This is an interesting question! As long as it is EFL, I suppose the parts of culture to be demonstrated or integrated in the class should be limited to the aspects that affect language pragmatics; for example, how to say things politely in English. EFL learners may not need more than that level of cultural knowledge. Such learners may not even have to use English with native speakers; they may only use English to communicate with other non-native English speakers in their workplaces.

No education system is complete without imparting the wisdom of good living. We may receive education in technology, science and humanities without having any insight into what right living is. Universal values that everyone knows such as truth, non-violence and non stealing seem idealistic and impossible to live up to. But one cannot live a decent life without practicing some of these values, yet living with them only seems to create conflict and suffering.

No education system is complete without imparting the wisdom of good living. We may receive education in technology, science and humanities without having any insight into what right living is. Universal values that everyone knows such as truth, non-violence and non stealing seem idealistic and impossible to live up to. But one cannot live a decent life without practicing some of these values, yet living with them only seems to create conflict and suffering.

Language and culture are two sides of the same coin. What makes the learning of a language an interesting undertaking is the way it mirrors the past cultural heritage of the people who speak it. The main issue in language teaching is: How should teachers in EFL contexts cope with cultural issues in the classroom? The answer is that teachers should mainly focus on the cultural aspects that have a considerable overlapping distribution in the two languages. For those aspects that might be culturally bizarre to the learners and in conflict with their values , teachers should try to clarify the reasons behind the differences letting the students decide about typical differences. After all, the goal must be acculturation, the adding and integration of the L2 culture without degrading or belittling the learners' cultural beliefs and values.

An an ESL and English language teacher, I truly believe that the norms of English culture need to be integrated for learning purpose. It includes learning sensibilities around the language and the need to understand why Indirect voice is preferential than being direct as part of English speaking culture. No language could be fully understood and utilized without understanding culture. Understanding why "would" is more cultured than "could" requires understanding of English culture as well.

Learning English through cultures is invaluble. The cultures of countries where English is the first language, or the de facto second language vary greatly. All are an engaging medium for learning the target language.

I teach my students the materials of cross-culture understanding which is fruitful for them to learn apart from the language content. For example, the simple questions related with too personal as it is considered to be a privacy in western culture though it is commonly asked in our culture context in Indonesia. Those questions are: "Are you marriage?", "How many children do you have?" Therefore, I suggest my students in order never ask such questions when they are engage in a conversation with the native speakers. It is better to talk about weather, education, etc. Another important example is when they are shaking hands they should do it firmly not as it is like in our culture not as firm as they do in Western culture as it can mean shelfish. There are lots of other examples can be told to them, especially those that are related to the ettiquete and courtesy.

Gina. How old are you? Ooops!

Yeah, David it is also considered as not appropriate to ask especially to the Ms X it is not a polite question, isn't it? But in my culture it is ok! I am "oversek" sek or seket means 50 in Balinese so my age is 50 over...

Thank you all for your fruitful answers.

I teach English and language awareness i.e., not only one English but Englishes especially the varieties they speak and/or need to learn, so not necessarily British or American English but International English, the one spoken and understood by the nonnative speakers (EFL/ESL). World Englishes proponents & supporters respect all varieties.

Every language offers a look at the world so that when you learn another language, you also open another door to see the world.

When English has become a global language it is always better to be familiar with foreign culture.an input makes one understand the background

Hi. The language cannot be understood fully separated from its culture in several cases. Then in such cases, you teach a language within the concept of its culture as concepts differ from one culture to another. Language is considered as the window through which we can see other cultures. So they are two sides of the same coin.

It depends on the context where you teach. As teachers, we should be aware about the elements of our students' culture.

Yes. It seems a bit complicated but depends on the objective. For example, you are teaching ASEAN students to use English to communicate with fellow ASEAN members. The students need to be able to explain their own culture and have a basic understanding of the target culture to compare and contrast.

Teaching a language with its culture is surely a must. As far as I am concerned, I use Idiomatic expressions to illustrate some cultural aspects specific to the English language culture, both for American and British English. Then ,I invite students to compare the same aspects with the ones of their own culture.

it depends! all of my students are pilots and air traffic controllers so very little. Aeronautical Radiotelephonic interactions are generally very factual and very short, so culture has little impact.

Yeah. But don't you have to explain the etomology of terms like "May Day", "Roger", etc.

David Bruner Absolutely - that was my point!

So integrating culture in ESP is necessary, even if the purpose is very technical.

A quick question for David Bruner. If you are teaching ASEAN students to use English to communicate with fellow ASEAN members, what is the target culture that you refer to and how is it related to the English language? (Only Singapore would appear to be an English-speaking country.)

The difficulty is always which culture? Because English speakers represent many diverse cultures, students need to be aware of the social dynamics at play.

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Thank you all for your invaluable inputs. It is really very fruitful discussion in which many answers and opinion were given and new questions were raised. I really appreciate your efforts.

There are two "Englishes" and the answer to your question depends on which you want to teach. If you are aiming for the "heavily accented internationalese" variety, English or American culture as such can be kept to a minimum. Your pupils will be taught hiw to communicate effectively in an international setting where nobody is a native speaker and English is simply the lingua franca everybody understands to a limited degree. This is fine and this is how many people use English.

If, on the other hand, your aim is to teach English as a real language as spoken by native speakers in their own cultural environment, everyday culture of the English speaking countries should take a more prominent place - especially when your pupils come from a non-western culture. I'm from Germany snd Welsh everyday life didn't seem too exotic to me; that might not be the case for your pupils if you don't prepare them for the social basics of the UK.

@Hans-Ingo Radatz I would have to disagree, on examination of Kachru's inner and outer circles, one can see that there are many many more Englishes.

@ tyrone bishop. This is of course true. By "two Englishes" I was only trying to refer to the two main motivations for using English as a foreign language: 'international lingua franca' vs. 'language of a given English speaking country'.

Firstly, we have to define what culture is as different group of people have different learning culture and attitude on learning. Taken for example western people, more positivistic, and eater people, more naturalistic, have different attitude on learning. This of course effects a lot the learning styles, preferences, and the extent of culture integrated in learning English.

Secondly, considering the language as the heart of culture, integrating culture into English teaching seems to be a must. However, knowing more aspects of culture, I suggest only linguistically bound culture, needs to be taken into account.

To sum up, integration of culture in English teaching is debatable and there is no exact direction to follow. Considering the context of learning, teaching aid, learning styles, and preferences are suggested variables to consider.

I always try to do my best to connect teaching with specificity of English culture. But in different ways. it depends upon the fact what was the aim of this specific class. English specific culture is very important. For example, when teaching phonetics I pay much attention to the comparison of English and Russian: in Russian there are no dyphthongs, whereas in English the difference is essential because mistakes with similar sounds like [i - i: ] is culturally specific as the ignorance leads to serious misunderstandings. So language is very special in its connection with culture, as well. Examples are numerous for every language level.

@Kira Andreeva. Your answer raises an interesting issue. I don't think I would have ever considered the sound system of a language as part of a culture. Quite a few people have Said that they would teach 'English culture in their English language classrooms'. It would be very interesting to hear exactly what kinds of things they would teach.

Teaching culture is beneficial because it can interest students and thus motivate them, but generally focus your cultural teaching to areas relevant to the language learning, such as the cultural meaning of metaphors.

Language is part of culture so I feel that culture remains a large part of language teaching. Culture should not be consciously removed from ESL /EFL teaching because I feel students need to know about different cultures The different Englishes expose them to a variety of different cultures which is a good thing in today's world.

The fact that when a language leaves it native origin, it must be acculturated to manifest the realities of the new environment, settles the question. The English language in an ESL/EFL context should be given the colour of the new culture to ensure communicative competence.

Yes. Not one commentater has made an argument for divorcing language and culture. Even if you are debunking cultural imperialism, like Putin's attack on Russian rappers, at least explain the origin of rap and make your case why that aspect of American culture should not be propogated.

I agree with Ezekiel that different cultures should be exposed a nd a new culture to be given.We should not forget that English itself is an amalgamation of different cultures from the beginning

I am really grateful for your inputs and contributions to this discussion. I fully agree that English culture is an amalgamation of different cultures and that EFL learners should be exposed to English culture and other different cultures as English has become today a global language and many non-native English speakers use English for their communication with each other. So English, today, is widely used in non-native English speakers' communication apart from being used in communication between non-native and native speakers of English.

Raising students' awareness towards the target culture is very important. In so doing, cross-cultural problems can be taken into account and avoided. Thus, it is very important to integrate cultural aspects in teaching target language.More importantly, cultural differences between in the use of both languages, i.e. mother tongue and the target language, need to be highlighted.

I am not sure what English Language culture is. The culture of the USA and Canada is not too much different, but it varies greatly from the culture of England and Australia. Then there is Indian English and Singaporean English and so on.

When I learned Spanish from a Cuban, a Filipino, and two Americans, I learned mostly the culture of Spain: bullfights and Don Quixote. This month (half a century later in USA), I have substituted for a Spanish teacher and the curriculum is immersed in Caribbean, Mexican, South American, and Central American culture. There is hardly a mention that Spanish comes from Spain and nothing about the Philippines.

So to answer the question raised, I feel it is great to learn another language. I think it is great to learn about other cultures. If that instruction can be integrated in the same classroom, it is a good thing. However, I don't think that language and the culture it surrounds have a strong bond. Teachers can teach one without the other. Indeed, the adaptability of English is one reason why it has become nearly universal.

Since English has become Lingua Franca, it's more and more difficult to incorporate (British, American, Austalian ?????) culture into English classes... It's a shame but I stopped teaching things like "5 o'clock tea" or "Romeo and Juliet" stuff.

Thank you, Violetta E. Borecka for your answer.

I agree that it is more and more difficult to integrate English culture in English classes especially as English is a native language for many countries that have somehow different culture. It is also an international language and reflect international culture. The issue is difficult but some cultural inputs should be integrated in English classes. Students may be taught cultural inputs based on their future plans, for example, whether they are planning to travel to Britain or Australia? Whether they plan to work in international business or to work in their native land?? As there is English for specific purpose, I suggest to be culture for specific purpose integrated with English being taught.

I absolutely agree. I teach my students there are different Englishes and thus different national traditions and cultures. Yet these are all equal in value.

In fact, it is necessary to help students or language learners familiarize with the culture of the target language they are studying.

Karwan

Article Integrating Culture into EFL Teaching: A Study of Yemeni EFL...

In my opinion, teaching a foreign language and studying the language of a specific foreign language is therefore tied to the teaching of the specific language teaching, because in this way students are more interested, more involved in the learning process. In this way, they understand more and the viewer of the connection between the development of a specific culture and the language that originated from this culture. So it is important to learn about culture, the development of civilization, learn about the history and special achievements of representatives of a given culture. In this way, students will understand more in themselves to develop interest in a given culture and also in the language they learn. In this way, students will be more involved in learning and will achieve better results in learning a foreign language.

We see the world through our native tongue. It serves as a filter. Foreign languages add new filters. The world is getting colourful and much wider. Without getting to know the corresponding culture, the foreign language remains foreign. New cultures enrich our awareness of our own culture. We are getting to feel our mother tongue and culture deeper via learning other languages and cultures. If teaching a language without its cultural background, the teacher turns into an instructor who is doomed to failure. No true interest in the language or long-lasting motives will ever turn up in their students.

There is no way you can ignore cultural aspects of a language. Just pick up any language book, listen to a TED talk, without explaining cultural references, these are just words without any meaning. Think about the words for family members in your own language. Do you have a single word for "older brother or sister"? Or find words that are unstranslatable. What is their story? I consider culture in a much wider sense than Shakespeare. Think about loan words, new words, why don't those notions exist in your language or vice versa?

It depends! Are you teaching English to people who want to identify with a particular culture i.e. UK, America, India (outer circle membership) or are you teaching English as lingua franca for deterritorialised goal driven interactions?

ESP students, mainly Engineering majors, will very probably work for multinational companies, so contact with colleagues from different backgrounds is very likely. Therefore, culture integration is no longer debatable.

Native speakers are now in the minority and can have problems in lingua-franca interactions

Globalization has necessitated integrating multi-culture

Basic knowledge of the culture is essential to understand and appreciate the literary piece

"Should our teaching of English be culture free or culture oriented?

Sabri Thabit Saleh Ahmed,

Language is the mirror that reflects native speakers' culture. It is shaped by their values, customs, traditions, and experiences in life. Being aware of English-native speakers' culture is highly important for EFL learning. For students to make full sense of English grammar and vocabulary, they need to know how native speakers use grammatical rules and verbal expressions communicatively. Besides, introducing English-language cultural themes to students could make EFL lessons more interesting and engaging. It could enhance students' intercultural competence and pragma-linguistic competence and performance.

The following systematic-review study highlights the importance of cultural awareness in EFL instruction.

Yurtsever, A., & Özel, D. (2021). The role of cultural awareness in the EFL classroom. Turkish Online Journal of Qualitative Inquiry. https://doi.org/10.17569/tojqi.776499

Good luck,

Thanks to you all for these great answers and sources. Do you mind add more research links?

When we teach an original English wrote up which is completely based on English culture, we have to highlight them .Otherwise not necessary

http://www.eajournals.org/wp-content/uploads/Integrating-Local-Culture-in-English-Language-Teaching-to-Enhance-Learners%E2%80%99-Emotion-to-Speak-English.pdf

https://dspace.univ-adrar.edu.dz/jspui/bitstream/123456789/2751/1/Integrating%20Culture%20in%20English%20Language%20Teaching.pdf

https://dspace.univ-adrar.edu.dz/jspui/bitstream/123456789/2751/1/Integrating%20Culture%20in%20English%20Language%20Teaching.pdf

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187704281631240X/pdf?md5=eedd2114b0f983df06ca75c37d4f64e7&pid=1-s2.0-S187704281631240X-main.pdf