T1 112006090 Full text
STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION TOWARD THE INCLUSION OF TARGET
CULTURE IN TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Hendrata Ary Wibowo
112006090
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
SALATIGA
2013
STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION TOWARD THE INCLUSION OF TARGET
CULTURE IN TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Hendrata Ary Wibowo
112006090
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
SALATIGA
2013
STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION TOWARD THE INCLUSION OF TARGET
CULTURE IN TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Hendrata Ary Wibowo
112006090
Approved by:
Danielle Donelson-Sims, M.A.
Supervisor
Christian Rudianto, M. Appling.
Examiner
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Christian Rudianto, M. Appling.
STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION TOWARD THE INCLUSION OF TARGET
CULTURE IN TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Hendrata Ary Wibowo
Abstract
This study was conducted to analyze students‟ perception toward the inclusion of target
culture in teaching English as a foreign language. The participants of this research study were
English Department students who took American Culture and Literature as the Elective
course of this Department. This study focused on analyzing students‟ opinion about target
culture in their EFL learning. The findings showed that the students agree that target culture
should be included and focused in EFL learning but still considers source culture to help the
learners understand the target culture well. The other thing, which is showed in the analysis,
is that the purpose of them learning English in order to be able to communicate with native
speaker from the target language well. Also, the learners learn English in order to
communicate with their surrounding communities (Indonesian communities) which use
English in their communication. Pedagogical implication from the findings is that EFL
curriculum planners could make EFL materials, which more focus on target culture but still
considers on source culture because it can build learners‟ positive attitude toward learning the
language. The other pedagogical implication is that teachers can consider students‟ positive
and negative attitude toward learning culture that affect the teaching and learning process.
They can make some strategies to build good atmosphere so that the learners can change their
positive to be more positive and it can help them to get highly motivation in teaching learning
process.
Keywords: English as an international language, English as a foreign language, cultures
Introduction
In English language teaching, culture becomes one of the important aspects. It is
controversial whether target cultures should be included in teaching English as a foreign
language. The target culture means culture of the countries where English is spoken as the
native language. As we EFL learners know, English cultures are various and it may include
cultures in countries that use English as the first language (United States of America, United
Kingdom, and Australia) or even ones that use English as second and foreign language such
as Indonesia, Korean, Japan, etc.
In English language teaching, there are various cultures, which need to be learnt.
According to Cortazzi and Jin (1999), culture in language teaching can be illustrated as
follows:
Source
Target
C1
C1
C2
C3, 4, 5
C1 refers to the learner‟s culture, the source culture. C2 refers to the target culture. C3, 4, 5,
refer to the culture that are neither the source nor the target culture (Cortazzi and Jin, 1999).
In this graph, C1 is source culture. It is students‟ local culture where they belong. C2 is target
culture. It is culture which is being learnt in their EFL learning. C3,4,5 is international culture.
It is neither source nor target culture. In EFL learning, international culture will also give
broad knowledge to the students. it can help them to get better concept of learning culture.
There are debates regarding to the inclusion of culture (source and target) in EFL
learning. that debates makes me curious what culture should be included in teaching English
as a foreign language whether it is target or source culture according to the students‟
perception. I will provide some arguments from the scholars regarding to this issue.
Adaskou, Britten and Fahsi (as cited in Nation & Macalister, 2009) found that most of
the teachers argue against the inclusion of target language culture in the English language
classroom. They think that the inclusion of target culture shows that the learners do not
satisfy with the local culture as learners compare their culture with the target language.
Adaskou, Britten and Fahsi also state that learners are more motivated when they learn target
language with refers to their local culture. It means that these scholars agree to use local
culture in EFL learning than target culture because the learners will be more motivated in
learning English if the materials are from the local/source culture.
Some believe that the reason why learners need to learn culture of the target language
is that “the presentation of an argument in a way that sounds fluent and elegant in one culture
may be regarded as clumsy and circular by members of another culture” (Smith, 1985). The
learners need to learn the culture of the language in order to communicate well and avoid
misunderstandings between the speakers. This case is Smith‟s idea about learn culture in EFL
classroom.
Nowadays, there are issues about World Englishes. World Englishes means English,
which is used not only by native speaker, but also by non-native speaker. According to Firth
(1996), World Englishes is English which is used by non-native speaker, it is clearly showed
that English is now used as an international language. Firth said that English can also be used
as lingua franca. Lingua franca in EFL is a language, which is used as „contact language‟
between person who shares neither a common native tongue nor a common (national) culture.
It means that English is used as a language that is used by people to communicate with others
who have a different first language. They use English so that they can communicate to each
other because it is impossible to use their own first language that is different.
English is now not only owned by countries that use English as a mother tongue or
first language, but also countries that use English as second and foreign language. It is clear
that people around the world use English. However, actually there are more non-native
English speakers rather than native English speakers. It makes English become international
language. World Englishes to ELT (Matsuda, 2002), EIL (English as an international
language) contexts are ones in which English is used between speakers coming from different
cultural and national backgrounds. This means that English is not only used by English
speaking countries, but also countries that have their own official language.
According to Kachru (1997), there are three concentric circles of English, which is
used by people in the world. Those are Inner Circle, Outer Circle, and Expanding Circle.
Inner Circle represents countries, which use English as a primary or first language (UK, USA,
Australia, Canada, and New Zealand). Outer circle represents countries, which use English as
a foreign language. They are countries, which are formerly colonized by Britain and USA. It
is only used for international purposes of administration, education, law, etc (India, Nigeria,
Philippines, Singapore). Expanding Circle represents countries, which use English as a
foreign language. It is only used as a medium of international communication (China, Europe,
Japan, Korea, Indonesia, etc).
Todd and Hancock (1986) discuss the status of English as an international language
(EIL). Countries in the outer circle are all multilingual and multicultural. English is used only
for official purpose such as in education, law, and administration field. They do not use
English in daily communication. Different from outer circle, in expanding circle, English has
no official status. It is only used as medium of international trade. For official purpose, they
still use their own official language. English is only used in some particular purpose.
After discussing about World Englishes and English as an international language, I
will discuss about the importance of students‟ perception toward the learning. This study
analyzes students‟ perception toward the issue of including target culture in EFL learning. So,
I will reveal the importance of students‟ perception in EFL learning.
In order to achieve successful language learning, the thing that needs to be considered
is students‟ perception toward the learning as mentioned in above paragraph. According to
Nelson and Quick (1997; 83-84), perception is the process of interpreting information about
things. If the students interpret the information about language learning in a right way, they
will have positive perception toward it. It can help them in learning the language. According
to Nelson and Quick, whenever a person is in negative moods about objects, they generally
tend to form a negative impression of it. This can obstruct students‟ learning actually. From
this situation, we can see that students‟ perception or attitude plays important role in EFL
learning, which is aimed to be successful.
According to Rao and Narayana (1998: 329-330), perception helps someone to gather
and process data from surrounding. It is basically a process of gaining understanding. It
means that perception is a process of gaining understanding of something. In EFL learning,
students‟ perception is needed because they will get better understanding toward some
particular subject if they have positive perception. So I think students‟ perception in teaching
and learning process is important because by gaining positive perception, the teaching
learning process will go smoothly.
Furthermore, students‟ perception plays important role in teaching learning process.
The students who have a good perception will tend to have good attitude toward the subject
and it will enable them to get high achievement (Michael, 1999). It means that if the students
have positive attitude toward some particular subjects for instance culture, they will enjoy the
learning so that they get high achievement on that subject. In contrast, if they have negative
attitude toward some particular subjects, they will not be interested in learning it.
In this study, students‟ perception toward culture, which is being taught in EFL
classroom, is important to make the learning process more effective and achieve successful
language learning. On the other hand, students who have negative attitude toward the culture
being taught, and it perhaps will significantly influence their achievement in learning English
as a foreign language. Biggs (1993, 1999) said that student characteristics and perceptions
influence student approaches which influence student outcomes. It shows that students‟
perception play important role in teaching learning process because it influences students‟
outcomes.
This study is important because in teaching EFL class, the educators need to consider
students‟ perception toward the language culture they learn. Ammon (2004) said about how
the learners respond to the EFL materials, it is important to consider students‟ perception. He
claims that the way learners respond the target language culture will influence their attitude
or perception toward the language itself. If they respond the target language well, they will
have good attitude toward the target language. For example when the learners like the culture
of English native speakers, they will automatically think that English is fun. It means that
they have positive attitudes toward English. However, if they do not like the native speakers‟
dialect, they will think that English is not fun or even they will not be interested in learning
English at all. This is important for this study because as stated before that teaching learning
process will be more effective if the educators can build students‟ positive attitude toward the
materials. So in other words, the learning process will be successful if the students have
positive attitude or perception toward the materials.
This study was guided by the following research question: What is students‟
perception toward the inclusion of target culture in teaching English as a foreign language?
The reason why I choose this topic is that I find some contents in EFL materials that often use
English (target) culture rather than Indonesian (source) culture in discussing material such as
reading passages, illustration. They rarely use Indonesian culture. It makes me curious why
EFL curriculum planners often use materials from English culture rather than Indonesian
culture.
This case is interesting to be investigated further because some scholars state that in
EFL learning, it is better to use source culture because they are more motivated when they
learn target language with refers to their local culture. This is because the students tend to
have positive attitude toward their own culture. Source culture can also build positive
attitude/perception toward the materials that are being taught in the classroom. Source culture
can make the learning process become more effective and the students will get high
achievement in learning the language. But target culture should be focused more because as
McKay (2002) said, by learning target culture, it can enhance students‟ motivation to develop
their attitudes toward language learning. So target culture can build students‟ motivation and
they will enjoy learning the language
This study is important because, based on the previous studies about this issue, it has
become debate between the researchers. It is said that teaching English as a foreign language
should consider the source culture (learners‟ culture) of the learner because the inclusion of
learners‟ culture in language teaching has a positive effect on the learners‟ integrity (Modiano,
2001). Then, it is important to use learners‟ culture as a source and facilitator to teach second
and/or foreign language. Freeman and Freeman (1998) suggest that the inclusion of learners‟
culture in the target language teaching is one of the ways a way to improve learners‟ attitude
and improve their self-confidence. Therefore, some researchers claim that the use of source
culture is getting stronger. They have tried to develop new teaching material or adapt the
existing works to accommodate the learners‟ culture (Argungu, 2002). In other words, the
researchers develop new EFL materials, which use learners‟ culture to make the teaching
learning process become more effective because it can build positive attitude of the students.
The students are more motivated when they learn target culture which still consider their own
culture.
The study
Participants
The participants of this research are English Department students who take American Culture
and Literature class during “semester antara” 2012/2013. The reason why I chose this class is
that these students were older angkatan who I believe that they have already had knowledge
about culture in language teaching and they have already learned about World Englishes in
previous classes such as Cross Cultural Understanding, Academic Reading and some other
courses. it is because I think if they have learned about World Englishes, they will have broad
knowledge about how English is now used by people around the world and it can help them
understand the topic I questioned to them. It will make the data more various and they can
share interesting ideas about this topic.
Data Collection
The data of this research was collected from a questionnaire. The questionnaire is in the form
of open-ended questions so that the participants can express themselves by giving opinion of
the statements. According to Foddy (1993: 127), open-ended questions allow respondent to
express an opinion without being influenced by the researcher. It means that if the research
uses open-ended questionnaire, the respondents can express their opinion about the subject of
this study freely. The questionnaire were meant to find out whether the participants agree to
include target culture in teaching English as a foreign language or they agree to include
source culture in teaching English as a foreign language.
Research Procedures
This research is qualitative research. According to Hancock (1998), qualitative research is
aimed to help us understand why things are the way they are. Qualitative reasearch is aimed
to find the answers of questions which begin with: why? How? In what way? It usually shares
opinion, experiences, and feelings about social phenomena. By sharing their opinion,
experiences, and feeling, it can show students‟ perception.
Findings and Discussions
This section describes the data from questionnaire in the form of description about
English Department students‟ opinion toward target and source culture in EFL learning. The
findings of the study are presented in the form of description of six questions‟ answer. These
six descriptions can show students‟ thought about target culture in teaching English as a
foreign language.
1. Students’ Feeling about Learning Culture
From the data gathered, most of the participants like to learn culture. From 15
participants, 9 participants answer like, 3 participants answer a lot like it, 2 participants
answer neutral, 0 participants answer do not like it, and 1 participant answers do not like it at
all.
Students’ positive feelings
From the data that I got, participants who answered that the participants like learning
culture, feel culture is important and it is also interesting to learn. Most of the participants
here said that by learning culture, they think that they are able to find or know their own
identity. They can also compare their own culture with another culture around the world,
especially western culture (English speaking countries) where English is used as a first
language. By comparing their culture, it can help them grow, as participant 1 mentioned:
Because of the differences of the culture might have when compared to my own.
It might also help me to grow as well. They can also compare their culture with
others to respect each other.
Three participants also said that by learning culture, they could learn something new. They
think it is very interesting to learn because they can also find something that surprises them.
Participant 6, 8, and 15 states it. Participant 6 said that:
Because we can know and learn about another culture from different country
that might become something new and it is surprising for me.
Participant 15 also said that:
Because I am interested in learning culture and literature. It is interesting to
find something that surprises us.
Here, we can see that these participants feel that they want to know other cultures and learn it.
By learning other cultures, they can find so many interesting things that they have never
known before. The other participants who answer „like it” also said the same things, that they
like learning culture because they want to know more about traditions or customs that exist
around the world. Participant 10 stated it. She said that:
Because by learning culture, I become know about some unique traditions, foods,
ceremonies of some ethnics that exist around the world
I can say that all of the participants who answered, “like it‟ are interested in other culture
customs. They want to know their daily life such as tradition, viewpoints, opinions, gestures,
food, hobbies, and popular issues from different culture. Peterson (2004) defines this case. He
defines little “c” culture as the culture focusing on common or minor themes. It includes
themes such as opinions, viewpoints, preferences or tastes, gestures, body posture, use of
space, clothing styles, food, hobbies, popular music, and popular issues, and certain
knowledge (trivia, facts). These things will affect the ways of learners‟ thinking, behaving,
and using the target language.
For the question about students‟ feeling about studying culture, the other three
participants answered “a lot like it.” Their answer is almost the same with students who
answer “like it” in the previous paragraphs. They think that learning culture is interesting.
They can learn new things that they do not know before then share it with others. Participant
5 clearly stated it. She said that:
It can be a new knowledge from me and I am proud if I know some cultures that
the others may don’t know, so I can share with them.
Participant 5 thinks that by learning culture, she can have new knowledge and it makes her
proud because she can share her knowledge about other cultures with others whom they may
not know. The other two participants (participant 13 and 14) think that learning culture is
interesting
From this answer, I can say that these participants have a positive attitude toward
learning culture. As we know that by learning culture, it can help them learning the language.
Culture helps students learn language because language is part of the culture, as Wadham, et
al. (2007) said. He states that when EFL learners learn a language, they need to learn its
culture first to help them understand the speakers‟ characteristics. It means that learners can
understand how to use the language after learning the culture. It makes the language learning
easier. If EFL learners have learned the culture, it can help them to have better
communication in foreign language and also with native speakers of the target language
culture.
After I describe the answers of the participants who answered „like it‟ and „a lot like
it,‟ I will now describe participants who answered “neutral.” Two participants answered
“neutral.” These two participants actually like to learn culture but sometimes it is confusing.
Their answers are almost the same. Participant 9 said that:
Sometimes I like to study about culture, but culture is confusing. Sometimes it is
interesting, but sometimes it isn’t. Some culture seems to be complicated to
learn. So I got confused.
This participant feels that learning culture is actually interesting but sometimes it is confusing
because it is complicated. It is good because at least this participant still likes to learn culture.
She is interested in learning culture although there is some confusion when she learns it. They
felt confused because as we know that culture is actually quite complicated. Some learners
are not interested in learning this because it is too complicated for them. So perhaps
participant 9 and 11 encountered this problem. They actually want to learn the culture deeper
but after they find that it is complicated, they may feel confused and just learn it because they
have to. They are not interested in learning it.
Students’ negative feelings
From the same question, one participant does not like learning culture. She answers
she does not like it at all. Participant 4 states it. She said that:
Studying culture is hard for me. I don’t like studying culture because it is
confusing and complicated.
Participant 4 may have a positive attitude toward learning culture, but after she finds it
difficult, she thinks negatively about this topic. This can interfere with the learning process
because she does not enjoy learning culture. This can be a good case to be discussed further.
2. Students’ Thought about the Importance of Culture in EFL Learning
Most of the participants agree that culture is important in EFL learning. From 15
participants, 14 participants think that culture is important in EFL learning. One participant
thinks that culture is not important in EFL learning.
Culture is important in EFL learning
Some of the participants think that by learning culture, it can support their learning.
Participant 2 states it. She said that:
The source culture of EFL learners may differ from the target language culture
background. That is why the culture is needed to support EFL learning.
This participant thinks that source and target culture may be different. So, the learners need to
learn both cultures so that they know how those two cultures are. It can support them in
learning the target language.
The participants also think that by learning culture, it helps us a lot to communicate
with others. Participant 5 states it. She said that:
Studying the culture helps u a lot when you want to go abroad or be friend with
foreigners. Many materials related to culture for example American culture and
the way we should greet/speak/communicate with them.
This participant thinks that learning culture is important because she can communicate with
foreigners better if she has knowledge about foreigners‟ culture. She will know how to greet,
speak, and communicate with them. It is true that if the learners have already known about
the culture, they will know how they will communicate with foreigners, especially from
English speaking countries. They can choose appropriate topics and questions because some
particular questions may be offensive for some particular culture, for instance. So if the
learners have knowledge about that, they can avoid misunderstanding and they can
communicate well with native speakers.
Culture is not important in EFL learning
For the same question about “Do you think culture is important in EFL learning?” One
participant answers that culture is not important in EFL learning. It is stated by participant 9.
She said that:
Not really. Because not a ll students like culture. So it is not important. We don’t
need to learn culture when we learn language.
This participant thinks that EFL learners do not need to learn culture just because they do not
like it. It shows her negative attitude toward learning culture. She may have limited
understanding about culture, which is important in EFL learning.
3. Students’ Thought about the Importance of Target Culture in EFL Learning
Most of the participants agree that target culture is important. From 15 participants
that I have, 14 participants agree that target culture is important in EFL learning.
Target culture is important in EFL learning
Most of the participants think that target culture helps them a lot in learning the
language. The reason is that they can have good communication with native speaker. It is
clearly stated by participant 5. She said that:
As I said before, it helps you a lot when you want to be friend with the
natives, so that they don’t think if you are trouble maker. They will think that
you have bad attitude.
Participant 10 also states it. She said that:
To help students speak more appropriately according to the target culture. If
we speak appropriately, we can have good relationship with native speaker.
So we need to learn target culture when we learn a language.
Participant 10 thinks that learn target culture will help her to be able to speak more
appropriately with native speakers. It can make the EFL learners can have a good relationship
with them if they can communicate well. They will not face any problem if they already
know the characteristics of them.
Target culture is not important in EFL learning
From the same question about target culture in EFL learning, one participant answers
culture is not important in EFL learning. This participant disagrees that target culture is
important in EFL learning. She thinks that target culture can make our local culture lost.
Participant 13 states it. She said that:
It can danger their pure culture if we use target culture in learning foreign
language. We need to learn our culture to maintain it so that we can keep our
culture.
The participant seems to have negative attitude toward target culture in EFL learning. This
participant may think that target culture can endanger local culture. This case may be suitable
with Ariza‟s (2007) argument. He points out that abandoning culture is like forgetting one‟s
own self. It is said that every language teaching policy will be effective if it considers
learners‟ culture. From Ariza‟s argument, it is true that considering learners‟ culture would be
effective, but it will also include target culture so that the learners have broad knowledge
about culture. They can compare both culture and see what is good and bad, right and wrong
so that they will not have a narrow minded.
4. Students’ Thought about the Importance of Source Culture in EFL Learning
All of the participants agree that source culture is important in EFL learning. It should
be included in teaching foreign language because it is their identity and it is important to be
kept. Participant 5 states it. She said that:
Yes, because that is the learners identity and their background knowledge. I
mean while we are learning EFL, we are not losing our nature culture. We
have to keep our culture, we shouldn’t lose it.
This participant seems to think that although she learns a foreign language, she does not want
to forget her own (source) culture. Six other participants also said almost the same things that
they have to keep their own culture because it is their identity. They think that they do not
want to lose it.
Seven participants think that both cultures are important because by learning both
cultures, they can see which things are good for them. Participant 5 clearly stated it. She said
that:
Although we learn the native culture, Indonesian culture is important. It can be
‘a fence’ for me so that I can sort which one is good for me.
One participant said different things about source culture in EFL learning. He thought
that if EFL learners learn target and source culture, there should be a better understanding
from the learners about target culture. Participant 1 stated it. He said that:
Help treat the differences of both target and source language culture so a
better understanding could be made.
This participant thinks that not only the target culture is important to be learnt in EFL
learning, but the source culture also needs to be learnt to make better understanding from the
learners.
Actually if learners have a chance to learn about topics and vocabularies, which are
related to their native background in English, they can interact with people from different
cultural background because they have been able to develop their knowledge of their own
culture (McKay, 2000). This can help them in learning target culture because they have
already have good knowledge about their culture. It will be easier for them to adjust to the
other culture.
5. Students’ Thought about the which Culture (Target or Source) is more appropriate
in EFL learning
From 15 participants, 12 participants said that target culture is more appropriate to be
included in EFL learning. The three other participants said that source culture is more
appropriate to be included in EFL learning.
Target culture is more appropriate to be included in EFL learning
Most of the participants think that they need to learn target culture because they learn
a language so they need to learn its culture to help them learn the language and avoid
misunderstanding if they really communicate with native speakers later. Participant11 stated
that:
Because English is not our language and it is important to avoid
misunderstanding in using the language
This participant may think that target culture needs to be learnt because we have to avoid
misunderstanding when we interact with native people. As an Indonesian, it is common that
they always try to avoid misunderstanding to the addressee. So this participant thinks that
way because it is part of her culture.
On the other side, participant 1 said the different thing. He said that:
Since we are all learning the target language: to have the same thing in general
since our culture might be different from one person to another (the learners)
This participant said that one culture may be different from other culture. If EFL learners
think that something is appropriate in their culture, it may not be appropriate to other culture.
Theyhave to know both cultures well so that they have broad knowledge. So they know what
should or not do.
The other participant thinks that the learners need to learn target culture because
theylearn the language. But they should not ignore source culture to get better understanding
about target culture. Participant 2 clearly stated it. She said that:
The aim of EFL study is to learn English so that we need to exposure more on
the target culture but not ignoring the native culture to support their
understanding.
This participant said that learning English should focus on the target culture but still consider
their own culture, so that they have better understanding in learning it.
Source culture is more appropriate to be included in EFL learning
Three participants said that source culture is more appropriate to be included in EFL
learning. Three of them said the same things, that learners have to respect source culture so
they have to use it to learn English language. Participant 8 said that:
Because I believe we can learn target culture by ourselves (not in EFL
learning), but for source culture, we have to keep it so that we don’t lose it
This participant believes that EFL learners do not need to learn target language in formal
situation (classroom) because they can learn target culture by themselves in everyday life.
from what she said, I can see that she thinks they must keep source culture because they need
to keep it as their identity.
6. Students’ Thought about which Culture is more Effective when Learn English in
FBS Education
Most of the participants agree that culture is more effective to be used when they
learn English in FBS education. From 15 participants, 13 participants said that target culture
is more effective to be used in EFL learning. The two other participants said that source
culture is more effective to be used in EFL learning.
Target culture is more effective to be used when learning English in FBS education
Actually, most of their opinions are almost the same with the previous question about
which culture is more appropriate to be included in EFL learning. They think that target
language needs to be learnt because as we learn a language, we need to learn the culture so
that better understanding could be made. Participant 3 said that:
Because when learning EFL, there is relation between language and culture to
make us more understand about target culture.
This participant thinks that language and culture are related to each other. When the learners
learn target culture, they can learn the language easier because they have already had the
knowledge of the target culture. It will help them when they have to interact with native
speakers later.
Source culture is more effective to be used when learning English in FBS education
Two participants said that source culture is more effective to be used in EFL learning.
They think that source culture can help them in learning target culture. Participant 5 states it.
She said that:
Through the source culture, I can learn the target culture easily. So we should
use source culture in EFL learning because we can learn target culture easier by
learning source culture.
This participant seems to have positive attitude toward source culture. She said that if she
learns source culture, it can help her understand target culture easier so she thinks that in EFL
learning, we need to use source culture to make the learners learn target culture easier.
But if EFL learners use too much source culture, it can cause dependency to one culture
which is source culture. Participant 1 clearly stated it. He said that:
Creates more relaxed situation when in the teaching and learning process,
however leaning too much to the source might cause a dependency to the culture
so a strict rule might be needed
This participant seems to lean to use source culture because it can create a more relaxing
situation during the teaching and learning process. The learners will be more comfortable in
learning target language if they use source culture. But he also stressed that learning too
much source culture might cause a dependency. I define dependency as the learners only
referring to one culture, which is source culture.
In brief, this study found that the students have mostly positive attitude toward the
inclusion of target culture in teaching English as a foreign language. Most of them argue that
target language needed to be learnt to support their learning. It could help them in learning
target language easier when they already have knowledge about target culture.
Conclusion
The purpose of this study was to analyze students‟ perception toward the inclusion of
target culture in teaching English as a foreign language. The findings of this research
revealed important points related to target culture in EFL learning. The thing, which I got
from this study, is that students feel that they need to learn target culture in order to be able
to communicate with native speakers from target language well.
But the aim of EFL learning was actually the learners not only be able to
communicate well with native speakers but also communicate with their surrounding
communities (Indonesian communities) in English as now World Englishes become big
issue recently. It is said that English not only belongs to the countries, which use it as first
language, but also countries, which use it as second and foreign language. Everyone in this
world learn English to be accepted in his or her communities.
In addition, there was one thing that becomes the limitation of this study. This study
only involved 15 students who took American Culture and Literature in English Department
of Satya Wacana Christian University, Salatiga. It is because I assumed that the participants
have already had knowledge or at least catch the idea about Culture and World Englishes as
the main focus of this thesis. So I think it is right if I choose American Culture and Literature
course. This course is an upper level course that is only advance students can enroll in this
course.
Actually, only fifteen students took that course, so I only had fifteen students‟ opinion
due to limited time, which I have to finish this research. This limited number of participants
might only provide some of the students‟ opinion. If there were more participants to be
included in this research, the data could be more various and represent the older students‟
opinion. However, I think it is enough for me to analyze fifteen participants in this study
because I got many different opinions from students.
I hope that further research can extend the number of the participants to explore and
get more different opinions from the students. It can provide many other interesting opinions
from the students as stated in the previous paragraph. It is also hoped that there are other
research study about the inclusion of culture in EFL learning, which is more focused on
source culture. Some examples, which can be done for research are, source culture, which
can build positive attitude during teaching learning process. The other example is source
culture, which can also help the learners understand target culture easier.
Based on the research findings, I found two pedagogical implications. The first one is
that if EFL curriculum planners could make EFL materials, which more focus on target
culture but still consider on source culture because it can build learners‟ positive attitude
toward the learning of the language. It can make the learning become more effective if the
materials still consider source culture.
The other pedagogical implication is that the teacher can consider students‟ positive
and negative attitude toward learning culture, which can affect the learning process and
atmosphere. The teacher can make some strategies to build good atmosphere so that the
students feel enjoy while learning culture in classroom and change their negative attitude
become more positive. It can make the teaching and learning process become more effective
and the students can highly motivated in learning culture.
References
Adaskou, K., Britten, D. & Fahsi, B. (1990). Design decisions on the cultural content of a
secondary English course for Morocco. ELT Journal, 44(1), 3-10.
Argungu, D. M. (2002). English, muslims, and islamization: Between needs and deeds.
TESOL Islamia, pp. 331-347.
Ariza, D. (2007). Culture in the EFL classroom in Universidad de la Selle: An innovation
project. Actualidades Padagogicas, 09-17.
Biggs, J.B. (1993). What do inventories of students‟ learning processes really measure? A
theoretical review and clarification. British journal of educational psychology, 63, pp.
3–19.
Cortazzi, M., & Jin, L. (1999). Cultural mirrors: Materials and methods in the EFL classroom.
In E. Hinkel (Ed.), Culture in second language teaching (196-219). Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Firth, A. (1996). The discursive accomplishment of normality. On, „lingua franca‟ English
and conversation analysis, Journal of Pragmatics, 26, 237-259.
Freeman, Y. S. & Freeman, D. E. (1998). ESL/EFL teaching: principles for success (2nd ed.).
Heinemann.
Foddy, W. (1993). Constructing questions for interviews and questionnaires: Theory and
practice in social research. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hancock, B. (1998). An introduction to qualitative research. Trent Focus Group.
Matsuda, A. (2002). International understanding through teaching world Englishes. World
Englishes, 21(3), 436–440.
Michael, R. (1999). Audience’s behavior. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc.
Modiano, M. (2001). Linguistic imperialism, cultural integrity and EIL. ELT Journal, 55/4:
339-346.
Kachru, B. B. (1997). English as an Asian language. In M. L. S. Bautista (Ed.), English is an
Asian language: the Philippine context. Manila: The Macquarie Library.
Kramsch, C. (1994). Context and culture in language teaching . Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Quick, D.L. and Nelson, J.C. (1997). Organizational behavior: Foundations, realities, and
challenges. New York: West Publishing Company, pp. 83-84.
Rao, V. S. P. & Narayana, P. S. (1998). Managing organizational conflict: A non-traditional
approach. In Delhi: Robbins, S.P. (Ed.). Organization theory and behavior.
Eaglewood Cliffs: N. J. Prentice-Hall..
Smith, E. L. (1985). What is the difference and what difference does the difference make .
Forum, Vol. 22.
Wadham, B., Pudsey, J., & Boyd, R. (2007). Culture and education. French Forest, NSW:
Pearson Education Australia.
Acknowledgement
First of all, I would like to thank my savior, Jesus Christ for all of His kindness,
guidance, and strength. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to my thesis
supervisor, Danielle Donelson-Sims, M.A. in giving me her valuable time, support, and
suggestions also guiding me patiently during consultation so that I could finish my thesis. I
would also express my appreciation to my examiner, Christian Rudianto, M. Appling. for his
willingness in reading and examining my thesis.
I also thank my family for the enormous support, prayers, and care. Also to all of ED
lecturers, friends who give their best support and help: Linggar, Adis, Dwi, Ci Onniek, Fatra,
and many more. I would never forget experiences we have shared together.
Hendrata Ary Wibowo
Appendix
Directions: Please complete the following questions. The information that you provide will be
kept confidential.
Please give your telephone number for interview later, if necessary.
1. Age: ____________________
2. Gender (circle one):
Female
Male
3. Student number/ telephone number: _______________/_________________
4. How long have you studied in English Department? ___________ years.
5. Have you ever been abroad to study English? (circle one):
Yes
No
•• If yes, where did you go to study English?:
___________________________________________________________
•• How long did you stay there?:
_______________________________
Instruction: Please answer the following questions by giving opinions based on your
knowledge.
6. How do you feel about studying culture? (circle one)
Like it
a lot Like it
Neutral
Do not like it
Do not like it at all
Why?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
7. Do you think culture is important in EFL learning?
Yes : Why?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
No : Why?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
8. Do you think target culture (culture of the countries where English is spoken as the native
language) in EFL learning is important?
Yes : Why?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
No : Why?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
9. Do you think source culture (culture where we belong, Indonesia) in EFL learning is
important?
Yes : Why?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
No : Why?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
10. Which culture do you think is more appropriate to be included in EFL learning?
Target
: Why?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Source
: Why?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
11. Which culture do you feel more effective to be used when you learn English in FBS
education?
Target
: Why?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
S
CULTURE IN TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Hendrata Ary Wibowo
112006090
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
SALATIGA
2013
STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION TOWARD THE INCLUSION OF TARGET
CULTURE IN TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Hendrata Ary Wibowo
112006090
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
SALATIGA
2013
STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION TOWARD THE INCLUSION OF TARGET
CULTURE IN TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Hendrata Ary Wibowo
112006090
Approved by:
Danielle Donelson-Sims, M.A.
Supervisor
Christian Rudianto, M. Appling.
Examiner
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT
This thesis contains no such material as has been submitted for examination in any course or
accepted for the fulfillment of any degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my
knowledge and my belief, this contains no material previously published or written by any
other person except where due reference is made in the text.
Copyright@ 2013. Hendrata Ary Wibowo and Danielle Donelson-Sims, M.A.
All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced by any means without the
permission of at least one of the copyright owners or the English Department, Faculty of
Language and Literature, Satya Wacana University, Salatiga.
Hendrata Ary Wibowo
PUBLICATION AGREEMENT DECLARATION
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Hendrata Ary Wibowo
112006090
English
Language and literature
Undergraduate Thesis
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right for my intellectual property and the contents therein entitled:
STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION TOWARD THE INCLUSION OF TARGET CULTURE
IN TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
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This declaration is made according to the best of my knowledge.
Made in
: Salatiga
Date
: November 8, 2013
Verified by signee,
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Approved by
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Danielle Donelson-Sims, M.A.
Christian Rudianto, M. Appling.
STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION TOWARD THE INCLUSION OF TARGET
CULTURE IN TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Hendrata Ary Wibowo
Abstract
This study was conducted to analyze students‟ perception toward the inclusion of target
culture in teaching English as a foreign language. The participants of this research study were
English Department students who took American Culture and Literature as the Elective
course of this Department. This study focused on analyzing students‟ opinion about target
culture in their EFL learning. The findings showed that the students agree that target culture
should be included and focused in EFL learning but still considers source culture to help the
learners understand the target culture well. The other thing, which is showed in the analysis,
is that the purpose of them learning English in order to be able to communicate with native
speaker from the target language well. Also, the learners learn English in order to
communicate with their surrounding communities (Indonesian communities) which use
English in their communication. Pedagogical implication from the findings is that EFL
curriculum planners could make EFL materials, which more focus on target culture but still
considers on source culture because it can build learners‟ positive attitude toward learning the
language. The other pedagogical implication is that teachers can consider students‟ positive
and negative attitude toward learning culture that affect the teaching and learning process.
They can make some strategies to build good atmosphere so that the learners can change their
positive to be more positive and it can help them to get highly motivation in teaching learning
process.
Keywords: English as an international language, English as a foreign language, cultures
Introduction
In English language teaching, culture becomes one of the important aspects. It is
controversial whether target cultures should be included in teaching English as a foreign
language. The target culture means culture of the countries where English is spoken as the
native language. As we EFL learners know, English cultures are various and it may include
cultures in countries that use English as the first language (United States of America, United
Kingdom, and Australia) or even ones that use English as second and foreign language such
as Indonesia, Korean, Japan, etc.
In English language teaching, there are various cultures, which need to be learnt.
According to Cortazzi and Jin (1999), culture in language teaching can be illustrated as
follows:
Source
Target
C1
C1
C2
C3, 4, 5
C1 refers to the learner‟s culture, the source culture. C2 refers to the target culture. C3, 4, 5,
refer to the culture that are neither the source nor the target culture (Cortazzi and Jin, 1999).
In this graph, C1 is source culture. It is students‟ local culture where they belong. C2 is target
culture. It is culture which is being learnt in their EFL learning. C3,4,5 is international culture.
It is neither source nor target culture. In EFL learning, international culture will also give
broad knowledge to the students. it can help them to get better concept of learning culture.
There are debates regarding to the inclusion of culture (source and target) in EFL
learning. that debates makes me curious what culture should be included in teaching English
as a foreign language whether it is target or source culture according to the students‟
perception. I will provide some arguments from the scholars regarding to this issue.
Adaskou, Britten and Fahsi (as cited in Nation & Macalister, 2009) found that most of
the teachers argue against the inclusion of target language culture in the English language
classroom. They think that the inclusion of target culture shows that the learners do not
satisfy with the local culture as learners compare their culture with the target language.
Adaskou, Britten and Fahsi also state that learners are more motivated when they learn target
language with refers to their local culture. It means that these scholars agree to use local
culture in EFL learning than target culture because the learners will be more motivated in
learning English if the materials are from the local/source culture.
Some believe that the reason why learners need to learn culture of the target language
is that “the presentation of an argument in a way that sounds fluent and elegant in one culture
may be regarded as clumsy and circular by members of another culture” (Smith, 1985). The
learners need to learn the culture of the language in order to communicate well and avoid
misunderstandings between the speakers. This case is Smith‟s idea about learn culture in EFL
classroom.
Nowadays, there are issues about World Englishes. World Englishes means English,
which is used not only by native speaker, but also by non-native speaker. According to Firth
(1996), World Englishes is English which is used by non-native speaker, it is clearly showed
that English is now used as an international language. Firth said that English can also be used
as lingua franca. Lingua franca in EFL is a language, which is used as „contact language‟
between person who shares neither a common native tongue nor a common (national) culture.
It means that English is used as a language that is used by people to communicate with others
who have a different first language. They use English so that they can communicate to each
other because it is impossible to use their own first language that is different.
English is now not only owned by countries that use English as a mother tongue or
first language, but also countries that use English as second and foreign language. It is clear
that people around the world use English. However, actually there are more non-native
English speakers rather than native English speakers. It makes English become international
language. World Englishes to ELT (Matsuda, 2002), EIL (English as an international
language) contexts are ones in which English is used between speakers coming from different
cultural and national backgrounds. This means that English is not only used by English
speaking countries, but also countries that have their own official language.
According to Kachru (1997), there are three concentric circles of English, which is
used by people in the world. Those are Inner Circle, Outer Circle, and Expanding Circle.
Inner Circle represents countries, which use English as a primary or first language (UK, USA,
Australia, Canada, and New Zealand). Outer circle represents countries, which use English as
a foreign language. They are countries, which are formerly colonized by Britain and USA. It
is only used for international purposes of administration, education, law, etc (India, Nigeria,
Philippines, Singapore). Expanding Circle represents countries, which use English as a
foreign language. It is only used as a medium of international communication (China, Europe,
Japan, Korea, Indonesia, etc).
Todd and Hancock (1986) discuss the status of English as an international language
(EIL). Countries in the outer circle are all multilingual and multicultural. English is used only
for official purpose such as in education, law, and administration field. They do not use
English in daily communication. Different from outer circle, in expanding circle, English has
no official status. It is only used as medium of international trade. For official purpose, they
still use their own official language. English is only used in some particular purpose.
After discussing about World Englishes and English as an international language, I
will discuss about the importance of students‟ perception toward the learning. This study
analyzes students‟ perception toward the issue of including target culture in EFL learning. So,
I will reveal the importance of students‟ perception in EFL learning.
In order to achieve successful language learning, the thing that needs to be considered
is students‟ perception toward the learning as mentioned in above paragraph. According to
Nelson and Quick (1997; 83-84), perception is the process of interpreting information about
things. If the students interpret the information about language learning in a right way, they
will have positive perception toward it. It can help them in learning the language. According
to Nelson and Quick, whenever a person is in negative moods about objects, they generally
tend to form a negative impression of it. This can obstruct students‟ learning actually. From
this situation, we can see that students‟ perception or attitude plays important role in EFL
learning, which is aimed to be successful.
According to Rao and Narayana (1998: 329-330), perception helps someone to gather
and process data from surrounding. It is basically a process of gaining understanding. It
means that perception is a process of gaining understanding of something. In EFL learning,
students‟ perception is needed because they will get better understanding toward some
particular subject if they have positive perception. So I think students‟ perception in teaching
and learning process is important because by gaining positive perception, the teaching
learning process will go smoothly.
Furthermore, students‟ perception plays important role in teaching learning process.
The students who have a good perception will tend to have good attitude toward the subject
and it will enable them to get high achievement (Michael, 1999). It means that if the students
have positive attitude toward some particular subjects for instance culture, they will enjoy the
learning so that they get high achievement on that subject. In contrast, if they have negative
attitude toward some particular subjects, they will not be interested in learning it.
In this study, students‟ perception toward culture, which is being taught in EFL
classroom, is important to make the learning process more effective and achieve successful
language learning. On the other hand, students who have negative attitude toward the culture
being taught, and it perhaps will significantly influence their achievement in learning English
as a foreign language. Biggs (1993, 1999) said that student characteristics and perceptions
influence student approaches which influence student outcomes. It shows that students‟
perception play important role in teaching learning process because it influences students‟
outcomes.
This study is important because in teaching EFL class, the educators need to consider
students‟ perception toward the language culture they learn. Ammon (2004) said about how
the learners respond to the EFL materials, it is important to consider students‟ perception. He
claims that the way learners respond the target language culture will influence their attitude
or perception toward the language itself. If they respond the target language well, they will
have good attitude toward the target language. For example when the learners like the culture
of English native speakers, they will automatically think that English is fun. It means that
they have positive attitudes toward English. However, if they do not like the native speakers‟
dialect, they will think that English is not fun or even they will not be interested in learning
English at all. This is important for this study because as stated before that teaching learning
process will be more effective if the educators can build students‟ positive attitude toward the
materials. So in other words, the learning process will be successful if the students have
positive attitude or perception toward the materials.
This study was guided by the following research question: What is students‟
perception toward the inclusion of target culture in teaching English as a foreign language?
The reason why I choose this topic is that I find some contents in EFL materials that often use
English (target) culture rather than Indonesian (source) culture in discussing material such as
reading passages, illustration. They rarely use Indonesian culture. It makes me curious why
EFL curriculum planners often use materials from English culture rather than Indonesian
culture.
This case is interesting to be investigated further because some scholars state that in
EFL learning, it is better to use source culture because they are more motivated when they
learn target language with refers to their local culture. This is because the students tend to
have positive attitude toward their own culture. Source culture can also build positive
attitude/perception toward the materials that are being taught in the classroom. Source culture
can make the learning process become more effective and the students will get high
achievement in learning the language. But target culture should be focused more because as
McKay (2002) said, by learning target culture, it can enhance students‟ motivation to develop
their attitudes toward language learning. So target culture can build students‟ motivation and
they will enjoy learning the language
This study is important because, based on the previous studies about this issue, it has
become debate between the researchers. It is said that teaching English as a foreign language
should consider the source culture (learners‟ culture) of the learner because the inclusion of
learners‟ culture in language teaching has a positive effect on the learners‟ integrity (Modiano,
2001). Then, it is important to use learners‟ culture as a source and facilitator to teach second
and/or foreign language. Freeman and Freeman (1998) suggest that the inclusion of learners‟
culture in the target language teaching is one of the ways a way to improve learners‟ attitude
and improve their self-confidence. Therefore, some researchers claim that the use of source
culture is getting stronger. They have tried to develop new teaching material or adapt the
existing works to accommodate the learners‟ culture (Argungu, 2002). In other words, the
researchers develop new EFL materials, which use learners‟ culture to make the teaching
learning process become more effective because it can build positive attitude of the students.
The students are more motivated when they learn target culture which still consider their own
culture.
The study
Participants
The participants of this research are English Department students who take American Culture
and Literature class during “semester antara” 2012/2013. The reason why I chose this class is
that these students were older angkatan who I believe that they have already had knowledge
about culture in language teaching and they have already learned about World Englishes in
previous classes such as Cross Cultural Understanding, Academic Reading and some other
courses. it is because I think if they have learned about World Englishes, they will have broad
knowledge about how English is now used by people around the world and it can help them
understand the topic I questioned to them. It will make the data more various and they can
share interesting ideas about this topic.
Data Collection
The data of this research was collected from a questionnaire. The questionnaire is in the form
of open-ended questions so that the participants can express themselves by giving opinion of
the statements. According to Foddy (1993: 127), open-ended questions allow respondent to
express an opinion without being influenced by the researcher. It means that if the research
uses open-ended questionnaire, the respondents can express their opinion about the subject of
this study freely. The questionnaire were meant to find out whether the participants agree to
include target culture in teaching English as a foreign language or they agree to include
source culture in teaching English as a foreign language.
Research Procedures
This research is qualitative research. According to Hancock (1998), qualitative research is
aimed to help us understand why things are the way they are. Qualitative reasearch is aimed
to find the answers of questions which begin with: why? How? In what way? It usually shares
opinion, experiences, and feelings about social phenomena. By sharing their opinion,
experiences, and feeling, it can show students‟ perception.
Findings and Discussions
This section describes the data from questionnaire in the form of description about
English Department students‟ opinion toward target and source culture in EFL learning. The
findings of the study are presented in the form of description of six questions‟ answer. These
six descriptions can show students‟ thought about target culture in teaching English as a
foreign language.
1. Students’ Feeling about Learning Culture
From the data gathered, most of the participants like to learn culture. From 15
participants, 9 participants answer like, 3 participants answer a lot like it, 2 participants
answer neutral, 0 participants answer do not like it, and 1 participant answers do not like it at
all.
Students’ positive feelings
From the data that I got, participants who answered that the participants like learning
culture, feel culture is important and it is also interesting to learn. Most of the participants
here said that by learning culture, they think that they are able to find or know their own
identity. They can also compare their own culture with another culture around the world,
especially western culture (English speaking countries) where English is used as a first
language. By comparing their culture, it can help them grow, as participant 1 mentioned:
Because of the differences of the culture might have when compared to my own.
It might also help me to grow as well. They can also compare their culture with
others to respect each other.
Three participants also said that by learning culture, they could learn something new. They
think it is very interesting to learn because they can also find something that surprises them.
Participant 6, 8, and 15 states it. Participant 6 said that:
Because we can know and learn about another culture from different country
that might become something new and it is surprising for me.
Participant 15 also said that:
Because I am interested in learning culture and literature. It is interesting to
find something that surprises us.
Here, we can see that these participants feel that they want to know other cultures and learn it.
By learning other cultures, they can find so many interesting things that they have never
known before. The other participants who answer „like it” also said the same things, that they
like learning culture because they want to know more about traditions or customs that exist
around the world. Participant 10 stated it. She said that:
Because by learning culture, I become know about some unique traditions, foods,
ceremonies of some ethnics that exist around the world
I can say that all of the participants who answered, “like it‟ are interested in other culture
customs. They want to know their daily life such as tradition, viewpoints, opinions, gestures,
food, hobbies, and popular issues from different culture. Peterson (2004) defines this case. He
defines little “c” culture as the culture focusing on common or minor themes. It includes
themes such as opinions, viewpoints, preferences or tastes, gestures, body posture, use of
space, clothing styles, food, hobbies, popular music, and popular issues, and certain
knowledge (trivia, facts). These things will affect the ways of learners‟ thinking, behaving,
and using the target language.
For the question about students‟ feeling about studying culture, the other three
participants answered “a lot like it.” Their answer is almost the same with students who
answer “like it” in the previous paragraphs. They think that learning culture is interesting.
They can learn new things that they do not know before then share it with others. Participant
5 clearly stated it. She said that:
It can be a new knowledge from me and I am proud if I know some cultures that
the others may don’t know, so I can share with them.
Participant 5 thinks that by learning culture, she can have new knowledge and it makes her
proud because she can share her knowledge about other cultures with others whom they may
not know. The other two participants (participant 13 and 14) think that learning culture is
interesting
From this answer, I can say that these participants have a positive attitude toward
learning culture. As we know that by learning culture, it can help them learning the language.
Culture helps students learn language because language is part of the culture, as Wadham, et
al. (2007) said. He states that when EFL learners learn a language, they need to learn its
culture first to help them understand the speakers‟ characteristics. It means that learners can
understand how to use the language after learning the culture. It makes the language learning
easier. If EFL learners have learned the culture, it can help them to have better
communication in foreign language and also with native speakers of the target language
culture.
After I describe the answers of the participants who answered „like it‟ and „a lot like
it,‟ I will now describe participants who answered “neutral.” Two participants answered
“neutral.” These two participants actually like to learn culture but sometimes it is confusing.
Their answers are almost the same. Participant 9 said that:
Sometimes I like to study about culture, but culture is confusing. Sometimes it is
interesting, but sometimes it isn’t. Some culture seems to be complicated to
learn. So I got confused.
This participant feels that learning culture is actually interesting but sometimes it is confusing
because it is complicated. It is good because at least this participant still likes to learn culture.
She is interested in learning culture although there is some confusion when she learns it. They
felt confused because as we know that culture is actually quite complicated. Some learners
are not interested in learning this because it is too complicated for them. So perhaps
participant 9 and 11 encountered this problem. They actually want to learn the culture deeper
but after they find that it is complicated, they may feel confused and just learn it because they
have to. They are not interested in learning it.
Students’ negative feelings
From the same question, one participant does not like learning culture. She answers
she does not like it at all. Participant 4 states it. She said that:
Studying culture is hard for me. I don’t like studying culture because it is
confusing and complicated.
Participant 4 may have a positive attitude toward learning culture, but after she finds it
difficult, she thinks negatively about this topic. This can interfere with the learning process
because she does not enjoy learning culture. This can be a good case to be discussed further.
2. Students’ Thought about the Importance of Culture in EFL Learning
Most of the participants agree that culture is important in EFL learning. From 15
participants, 14 participants think that culture is important in EFL learning. One participant
thinks that culture is not important in EFL learning.
Culture is important in EFL learning
Some of the participants think that by learning culture, it can support their learning.
Participant 2 states it. She said that:
The source culture of EFL learners may differ from the target language culture
background. That is why the culture is needed to support EFL learning.
This participant thinks that source and target culture may be different. So, the learners need to
learn both cultures so that they know how those two cultures are. It can support them in
learning the target language.
The participants also think that by learning culture, it helps us a lot to communicate
with others. Participant 5 states it. She said that:
Studying the culture helps u a lot when you want to go abroad or be friend with
foreigners. Many materials related to culture for example American culture and
the way we should greet/speak/communicate with them.
This participant thinks that learning culture is important because she can communicate with
foreigners better if she has knowledge about foreigners‟ culture. She will know how to greet,
speak, and communicate with them. It is true that if the learners have already known about
the culture, they will know how they will communicate with foreigners, especially from
English speaking countries. They can choose appropriate topics and questions because some
particular questions may be offensive for some particular culture, for instance. So if the
learners have knowledge about that, they can avoid misunderstanding and they can
communicate well with native speakers.
Culture is not important in EFL learning
For the same question about “Do you think culture is important in EFL learning?” One
participant answers that culture is not important in EFL learning. It is stated by participant 9.
She said that:
Not really. Because not a ll students like culture. So it is not important. We don’t
need to learn culture when we learn language.
This participant thinks that EFL learners do not need to learn culture just because they do not
like it. It shows her negative attitude toward learning culture. She may have limited
understanding about culture, which is important in EFL learning.
3. Students’ Thought about the Importance of Target Culture in EFL Learning
Most of the participants agree that target culture is important. From 15 participants
that I have, 14 participants agree that target culture is important in EFL learning.
Target culture is important in EFL learning
Most of the participants think that target culture helps them a lot in learning the
language. The reason is that they can have good communication with native speaker. It is
clearly stated by participant 5. She said that:
As I said before, it helps you a lot when you want to be friend with the
natives, so that they don’t think if you are trouble maker. They will think that
you have bad attitude.
Participant 10 also states it. She said that:
To help students speak more appropriately according to the target culture. If
we speak appropriately, we can have good relationship with native speaker.
So we need to learn target culture when we learn a language.
Participant 10 thinks that learn target culture will help her to be able to speak more
appropriately with native speakers. It can make the EFL learners can have a good relationship
with them if they can communicate well. They will not face any problem if they already
know the characteristics of them.
Target culture is not important in EFL learning
From the same question about target culture in EFL learning, one participant answers
culture is not important in EFL learning. This participant disagrees that target culture is
important in EFL learning. She thinks that target culture can make our local culture lost.
Participant 13 states it. She said that:
It can danger their pure culture if we use target culture in learning foreign
language. We need to learn our culture to maintain it so that we can keep our
culture.
The participant seems to have negative attitude toward target culture in EFL learning. This
participant may think that target culture can endanger local culture. This case may be suitable
with Ariza‟s (2007) argument. He points out that abandoning culture is like forgetting one‟s
own self. It is said that every language teaching policy will be effective if it considers
learners‟ culture. From Ariza‟s argument, it is true that considering learners‟ culture would be
effective, but it will also include target culture so that the learners have broad knowledge
about culture. They can compare both culture and see what is good and bad, right and wrong
so that they will not have a narrow minded.
4. Students’ Thought about the Importance of Source Culture in EFL Learning
All of the participants agree that source culture is important in EFL learning. It should
be included in teaching foreign language because it is their identity and it is important to be
kept. Participant 5 states it. She said that:
Yes, because that is the learners identity and their background knowledge. I
mean while we are learning EFL, we are not losing our nature culture. We
have to keep our culture, we shouldn’t lose it.
This participant seems to think that although she learns a foreign language, she does not want
to forget her own (source) culture. Six other participants also said almost the same things that
they have to keep their own culture because it is their identity. They think that they do not
want to lose it.
Seven participants think that both cultures are important because by learning both
cultures, they can see which things are good for them. Participant 5 clearly stated it. She said
that:
Although we learn the native culture, Indonesian culture is important. It can be
‘a fence’ for me so that I can sort which one is good for me.
One participant said different things about source culture in EFL learning. He thought
that if EFL learners learn target and source culture, there should be a better understanding
from the learners about target culture. Participant 1 stated it. He said that:
Help treat the differences of both target and source language culture so a
better understanding could be made.
This participant thinks that not only the target culture is important to be learnt in EFL
learning, but the source culture also needs to be learnt to make better understanding from the
learners.
Actually if learners have a chance to learn about topics and vocabularies, which are
related to their native background in English, they can interact with people from different
cultural background because they have been able to develop their knowledge of their own
culture (McKay, 2000). This can help them in learning target culture because they have
already have good knowledge about their culture. It will be easier for them to adjust to the
other culture.
5. Students’ Thought about the which Culture (Target or Source) is more appropriate
in EFL learning
From 15 participants, 12 participants said that target culture is more appropriate to be
included in EFL learning. The three other participants said that source culture is more
appropriate to be included in EFL learning.
Target culture is more appropriate to be included in EFL learning
Most of the participants think that they need to learn target culture because they learn
a language so they need to learn its culture to help them learn the language and avoid
misunderstanding if they really communicate with native speakers later. Participant11 stated
that:
Because English is not our language and it is important to avoid
misunderstanding in using the language
This participant may think that target culture needs to be learnt because we have to avoid
misunderstanding when we interact with native people. As an Indonesian, it is common that
they always try to avoid misunderstanding to the addressee. So this participant thinks that
way because it is part of her culture.
On the other side, participant 1 said the different thing. He said that:
Since we are all learning the target language: to have the same thing in general
since our culture might be different from one person to another (the learners)
This participant said that one culture may be different from other culture. If EFL learners
think that something is appropriate in their culture, it may not be appropriate to other culture.
Theyhave to know both cultures well so that they have broad knowledge. So they know what
should or not do.
The other participant thinks that the learners need to learn target culture because
theylearn the language. But they should not ignore source culture to get better understanding
about target culture. Participant 2 clearly stated it. She said that:
The aim of EFL study is to learn English so that we need to exposure more on
the target culture but not ignoring the native culture to support their
understanding.
This participant said that learning English should focus on the target culture but still consider
their own culture, so that they have better understanding in learning it.
Source culture is more appropriate to be included in EFL learning
Three participants said that source culture is more appropriate to be included in EFL
learning. Three of them said the same things, that learners have to respect source culture so
they have to use it to learn English language. Participant 8 said that:
Because I believe we can learn target culture by ourselves (not in EFL
learning), but for source culture, we have to keep it so that we don’t lose it
This participant believes that EFL learners do not need to learn target language in formal
situation (classroom) because they can learn target culture by themselves in everyday life.
from what she said, I can see that she thinks they must keep source culture because they need
to keep it as their identity.
6. Students’ Thought about which Culture is more Effective when Learn English in
FBS Education
Most of the participants agree that culture is more effective to be used when they
learn English in FBS education. From 15 participants, 13 participants said that target culture
is more effective to be used in EFL learning. The two other participants said that source
culture is more effective to be used in EFL learning.
Target culture is more effective to be used when learning English in FBS education
Actually, most of their opinions are almost the same with the previous question about
which culture is more appropriate to be included in EFL learning. They think that target
language needs to be learnt because as we learn a language, we need to learn the culture so
that better understanding could be made. Participant 3 said that:
Because when learning EFL, there is relation between language and culture to
make us more understand about target culture.
This participant thinks that language and culture are related to each other. When the learners
learn target culture, they can learn the language easier because they have already had the
knowledge of the target culture. It will help them when they have to interact with native
speakers later.
Source culture is more effective to be used when learning English in FBS education
Two participants said that source culture is more effective to be used in EFL learning.
They think that source culture can help them in learning target culture. Participant 5 states it.
She said that:
Through the source culture, I can learn the target culture easily. So we should
use source culture in EFL learning because we can learn target culture easier by
learning source culture.
This participant seems to have positive attitude toward source culture. She said that if she
learns source culture, it can help her understand target culture easier so she thinks that in EFL
learning, we need to use source culture to make the learners learn target culture easier.
But if EFL learners use too much source culture, it can cause dependency to one culture
which is source culture. Participant 1 clearly stated it. He said that:
Creates more relaxed situation when in the teaching and learning process,
however leaning too much to the source might cause a dependency to the culture
so a strict rule might be needed
This participant seems to lean to use source culture because it can create a more relaxing
situation during the teaching and learning process. The learners will be more comfortable in
learning target language if they use source culture. But he also stressed that learning too
much source culture might cause a dependency. I define dependency as the learners only
referring to one culture, which is source culture.
In brief, this study found that the students have mostly positive attitude toward the
inclusion of target culture in teaching English as a foreign language. Most of them argue that
target language needed to be learnt to support their learning. It could help them in learning
target language easier when they already have knowledge about target culture.
Conclusion
The purpose of this study was to analyze students‟ perception toward the inclusion of
target culture in teaching English as a foreign language. The findings of this research
revealed important points related to target culture in EFL learning. The thing, which I got
from this study, is that students feel that they need to learn target culture in order to be able
to communicate with native speakers from target language well.
But the aim of EFL learning was actually the learners not only be able to
communicate well with native speakers but also communicate with their surrounding
communities (Indonesian communities) in English as now World Englishes become big
issue recently. It is said that English not only belongs to the countries, which use it as first
language, but also countries, which use it as second and foreign language. Everyone in this
world learn English to be accepted in his or her communities.
In addition, there was one thing that becomes the limitation of this study. This study
only involved 15 students who took American Culture and Literature in English Department
of Satya Wacana Christian University, Salatiga. It is because I assumed that the participants
have already had knowledge or at least catch the idea about Culture and World Englishes as
the main focus of this thesis. So I think it is right if I choose American Culture and Literature
course. This course is an upper level course that is only advance students can enroll in this
course.
Actually, only fifteen students took that course, so I only had fifteen students‟ opinion
due to limited time, which I have to finish this research. This limited number of participants
might only provide some of the students‟ opinion. If there were more participants to be
included in this research, the data could be more various and represent the older students‟
opinion. However, I think it is enough for me to analyze fifteen participants in this study
because I got many different opinions from students.
I hope that further research can extend the number of the participants to explore and
get more different opinions from the students. It can provide many other interesting opinions
from the students as stated in the previous paragraph. It is also hoped that there are other
research study about the inclusion of culture in EFL learning, which is more focused on
source culture. Some examples, which can be done for research are, source culture, which
can build positive attitude during teaching learning process. The other example is source
culture, which can also help the learners understand target culture easier.
Based on the research findings, I found two pedagogical implications. The first one is
that if EFL curriculum planners could make EFL materials, which more focus on target
culture but still consider on source culture because it can build learners‟ positive attitude
toward the learning of the language. It can make the learning become more effective if the
materials still consider source culture.
The other pedagogical implication is that the teacher can consider students‟ positive
and negative attitude toward learning culture, which can affect the learning process and
atmosphere. The teacher can make some strategies to build good atmosphere so that the
students feel enjoy while learning culture in classroom and change their negative attitude
become more positive. It can make the teaching and learning process become more effective
and the students can highly motivated in learning culture.
References
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Acknowledgement
First of all, I would like to thank my savior, Jesus Christ for all of His kindness,
guidance, and strength. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to my thesis
supervisor, Danielle Donelson-Sims, M.A. in giving me her valuable time, support, and
suggestions also guiding me patiently during consultation so that I could finish my thesis. I
would also express my appreciation to my examiner, Christian Rudianto, M. Appling. for his
willingness in reading and examining my thesis.
I also thank my family for the enormous support, prayers, and care. Also to all of ED
lecturers, friends who give their best support and help: Linggar, Adis, Dwi, Ci Onniek, Fatra,
and many more. I would never forget experiences we have shared together.
Hendrata Ary Wibowo
Appendix
Directions: Please complete the following questions. The information that you provide will be
kept confidential.
Please give your telephone number for interview later, if necessary.
1. Age: ____________________
2. Gender (circle one):
Female
Male
3. Student number/ telephone number: _______________/_________________
4. How long have you studied in English Department? ___________ years.
5. Have you ever been abroad to study English? (circle one):
Yes
No
•• If yes, where did you go to study English?:
___________________________________________________________
•• How long did you stay there?:
_______________________________
Instruction: Please answer the following questions by giving opinions based on your
knowledge.
6. How do you feel about studying culture? (circle one)
Like it
a lot Like it
Neutral
Do not like it
Do not like it at all
Why?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
7. Do you think culture is important in EFL learning?
Yes : Why?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
No : Why?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
8. Do you think target culture (culture of the countries where English is spoken as the native
language) in EFL learning is important?
Yes : Why?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
No : Why?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
9. Do you think source culture (culture where we belong, Indonesia) in EFL learning is
important?
Yes : Why?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
No : Why?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
10. Which culture do you think is more appropriate to be included in EFL learning?
Target
: Why?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Source
: Why?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
11. Which culture do you feel more effective to be used when you learn English in FBS
education?
Target
: Why?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
S