Teachers’ Perspectives Towards The Impact Of Globalization On Promoting Their Role In Developing Learners’ Cultural Awareness In The Efl Classroom.

الملخص

Learning or teaching a foreign language is not only restricted in mastering its linguistic system, it also necessitates becoming aware of the culture it carries. Culture is regarded as the fifth skill of the language, as its integration helps the learners to become better communicators. Cultural awareness can be defined as understanding culture and being aware of the different beliefs and ideas. Along with the changes in the educational approaches and the emphasis on global education, teachers’ qualifications and roles have changed. Therefore, teachers’ education and development in terms of cultural awareness are important steps in pre- and in-service teaching. This paper investigated teachers’ perspectives towards the impact of globalization on promoting their role in developing learners’ cultural awareness in the English as Foreign Language (EFL) classroom. Data were collected through administrating a questionnaire to 100 EFL teachers in the Algerian universities. The obtained results reflected the teachers’ positive attitudes of EFL teachers towards globalization as it has positively affected their role in developing learners’ cultural awareness. Globalization helped the teachers to develop their cultural awareness first. Then, it helped them to utilize authentic materials, and create real opportunities for the learners to use the target language. Moreover, it helped them to acquire new teaching methods and techniques in collaboration with other teachers all over the world. All in all, globalization enhanced teachers’ role in developing learners’ cultural awareness in the EFL classroom.