Source, Target or Intercultural? Iranian English Language Teachers’ Perception of Culture in the Era of Globalization (Globalization and Localization)

The issue of culture as an inevitable element in any language teaching in general and English language teaching in particular merits researchers close attention in any EFL or ESL context. Since in the current era, known as the era of globalization, the need for teaching and learning English appears to be obvious and necessary, this paper which also has taken this issue for granted, tries to deal with the conflict of cultures between the local and the Center culture as one of the main problems and concerns in teaching and learning English in the Iranian context. In this regard, it was attempted to investigate the ELT teachers perceptions on the issue of which culture should be presented in the EFL classroom. The study followed a qualitative-quantitative method. Based on semi-structures interviews with some teachers, a 12-item questionnaire was developed, and then 74 Iranian English teachers who were chosen on a non-random convenience sampling completed the 5-point scale Likert questionnaire. Findings revealed while teachers welcomed an awareness of and reflection on one’s own culture, quite a large number of them believed that teaching English is not just learning about the target culture, but also learning about the cultures of people of the expanding circle. Results also indicated that acquiring a global understanding of English speakers all over the world helps EFL teachers and students to enhance their knowledge of the world and their knowledge of foreign communities. The study implies that teachers should incorporate cultural facts into English classrooms through well-developed language syllabi. Finally, various implications of teaching and learning English culture in Iranian context are discussed.