Exploring Native and Non-Native EFL Teachers' Pedagogical Practices Related to Culture in Classroom Settings

Abstract

Culture is a vital part of EFL teaching, yet many EFL teachers are often faced with the challenge of incorporating culture into their teaching. The study attempts to describe how native and non-native EFL teachers position culture in teaching, also details which pedagogic strategy teachers use to impact culture while teaching. The study aimed to raise teachers' awareness of the relevance of cross-cultural teaching in practice for a better result of EFL cultural competence. The data was gathered from EFL teachers of different nationalities via a semi-structured interview with both native and non-native EFL teachers at a private school in Adana Turkey. Data was also collected through questionnaires. This study indicates that many EFL teachers are aware of culture's importance while some are aware of it to some extent. Findings from this study support previous research by providing contributions to the fields of pedagogic strategies and teaching culture in foreign language classes. Keywords—Culture, foreign language teaching, language teaching methodology, language proficiency. Non-native teachers, teaching style. 1 This study involves preliminary findings of the MA thesis being supervised