Research Article
Open Access Peer-reviewed

Culture in EFL Teaching: Teacher Beliefs and Pratices in Ivorian Secondary Schools

AGBA Yoboué Kouadio Michel
Ecole Normale Supérieure d’Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
American Journal of Educational Research. 2018, 6(12), 1600-1604. DOI: 10.12691/education-6-12-2
Received October 20, 2018; Revised November 23, 2018; Accepted December 06, 2018

Abstract

Our world is now global and diversified. There is a need to prepare students for interactions with people of other cultures. So, language instructors are encouraged to consider linguistic competence as equally important as intercultural competence. This study was conducted during the school year 2017-2018 to explore EFL teachers’ beliefs about the importance of culture teaching and how these beliefs reflect in their classroom practices. It involved fifty-three (53) Ivorian EFL secondary school teachers who were asked to answer a Likert-type questionnaire. The results showed that the participants believed that culture was important in EFL teaching and learning. Yet, a mismatch was found between their beliefs and their actual classroom practices. These preliminary findings are hoped to contribute to a better understanding of the place of culture in EFL teachers’ current practices and to start the reflection on an Ivorian EFL curriculum that matches the new demands of the world today.

Keywords:

culture, intercultural competence, language, teaching, learning, beliefs, practices
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