Teachers' Ambivalence in Integrating Culture with EFL Teaching in Hong Kong

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  • Author(s): Luk, Jasmine
  • Language:
    English
  • Source:
    Language, Culture and Curriculum. 2012 25(3):249-264.
  • Publication Date:
    2012
  • Document Type:
    Journal Articles
    Reports - Research
  • Additional Information
    • Availability:
      Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
    • Peer Reviewed:
      Y
    • Source:
      16
    • Education Level:
      Secondary Education
    • Subject Terms:
      English (Second Language); Foreign Countries; Second Language Learning; Second Language Instruction; Language Teachers; Cultural Awareness; Teacher Attitudes; Asians; Interviews; Secondary School Teachers; Language Tests; Teacher Role; Intercultural Communication; Teacher Student Relationship; Teacher Collaboration; Cultural Background; Cultural Differences; Native Speakers
    • Subject Terms:
      Hong Kong
    • Accession Number:
      10.1080/07908318.2012.716849
    • ISSN:
      0790-8318
    • Abstract:
      An increasingly important curricular aim of teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) is to develop learners' intercultural competence for communication with people from different cultures through English. English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers' perceptions and practices in relation to integrating culture with English learning have been investigated mainly in Europe and the USA, whereas in Asia, these issues seem to have been less explored. This article reports an interview study that collected views about culture and language teaching from 12 secondary school English teachers in Hong Kong, including native and non-native English teachers. The findings showed that the teachers were unanimously positive in their attitudes towards the motivating power of culture (including popular culture) in language teaching, but also revealed ambivalence or contradictory feelings about the means and the end of culture-integrated TEFL in terms of what cultural resources to draw on; the connectivity between cultural components and examinations; and the role of teachers. The findings suggest the need for EFL teachers to deploy culture as a discursive resource for meaning-making, and to consider culture pedagogy as interlingual and intercultural exploratory dialogues with the students. The need for a closer collaboration among EFL teachers from different sociocultural backgrounds is highlighted.
    • Abstract:
      As Provided
    • Number of References:
      36
    • Publication Date:
      2012
    • Accession Number:
      EJ984799