The teaching of English in Iran: The place of culture

Abstract

The present study is an attempt to reveal the attitudes of the Iranian high school and university learners towards the way culture is addressed in ELT (English language teaching) in Iran. Although, research of a similar nature has been done in other countries, the present study complements others by following 300 university and high school learners and it provides another avenue for examining the language situation in Iran. Our findings suggest the current ELT in Iran is a proper, a cultural or neutral one. The obtained results in this study indicate that all students had an overall negative attitude towards the way culture is addressed in ELT in Iran. The paper concludes by highlighting some key points that will help educators accommodate the modern needs of EFL (English as a foreign language) learners at the university and high school level and to replace proper approach in a beneficial manner in the future.   Key words: Attitude, culture, English language teaching (ELT) in Iran, A-cultural, neutral,English as a foreign language (EFL).