGBA Yoboué Kouadio Michel^1,

¹Ecole Normale Supérieure d’Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire

Cite this paper:
AGBA Yoboué Kouadio Michel. Culture in EFL Teaching: Teacher Beliefs and Pratices in Ivorian Secondary Schools. American Journal of Educational Research. 2018; 6(12):1600-1604. doi: 10.12691/education-6-12-2

Abstract

Our world is now global and diversified. There is a need to prepare students for interactions with people of other cultures. So, language instructors are encouraged to consider linguistic competence as equally important as intercultural competence. This study was conducted during the school year 2017-2018 to explore EFL teachers’ beliefs about the importance of culture teaching and how these beliefs reflect in their classroom practices. It involved fifty-three (53) Ivorian EFL secondary school teachers who were asked to answer a Likert-type questionnaire. The results showed that the participants believed that culture was important in EFL teaching and learning. Yet, a mismatch was found between their beliefs and their actual classroom practices. These preliminary findings are hoped to contribute to a better understanding of the place of culture in EFL teachers’ current practices and to start the reflection on an Ivorian EFL curriculum that matches the new demands of the world today.

Keywords:
culture intercultural competence language teaching learning beliefs practices

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

References:

[1]	Sercu, L. (2006). “The foreign language and intercultural competence teacher: The acquisition of a new professional identity”. Intercultural Education, 17(1), 55-72.
[2]	Council of Europe. (2011). Living together-Combining diversity and freedom in 21st century Europe, Report of the Group of Eminent Persons of the Council of Europe. Council of Europe Publishing, Strasbourg.
[3]	UNESCO. (2009). World Report No. 2: Investing in cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue. Paris: UNESCO. Available from www. unesco.org/en/world-reports/cultural-diversity.
[4]	Alptekin, Cem. (2002). “Towards intercultural communicative competence in ELT”, ELT Journal Volume 56/1, pp. 57-64.
[5]	Dema, O. and Moeller, A. K. (2002). Teaching culture in the 21st century language classroom. .Faculty Publications: Department of Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education. Available. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/teachlearnfacpub/181.
[6]	Vernier, S., S. Barbuzza, S. D. Giusti, and Moral, G. D. (2008). “The five language skills in the EFL classroom”. Nueva Revista de Lenguas Extranjeras. Vol. 10. 263-91.
[7]	Brooks, N. (1960). Language and language learning: Theory and practice. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company.
[8]	UNESCO. (2009). “The Contribution of Education to Cultural Development”. In International Conference on Education, 43rd Session, p.5, §10. Available from http://www.unesco.org/education/pdf/31-42.pdf.
[9]	UNESCO. (2013). Intercultural competence: Conceptual and operational framework. Paris: UNESCO, Section of Education for Peace and Human Rights, Division of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development, Education Sector. Available from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0021/002197/219768e.pdf.
[10]	Lado, R. (1957). Linguistics across cultures: Applied linguistics for language teachers. Ann Ardor: University of Michigan Press.
[11]	Adaskou, K., Britten, D. Y. Fahsi, B. (1990). “Design decisions on the cultural content of a secondary English course for Morocco”. ELT Journal, 44, 1: 3-10.
[12]	Samovar, L., Porter, R. & Jain, N. (1981). Understanding intercultural communication. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
[13]	Morillas, M. (2001). “Development in culture teaching theory”. In Garcias Sanchez, M, E, Present and future trends in TEFL. Almeria Servicio de publicacionnes de la universidad de Almeria.
[14]	Brown, H. D. (2007). Principles of language learning and teaching. New York, NY: Pearson Education.
[15]	Bennett, J., Bennett, M., & Allen, W. (2003). “Developping lntercultural Competence” in the Language Classroom. In Culture as the Core: Perspectives in Second Language Learning. USA: Information Age Publishing.
[16]	Fantani, A. & Tirmizi. A. (2006). Exploring and assessing intercultural competence. World learning Publications 1. Availlable at http://digitalcollections.sit.edu/worldlearning_publications1.
[17]	Gonem, S.I.K. and Saglam, S. (2018). “Teaching culture in the FL classroom: Teacher perspectives”. IJGE: International Journal of Global Education, 1 (3), 26-46.
[18]	Ministère de l’Education Nationale-Cote d’Ivoire. (2006). Curriculum de Formation Par Compétences [Ministry of National Education-Cote d’Ivoire. Competency based learning curricula]. Abidjan.MEN.
[19]	Sercu, L. (2005). Foreign Language Teachers and intercultural competence: An international investigation. Clevedon : Cromwell Press.
[20]	Önalan, O. (2005). “EFL Teachers’ Perceptions of the Place of Culture in ELT: A Survey at Four Universities in Ankara/Turkey”. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 1(2), 215-235.
[21]	Cheng, C. (2007). The Influence of EFL Teachers' Understanding of Intercultural Competence on Their Self-reported Pedagogical Practices in Higher Education Institutes of Technology in Taiwan. (Doctoral Thesis).University of Minnesota, MN. Available: http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.ub.gu.se/docview/304828563?accountid=11162.
[22]	Piatkowska, K. (2015) “From cultural knowledge to intercultural communicative competence: changing perspectives on the role of culture in foreign language teaching”. Intercultural Education, 26(5), 397-408.