Journal Article Critique #9 (CCU)

Citation: Yoganeh, M. T & Raessi, H. (2015). Developing Cultural Awareness in EFL Classrooms at Secondary School Level in an Iranian Educational Context. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences. 192. 534 – 542

This article is about a research in Iranian students to develop cultural awareness in the case of learning English. In learning foreign language, it is necessary to also learn about its culture. However the fact is that an English teacher only teaches about the linguistics and literature elements, not the culture. That is why this research aims to enhance students' knowledge of culture as the main goal for incorporating cultural content in EFL classrooms.

The participants of the research were 291 Iranian EFL secondary-school teachers from three provinces of Ilam, Kermanshah and Kurdistan in Western Iran who were randomly selected from three largest cities of each province. As the findings implied, the teachers have positive attitudes towards incorporating cultural content in teaching. However, one of the main objectives of this study was to seek whether or not there is a gap between teacher's perceptions and practices in teaching culture in EFL classrooms. According to the findings, this gap prevails in an Iranian educational context. On the one hand, the teachers of this study considered it important to incorporate culture into teaching.