Integrating culture in teaching English as a second language

Abstract

This study focuses on integrating culture in teaching English as a second language and it attempts to identify its importance in second language acquisition. Research objectives of this study are: Firstly, to give an overview of teaching culture in second language acquisition and bring together the most important ideas and suggestions about its benefits. Secondly, to examine how culture is taught in Albanian second language acquisition classes. This study made use of quantitative method of data collection. The data were collected through questionnaires, conducted with 13 Albanian teachers of English and 120 high school students. This study was undertaken in Shkoder, Tirane and Vlore. Two questionnaires were designed, one for teachers and the other for students. Both teachers and students were also asked about the importance of teaching culture in second language acquisition. The results of questionnaires revealed that both teachers and students considered teaching of culture an important tool in second language acquisition. This study revealed that, teaching culture should be an integral and systematic component of teaching in second language acquisition. According to results it is very important to incorporate culture in the classroom because language learners need to be aware of culturally appropriate ways of addressing people, expressing gratitude, making request, and agreeing or disagreeing with someone. They should know the intonation patterns that are appropriate in their own speech community but which may be perceived differently by the target speech community. The main aim of integrating culture in teaching English as a second language is to develop student’s intercultural understanding and help them in intercultural communication. Despite the importance of integrating culture in second language teaching, its use is limited. This is due to the lack of time, issues of designing a cultural syllabus and choosing appropriate techniques and presentation of culture related topics and teaching materials activities