The influence of bias against target culture on motivation of young learners to learn english: Some thoughts on data collection

Abstract

Up until the introduction of communicative language teaching, language learning was seen as mastering the structures and vocabulary of the target language, but ignored the other factors that are indispensable parts of real communication. Following this point it is impossible to talk about target culture from a monocultural perspective. Culture is not static or homogeneous. Therefore teachers of English may seek ways of opening new windows for their students by making them aware that other cultures exist all of which bring variety to our world. As English does not represent a singular culture due to its current function, or widespread usage all over the world, its cultural aspect cannot be taught like the other components of the language. The main purpose of this chapter is to identify the influence of bias against target culture on the motivation of young learners to learn English. The data for this chapter has been collected from students of the 4th and 7th grades at Selimiye Primary School, Milas, Turkey. The research has been carried out with four classes with two classes from the 4th grade and two from the 7th. Questionnaires, interviews and field notes taken by the researchers during observation of the lessons are used to collect the data. All students are given an attitude scale. With this pre-test, it is aimed to explore the students' attitudes towards other cultures. After the implementation of the pre-test, one class from the 4th grade and one from the 7th are given culturally-focused lessons for one month, enriched with role-play and drama activities. Throughout the implementation, field notes are taken by the researchers and interviews are conducted before and after the activities. After this implementation, a post-test is administered to all participated classes. © 2012 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All Rights Reserved.