A qualitative study of Iranian EFL teacher's beliefs about teaching/learning culture: A case study

Culture has always been the center of attention in English language teaching (ELT) and there are arguments for and against its teaching. This study was an attempt to explore Iranian EFL teacher's beliefs about teaching/learning the target (i.e., American or British) culture in the realm of ELT; it also tried to arrive at a definition of culture based on the interpretations of Iranian EFL teachers. Twenty full time and part time teachers of the English Language and Literature Department of Alzahra University participated in the present study. In this study, a qualitative research method was used. To achieve triangulation, the data were collected from three main sources: Questionnaires, interviews, and observations. The findings revealed that the teachers of this study mainly perceived culture in terms of small c culture, including beliefs, behaviors, traditions, customs, and way of living. In general, the results of this study demonstrated that most of the teachers supported teaching/learning the target culture in ELT. However, this advocacy was not blind and they believed some prerequisites should be met.