Teaching culture in FLE context : The case of the algerian middle school of mostaganem

Abstract

The present work is concerned with the incorporation of culture in the middle School curriculum in English- as foreign language- classes. More specifically, some consideration will be given to the how of teaching culture. It will be demonstrated that teaching a foreign language is not a matter of teaching structures, vocabulary and expressions, but it is mainly to incorporate some cultural elements; which are interwoven with language. This work consists of: introduction, three chapters and conclusion. The introduction gives a general view of what is going to be investigated. The first chapter deals with the theoretical implementation that enlightens what culture is, why and how we teach it. The second chapter, concerns the methodological design and data collection which were based on questionnaires addressed to teachers and learners, interviews, and class observation of three middle schools in Mostaganem Ketrouci Mohemed (Mesra), the New Middle School (Siret) and Bensadoun (Mostagsnem). The third chapter gives the results of the experiment, the analysis and the interpretation of the data. It seems that there is no standard way of teaching the target lessons, no materials available. Besides, the learners prefer to study some topics and show no motivation with others. Also, the chapter supplies the reader with some suggestions and substitutions of the non-valid facts; there must be solutions to the large number classes, the overloaded curriculum, the methods of teaching culture and the topics that do not interest the learners. Finally, the conclusion sums up all what was dealt with in the whole work.