EFL Professors’ vs. Teachers’ Home Culture Attachment

The purpose of the present study is to determine whether studying or teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) will lead teachers to decrease home cultural values or help them to develop their cultural values in both cultures. This mix-method research was conducted in two different contexts, university and language institute in Gorgan, Iran. To this end, the Home Culture Attachment Scale questionnaire was given to 50 English language professors and 50 institute teachers. Also, a semi-structured interview was conducted with ten participants from each group. The collected data of quantitative phase and qualitative phase were analyzed using multivariate ANOVA and thematic analysis, respectively. The findings of the quantitative phase showed significant differences between professors and institute teachers in terms of religious, western and cultural attachment. Besides, six themes were identified for the qualitative part including the changes, definition of culture, Iranian attachment, religious attachment, western attachment, and artistic attachment. Consequently, the study illustrates that whoever is dealing with English is in danger of losing his/her home culture and teachers must be aware of this. The results urge English language teachers to pay more attention to this issue because they can have a great impact on students in terms of beliefs and values.