EFL Teachers' Perspectives on Culture Integration in the FL
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Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research Belhadj Bouchaib University Centre- Ain Témouchent Institute of Letters and Languages Department of English EFL Teachers’ Perspectives On Culture Integration In the FL Classrooms. The Case of Second Year Pupils in Maghni Sandid Secondary School - Ain Temouchent CASE SECONDARY SECOND YEAR PUPILS An Extended Essay Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for a Master’s Degree in Linguistics Submitted by: Supervised by: Ms. Khadija Sarah Attou Dr. Kheira Hadi Ms. Halima Saadia Cheikh Board of Examiners President: Dr. Chahrazed Hamzaoui MC.B University Centre of Ain Temouchent Supervisor: Dr. Kheira Hadi MC.B University Centre of Ain-Temouchent Examiner: Dr. Rym Allal MC.B University Centre of Ain-Temouchent Academic Year: 2019/2020 Dedications I dedicate this modest work to my dear mom, aunt and grandparents for always believing in me, for always encouraging me even when I doubted myself, to my beloved brothers Mohamed el Amine and Bahae edinne for comforting me in my darkest moments, to my little cousins Kenza, Omar and Sidi Mohamed, for supporting me. To my little angel Ceraj edinne For all the ones that stud by my side, for the people that I love from A to Z. Khadija Sarah First of all, I am very thankful to Allah who helped me finish this humble work. I dedicate this dissertation to the sweetest parents who gave me moral lessons on discipline from an earlier age, whose words of encouragement and push ring in my ears, for always respecting my dreams, for my beloved and special Sisters, Amina and Wafaa. For my little honeyed Brother Abd Errahim. I also dedicate it to my brother in law Abdellatif, my grandmother Meriem, and my pretty little angels Myriam and Ghaith. The encouragement, push and love you gave me made me the girl, daughter and sister who is today and who will be forever. Halima Saadia I ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First and before all, we thank ‘ALLAH’ for giving us strength and health to finish this work despite all the difficulties we faced. We wish to express our deepest gratitude to our teacher and supervisor Dr. Hadi who has patiently guided and encouraged us. Without her invaluable experience and advice, we would have found more difficulty to finish this dissertation. We would like to express our gratitude to all participants in this research work: pupils and teachers of Maghni Sandid secondary school, for their collaboration and help. Special thanks go to all the members of the jury; Dr. Hamzaoui as a president and Dr. Allal as an examiner for their acceptance to evaluate this research work. II Abstract It is widely recognized that language and culture are two interrelated entities, to fully acquire a language; the learning of its culture is of paramount importance. This research work investigates teachers’ opinion and thoughts about the incorporation of cultural aspects into the foreign language classroom, the techniques and the strategies that can be used in cultural integration. And investigates also to which extent the EFL pupils are aware of the target language culture importance. The current research is a case study conducted in Maghni Sandid Mohamed secondary school in Ain Temouchent. Two research instruments are used a structured interview addressed to EFL teachers, in order to extract data about their perspective on culture. And a classroom observation is used to explore pupils’ cultural awareness and curiosity. The findings show that teachers are aware of culture as a vital entity in the language learning and teaching process, however, the Algerian curriculum lacks authentic cultural materials to appropriately teach the target language culture. In addition to certain challenges both teachers and pupils are facing. Some pedagogical suggestions for successful culture integration in the language classroom are provided to teachers and pupils. III List of Abbreviations and Acronyms A: Approach. C: Culture. C.C: Communicative Competence. CLT: The Communicative Approach to the Language Teaching. EFL: English as a Foreign Language. Etc: Et Cetera (and other similar thing). FL: Foreign Language. I.C.C: Intercultural Communicative Competence. L.C: Linguistic Competence. Q: Question. R: Responsibility. S: Strategy. SLA: Second Language Acquisition. V List of Tables Table 1.1 Culture in View of Different Scholars (Definitional Modes)...................................8 Table 2.1 Teachers’ Integration of Culture in EFL Classrooms…………………..…………28 Table 2.2 The Approaches Used by Teachers to Incorporate Culture in their Teaching ..…..29 Table 2.3 Pupils’ Interest to Learn the English Language ……………………………….….31 Table 2.4 Teachers’ Opinion about Where Culture Should be Learned …………………….32 Table 2.6 Strategy that EFL Teachers Rely on in their Teaching of Culture ……………......34 Table 2.7 Teachers’ Opinion about Responsibility in Teaching Culture ………………........36 Table 2.8 Time and Date of Classroom Observation ………………………………..............38 VI List of Figures Figure 1.1 the Relationship between Language and Culture …………………………………9 Figure 2.1 Teachers’ Integration of Culture in EFL Classrooms……………..……………...29 Figure 2.2 the Approaches Used by Teachers to Incorporate Culture in their Teaching …………………………………………………….……………………….30 Figure 2.3 Pupils’ Interest to Learn the English Language ……………………………….....32 Figure 2.4 Teachers’ Opinion about Where Culture Should be Learned ……………………32 Figure 2.6 Strategies that EFL Teachers Rely on in their Teaching of Culture ……………..34 Figure 2.7 Teachers’ Opinion about Responsibility in Teaching Culture …………..……….36 VII Contents Dedications .................................................................................................................................. I ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ........................................................................................................ II Abstract .................................................................................................................................... III List of Abbreviations ................................................................................................................. V List of Tables ............................................................................................................................ VI List of Figures ......................................................................................................................... VII Table of Content .................................................................................................................... VIII General introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter one Literature Review ..................................................................... Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 6 1.2 Language and Culture .......................................................................................................... 6 1.2.1 Defining Language and Culture .................................................................................... 7 1.2.1.1 Characteristics of Culture ....................................................................................... 9 1.2.2 The Relationship between Language and Culture ......................................................... 9 1.3 Integrating Culture in the Language Classroom ................................................................ 10 1.3.1 Foreign Language Learning ......................................................................................... 11 1.3.2 Factors Affecting Foreign Language Learning.............................................................11 1.4History of Teaching Culture ................................................................................................ 12 1.4.1 Culture in the Classical Approach ............................................................................. 12 1.4.2 The Shift from the Linguistic Competence to the Communicative Competence ....... 13 VIII 1.4.3 The Shift from the Communicative Competence to Intercultural Communicative Competence .......................................................................................................................... 14 1.4.4 Teaching Culture in the Recent Approaches ............................................................... 15 1.5 Approaches of Teaching Culture in Language Classrooms ............................................... 16 1.6 Goals of Teaching Culture ................................................................................................. 17 1.7. Strategies of Teaching Culture .......................................................................................... 19 1.7.1 Creating an Authentic Environment Strategy ........................................................... 19 1.7.2 The Culture Assimilator Strategy ............................................................................. 20 1.7.3 The Culture Capsule Strategy.................................................................................... 20 1.7.4 The Cluster Strategy ................................................................................................. 20 1.8 Difficulties of Integrating Culture in the Language Classrooms ....................................... 20 1.9 Conclusion .........................................................................................................................