Student’s questionnaire
The test for students consisted of two parts. Questions in the first part were put up to evaluate student’s performance with regard to verbal behaviour (such as expressing gratitude, asking for help greetings etc.) and non-verbal behaviour (such as postures, gestures, eye contact etc. The later part consisted of four Open-ended Questions. The test was designed in accordance with the sociolinguistic framework (Zehenya, et al. 1990). Teacher’s Interview
An interview was taken from the five teachers of English Department at Aligarh Muslim University. In the interview, the author inquired their attitudes towards culture teaching, perceptions of the present methodology and the present state of culture teaching. The interview …show more content…
Some mentioned that teachers often focus on teaching of grammar, vocabulary and forms and norms of written communication. One of the respondents advocated that they are “unable to speak and behave native speakers”. They viewed obstacle to communication is insufficient understanding of English culture. However, a keen interest was seen among learners who thought that cultural knowledge could enlarge their perspective of the outside world. In response to the another question: “What do you think is important in culture teaching?”, the following were the most frequent answers: cultural differences, festivals and holidays, peoples’ way of life, sports, music, customs, etiquette, society, education, food, body language and values. When answering the last question “In what ways you would like to learn about foreign culture?”, Most of the students mentioned that they like extensive reading, watching English movies, listening to music, reading stories, role-playing, and personal contact with native speakers. The responses to the questions indicate that the present state of culture teaching and learning is not satisfactory. However, the students had a positive attitude towards culture learning. They were found interested in learning how English-speaking people live, what their customs are and in what ways foreign cultures are …show more content…
Language learning must be strengthened and for that, learners and educators are equally accountable. To reaffirm the cultural and social development, language educators are required to fulfil social and political duty. It is a matter of concern that a high degree of linguistic knowledge does not ensure effective communications. To be bilingual, one must be bicultural also, thus, due attention should be given to the importance of inter cultural awareness. The urgent need is to set up a task for language educators to ensure that students must be inter-culturally and behaviourally aware while acquiring linguistic competence. The achievement of goal is possible with the preparation of an organised inventory that would include verbal and nonverbal aspects of the foreign