The document discusses differing views on the role of culture in language teaching. Some scholars view culture as the fifth language skill after reading, writing, listening and speaking. Others argue that culture is not essential to language learning and can cause issues like cultural imperialism. The document also examines various approaches to incorporating culture, such as implicit versus explicit teaching, focusing on small classroom cultures versus large ethnic cultures, and using students' own cultures in teaching.

1. LOGO
The Role of Culture in ELT
Presented by
Parisa Mehran

2. Company Logo
www.Win2Farsi.com

3. Traditionally, most language teachers stressed that the target
culture should be as an integral part of language instruction.
Culture traditionally obtains the status of fifth skill after the four
language skills. For example,
 Damen (1987) viewed culture as “the fifth dimension in the
language classroom.”
 Oxford (1990) also remarked that culture is often
considered as a skill.

4. On the other hand, some asserted that culture has no essential role
in language teaching and it can even cause problems in L2 teaching
and learning such as “cultural imperialism” (Holliday, 1994;
Pennycook, 1994; Phillipson, 1992).
Indeed, “in the course of time,
the pendulum of ELT practitioners’
opinion has swung against and for
teaching culture in context of
language teaching”
(Genc & Bada, 2005, p. 73).

5. “Although culture and language are in reality
‘married’, language curricula respond to them as if
they were still only ‘engaged’, and, this inclusion of
cultural content continues to be seen as an issue
separate from that of language. The groom is still
waiting at the altar” (cited in Risager, 2007, p. 99).

6. “Language and culture makes [sic] a living organism;
language is flesh, and culture is blood. Without
culture, language would be dead; without language,
culture would have no shape” (p. 328).
Jiang, W. (2000). The relationship between culture
and language. ELT Journal, 54, 328-334.

7. Kramsch, C., & Sullivan, P. (1996). Appropriate
pedagogy. ELT Journal, 50, 199-212.
Kramsch and Sullivan (1996)
considered the language
“classroom as a culture” (p.
201). And they concluded that
“appropriate pedagogy should
therefore prepare learners to
be both global and local
speakers of English and to feel
at home in both international
and national cultures” (p. 211).

8. Tang, R. (1999). The place of “culture” in the foreign
language classroom: A reflection. The Internet TESL
Journal, 8.
In this article, I give a personal reflection of the place
of "culture" in the foreign language classroom. Re-
examining the notions of integrative and
instrumental motivations to language learning, I
suggest that language and culture are inextricably
linked, and as such we might think about moving
away from questions about the inclusion or exclusion
of culture in a foreign language curriculum, to issues
of deliberate immersion versus non-deliberate
exposure to it.

9. Pica (1994, p. 70) attempted to address this
question: “How necessary to learning a language is
the learner’s cultural integration?”
In general, she emphasized “cultural adjustment” in
the learning of the second language. However, she
warned that “generalizations” cannot be easily
made about the necessity of culture teaching. She
pointed that research has indicated instrumentally
oriented learners can successfully learn the target
language the same as learners who have integrative
orientation (p. 71).
Pica, T. (1994). Questions from the language classroom:
Research perspectives. TESOL Quarterly, 28, 49-79.

10. Bennett, M. J. (1993). How not to be a fluent fool:
Understanding the cultural dimension of language.
Bennett (1993) believed that one who
does not know the culture of a language is
just a “fluent fool” and to prevent this, “we
need to understand more completely the
cultural dimension of language” (p. 16).

11. According to Cheung (2001), the use of
culture in language teaching functions as
a “stimulus” increasing the motivation of
learners. He argued that incorporation of
culture into language classes “creates an
environment that enhances learning” (p.
58).
Cheung, C. (2001). The use of popular culture as a stimulus
to motivate secondary students’ English learning in
Hong Kong. ELT Journal, 55, 55-61.

12. Kilickaya (2004, p. 3) emphasized that
“learning about a culture does not mean
accepting that culture” and abandoning of the
native culture. The learners are just
familiarized with the cultural differences
without any attempt to give up their own
cultural values.
Kilickaya, F. (2004). Authentic materials and cultural
content in EFL classrooms. The Internet TESL Journal, 5.

13. Guest, M. (2002). A critical ‘checkbook’ for culture
teaching and learning. ELT Journal, 56, 154-161.
Guest (2002) argued that the emphasis on cultural
differences “misrepresent” the target culture
because they “otherize,” “essentialized,” and
“exoticized” it through “contrastive analysis”
between the native and the target culture. He also
commented that the role of culture in language
teaching should be implicit rather than explicit.

14. Holliday (1999) looked at
classrooms as “small cultures”
which themselves consist of
learners’ different and unique
cultures. He favored “small”
culture approach as opposed to
“large” culture approach. By
“large,” he meant “ethnic, national,
and international” and by “small,”
he meant “any cohesive social
grouping” (p. 237). Consequently,
“reductionist overgeneralization
and otherization of ‘foreign’
educators, students, and societies”
will be prevented (p. 238).
Holliday, A. (1999). Small cultures. Applied Linguistics, 20, 237-264.

15. “Multicultural literacy” (Lazaraton, 2003, p. 237)
should be taught to make learners familiar with
multiculturalism of the language classes. In
“multicultural” approach of culture teaching,
language teachers should cover tastes of all the
learners and to do so they can employ their learners
as “cultural informants” (Lazaraton, 2003, p. 213).
Lazaraton, A. (2003). Incidental displays of cultural knowledge in
the nonnative English-speaking teacher’s classroom. TESOL
Quarterly, 37, 213-245.

16. Atkinson (1999) also pointed out, “Culture is a
central yet underexamined concept in TESOL
… there has been little serious discussion and
critique of the concept in TESOL over the last
two decades” (p. 625).
Atkinson, D. (1999). TESOL and culture.
TESOL Quarterly, 33, 625-654.

17. Lessard-Clouston, M. (1997). Towards an
understanding of culture in L2/FL education. The
Internet TESL Journal, 3, 1-12.
Lessard-Clouston (1997) provided the
“Issues for Research” on the areas of
culture that require to be tackled. The
investigation about “both teacher and
student perceptions of the importance of
culture learning” is among these research
issues. Lessard-Clouston emphasized that
such research needs to be conducted in
different “contexts” to examine the
differences in attitudes.

18. LOGO