Teacher Perceptions on Culture in ELT The Non-Native

Teacher Perceptions on Culture in ELT: The Non-Native Case Dr. Okan ÖNALAN okan_onalan@hotmail. com @Okan. Onalan www. facebook. com/okan. onalan. 9

Culture as fast as a hare (a flee) as brave as a bear (a lion) as free as a bird as neat as a word (a razor) as quiet as a mouse (a sneak) as big as a house (the worlds) as strong as an ox (an bull) OPI 2

Culture in ELT Instruction If, when or how cultural elements of the target language should be taught is still a focus of research interest considering the role of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) and English as an International Language (EIL) Whose culture? Which culture? 3

Teachers’ Beliefs Teachers are highly influenced by their beliefs and these are sometimes far more influential than knowledge in determining of how teachers behave in the classroom (Williams & Burden, 2002) Teachers…make instructional choices by drawing on complex practically-oriented, personalized, and contextsensitive networks of knowledge, thoughts, and beliefs (Borg, 2003) 4

Non-Native Speaker Teachers The globalization of English as an international language (EIL) and as a Lingua Franca (ELF) provides an additional lens through which to view the beliefs of English language teachers. Native Speaker (NS) Teachers vs. Non-Native Speaker (NNS) Teachers 5

Motivation for the Study Therefore, understanding NNS Teachers’ instructional decisions as well as their own practical theories is central to: 1. a better understanding of English language as EIL and ELF 2. a deeper perspective to English language teaching (ELT) on a global scale 3. a closer look at NNS Teachers’ standpoint on cultural elements of the language they teach 6

Research Questions 1. What beliefs about teaching the cultural elements of target language are reported by NNS Teachers of English? 2. What level of importance do NNS Teachers of English attach to cultural components in their teaching? 3. What stage would NNS Teachers of English consider the MOST suitable for providing the students with cultural information in ELT? 7

Questionnaire Section 1: Demographic information Section 2: 15 -item (5 Likert-scale) questionnaire ◦ Piloted on 12 NNS Teachers ◦ Revised by three native speaker experts Section 3: Two independent items 1. Rank-ordering item 2. Open-ended level-based item 8

Questionnaire 9

Participants Country Albania Bosnia Brazil Bulgaria Burkina Faso Colombia Egypt Indonesia Iraq Jordan Kazakhstan Kuwait Latvia Lebenon Lithuania n 2 2 5 9 1 3 3 3 2 4 1 1 1 3 1 % 2, 7 6, 7 12, 0 1, 3 4, 0 2, 7 5, 3 1, 3 4, 0 1, 3 Country Mauritania Mexico Mongolia Morocco Oman Panama Poland Saudi Arabia Senegal Somalia Taiwan Thailand Turkey Ukrain TOTAL n 1 1 4 2 2 2 1 1 1 3 10 2 75 % 1, 3 5, 3 2, 7 2, 7 1, 3 4, 0 13, 3 2, 7 100 10

Participants Participant Ts’ Qualification n % Certificate 6 8, 0 Diploma 4 5, 3 Bachelor’s 24 32, 0 Post-graduate Certificate 5 6, 7 Master’s 32 42, 7 Doctorate 4 5, 3 TOTAL 75 100, 0 Participant Ts' Teaching Experience n % 0 -4 years 15 20, 0 5 -9 years 23 30, 7 10 -14 years 20 26, 7 15 years and above 17 22, 7 TOTAL 75 100, 0 11

Discussion NNS English teachers’ have shown strong belief in favor of incorporating cultural elements of the target language into their instruction. Participants have also maintained that cultural content should be an element of the foreign language teaching curriculum. 12

Discussion Participants have specified that language teachers should have culture teaching objectives and have pointed out that they should provide cultural information to the studends rather than leaving them alone in learning such elements. They have associated knowledge of target culture with effective use of the target language. 13

Discussion Teachers have reported that their students enjoy learning about the culture of the target language and it does not lead to any form of alienation from their native culture. They have indicated that language teachers should be equipped with the cultural components of the language they teach. 14

Discussion The majority of the participants have pointed out that integration of cultural elements into language instruction should start at early stages of language teaching. Interestingly, results have revealed significant uncertainty about the “explicit” teaching of cultural information. A similar reservation has appeared about the concept of culture as a “must”. 15

Conclusion The general portrait drawn from the NNS Teachers’ responses about the integration of culture into ELT instruction in this study is the one characterized by - integration of culture into the curriculum as well as into teaching practices - culture as a necessity, but not a must - incorporating cultural information from the early stages - culture percieved as an enjoyable element and not a threat - teachers’ requirement to be equipped with sufficient cultural knowledge about the language they teach - a level of uncertainty on the NNS teachers’ part about the role of explicit culture teaching 16

Culture and Mirror Translation 17 / 20

Culture www. vocibook. org @Voci. Book www. vocibook. com 18

Voci. Book 19 / 20

THANK YOU Dr. Okan ÖNALAN okan_onalan@hotmail. com @Okan. Onalan www. facebook. com/okan. onalan. 9

Bibliography Bayyurt, Y. (2006). Non-native English language teachers’ perspective on culture in English as a foreign language classrooms. Teacher Development, 10(2), pp. 233 -247. Borg, S. (2003). Teacher cognition in language learning: a review of research on what language teachers think, know, believe, and do. Language teaching 36 (2), 81 -109. Borg, S. (2006). Teacher Cognition and Language Education: Research and Practice. London: Continuum. Castro, P. , Sercu, L. , & Garcia, M. C. (2004). Integrating language-and-culture teaching: an investigation of Spanish teachers’ perceptions of the objectives of foreign language education. Intercultural Education, 15(1), pp. 91 -104. Gray, J. (2000). The ELT coursebook as cultural artifact: How teachers censor and adapt. ELT Journal, 54(3), pp. 274 -283. Merryfield, M. M. (2000). Why aren’t teachers being prepared to teach for diversity, equity, and global interconnectedness? A study of lived experiences in the making of multicultural and global educators. Teaching and Teacher Education, Vol. 16, pp. 429 -443. Sercu, L. , Garica, M. C. M. , & Prieto. C. (2005). Culture Learning from a Constructivist Perspective. An Investigation of Spanish Foreign Language Teachers' Views. Language and Education, 19(6), pp. 483 -495. Téllez, K. (2008). What student teachers learn about multicultural education from their cooperating teachers. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24(1), pp. 43 -58. Xiao, H. , & Petraki, E. (2007). An investigation of Chinese students’ difficulties in intercultural communication and its role in ELT. Journal of Intercultural Communication, 13. Retrieved on January 27, 2008 from http: //www. immi. se/intercultural/nr 13/petraki. htm Williams, M. , R. Burden, (2002). Psychology for Language Teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 21