Importance of Culture Teaching in Kurdish EFL Classroom

Abstract

Since language and culture are intimately intertwined, the purpose of the current research is to investigate how instructors and students in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq perceive the significance of culture in teaching English as a foreign language in the classroom. To gather data, a quantitative approach using questionnaires was used. In the present study, 100 Kurdish learners and 120 Kurdish teachers of English language participated. The findings indicate that there was consensus among educators and students regarding the importance of culture in the English language curriculum. Most of them understand how crucial it is to teach and include culture into foreign language classes. The teachers who answered the questionnaire seemed to understand the need of adding culture to language instruction, but in reality, there is still little time set aside for cultural awareness. Teachers may be anxious to include a cultural component in their lessons, but in practice, the influence of it is limited by their own inadequacies. Put differently, there are students getting ready who are aware of how much they need to learn about other cultures and who are ready to absorb and use it as an additional component of their "communicative competence." The study's conclusions about the value of incorporating culture into English language instruction are drawn from the data, and suggestions for more research are offered.