Student Perspectives on Language and Culture Teaching in EFL: Implications for Intercultural Approach

Abstract

Globalization has led to the need for incorporating world cultures into foreign language curricula to develop students’ intercultural communicative competence. As a result, intercultural approaches as well as intercultural communicative competence have been widely studied. While there are a number of studies discussing this issue from the perspectives of teachers, the literature finds few studies regarding students’ perceptions. Therefore, the question of whether there are any gaps between teachers’ and students’ perceptions remains unanswered. To help answer this question, this study conducted a survey exploring university students’ perceptions of culture learning and teaching in the English classroom by using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. Based on the results of a questionnaire and interviews, this study found the practice and the materials used in EFL teaching might not satisfy the requirements of leaners as users of English as a lingua franca (ELF) for intercultural communication. Thus further research regarding effective teaching methods is needed.