This document discusses teaching culture in the English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom. It emphasizes that language and culture are intertwined and that teaching a language means teaching its culture. The document provides examples of idiomatic expressions from different English-speaking countries to illustrate cultural variations. It also discusses definitions of culture and language from various scholars. Finally, it proposes ways to incorporate culture into EFL classrooms, such as compiling lists of cultural topics, using various materials from the target culture, and setting goals around cultural understanding for students.

1. TEACHING CULTURE
IN THE
EFL CLASSROOM

2. Knowing their language is an important way to get closer to the culture
of a people. In fact, languages are the medium for the thoughts, values,
and habits of the people who speak them.
What happens if the same language is spoken in many different
countries, as is the case with English? Are there variations from one
country to another, besides the variants of British English and American
English? The answer is yes.
The proof of this lies in the fact that we can find idiomatic expressions in
every English-speaking country that are not used or understood
anywhere else.

3. Here we have chosen a few examples from some English-speaking country. Let’s
take a look together.
The United Kingdom
Bob’s your uncle
This phrase means “ready,” more or less. It is used to indicate that something is
much easier than it seems. It is usually said after giving instructions about a
procedure or how to do something: Plug it in, press the left button on the remote
control, and Bob’s your uncle! The TV is on!
The USA
(To) look like a million dollars/bucks
While this phrase literally compares someone to a pile of paper money, it actually
indicates that someone is very attractive and elegant. It is a great compliment that
can be used for both men and women:
You look so elegant tonight! You look like a million dollars!

4. Ireland
You could skin a cat out there
This expression is used to show that it is very cold outside, so cold that you would
steal the skin from a live cat to use its pelt for warmth. Poor cats! We hope that
the weather is not so ruthless in Ireland 
It is minus 5 tonight. You could skin a cat out there!
Scotland
Cat’s lick
A cat’s lick is used to refer to a quick, superficial wash.
I don’t have enough time to wash my clothes. Just a cat’s lick!

5. Canada
The rule of thumb
A general, shared practice that everyone follows without a specific law that
requires it is a rule of thumb. For example, in Canada, it is common to show up
for a job interview about 15 minutes early, even if there is no written code that
prescribes this behavior:
It would be better if you are there 15 minutes in advance. It is the rule of thumb!
Australia
What’s the John Dory?
A John Dory is a fish that can be found in the Sydney harbor which is delicious
grilled or fried. Maybe because it rhymes with “story,” we ask “What’s the John
Dory?” to find out the news of the day or the latest gossip:
I was away for the weekend, so I don’t know what happened. What’s the John
Dory?

6. New Zealand
She looks like mutton dressed as lamb.
As a mutton is much older than a lamb, this expression is used to refer to a
woman who dresses much too young for her age:
Did you see Jean at the wedding? She looked like mutton dressed as lamb!
Now that you know some typical expressions from some English
speaking countries, I want you to look for some equivalent
expressions used in our country!

8. Grammatical C: knowledge of lexical items and of rules of
morphology, syntax, sentence-grammar semantics and phonology
Discourse C: the ability to connect sentences in discourse and to
form a meaningful whole out of a series of utterances
Sociolinguistic C: requires an understanding of the social context in
which language is used: the roles of the participants, the
information they share and the function of the interaction.
Strategic C: the verbal and non-verbal communication strategies
that may be called into action to compensate for breakdowns in
communication due to performance variables or due to insufficient
competence
• (Hymes, Canale, Swain)

9. Cultural or Intercultural Competence (ICC):
Cultural competence is defined by Martin and Vaughn (2007) as an
ability to communicate effectively with people originating from
different cultures. According to Martin and Vaughn (2007) cultural
competence consists of 4 parts: attitudes, awareness, knowledge and
skills.
Morska (2012) states that Cultural Competence is the knowledge of
the conventions, customs, beliefs, and systems of meaning of another
country.
It is claimed that knowing the facts about foreign language culture
may facilitate language learning and contribute to a more positive
stand towards those who are different.

10. Definitions for language run the gamut from very simple to extremely
complex. Patrikis (1988) simply defined language as signs that convey
meanings. Language is also “a system of signs that is seen as having
itself a cultural value” (Kramsch, 1998, p. 3). From a linguistic
perspective, Sapir (1968), a renowned linguist, defined language as an
entirely human and non-intrinsic method of communicating ideas,
emotions, and desires by means of a system of voluntarily produced
symbols. Generally speaking, language can be regarded as a system of
verbal and nonverbal signs used to express meanings.

11. One of the well-known definitions of culture is Goodenough’s
(1957): a society’s culture consists of whatever it is one has to
know or believe in order to operate in a manner acceptable to its
members, and to do so in any role that they accept for any one
of themselves.
Brown (2007), however, defined culture as a way of life, as the
context within which people exist, think, feel, and relate to
others, as the “glue” that binds groups of people together.
Moreover, culture, as Brown (2007) suggested, can also be
defined as the ideas, customs, skills, arts, and tools that
characterize a certain group of people in a given period of time.
Sowden (2007) indicated that “culture tended to mean that body
of social, artistic, and intellectual traditions associated historically
with a particular social, ethnic or national group”

12. According to the National Standards for Foreign Language Learning
(1996), culture is typically understood to include the philosophical
perspectives, the behavioral practices, and both tangible and
intangible products of a society. The relationship between
perspectives, practices, and products within culture is illustrated
below.
Perspectives
(Meanings, attitudes, values, ideas)
Practices Products
(Patterns of social interactions) (Books, tools, foods, laws,
music, games)

13. Damen (1999) presented six notable characteristics of culture.
1. Culture is learned.
2. Cultures and cultural patterns change.
3. Culture is a universal fact of human life.
4. Cultures provide sets of unique and interrelated, selected blueprints for living and
accompanying sets of values and beliefs to support these blueprints.
5. Language and culture are closely related and interactive.
6. Culture functions as a filtering device between its bearers and the great range of stimuli
presented by the environment.

14. ACCULTURATION
ENCULTURATION
CULTURAL
AWARENESS CROSS CULTURAL
AWARENESS
CULTURE BUMP
AND
CULTURE SHOCK
CULTURE IDENTITY

16. Rivers (1989) said that Culture can be defined as the reflection of a
language. Students can increase their knowledge and understanding
of the culture through conveying the linguistic aspects. That increases
their ways of thinking, their contemporary activities, and their
contributions to many fields and intellectual endeavour.
Ardila-Rey (2008) maintained that: “Language and culture are
inextricably linked with each other. Likewise, Brown (2007) pointed
out the interrelatedness of language and culture:
“Language is a part of a culture, and culture is a part of the language;
the two are intricately interwoven so that one cannot separate the
two without losing the significance of either language or culture. The
acquisition of a second language, except for specialized, instrumental
acquisition (as may be the case, say, in acquisition of reading
knowledge of a language for examining scientific texts), is also the
acquisition of a second culture”

17. With the research of the relationship between culture and language
teaching deepening, people have realized the necessity of teaching
culture into language learning. As we know, the cultural factors become
more and more important in English teaching. A lot of experts are for the
opinion that teaching language means teaching culture*. The purpose of
language learning is to equip learners with as much knowledge as
possible. Language learning is a process of developing the awareness of
the world, and learning cultural knowledge is an important way for us to
enrich learner’s knowledge.
*What do you think of this statement? Is that so?
Is teaching the conveys of a FL enough for learning
the culture of that foreign context?

18. Teaching culture is considered important by most teachers but it has remained
insubstantial and sporadic in most language classroom (Omaggio, 2001). It is clear
that cultural background knowledge is necessary in language teaching. Teachers
should use different methods to help students to overcome the difficulties in
language learning as well as culture learning. However, it is not easy to teach
culture knowledge. If second or foreign language teachers are not aware of culture
in the language classroom, they may run the risk of being ill-prepared to help their
learners to learn to use the target language in an effective manner.
When should teachers teach culture? How should culture be taught?
Why is it necessary for students to learn about the target culture at all?
How can teachers incorporate culture into foreign language classrooms in terms of
fostering learners' cultural awareness and communicating insights into the target
culture?
How to teach culture for effective language learning?

19. The easiest way to design a cultural syllabus is to compile a list of topics that are
important for or of interest to students. As there is no exhaustive list, the decision
to include certain topics is always arbitrary, but obviously, these topics should be
related to the language issue being explained.Some aspects to be included in a list are:

20. In order to get a comprehensive picture of the target culture from many angles,
teachers need to present their students with different kinds of information by
accumulating a great deal of courseware. The list below shows some possible sources
of information which can be used as materials for teaching culture. By using a
combination of visual, audio and tactile materials (when possible), teachers are also
likely to succeed In addressing the different learning styles of their students.
Can you suggest some others?
Internet, social media, social networks,
Webshows
Literature, extracts from literary works
Films, TV Shows, TV series, Documentaries
Background information, anecdotes,
Fieldwork
Softwares, applications, phone services
Books, newspapers, magazines
Illustrations, photographs, interviews, videos,
plays, songs

21. According to Tomalin and Stempleski, the goals of teaching culture are to help
students to:
1- Develop an understanding that all people exhibit culturally conditioned behaviors ,
2- develop an understanding that social variables such as age , social class, and place of
residence influence the ways in which people behave ,
3- become more aware of the conventional behavior in common situations in the
target culture ,
4- increase their awareness of the cultural connotations of words and phrases in the
target language
5- develop the ability to evaluate and refine generalizations about the target culture ,
6- develop the necessary skills to locate and organize information about the target
culture , and .
7- stimulate students ' intellectual curiosity about the target culture
And, a good teacher always keeps in mind that, in an EFL classroom, where
intercultural understanding is one of the goals, students should become more aware of
their own culture while knowing about the target culture.