Source Culture, Target Culture or Interculture?

International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World
(IJLLALW)
Volume 6 (1), May 2014; 317-337 Erfani, S. M
EISSN: 2289-2737 & ISSN: 2289-3245 www.ijllalw.org
SOURCE CULTURE, TARGET CULTURE OR
INTERCULTURE?
IRANIAN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS PERCEPTION
OF CULTURE
Seyyed Mahdi Erfani
Damghan University, Damghan, Iran
Email: smerfani@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT
The issue of culture as an inevitable element in any language teaching in general and English
language teaching in particular merits researchers' close attention in any English as a Second
Language (ESL) or English as a Foreign language (EFL) context. Since in the present century,
the need of teaching and learning English appears quite obvious and necessary, this paper which
also has taken this issue for granted, tries to deal with the conflict of cultures between the local
and the Center culture as one of the main problems and concerns in teaching and learning
English in the Iranian context. Reviewing the three main viewpoints about teaching English
language culture, i.e. source culture, target culture, and interculture, the researcher attempted to
investigate the ELT teachers' perception on the issue of which culture should be presented in the
EFL classroom. Based on the interviews taken from both experts and novice teachers in some
English language institutes and universities, a questionnaire was devised and their perceptions
about teaching culture in the classroom were acquired. The results showed that although some
teachers favored both source and target values in language teaching, most of them emphasized
the intercultural view to language teaching and the importance of training interculturally
competent students to be able to understand the cultural concepts of perception, thinking, feeling,
and acting. Teachers may also use the effective culturally appropriate techniques to allow
students to observe and explore cultural interactions from their own perspectives to enable them
to find their own voices in the language speech community.
KEYWORDS: source culture, target culture, Center culture, intercultural competence, English
Language Teaching
INTRODUCTION
Culture has always been considered as an essential part of any language teaching/learning
situation (Akbari, 2008). Despite the importance of culture in any language teaching in general
and ELT in specific, especially during the recent decades, teaching or not teaching English
language culture has been of main interest of ELT researchers and professionals.
Among the opponents of teaching Center culture, Canagarajah (1999), demonstrating the cultural
load of ELT practices developed in the Center, maintains that English spread especially through
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ELT strengthens the cultural hegemony of the Center. Gray (2000) also writes that topics are
chosen in such a way that the target culture seems to uphold values and living standards that are
better than those of the student's culture, leading to the perception that the target culture is
superior to the student's. On the contrary, proponents of teaching Center culture justify that that
those who want to learn English want to communicate with the users of this language, and
successful communication would not be possible without the learners' familiarity with the
cultural norms of English speakers. In the mid of this controversy, the emergence of a new trend
emphasizing the teaching of intercultural competence, defined as the ability to communicate
successfully with people of other cultures, believes that at present where English is used as an
international language, each person should be interculturally competent to understand the cultural
concepts of perception, thinking, feeling, and acting. All things considered, this paper, as an
initial attempt, surveys the Iranian ELT community's attitudes toward this newly emerged
controversial issue.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Culture in language teaching
In order to speak a language well, one has to be able to think in that language, and thought seems
essentially powerful. The persons mind constitutes ones identity. Language is the soul of the
country and people who speak it. Language is culture. Studying a second language without
studying its culture seems inaccurate and deficient.
Cultural competence is part of pragmatic aspect of communicative competence of the members of

a culture so that the individual behaves in a way that would be understood by members of the
culture in the intended way. It involves understanding of all aspects of a culture, the social
structure, the values and beliefs of the people and the way things are assumed to be done. Culture
enhances the communicative competence in L2. Lado (1957) believes that lack of cultural
competence in the target language would surely lead to transfer from the native language. L2
students would express idiosyncratic utterances leading to inappropriate utterances even through
the grammatical structures may be appropriate.
Since 1990s, a lot of studies have concerned with the necessary relation between culture and
language. Also they demonstrated that there is an indispensable relationship between L2 teaching
and teaching the culture of the target language (Byram, 1997; Pulverness, 2003).
Knowledge about the country or people who speak the target language is important L2 students,
learning a new language does not mean only gaining knowledge about phonology, syntax and
lexicon. There is a need for cultural literacy in ELT because most language learners who are not
exposed to cultural elements of the L2 society may face significant problems when
communicating meaning to native speakers (Bada, 2000). In addition, the L2 culture as an
interdisciplinary core today seems to be involved in L2 curriculum designs and textbook
development (Sysoyev & Donelson, 2002).
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Culturally based activities in classrooms play a great role since learners like such activates as role
playing, finding information about countries and people which increases not only learners
curiosity and interest in the cultures of the L2 countries but also their motivation in learning the
lexical and grammatical aspects of the language. Therefore, learners prefer culturally oriented
classes more highly than traditional ones (Kiato, 2000).
Teaching a language does not mean the mere presentation of some information about the
structure, vocabulary and phonetics of that language, but it should contain cultural aspects. Some
scholars hold that teaching culture can begin on the very first day of class and should continue.
Through a preparing a cultural island in their classrooms, teachers can use posters, pictures, maps
and signs to help students develop a mental image. Short presentations on a topic of interest with
appropriate pictures or slides add to this mental image and can heighten student interest. In this
way, teachers can make student aware of the influence of various foreign cultures.
According to Byram (1989), the cultural experiences that teachers bring to the classroom are, at
best, vicarious and thinking that the students acquire foreign cultural concepts and values as if
they were a tabula rasa would be misleading. Teachers let students observe and explore cultural
interactions from their own perspectives to enable them to find their own voices in the second
language speech community.
According to Tomalin and Stempleski (1993) mention seven goals of cultural instructions which
help learners develop:
1. An understanding of the fact that all people exhibit culturally conditioned behaviors.
2. An understanding that social variables such as age, sex, social class, and place of residence
influence the ways in which people speak and behave.
3. An awareness of conventional behavior in common situations in target language.
4. An awareness of the cultural connotations of words and phrases in the target language.
5. The ability to evaluate and refine generalizations about the target culture, in terms of
supporting evidence.
6. The necessary skills to locate the organize information about the target culture.
7. An intellectual curiosity about the target culture and to encourage empathy towards its people.
Kramsch (1991) stresses that cultural proficiency could more difficult to assess than linguistic
proficiency. He also holds that even when people experience studying abroad, the evidences of
cross-cultural understanding or cross-cultural personality development is lacking. Byram (1991)
believes that the goal of culture instruction is not to replicate the socialization process
experienced by natives of the culture, but to develop intercultural understanding. Kordes (1991)
expresses a similar view in claiming that even through a foreign language, intercultural learning
is feasible to at least some degree. Kramsch (1993) proposes that in the classroom setting it is
possible to foster the formation of what she calls a third culture conceived of as the intersection
of multiple discourses rather than as a reified body of information to be intellectualized and
remembered.
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Successful communication requires something more than language proficiency, but efficient
communication doesnt occur unless foreign language users have reached to a degree of cultural
competency of the language they use. Meaningful cross-cultural communication depends on the
attainment of abilities to grasp different modes of thinking and living represented in the language,
and to be able to merge and mediate between different modes specific interactions. This mode of
understanding can be labeled as intercultural communicative competence.
Through intercultural language learning, learners deal with and learn to understand and interpret
human communication and interaction in increasingly sophisticated ways. Both as participants in
communication and as observers, learners notice, describe, analyze and interpret ideas,
experiences and feeling shared when communicating with others. During this process, they
should interpret their own and others meanings, while each experience of participation and
reflection leads them to a greater awareness of self in relation to others. This is an ongoing
interactive exchange of meanings and the reflection both on the meanings exchanged and the
process of interaction, which is considered as an integral part of life in our world. Therefore,
intercultural language learning is not only a process or technique to be added to teaching and
learning but also something integral to the interactions that already takes place in the classroom
and beyond.
It is the learners responsibility to become aware of the culturally appropriate ways for addressing
people, greetings, expressing needs, and agree or disagree with someone. They should know
about the different behaviors and intonation patterns appropriate in their own speech community
but unusual for members of the target language speech community. They should be aware of the
fact that having successful communication entails language use which is associated with other
culturally appropriate behavior. Some students have the opportunity to travel to a foreign country
to immerse themselves in the target culture. But, most of them do not find the chance to spend
time in a foreign country.
Culture in ELT materials

In todays environment with diverse language needs, it seems important that learners in EFL
classrooms be provided with different skills such as critical thinking, intercultural understanding
and cultural awareness-raising. Andrew (2009) defines cultural awareness-raising as any activity
which actively seeks to engage learners and broaden their understanding, increase sensitivity and
promote flexibility and tolerance of otherness and cultural diversity.
Since communication opportunities for EFL learners are limited to classroom environment and
there are very few contacts with target language community, materials in EFL textbooks play the
important role to provide the missing element of being authentic. The problem is whose culture to
represent and how to present cultural elements while being informative and interesting. Many
EFL textbook are supposed to be sold internationally and they have a wide range of audience and
are generalized with different skills and cultural content.
Although ideas such as English as a Global Language and Intercultural Communication have
widely spread and have long been considered as important elements of language learning in Iran
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over the last twenty years, very few serious measures towards including them into cultural
awareness pedagogy have been taken.Still, there is the problem of native speakers language and
culture as the standard against which the proficiency of learners are evaluated. However, today
English as an International Language comprised of diverse cultures has remained obscure and
untouched.
According to Stapleton (2000), efforts to include more culturally sensitive and awareness raising
content or methodology to meet the usersincreasing needs as speakers of English as an
International Language have been largely ignored even at a superficial level.
Nowadays, for learners with various goals for language learning, it seems useless to develop
textbooks dealing with target culture without taking understanding level, interests and
background of the students into consideration.Many textbooks address cultural content teaching
which presents abstract and irrelevant facts, often with bias and exaggerating or misrepresenting
the culture (Kramsch. 1993, Byram. 1997, Moran. 2001). According to Sercu (2002), most
cultural content in textbooks merely represent the information about different dimensions of the
target culture, such as geography, education, food and drink, tourist highlights, politics, the
economy, etc. they are mostly based on models of American Culture and develop a very limited,
and inappropriate sort of cultural awareness (Fenner 2001).
Contrary to various criticisms to such approaches and materials of culture teaching, very few
have been proposed to improve methods or materials towards the development of an acceptable
and workable pedagogy.Canagarajah (2002) called for the reengineering of published textbooks
to avoid the rush of center based materials into the expanding periphery of non-native EFL
contexts, since he believes teachers can have an essential role in researching and developing
special materials to suit their particular contexts. Although there is a dire need for more globally
aware and communicatively competent societies, relatively few materials have been presented to
suit the situation.
Although EFL text books are the only means of furnishing learners with samples of target
language usage and cultural information; most of them seem to be one dimensional and biased.
Today students are accustomed to multitasking media such as blogs or social networks. As
Fenner (2001) holds, students are usually exposed to cultural aspects of the target language
outside the classroom and teachers should not compete with these influences but to contribute to
them. Therefore, textbooks should contain engaging content to capture the learners interest.
Investigating the intercultural communication materials, Mndez Garca (2005) enumerates for
the purposes of familiarizing the learners with the target language culture as below:
enhancing students knowledge of the world and of foreign
communities;familiarizing them with the most salient behavioral patterns of the target
societies; promoting attitudes of respect and tolerance;
fostering reflection upon ones own culture; emphasizing
the relative role of ones cultural assumptions or developing real intercultural communication in
an intercultural world.
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Teachers should help students master the above skills to be able to develop their own cultural
awareness raising strategies and actively engage and interact with the cultures they encounter in
the real world.Campbell (2000) also mentions the important role teachers play in preparing
students for cultural pluralism, i.e. providing a curriculum that reflects multiple perspectives on
issues as well as diverse life experiences, both favorable and unfavorable.
Kramsch (1998) emphasizes accessing peoples imagination using stimulating texts as

imagination is one layer of culture. Providing lots of blank space in text books motivates the
learners to think about and comment on things; since awareness raising activities are not teacher
centered. A text usually provides a theme, some questions for stimulation and a task. The teacher
may explain on cultural information or guide students in making connections to their own culture
if need arises.According to Alptekin (1993), texts should act as conceptual bridges between the
culturally familiar and the unfamiliar through comparisons as techniques of cross-cultural
comprehension or the exploitation of universal concepts of human experience as reference points
for the interpretation of unfamiliar data
In Iran, texts usually focus on language structures and do not deal with cultural information. This
is due to the nature of examinations the students should take in the future and also because most
non-native English teachers are reluctant to teach more abstract elements of language and culture
due to their limited experience and qualification. Of course, textbook writers and teachers tried to
make materials more global. Fenner (2001) states that there would be no dialogue between the
two cultures unless there is knowledge and understanding of both, and there is a dire need for
intercultural awareness to achieve both the critical perspective of ones own culture as well as the
target one.
Intercultural competence
Intercultural competence can be defined as the Knowledge, awareness and understanding of the
relation (similarities, distinctive differences) between the world of origin and the world of the
target community. The teachers role in expanding learners personal experience of language
from ones own culture to the target one, and then to the languages and cultural backgrounds of
other people seems important. Paying appropriate attention to cultural aspects of language will
help the learners both increase a greater capacity for language learning and a greater openness for
new cultural experiences (Afrin, 2003). Cultural issues seem to be essential part of any language
teaching curriculum and can be taught in different levels.
It is necessary for both learners and teachers of a foreign language to know cultural differences,
and to understand clearly that all people in the world are not the same. There are real differences
between groups and cultures (Brown, 1994). Therefore, language teachers cannot avoid
conveying impressions of another culture whether they realize it or not (Rivers, 1981). Language
cannot be separated completely from the culture in which it is deeply embedded. Different
materials introduce culture into the classroom; from listening to the native speakers utterances,
or reading an original passage to pictures showing target language people engaged in their
everyday activities. Developing cultural awareness in the EFL classroom means that the native
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language is learned along with the ways and attitudes of the social group, and these ways and
attitudes find expression through the social group. therefore, understanding a foreign culture will
help students to use target language and its expressions more skillfully and authentically; to know
and how to use different levels of language situationally appropriate; to interact normally with
people from other speech community, to recognize and accept their differences, and to help
speakers of other language feel at home in the learners own culture (Afrin, 2013).
A lot of learners find cross-cultural learning beneficial to their learning experiences; however,
some others experience certain negative effects of the second language culture. Then teachers
will help students to change this inhibiting experience into a positive one to increase their cultural
and self-awareness. While learning a foreign language, students sometimes feel alienation from
people in the target culture or even from themselves. Teachers should be sensitive about the
students feelings and apply techniques that enhance cultural understanding.
Several techniques readings, films, simulation, games, culture assimilators, culture capsules and
culturgrams- can be used for language teacher to assist them in the process of acculturation in the
classroom (Chastain, 1988). Role-plays in EFL classrooms can provide students with
opportunities for oral communication while at the same time help them to promote the process of
cross-cultural dialogues. Moreover, if sensitive and perceptive teachers help learners to move
through stages of acculturation, they can go through stages of culture learning and in this manner
increase their chances to learn both second language learning and second culture.
If learners wish to master another language, they need to become communicatively competent in
that language as well. That is to say, successful language learning is not just to master at using
grammatically correct words and forms but also knowing when to use them and under what
circumstances. In addition to grammatical competence, communicative competence should also
include discourse competence and sociolinguistic competence. All three components are
necessary for a language course to enable students to reach a level of communicative
competence. The sociolinguistic component of communication consists of rules of speaking
which depend on social, pragmatic, and cultural elements. Thus, choosing an appropriate
linguistic realization for making an apology or a request in any language depends on the social
status of the speaker or hearer, and on age, sex, or any other social factor. Also, some pragmatic
situational conditions need the performance of a certain speech act in one culture but not in
another.
Another main point to mention here is that before learning about culture, students must be
motivated and receptive to the concept of learning about cultures other than their own. To reach
this goal, teachers have a great influence on breaking down cultural barriers prior to initiating
teaching-learning activities. Emphasizing similarities between people can be one of techniques
used to begin teaching culture. The comparisons and contrasts should start from the native culture
to the target one such as a discussion of differences between members of students family,
between families, between schools and between cultures. In other words, first language
equivalents can enhance learning while teaching a culture-specific topic. The uses of culture-
based activities in the classroom help learners become familiar with the target culture. The
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activities should involve the cultural values of the target language designed for every level. At the
elementary level, these activities deal with discussions about the daily life of the peer group in
the other language community their families, their living conditions, their school, their relations
with their friends, their leisure-time activities, the festivals they celebrate, the ceremonies they go
through and marriage customs. Subjects dealt with at intermediate and advanced levels are
geographical factors and their influence on daily living, major historical periods, society,
production, transport, buying and selling, aspects of city and country life, the history of art,
music, dance and film and so on. Even people living in a particular society can easily see others
cultures as Kumaravadivelu (2012) states that now people have a greater chance of knowing
about others cultural way of life the good, the bad, and the ugly. McKay (2012) gives
evidences of concern about reducing the traditional emphasis on Western culture and blending
local culture with global overtones. She argues that there should be a balance between local and
global standards as there is no strong boundary in interactions. What occurs is both cultural
assimilation and acculturation.
There are three types of cultures in the contents of English language teaching. They are source
cultures learners cultures, target cultures Inner-Circle countries, and international target
cultures a mixture of Inner-and Outer-Circle countries and learners cultures which, is called
blended cultures (Brown, 2012). In Teaching English as an International Language (TEIL),
blended cultures can be ideal contents for cross-cultural education, because they provide various
subjects for the discussion of everyday issues and English is a common medium of expression.
Cultural values play an important role in determining what participants do in verbal interactions
(Kachru and Smith, 2008). In TEIL, learners and teachers are individuals having their own
cultures and learning-teaching English with its cultures target cultures in blended culture
contexts. They should be engaged in the task of forming and reforming their identities in this
globalized world with blended cultures (Kumaravadivelu, 2012). The task of local teachers of
English is to design a language pedagogy that is localized and socially sensitive to the diversity
and richness of the English used today in an increasingly globalized and complex world (McKay,
2012). Liddicoat (2011) proposes some skills for the teachers to adopt or adapt capacities for
intercultural exploration; a) involve students in a process of noticing, reflecting, and interacting;
b) construct source and target culture; c) view instances of language use as experiences of culture
and opportunities for culture learning; d) focus on the capabilities required for on-going learning
about cultures through experiences of languages; and e) encouraging the inclusion of multiple
perspectives. Liddicoats perspective on intercultural exploration is that source and target cultures
are equal and learners learn cultures through the language they are learning. Further, Liddicoat
(2011) proposes principles of teaching and learning on which an intercultural pedagogy exists by
a) active construction; b) making connections; c) interaction; d) reflection; and e) responsibility.
Cultural Conceptualizations in Iranian EFL Setting

Regardless of whether taught as a second or a foreign language, English is considered as an
international and global language. ELT teachers in Iran should familiarize students with varieties
of English so that there would be no cross-cultural miscommunication when they contact the
people in different countries. Since there exist different varieties of English, ELT teachers in Iran
can provide these varieties accompanied with the local cultures and the norms of use of English
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in those varieties. Culture teaching in the ELT classroom does not necessarily mean only the
western culture but it also includes other local cultures around the world in which English is
taught as a second or foreign language. Thus, there seems to be a dire need to investigate and
possibly alter the Iranian ELT teachers perceptions that teaching English does not always mean
teaching only the western culture. The students should be made aware of the fact that the English
that they are learning may be different from other countries. So, when communicating with
foreign speakers, they shouldnt feel superior or inferior to their English abilities. The English
textbooks taught in the Iranian English classrooms should emphasize and develop multicultural
competence of the students. They should learn English as a lingua franca (ELF) pragmatics along
with the recognition and tolerance of ELF varieties in different social contexts (Alptekin, 2010).
Another consideration in the English textbooks for Iranian students is global issues. Such issues
help provide an understanding of global citizenship which lead to open-mindedness and tolerance
of cultural diversity. Besides, due to the imperialistic view to English language, materials should
be chosen not only from inner country speakers but also from expanding countries with diverse
cultures.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Based on the literature reviewed, the following research questions were proposed:
1. What is the Iranian teachers perception of target culture?
2. What is the Iranian teachers perception of source culture?
3. What is the Iranian teachers perception of the intercultural competence?
METHODOLOGY
A qualitative-quantitative method was utilized for this study.
Participants
In the first stage, the qualitative part, some descriptive data were gathered through semi-
structured interviews with 6 experienced teachers in TEFL both at universities and language
institutes.
Table1: participants' features in the qualitative stage
Teaching
participant degree major gender
experience
A PhD TEFL male 20
B PhD Literature female 10
C MA Translation female 7
D MA TEFL male 14
E MA TEFL male 10
F MA TEFL male 5
In the second stage, the quantitative part, statistical data were calculated though a questionnaire
filled out by the teachers. Participants of the study were Iranian language teachers teaching
English at language institutes and universities with the following features:
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Table2: Participants' features in the quantitative stage

features N = 74 Percentage (rounded)
Gender
Male 31 42%
Female 43 58%
Educational qualifications
23
BA 31%
51
MA 69%
Major
TEFL 58 78%
Linguistics 8 10%
Translation 5 8%
Literature 3 4%
Age
24-30 34 46%
30-36 22 30%
36-42 8 24%
Years of teaching experience
15 20%
1- 4 (novice)
59 80%
beyond 4
Instrumentation
To investigate the perceptions of Iranian English teachers teaching at language institutes and
universities, two instruments were used. In the first stage, the qualitative part, some teachers were
interviewed about teaching culture in the EFL classroom. The interviews were on an semi-
structured basis to elicit their general ideas about cultural aspects; their positive and negative
points; whether and to what extent culture is taught in their classes; whether the textbooks deal
with this concept in teaching, etc. the interviews were done voluntarily in a friendly atmosphere
in order for the teachers to feel at home about expressing their ideas on the subject. The
interviews took about 30 minutes. The descriptive research design with qualitative data from the
semi-structured interviews provided useful information for the items of the questionnaire
designed to be distributed to the teachers (Appendix I).
In the second stage, the quantitative part, based on the ideas gathered from interviews with
teachers, a questionnaire was designed by the researcher himself to elicit their attitudes on
teaching culture in the EFL classroom. Participants were asked to give their opinions on 12
statements of the questionnaire based on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from Strongly Agree,
Agree, No Idea, Disagree, and Strongly Disagree. The questionnaires were distributed to 8o
teachers personally and electronically. Approximately 78% of the teachers filled out the
questionnaire completely. Those questionnaires filled out incompletely were ignored (Appendix
II). Before its actual administration, the questionnaire was carefully studied and revised. To make
sure of content and linguistic validity, it was piloted with 12 teachers having the given criteria.
To analyze its reliability, the responses were fed into SPSS. Using Cronbach alpha, an alpha
coefficient of 0.81 was found. Moreover, based on the feedbacks obtained, some modifications
were done and the questionnaire was finalized.
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Data collection procedure

In this stage, 95 questionnaires were administered through face-to-face contact or email by the
researcher himself. The response rate was 77.8 %. The purpose of the study and a request for
participants were stated in both the paper version and the electronic one.The data were collected
over a 4-week period.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Based on the data collected through questionnaires, the results were analyzed and described as
following:
The result of the first item in the questionnaire indicates that 62.16 % agreed and 32.43%
disagreed to provide information about values and beliefs of the target culture as part of their
classroom teaching. Asking the teachers opinion about including a rich variety of target cultural
expressions such as literature, music, theater and film, only 40.54% agreed and 51.35%
disagreed.With respect to the sixth item, a large number of teachers (81.08%) agreed and only a
few (16.21%) disagreed to provide information about daily life and customs in the target culture.
With respect to statement 10 regarding a realistic presentation of English culture, 62.16% agreed
and 27.02% disagreed. Most teachers believed that negative aspects as well as positive aspects of
target culture should be presented in the classroom(table 3).
Table 3: the statistical results for the questionnaire items regarding the first research question
Agree Disagree
Questions Strongly Undecided Strongly
Agree Disagree
Agree Disagree
1. An English teacher should provide
N 14 32 4 16 8
information about values and beliefs
N 46 24
in the target culture.
M =3.37 62.16% 5.41% 32.43%
3. An English language teacher

should provide experiences with a N 8 22 6 28 10
rich variety of target cultural N 30 38
expressions (literature, music,
M =2.86 40.54% 8.11% 51.35%
theater, film, etc.)

should provide information about N 22 38 2 9 3
daily life and customs in the target N 60 12
culture. M=3.90 81.08% 2.70% 16.21%

should present a realistic image of N 14 32 8 15 5
English culture, and therefore should N 46 20
also touch upon negative sides of the
M=3.47 62.16% 10.81% 27.02%
English culture and society.
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Regarding providing information about the history, geography, social and political conditions of
the source cultures, 59.45% agreed and only 28.37% disagreed to include such contents in
English classroom. According to the fifth item of the questionnaire, the results showed that
47.29% agreed and only 33.78% disagreed that teachers should promote increased understanding
of students' own culture. Inquiring teachers opinion about including information about daily life
and customs in the target culture, 81.08% agreed and only 16.21% disagreed. Regarding
understanding the source culture as well as the target culture, 50% of the teachers agrees while
39.18% disagreed to give equal importance to deal with both cultures in the classroom. The result
of the item 11 of the questionnaire indicated that 45.94% agreed while 40.54% disagreed to
enhance students understanding of their own cultural identities (table 4).
Table 4: the statistical results for the questionnaire items regarding the second research question
Agree Disagree
Agree Disagree
Agree Disagree
should provide information about the N 12 32 9 16 5
history, geography, social and N 44 21
political conditions of the source
M=3.40 59.45% 12.16% 28.37%
cultures.

should promote increased N 12 23 14 18 7
understanding of students' own N 35 25
culture. M =3.20 47.29% 18.92% 33.78%
7. In an English language classroom,

N 8 28 5 21 12
teaching source culture is as
N 36 33
important as teaching the target
M=2.98 48.64% 6.76% 44.59%
culture.
9. English language teaching should

not only touch upon English culture, N 11 26 8 19 10
It should also deepen N 37 29
students'understanding of their own
M=3.12 50.00% 10.81% 39.18%
culture.
11. English language teaching should

N 11 23 10 20 10
enhance students' understanding of
N 34 30
their own cultural identities.
M=3.06 45.94% 13.51% 40.54%
In regard to developing attitudes of openness and tolerance towards other people and cultures in
the world, 82.43% of the teachers agreed and only 13.51% disagreed. With respect to the
necessity of acquiring intercultural competence, 72.27% of English language teachers agreed and
20.27% disagreed. Regarding the last item of the questionnaire, 63.51% agreed while 29.72%
disagreed that teaching intercultural dimensions is more practical and useful than teaching target
culture (table 5).
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Table 5: the statistical results for the questionnaire items regarding the third research question
Agree Disagree
Agree Disagree
Agree Disagree
should develop attitudes of openness N 21 40 3 8 2
and tolerance towards other people N 61 10
and cultures in the world. M =3.94 82.43% 4.05% 13.51%
8. All students should acquire N 19 33 7 9 6

intercultural competence. N 52 15
M=3.67 70.27% 9.46% 20.27%
12. Today in the current world in

which English is known as an N 16 31 5 17 5
international language, teaching N 47 22
intercultural dimensions is more M=3.48 63.51% 6.76% 29.72%
practical and useful than teaching
target culture.
Discussion
According to the research questions, the questionnaire statements were based on three main
issues as following:
a. statements regarding teachers perceptions towards the target culture

Statements 1, 3, 6 and 10 measure the teachers opinions about providing target culture in the
classroom.
Statement no. 1 (62.16 % agreed and 32.43% disagreed) asked teachers perception of providing
information about values and beliefs of the target culture as part of their classroom teaching. It
can be seen that a not quite a large number of teachers have a clear idea of having discussions
about the English language values and beliefs in their classroom.
Statement no. 3 (40.54% agreed and 51.35% disagreed) asked teachers perception of including a
rich variety of target cultural expressions such as literature, music, theater and film. The data
shows that although they, to a little extent, agreed to incorporate the values and beliefs of English
culture (i.e. mostly inner circle countries such as USA and Great Britain), they may be reluctant
to delve into inner circle culture as deeply as enculturation process.
Statement no. 6 (81.08% agreed and only a few 16.21%) disagreed) provided information about
daily life and customs in the target culture. The data shows that quite a large majority of the
teachers agreed to include the daily life and customs of the target culture (culture with small c)
since this dimension of culture seems to have priority over other dimensions such as literature or
fine arts (culture with big C). this shows the necessity for students to gain awareness about
aspects which are of more common ground among learners of different cultures and learners who
contact people of the target culture through travel or the internet need more pragmatic aspects of
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the language in order to have an efficient communication. therefore, teachers showed more
emphasis to this aspect.
Statement no. 10 (62.16% agreed and 27.02% disagreed) inquired teachers about the realistic
presentation of English culture in EFL classrooms. Most teachers asserted that learning culture
means not only the positive and enjoyable part of a culture but it also contains the negative
aspects such issues as social problems like unemployment, pollution, poverty, etc. Therefore,
teachers considered it necessary that teaching materials like textbooks and educational
technology like weblogs and the internet provide learners a real picture of the speakers of target
cultures people. Many textbooks try to represent the target culture more advanced and socialized
than the source culture through stereotypes. This gives an imaginary and illusive picture of the
target culture which leads to feeling of inferiority on the side of the speakers of source culture
and an unreal desire to live in and acquire that culture. Hence, according to the data, positive as
well as negative aspects of target culture should be presented in the classroom.
In teacher s 'views, English teacher must provide the learners with some cultural data including
target values and beliefs. Undoubtedly, especially in an EFL context in which ELT classrooms
are the only place that learners are exposed to language, in this case the role of the target
language seems more important than other contexts. Using center-produced ELT materials in
contexts such as Iran is in such a way that as we teach English, we would automatically teach
some aspects of cultural values. Thus, it is not surprising that we see in this part the Iranian
teachers maintain that an English teacher should provide information about target values and
beliefs.
Regarding some target cultural expressions including literature, theatre etc., it seems that for
Iranian learners as well as teachers, they are not as important as some cultural aspects including
values. In other words, daily life and customs including some forms of address, greetings, and
daily activities are more important than some artistic and aesthetic aspects such as fine arts.
b. statements dealing with favoring the source culture

Statements 2, 5, 7, 9 and 11 of the questionnaire focused on investigating the teachers opinions
about providing source culture in the classroom.
Statement no. 2 asked whether the history, geography, social and political conditions of the
source culture should be included in the materials in English classroom (59.45% agreement in
contrast to 28.37% disagreement). Statement no. 5 inquired whether teachers should promote
increased understanding of students' own culture. 47.29% agreed and only 33.78% disagreed.
According to the data collected, more than half of the teachers confirmed that learners can learn
English not only through the target language but also through cultural aspects of the source
language. In this way, learners can gain more awareness about their own environment and culture
through the medium of English. Learning English promotes reflection upon ones own culture
(Mndez Garca, 2005).
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Statement no. 7 asked if information about daily life and customs of source culture as well as the
target culture should be included in English language classroom. 81.08% agreed and only 16.21%
disagreed. Statement no. 9 also dealt with understanding the source culture as well as the target
culture. 50% of the teachers agreed while 39.18% disagreed. As it is clear, in both cases, data
show that teachers give equal importance to both cultures in the classroom. That is to say, when
the students learn about aspects of their own culture along with those of the target culture, they
can discuss the similarities and differences which lead to a cultural awareness. It is the learner
who decides which aspects of both cultures to choose and which ones to reject and the teacher
may provide information only to help them think critically. In this way, the learner himself or
herself can have a sound judgment about the realities of both the target and source cultures.
Statement no. 11 proposes the necessity of enhancing students understanding of their own
cultural identities. 45.94% agreed while 40.54% disagreed. As it was mentioned above, nearly
half of the respondents were willing and the other half were reluctant to include such materials
that help increase students identities. May be the teachers did not have a clear idea of source
cultural identity to respond in favor of one of them.
Today there is no doubt that English has turned into an international language, and due to the
scope of its application both geographically and communicatively, as Akbari (2008) notes, it has
developed certain features which are not part of any specific national character. In other words,
English has become de-nationalized and re-nationalized as a result of its spread as the world
lingua franca (Sridhar and Sridhar 1994; Seidlhofer 2001). In addition, in most communicative
settings, people try to communicate their own cultural values and conceptualizations, not those of
the target language.
As criticized by Kumaravadivelu (2012), for a long time developing L2 linguistic competence

has also meant developing L2 cultural competence and consequently cultural assimilation has
been the desired destination with integrative motivation as the preferred path to get there.
Regarding this situation, the main justification of the mainstream ELT has been that those who
want to learn English want to communicate with the users of this language, and successful
communication would not be possible without the learners' familiarity with the cultural norms of
English speakers (Akbari, 2008). In this case, insisting on the fact that this assumption is only
true for those who want to migrate to countries such as the US or UK for work or study, he
reminds us that due to the scope of English application both geographically and
communicatively, most of the communication carried out in English is between people who are
themselves the so-called non-native speakers of English with a distinct cultural identity of their
own. Thus, there is little need in this context for the Anglo-American culture, since neither party
is a native with whom the other interlocutor is going to identify. In his words, incorporating
source culture, i.e. learners own culture, is valuable since focusing on local cultures contributes
to learners to reflect on the positive and negative features of their own culture and consequently
explore ways to make changes in the society if change is required. Mckay (2003) also in response
to why anyone would learn about their own culture in English, notes the important point that
students need to talk about their own culture when they talk to people from other cultures. In
addition, reliance on learners' culture as the point of departure for language teaching will make
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them critically aware and respectful of their own culture and prevent the development of a sense
of inferiority which might result from a total reliance on the target language culture where only
the praiseworthy features of the culture are presented. Matsuda (2012) also points to this fact that
a possible source of cultural content can be learners' own culture. In her views, when English was
considered the language of the UK and US, the knowledge of a narrowly defined "English-
speaking culture" may have been adequate. Due to the undeniable fact that this language today is
not limited to exchange between native and non-native speakers to English, a critical reflection
on local culture of any society can be legitimately incorporated into classrooms.
In this case, relying on source culture content might be used as an alternative and defensible
choice. According to Akbari (2008), reliance on ones own local culture has the added value of
enabling learners to think about the different aspects of the culture in which they live and find
ways to bring about changes in the society where change is needed. If students are going to
transform the lives of themselves and those of others, they cannot do so unless due attention is
paid to their own culture in the curriculum and opportunities are provided for critical reflection
on its features. Certainly the Iranian teachers pay attention to this growing important aspect and
the inclusion of daily life and cultural issues is part of this endeavor.
c. statements dealing with favoring the intercultural competence

Statements 4, 8 and 12 measure the teachers opinions about providing the intercultural in the
classroom.
Statement no. 4 asked the teachers attitudes about the openness and tolerance towards other
people and cultures in the world. 82.43% of the teachers agreed and only 13.51% disagreed.
Statement no. 8 also dealt with the necessity of acquiring intercultural competence. 72.27% of
English language teachers agreed while 20.27% disagreed. The last statement, i.e. no. 12,
inquires if teaching intercultural dimensions is more practical and useful than teaching target
culture. 63.51% agreed while 29.72% disagreed.
As the data revealed, quite a large number of teachers emphasized this fact that teaching English
is not just learning about the inner circle culture, but also learning about the cultures of people of
the expanding circle; those who are not native speakers but constitute the majority of English
speakers of the world. Due to the expansion of English all over the world, there exist different
varieties of English which should be included both in written and spoken teaching materials. The
speakers in course books are not only native speakers who are fluent in English but also speakers
of other languages who communicate comprehensibly through the medium of English. Therefore,
acquiring a global understanding of English speakers all over the world helps our EFL students to
enhance their knowledge of the world and their knowledge of foreign communities teachers can
make learners aware of this fact by emphasizing the relative role of ones cultural assumptions
and developing real intercultural communication in an intercultural world (Mndez Garca,
2005).
In addition, integrating the possible culture(s) of learners' future interlocutors might be

noteworthy. Another suggestive but challenging point to note might be encouraging students to
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learn about and reflect on other cultures as a way of reflecting on their own values and customs.
As noted, if learners wish to master another language, they need to become communicatively
competent in that language as well. That is to say, successful language learning is not just to
master at using grammatically correct words and forms but also knowing when to use them and
under what circumstances. Pass all doubt, due to the changing role of English in the modern
world as well as the pressing influences of the phenomenon of globalization; being aware of
other societies and cultures throughout the world is necessary. Through this pass, as Mckay
(2012) writes, reflecting on own cultural values as well as learning about differing cultural values
might lead to increasing the learners' sensitivity to cross-cultural awareness.
Thus, the positive trend of the Iranian teachers to this aspect not only lessens the cultural content
of the Center-produced materials, but also strengthens the cultural load of the teaching materials.
In this regard, through the use of intercultural contents reaching the goals enumerated by Mndez
Garca (2005), as enhancing students knowledge of the world and of foreign communities;
familiarizing them with the most salient behavioral patterns of the target societies; promoting
attitudes of respect and tolerance;fostering reflection upon ones own culture and
emphasizing the relative role of ones cultural assumptions or developing real intercultural
communication in an intercultural world would be applicable.
CONCLUSION
Based on the research questions and data collection, some conclusions were drawn about how
teachers understand the concept of culture, and which culture they prefer to incorporate in their
teaching.
Having a sound understanding of the relationship between language and culture seems necessary
to the process of teaching and learning another language. In real communication, it is not only the
forms of language that convey meaning but language in its culture context that creates meaning:
creating and interpreting meaning is done within a cultural framework. Learning to communicate
in a foreign language as Wen-Cheng (2011) reminds, involves developing an awareness of the
ways in which culture interrelates with language whenever it is used. In an intercultural
perspective in language teaching and learning, the learners develop something more than
knowledge of other people and places.
To reach a suitable degree of cultural communicative competence, teachers play an effective role
in the classrooms. Teachers can use the effective culturally appropriate techniques to allow
students to observe and explore cultural interactions from their own perspectives to enable them
to find their own voices in the language speech community. As a matter of fact, without the study
of culture, teaching foreign language is inaccurate and incomplete.
Since there exist different varieties of English and the spread of English as a global language, it s
the responsibility of English teachers to introduce cultural awareness into the classroom and build
this awareness in the students that there are cultural conceptualizations among other communities
(Tantri, 2013). With appropriate choice of materials and teaching techniques, Iranian students
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may gain a global knowledge and know how to apply it effectively in different international
contexts.
In all, professionally speaking, the findings from study reveals that the Iranian teachers'
perception is not confined to the target culture and the position of source culture as well as
especially intercultural aspects sounds significant. In this regard, it is strongly recommended that
curriculum developers, syllabus designers, materials developers and teachers pay more attention
to these growing important aspects of culture in any language teaching program. Since the
present findings are based on the interviews and questionnaire data gathered from English
language teachers teaching at universities and language institutes, the researcher also suggests
that taking English language teachers teaching at junior high schools and high schools can, to a
great extent, produce a wider picture of teachers opinions regarding the role culture in language
teaching.
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Appendix I:Semi-Structured Interview questions

1. What does teaching culture mean to you?
2. Does teaching culture in English classroom seems necessary to you?
3. Have you encountered cultural issues in your English coursebook?
4. How did you teach culture in classroom?
5. How much does the teachers awareness of the source and target culture affect his teaching?
6. What is the relation between language and culture?
7. What are the positive and negative aspects of source culture in ELT classroom?
8. Is it the teachers responsibility to make students aware of source cultural aspects in classroom?
9. Do you believe the emphasis of teaching culture in classrooms should be on source culture, target culture or
intercultural?
10. How much teaching culture in classroom compatible with its use outside the classroom in Iran?
11. Is teaching culture necessary for all students at different ages?
12. Should teachers aware enough of cultural aspects of both source and target language?
13. Is teaching source culture in classrooms considered the spread of that culture or just awareness-raising?
14. Do todays learners and their parents feel ready enough to know about the target culture or interculture?
15. What aspects of culture seem necessary to be taught in the classroom? the big C or small c?
AppendixII: questionnaire
Dear colleague: Thank you for your cooperation and patience for completing this questionnaire
Gender: Male Female Degree: Bachelor Master PhD Other
Major: literature Translation Teaching Linguistics Age: ..
Teaching experience (in years):
Main concepts:
1. Intercultural competence = the ability to communicate successfully with people of other cultures. In interactions
with people from foreign cultures, a person who is interculturally competent understands the cultural concepts of
perception, thinking, feeling, and acting.
2. Target culture = English culture
3. Source culture = Persian culture
Please give your opinion about the following statements by ticking one of the choices:
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1. Not important 2. Less important 3.Undecided 4.Important 5. Very important
Statements 1 2 3 4 5
1. An English teacher should provide information about values and beliefs in the target
culture.
2. An English language teacher should provide information about the history, geography,
social and political conditions of the source cultures.
3. An English language teacher should provide experiences with a rich variety of target
cultural expressions (literature, music, theater, film, etc.)
4. An English language teacher should develop attitudes of openness and tolerance towards
other people and cultures in the world.
5. An English language teacher should promote increased understanding of students' own
culture.
6. An English language teacher should provide information about daily life and customs in the
target culture.
7. In an English language classroom, teaching source culture is as important as teaching the
target culture.
8. All students should acquire intercultural competence.
9. English language teaching should not only touch upon English culture. It should also
deepen students' understanding of their own culture.
10. An English language teacher should present a realistic image of English culture, and
therefore should also touch upon negative sides of the English culture and society.
11. English language teaching should enhance students' understanding of their own cultural
identities.
12. Today in the current world in which English is known as an international language,
teaching intercultural dimensions is more practical and useful than teaching target culture.
337

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International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World

Cultural competence is part of pragmatic aspect of communicative competence of the members of

Culture in ELT materials

Kramsch (1998) emphasizes accessing peoples imagination using stimulating texts as

Cultural Conceptualizations in Iranian EFL Setting

Table2: Participants' features in the quantitative stage

Data collection procedure

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3. An English language teacher

6. An English language teacher

10. An English language teacher

5. An English language teacher

7. In an English language classroom,

9. English language teaching should

11. English language teaching should

8. All students should acquire N 19 33 7 9 6

12. Today in the current world in

a. statements regarding teachers perceptions towards the target culture

b. statements dealing with favoring the source culture

As criticized by Kumaravadivelu (2012), for a long time developing L2 linguistic competence

c. statements dealing with favoring the intercultural competence

In addition, integrating the possible culture(s) of learners' future interlocutors might be

Appendix I:Semi-Structured Interview questions

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