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ABSTRACT

ŞEN, Serkan. A Profile of EFL Teachers’ Knowledge of the Target Culture from their

Epistemological Sources to Classroom Applications. Master’s Thesis, Ankara, 2010.

This study aims to investigate the profile of EFL instructors’ knowledge of the target

culture from their epistemological sources to classroom applications in the English

Language Department of Başkent University. Particularly, it tries to explore four

research questions: 1) How do EFL teachers define target culture? 2) What are the

epistemological sources of these EFL teachers’ knowledge about target culture? 3)

Which skills and tasks do these teachers incorporate culture into their teaching? 4) Are

there any differences and/ or similarities between experienced/ inexperienced and

technology literate/ technology illiterate EFL teachers in terms of their opinions and

reactions to the above research questions?

Data was collected from 89 randomly selected EFL teachers in the English Language

Department of Başkent University. A written survey questionnaire, including structured

items, a rating scale, and a Likert-type attitude scale, together with a structured

interview were used as the two data collection methods. The analyses were carried out

by frequency counts of the predetermined choices in the items and the related responses

that were given to questions of the interview.

The study shows that teachers mostly define culture as small-c culture and they stated

that target culture should focus on the teaching of material culture such as food,

clothing, and transportation. The study also reveals that the most favorable sources of

the teachers’ cultural knowledge are mainly books, magazines, journals, and

newspapers following television programs and films. Teachers would prefer to give

cultural information mostly through reading, vocabulary, and speaking.

Key Words: target language, target culture, culture, epistemology, EFL

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

KABUL VE ONAY ........................................................................................................ i

BİLDİRİM ..................................................................................................................... ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................... iii

ÖZET ............................................................................................................................. iv

ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... v

TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................. vi

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES ......................................................................... viii

CHAPTER 1 .................................................................................................................. 1

1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 1

1.1. INTRODUCTION........................................................................................ 1

1.2. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY............................................................. 3

1.3. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY ....................................................................... 4

1.4. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY ............................................................. 5

1.5. DEFINITIONS OF TERMS......................................................................... 6

1.6. RESEARCH QUESTIONS.......................................................................... 6

CHAPTER 2 .................................................................................................................. 7

2. LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................................... 7

2.1. WHAT DO WE MEAN BY CULTURE? ................................................... 7

2.2. THE HISTORY OF CULTURE TEACHING........................................... 11

2.3. WHOSE CULTURE TO TEACH?............................................................ 16

2.4. THE SOURCES OF TARGET CULTURE............................................... 19

2.5. CLASSROOM APPLICATIONS OF TARGET CULTURE.................... 21

2.6. RELATED STUDIES IN THE WORLD................................................... 29

2.7. RELATED STUDIES IN TURKEY.......................................................... 34

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CHAPTER 3 ................................................................................................................ 40

3. METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................ 40

3.1. SUBJECTS OF THE STUDY.................................................................... 40

3.2. DATA COLLECTION............................................................................... 43

3.2.1. The Interviews ............................................................................. 43

3.2.2. The Questionnaire ....................................................................... 44

3.3. PROCEDURE ............................................................................................ 44

3.4. DATA ANALYSES ................................................................................... 45

CHAPTER 4 ................................................................................................................ 46

4. RESULTS............................................................................................................... 46

4.1. THE RESULTS OF THE INTERVIEWS.................................................. 46

4.2. THE RESULTS OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE.......................................... 50

4.2.1. Part 2 – A..................................................................................... 50

4.2.2. Part 2 – B..................................................................................... 69

CHAPTER 5 ................................................................................................................ 74

5. CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSIONS................................................................. 74

5.1. THE SUMMARY OF THE STUDY ......................................................... 74

5.2. DISCUSSION OF THE FINDINGS.......................................................... 74

5.3. IMPLICATIONS OF THE STUDY........................................................... 79

5.4. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY ............................................................. 80

5.5. IMPLICATIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY ............................................. 80

REFERENCES ............................................................................................................ 83

APPENDICES ............................................................................................................. 95