The Role of Learner’s Culture in EFL Textbooks

The Role of Learner’s Culture in EFL Textbooks

Gurbanov, Meretguly

Language is used both as a means of communication as well as a carrier of culture. Language without culture is unthinkable, so is human culture without language (Wei, 2005). Moreover, linguistic competence alone is not enough for learners of a language to be competent in that language (Krasner, 1999). That is, learners need to be aware of the culturally appropriate ways to address people, disagree with someone, express gratitude or make requests (Peterson and Coltrane, 2003). Teaching a foreign language by means of culture has become increasingly widespread nowadays. As an English teacher, we should try to keep students interested in the classroom. Culture is one of the best ways of motivation and it also provides students with useful models of authentic use of the language in the classroom. Universally accepted cultural –moral values may more motivate the ELT classrooms while learning a foreign language. Among the scholars of the field there are two widely spread and opposing views regarding the relationship between culture and English language teaching (ELT). One is that, since culture and language are inseparable, English cannot be taught without the culture (or rather, one of the cultures) in which it is embedded. The other one is that English language teaching should be carried out independently of its cultural context. But the researcher suggests that, instead of the context of the target culture, the content of ELT and ELT materials should be familiar to language learners. And the researcher hopes that culturally friendly ELT materials will motivate and accelerate the learning of English. Taking this argument as a starting point, this study reports on a research carried out at different educational institutions in Turkmenistan investigating students’ and teachers’ attitudes to the cultural content of the Turkmen EFL courses. The findings of this study are hoped to have implications for teaching and learning culture and moral values in English as a Foreign Language classrooms in Turkmenistan.

Conference or Workshop Item
PeerReviewed

2012-05

929