School Teachers’ and University Professors’ Perceptions: Teaching Culture in Focus

Abstract

The current research paper aimed at investigating school teachers’ and university professors’ perceptions of cultural aspects of language teaching, their understanding of the culture, their attitudes towards intercultural communicative competence, the cultural topics they favor to teach in the classroom, the time allocated to the cultural aspects of language, and the techniques used to instruct culture. To do so, a variety of research instruments were used to collect the data. This study encompassed a brief review of the related literature, a desk-based analysis of the curriculum, and a questionnaire. After the pilot study, the questionnaires were distributed among high school English teachers and the university professors of the teaching colleges in Esfahan, Iran. The analysis of the data revealed encouraging signs of school teachers’ and university professors’ willingness to engage in culture teaching. Besides, the results reflected problems of fully engaging in cultural communicative competence activities in the classrooms. Some of the problems in culture teaching were the highly examination-based environment, the practical approach of instructors and learners, and the academic qualification and experience of teachers in the classroom. The policy of the College Teachers was an important factor which changed the perception of cultural teaching of teachers and the findings indicated a need to build the realization and confidence of teachers.