المستخلص: |
Culture has been hotly debated in the field of language education for some long time now, being 'one of the most controversial issues in TESOL's recent history'. There has been a long argument about the importance of including culture in teaching foreign languages. As the teaching of linguistic components of a language alone does not necessarily guarantee the ability of learners to communicate in that language, cultural knowledge is claimed to be a necessity for effective communication. The debate revolves mainly around culture being an integral part of teaching a language where language and culture are part and parcel, and fears of culture being an imperialistic, alien and invasive concept annexed to the language being taught or learned. In this critical review, I present the importance of culture for teaching/learning a foreign language though the native culture of learners of a foreign language should be preserved and respected. I, hence, argue for a culture awareness raising formula that on the one hand serves the language teaching by presenting the cultural component of that foreign language while on the other hand privileging the culture of the leaners.
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