An Investigation into the Cultural Dimension in EFL Classes - Turkish Instructors’ Views and Practices

Oct 15, 2026

The study examines how Turkish EFL teachers understand the cultural component in language classes and whether they feel they have sufficient opportunities to raise students’ cultural awareness. Ten English language instructors from public and private universities at the tertiary level participated through a mixed-method design combining a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. Results show limited satisfaction with classroom opportunities, a gap between teachers’ goals and practices, and feelings of being insufficiently prepared to integrate culture and address cultural controversies. Teachers’ culture conceptualization is largely modern yet includes elements enabling interculturality.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages21

Reading Time53 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Background and Debate on Culture in Language Classes

Definitions of Culture

Study Focus and Research Approach

An Investigation into the Cultural Dimension in EFL Classes: Turkish Instructors’ Views and Practices Hanife Taşdemir İstanbul University-Cerrahpaşa Nurdan Gürbüz Middle East Technical University Abstract The current study aims to investigate how Turkish English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers understand the cultural component in language classes and the extent to which they feel to have opportunities to raise cultural awareness. The views on and approaches to cultural issues of ten English language instructors teaching at the tertiary level across state and private universities in Turkey have been examined in this regard. A qualitativequantitative mixed-method design using a questionnaire and semi-structured individual interviews has been adopted. The findings revealed that the teachers’ opportunities to raise their students’ cultural awareness were not satisfactory, and there was a mismatch between their wishes and practices. They felt ill-prepared to include culture and tackle cultural controversies in class. Their conceptualization of culture in English language classes was predominantly modern from a received view of culture yet included elements from which interculturality may develop. Résumé La présente étude vise à étudier comment les enseignants turcs d'Anglais Langue Étrangère (ALE) comprennent la composante culturelle des cours de langue et dans quelle mesure ilsse sentent capables de sensibiliser à la culture. Dans cette perspective, les points de vue et les approches des questions culturelles de dix professeurs d'anglais enseignant au niveau supérieur dans les universités publiques et privées de Turquie ont été examinés. Une conception de méthodologie mixte qualitative-quantitative à travers un questionnaire et un entretien individuel semi-structuré a été adoptée. Les résultats ont révélé que les possibilitésoffertes aux enseignants de sensibiliser leurs élèves à la culture n'étaient pas satisfaisantes et qu'il y avait un décalage entre leurs souhaits et leurs pratiques. Ils se sentaient mal préparés à inclure la culture et à s'attaquer aux controverses culturelles en classe. Leur conceptualisation de la culture dans les cours de langue anglaise était principalement moderne à partir d'une vision reçue de la culture, mais comprenait des éléments à partirdesquels l'interculturalité pouvait se développer. Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics: 24, 1 (2021): 54-74 CJAL * RCLA Taşdemir & Gürbüz 55 An Investigation into the Cultural Dimension in EFL Classes: Turkish Instructors’ Views and Practices The place of culture in language classes has been a highly debated area for researchers. The vagueness and complexity of the notion of culture have clearly ignited an interest and led to much investigation of the issue in a variety of contexts including second or foreign language classes. There is a broad range of issues to consider such as which cultural information to teach or how to teach it as well as the influence of these on classroom practices. English being a lingua franca of the current era has given it the luxury to dominate the field with a close look at the target countries’ cultures, namely, the cultures of the United Kingdom and the United States. However, recent paradigms and views on English as an international language have brought new insights both on the definition of culture in English language teaching, and how it should be addressed in classroom practices. Language and culture are two sides of a coin (Nault, 2006) . There are several definitions of culture: “the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another”(Hofstede, 2011, p.3),“a common system of standards for perceiving, believing, evaluating, and acting”(Kramsch, 1998, p. 10),“a subjective, portable, entity, linked to an individual’s history and his/her variable subject position in variable context of language use”(Kramsch,(2010, p.281) . All the

FAQs

What does the study investigate about Turkish EFL teachers?

It investigates teachers’ understanding of the cultural component in language classes and the extent to which they feel they can raise students’ cultural awareness.

How was data collected for the study?

A mixed-method design was used, combining a questionnaire with semi-structured individual interviews.

What did the findings reveal about teachers’ practices?

Teachers’ opportunities to raise cultural awareness were not satisfactory, and there was a mismatch between their wishes and their classroom practices.

Oct 15, 2026

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