Iranian EFL Learners’ Attitudes towards Target and Source Cultures

Subject Areas : آموزش زبان انگلیسی

غلامرضا عباسیان ¹ ( Imam Ali and Department of English, South Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran )
مژگان کوه پایه زاده ² ( Department of English, South Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran )
غلامرضا اصغرپور ³ ( Department of English, South Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran )

Received: 2016-02-19 Accepted : 2016-08-09 Published : 2015-05-22

Keywords: EFL learners, Target Culture, Source Culture,

Abstract :

Maintaining that language and culture are interwoven to the extent that learning the former is largely dependent on the latter, this study aimed to investigate the attitude of Iranian English as Foreign Language (EFL) Learners of Tehran South Branch of Islamic Azad University (both undergraduates and postgraduates) towards the learning of the cultural aspects of language, both the target and source cultures, in their EFL classrooms. To this end, a quantitative approach was employed and a Likert scale questionnaire was designed. Fifty EFL learners were randomly invited to answer the questionnaire in relation to their attitude being exposed to the culture of target language. The findings of the chi-square test indicated that the Iranian undergraduate and postgraduate EFL learners consider culture as an important element in learning the target language. Both the culture of the source language and the culture of the target language were deemed important while learning a second language. The findings of this study also showed that postgraduate EFL learners have more intension to learn more about the culture of both source and target language than undergraduate EFL learners in Iran.

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