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Studies on Cultural Awareness

How cultural awareness affects language teaching or how much the learners are really aware of the culture is among the current issues of foreign or second language teaching. Beyond personal concerns, the design and planning of materials are among the issues of culture-related discussions. Beresova (2015) argues that using authentic materials improves the intercultural understandings of English language learners. Through the principles of CEFR in enhancing cultural awareness, authentic materials act as a connection to cultures of the language being learned or even to the international cultures. It is stated that by using such materials in the class, educators may also get a chance to actively participate in the material arrangement and monitor their students (Beresova, 2015). Agudelo (2007) states that communicative language teaching activities ease the dialogue to improve intercultural communication. Engaging in intercultural communication consisting of national and international values is a great way to develop awareness. In his study, prospective language teachers watched language classes as a group, conducted interviews, and made lesson plans with cultural integration. Having intercultural values in lesson material makes students realize both their native culture and other cultures (Agudelo, 2007).
Sometimes, students’ already existing perspectives affect the attitude toward the language being learned. These perspectives, however, are prone to change with the influence of teachers or materials. In a survey about the cultural awareness of language teachers in Greece, Prodromou (1992) states that students think EFL teachers should be bicultural. Students emphasized that teachers should be competent both in native and target languages and cultures. In a study conducted with university students in target language environment, İşcan, Karagöz, and Konyar (2017) declare the importance of knowing the values of target culture while learning a language. It is pointed out that when students are in the target language environment, they want an introduction to the cultural elements and teacher support as earlier as possible. However, through critical cultural awareness, they want to evaluate aspects of their own culture and target culture so as not to feel assimilated. To lessen the sense of being belittled compared to target language culture, recognizing your own culture, and comparing and feeling empathetic towards other cultures is essential in intercultural awareness (Byram et al., 2013). It is important that while teaching culture, teachers should give the students a sense of trust by referring to students’ cultures occasionally so that they can participate more. Therefore teacher education and development in terms of cultural awareness are important steps in pre and inservice teaching.
Prodromou (1992) indicates that teachers need to adopt a learner-based approach to use dynamic activities to improve cultural understanding. In Murray and Bolinger’s (2001) research, activities such as e-mail interactions with the speakers of the target language, interviewing people from target cultures, video projects and internet research helped students get to know target language cultures and compare them with the values of their own to reach intercultural awareness. The design and nature of materials are also important. McConachy (2008) stresses the importance of designing culturally enhancing language coursebooks. He states that educators need to improve their own awareness and contribute to the flow of communicative activities to go beyond what is presented in the books. “In this case, the aim is not to elicit some kind of predetermined ‘correct’ answer but rather to develop meta-awareness concerning the fact that sociocultural context is important in language use.” (McConachy, 2008, p.124). Thus, students need to understand this sociocultural context to communicate effectively as well that is not given in the course books. If some activities with a good potential for discussion go unnoticed during class time, students may feel alienated or sense a lack of interest which would end up failing to promote cultural awareness. According to Lo Bianco, Crozet, and Liddicoat (1999), language teachers can promote students to interact and ask questions about the context and the language used while discussing both written or oral texts in the target language in order to take both cultural and the personal variables into consideration). Pushing the borders of coursebook design by directing questions and bringing in more authentic materials makes teachers’ jobs easier in raising cultural awareness (Pulverness & Tomlinson, 2013). For that reason, it is one of the tasks of the language teacher to enrich what is presented as the classroom material.
Atay (2005) highlights the importance of educating teachers on cultural awareness and states that pre-service teachers are aware of the importance of culture in language teaching, yet most of them feel inadequate in the amount of information they have and they are unsure about how they are going to transfer cultural skills to the students. While Atay (2005) proposes that teachers should improve reading and involve in dialogues on culture, Kambutu and Nganga (2008) argue that visiting foreign cultures and spending time in that environment definitely contribute to cultural awareness and remove any existing prejudices. Even when teachers do not have a chance to travel to other cultures, they should look for engagement in the target language culture through self-education. Byram (2012) emphasizes the importance of language and culture education and citizenship education. He states that “Combining these two perspectives ensures that the ‘here’ is not just ‘our community and country’ but intercultural, and that the focus is on language and culture learning for ‘now’, and not just for some future application in the so-called real world.” (Byram, 2012, p.11). The essential aspect of learning about intercultural values is researching them and engaging through different mediations even when there is no proximity.
Cultural awareness becomes an inevitable part of the English learning process (Byram 1997a; Byram, 2012; Kramsch, 2011). There are many studies emphasizing the importance of cultural awareness in EFL / ESL classrooms (Atay, 2005; Agudelo, 2007; İşcan, Karagöz & Konyar, 2017) and offer classroom applications for teachers (McConachy, 2008; Prodromou, 1992; Pulverness & Tomlinson, 2013). This study aims to examine both qualitative and quantitative studies about cultural awareness in EFL classrooms in a systematic way. Therefore, it is intended to gather influential and efficient practices and create a guide for EFL teachers.