English Language Teachers Perception of the Concept of Culture and its Significance in Learning English as a Foreign Language

Given the inextricable link between language and culture and the crucial role culture fulfills in learning a foreign/second language, the present qualitative research was conducted to gain a profound insight on language teachers views concerning the concept of culture, the significance of teaching culture, and the reason cultural components should be practiced in language classes. To this end, and based on purposive sampling, 15 experienced teachers in both high schools and private language institutes in Shiraz, Iran were selected and then semistructurally interviewed. The obtained data was then transcribed and codified. Based on the findings, all teachers revealed that, in addition to Big C culture, special attention should be paid to teaching small c culture and its related components as well. It was also implied that the teachers viewed culture as a dynamic rather than a static phenomenon with a set of discrete cultural information that affects people s lives. Finally, the impact of teaching culture on semantic, pragmatic, as well as discourse levels of L2 was considered by the participants, to be the main reason behind the importance of teaching culture in language classes.