Author(s): GülÅah KÃLEKÃÄ°
The association of culture and language, though relatively a new perspective, seems to be apparent and continuous as both concepts accentuate the same basic properties such as attitudes, beliefs, knowledge and perception. This association has caught the in terest of many researchers particularly in the last decades. The aim of this research is to reveal the attitudes of prospective EFL teachers at the English Language Teaching (ELT) Department towards culture and its integration into language teaching and their cultural awareness. Data are collected from 146 participants through a questionnaire consisting of three parts (i.e. demographic information, multiple-choice questions, and 5-point Likert-type scale). For data analysis, descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage and means), one-way ANOVA and T-test are conducted via SPSS. The findings of the study reflect the positive outlook of a considerable number of ELT students towards culture and its incorporation in language learning and teaching. The results of the analysis reveal that the primary target of the participants for learning culture is to improve their cultural awareness and communicate satisfactorily with people from distinctive cultures. The urgent inclusion of culture with its all components into the text books, curriculums and language materials is also underlined by the participants who feel the non-presence of those items in language learning and teaching environments. In the final section, necessary implications are presented to teaching professionals, teacher trainers and teacher trainees on cultural awareness and its integrity into foreign language learning and teaching fields
The Journal of International Social Research received 7760 citations as per Google Scholar report
