Culture-embedded teaching is integral to teaching foreign languages. In Saudi higher education, the cultural aspects of the target language is poorly integrated in foreign language education due to rigid doctrinaire ideologies. This study, using a survey research design, aimed to introspect the perceptions of EFL instructors about culture and literature teaching in EFL college programs, particularly in Saudi Arabia. The study also explored the perceptions and attitudes of EFL college English language instructors concerning the integration of culture in English language education programs. Utilizing a descriptive research methodology, the researchers made use of questionnaires and interviews to tap into the perceptions of faculty responsible for teaching English as a foreign language courses in the EFL program of the College of Languages and Translation, King Khalid University. The survey and interviews also examined the EFL teachers’ attitudes towards the integration of literature teaching in English education. The findings showed that EFL instructors were concerned with explicit teaching of cultural issues through literature as an excellent source of culture-laden material for foreign language learning. However, due to meagre literature teaching, the current program is short of presenting adequate culture content integration. Barriers perceived include over-use of indigenous cultural and Islamic themes that interfere with proper teaching of the target language. Findings also revealed that teachers entertained positive attitudes toward integrating culture in language education through using a variety of methods and techniques. Pedagogical implications advocate the importance of integrating culture into foreign language teaching courses, especially in the literature curriculum stream as well as integrating real-life conversational excerpts for teaching culturally-laden content in listening and speaking courses. Suggestions for further research topics on culture integration in ELT are presented eventually.
| Published in | International Journal of Language and Linguistics (Volume 8, Issue 4) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.ijll.20200804.18 |
| Page(s) | 174-184 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Culture, Culture Education, Literature Education, Saudi Universities
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APA Style
Hamad Aldosari, Ismail Alrefai. (2020). Exploring the Role of Cultural Teaching in EFL College Programs: An Introspective Study. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 8(4), 174-184. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20200804.18
ACS Style
Hamad Aldosari; Ismail Alrefai. Exploring the Role of Cultural Teaching in EFL College Programs: An Introspective Study. Int. J. Lang. Linguist. 2020, 8(4), 174-184. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20200804.18
AMA Style
Hamad Aldosari, Ismail Alrefai. Exploring the Role of Cultural Teaching in EFL College Programs: An Introspective Study. Int J Lang Linguist. 2020;8(4):174-184. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20200804.18
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Download@article{10.11648/j.ijll.20200804.18,
author = {Hamad Aldosari and Ismail Alrefai},
title = {Exploring the Role of Cultural Teaching in EFL College Programs: An Introspective Study},
journal = {International Journal of Language and Linguistics},
volume = {8},
number = {4},
pages = {174-184},
doi = {10.11648/j.ijll.20200804.18},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20200804.18},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijll.20200804.18},
abstract = {Culture-embedded teaching is integral to teaching foreign languages. In Saudi higher education, the cultural aspects of the target language is poorly integrated in foreign language education due to rigid doctrinaire ideologies. This study, using a survey research design, aimed to introspect the perceptions of EFL instructors about culture and literature teaching in EFL college programs, particularly in Saudi Arabia. The study also explored the perceptions and attitudes of EFL college English language instructors concerning the integration of culture in English language education programs. Utilizing a descriptive research methodology, the researchers made use of questionnaires and interviews to tap into the perceptions of faculty responsible for teaching English as a foreign language courses in the EFL program of the College of Languages and Translation, King Khalid University. The survey and interviews also examined the EFL teachers’ attitudes towards the integration of literature teaching in English education. The findings showed that EFL instructors were concerned with explicit teaching of cultural issues through literature as an excellent source of culture-laden material for foreign language learning. However, due to meagre literature teaching, the current program is short of presenting adequate culture content integration. Barriers perceived include over-use of indigenous cultural and Islamic themes that interfere with proper teaching of the target language. Findings also revealed that teachers entertained positive attitudes toward integrating culture in language education through using a variety of methods and techniques. Pedagogical implications advocate the importance of integrating culture into foreign language teaching courses, especially in the literature curriculum stream as well as integrating real-life conversational excerpts for teaching culturally-laden content in listening and speaking courses. Suggestions for further research topics on culture integration in ELT are presented eventually.},
year = {2020}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Exploring the Role of Cultural Teaching in EFL College Programs: An Introspective Study AU - Hamad Aldosari AU - Ismail Alrefai Y1 - 2020/08/18 PY - 2020 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20200804.18 DO - 10.11648/j.ijll.20200804.18 T2 - International Journal of Language and Linguistics JF - International Journal of Language and Linguistics JO - International Journal of Language and Linguistics SP - 174 EP - 184 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2330-0221 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20200804.18 AB - Culture-embedded teaching is integral to teaching foreign languages. In Saudi higher education, the cultural aspects of the target language is poorly integrated in foreign language education due to rigid doctrinaire ideologies. This study, using a survey research design, aimed to introspect the perceptions of EFL instructors about culture and literature teaching in EFL college programs, particularly in Saudi Arabia. The study also explored the perceptions and attitudes of EFL college English language instructors concerning the integration of culture in English language education programs. Utilizing a descriptive research methodology, the researchers made use of questionnaires and interviews to tap into the perceptions of faculty responsible for teaching English as a foreign language courses in the EFL program of the College of Languages and Translation, King Khalid University. The survey and interviews also examined the EFL teachers’ attitudes towards the integration of literature teaching in English education. The findings showed that EFL instructors were concerned with explicit teaching of cultural issues through literature as an excellent source of culture-laden material for foreign language learning. However, due to meagre literature teaching, the current program is short of presenting adequate culture content integration. Barriers perceived include over-use of indigenous cultural and Islamic themes that interfere with proper teaching of the target language. Findings also revealed that teachers entertained positive attitudes toward integrating culture in language education through using a variety of methods and techniques. Pedagogical implications advocate the importance of integrating culture into foreign language teaching courses, especially in the literature curriculum stream as well as integrating real-life conversational excerpts for teaching culturally-laden content in listening and speaking courses. Suggestions for further research topics on culture integration in ELT are presented eventually. VL - 8 IS - 4 ER -
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