Int. j. econ. manag. soc. sci., Vol(3), No (5), May, 2014. pp.

265-267

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International Journal of Economy, Management and Social Sciences

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ISSN:
2306-7276

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The Effect of Foreign Language Learning on Iranian EFL Learners'

Cultural Perception
Mahsa Hariri *
M. A. in TEFL, Elmi-Karbordi Shahrdariha- Khorasan Shomali, Iran

*Corresponding author: mahsa.hariri@yahoo.com

Keywords

Abstract

Culture
EFL
Iranian Learners
Interchange series

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the instruction of English, as a foreign language, has any
significant effect on cultural perception of Iranian EFL learners. This study included two groups. Twenty
intermediate male and female university students, taking general English courses in Elmi-Karbordi
Shahrdariha Khorasan Shomali University, Iran, were the participants of the first group of this study. The
participants of the second group were the parents of the participants of the first group. After selecting the
samples, a 20 item questionnaire prepared by Zarei and Pourghasemian (2012) was used to investigate the
cultural perception of them. For each question, two of the choices were based on Western cultural issues and
two of them were based on the Iranian cultural points. After analyzing the data and calculating the
frequencies of four-choice questions, the findings showed that the frequencies of the answers with the
Western views were more prevalent in the answers of the first group and the answers of their parents were
mostly based on the Iranian views.

1.

Introduction

Culture is a complicated phenomenon and nowadays is spread out in different disciplines. Culture is defined as membership in a discourse
community that shares a common social space and history, and common imaginings [5]. Teaching culture appeared from 1940s in English
literature studies and from late 1980s in academia. Nowadays, culture is one of the issues that is more emphasized in EFL studies but it is still
"insubstantial and sporadic in most language classrooms" [9]. It is stated that its lack in the EFL classrooms is mainly related to the difficulties
teachers face like: "lack of time, uncertainty about which aspects of culture to teach, and lack of practical techniques" [7].
As culture is one of the inseparable components of a language, EFL learners need to learn the target language's culture in spite of their own
culture in order to form a better communication and perception of foreign language materials. This culture of the target language is called
"intercultural awareness". In fact, learning the culture of a society, simultaneously with its language, may avoid some unintentional
misunderstandings and misconceptions.
"If...language is seen as social practice, culture becomes the very core of language teaching. Cultural awareness must then be viewed as enabling
language proficiency. Culture in language teaching is not an expendable fifth skill, tacked on, so to speak, to the teaching of speaking,
listening, reading and writing" [4].
In other words, [7] suggested raising intercultural communicative competence of L2 learners in EFL classrooms. He defined it as increasing the
awareness of the learners towards their own culture and then helping them to understand and interpret the other cultures. So, it is necessary to
promote the learners' abilities in negotiating the meaning by means of language and culture in order to communicate in a multicultural world [3].
[8] argue that language and culture are not separate, but are acquired together, with each providing support for the development of the other (p.
235). Different terms are available in the history to show this relationship as linguaculture [2], languaculture [11] language-and-culture [6] or
culturelanguage [10]. Some of the researchers even indicated that learning a language without learning its culture is a risk in becoming a fluent
speaker [1].
There is an increasing number of studies have done in this realm. Some of them are mentioned below:
[3], in a challenge to move from traditional stance to an intercultural one, attempted to address culture in the EFL classrooms. In this study, the
researcher analyzed the underlying assumptions about culture in two EFL textbooks used in a Vietnamese university. The results showed that
this shift from a traditional stance to an intercultural one help to "enhances their awareness of the inextricable and interdependent relationship
between language and culture and teaching culture as an integral component of language teaching" (p. 73) and "develop teachers intercultural
perspectives that may have an impact on their language teaching methodology and syllabus design" (p. 73).
Following the above-mentioned studies, the present research tries to investigate the effect of L2 learning on the cultural conceptions of Iranian
EFL university learners.

2.

Methodology

2.1. Participants
The participants of this study comprised two groups. The population from which the participants of the first group were selected included 20
male and female students of Elmi-Karbordi Shahrdariha Khorasan Shomali University, Iran. They were majoring TEFL and their ages were
ranged from 19 to 30 and their level was intermediate. They were participating in "general English" course and their compulsory textbook was
"Interchange (1)". It must be mentioned that they passed another general English course in their last semester and their textbook was
"Interchange (Intro)". The participants of the second group were the same number of parents as the participants of the first group. Their ages
ranged from 39 to 65 years.
2. 2. Instruments

Mahsa Hariri *

266

International Journal of Economy, Management and Social Sciences Vol(3), No (5), May, 2014.

For data collection, a researcher-constructed questionnaire was prepared based on the questionnaire used in [12] study but its questions are
mainly different. It was composed of 20 multiple-choice questions. The researcher considered two choices related to the Iranian context and two
choices related to the Western context. The participants must rank four choices according to their preferences.
2.3. Data Collection
In order to collect data, the questionnaire was distributed among the first group at the last session of their semester. After that, the first group
received a copy of the questionnaire to give it to their parents. At the top of the questionnaire, an instruction section is available, so there is no
need to instruct them.
2.4. Data Analysis
After collecting the questionnaires, they were analyzed for each of the groups separately. The researcher used the way questionnaires were
analyzed in the [12] study. In fact, if their first preferred choice was a Western choice, so this question is considered as a Western inclination,
and if their first preferred choice was an Iranian one, so it is considered as an Iranian one.

3.

Result and Discussion

As mentioned earlier, this study aimed at examining the effect of L2 learning on cultural perceptions of Iranian university students majoring
TEFL. As the following table shows, the frequencies and percentages of the answers of each group were calculated separately.
Table 1. Frequency and percentage of the two groups' performance on questionnaire
Cultural Topics

1.intertainment1
2.social relations
3.clothes
4.place1
5.music
6.market/exchange
7.foods
8.holidays
9.names
10.celebrities
11.sport
12.films
13.animals
14.TV/radio
15.intertainment2
16.education
17.place2
18.cinema
19.miscellaneous1
20.miscellaneous2
Total

Frequency
Group1(N=20)
Group2(N=20)
W
Ir.
W
Ir.
15
5
4
16
12
8
6
14
15
5
3
17
17
3
2
18
19
1
4
16
14
6
7
13
16
4
5
15
10
10
8
12
11
9
6
14
19
1
2
18
13
7
4
16
18
2
3
17
10
10
8
12
17
3
4
16
15
5
1
19
12
8
4
16
16
4
5
15
19
1
2
18
15
5
7
13
13
7
4
16
296
104
89
311

Percentage
Group1(N=20)
Group2(N=20)
W
Ir.
W
Ir.
75
25
20
80
60
40
30
70
75
25
15
85
85
15
10
90
95
5
20
80
70
30
35
65
80
20
25
75
50
50
40
60
55
45
30
70
95
5
10
90
65
35
20
80
90
10
15
85
50
50
40
60
65
35
20
80
75
25
5
95
60
40
20
80
80
20
25
75
95
5
10
90
75
25
35
65
65
35
20
80
73
27
22.25
77.75

The total scores show that most of the answers of the first group's participants (73%) had Western inclination and most of the answers of the
second group's participants (77.75%) had Iranian inclination. Some of the prominent differences in this table are about music that about all of the
learners in the first group indicated their Western inclination to some kinds of music as Techno or Rap rather than Sonnati (traditional kind of
Iranian music). Or around the topic of cinema, most of them chose the names of Western films rather than Iranian films. Or about celebrities,
most of these young learners preferred Western celebrities than Iranian ones. Vice versa about all of the parents not preferred Western
entertainments like betting and they chose the entertainments with Iranian cultural equivalents.

References
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]

Bennett, J., Bennett, M., & Allen, W. (2003). Developing intercultural competence in the language classroom. In culture as the core: Perspectives in
second language learning. USA: Information Age Publishing.
Friedrich, P. (1989). Language, ideology and political economy. American Anthropologist, 91, 295305.
Kiet Ho, S. T. (2009). Addressing Culture in EFL Classrooms: The Challenge of Shifting from a Traditional to an Intercultural Stance. Electronic
Journal of Foreign Language Teaching, 6(1), 63-76.
Kramsch, Claire. (1993). Context and Culture in Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kramsch, C. (1998). Language and culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Liddicoat, A.J., Papademetre, L., Scarino, A., & Kohler, M. (2003). Report on intercultural language learning. Canberra ACT: Commonwealth of
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Mao, W. (2009). Teaching Culture Within and Beyond Language. English language teaching, 2(4), 144-148.
Mitchell, R., & Myles, F. (2004). Second language learning theories (2nd ed.). London: Arnold.
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The Effect of Foreign Language Learning on Iranian EFL Learners Cultural Perception
International Journal of Economy, Management and Social Sciences Vol(3), No (5), May, 2014.

[10] Papademetre, L., & Scarino, A. (2006). Teaching and learning for intercultural communication: A mul-ti-perspective conceptual and applied journey
for teachers of world culture languages (2nd ed.). Adelaide: UniSA.
[11] Risager, K. (2005). Languaculture as a key concept in language and culture teaching. In H.H.A.F. Bent Preis-ler, S. Kjaerbeck & K. Risager (Eds.), The
consequences of mobility (pp. 185196). Roskilde: Roskilde University.
[12] Zarei, GH. R. & Pourghasemian, H. (2012). The effect of L2 learning on learners' perception of culture. Sheikhbahaee EFL Journal, 1(1), 39-48.