Target Culture

This study attempted to investigate the effects of cultural background knowledge on vocabulary learning through reading culturally oriented texts. The study was conducted with 150 upper-intermediate male ( n = 75) and female ( n = 75) EFL students. The participants of each gender were randomly assigned into three equal groups: group A (Target Culture = TC), group B (Source Culture = SC) and group C (Culture-Free = CF). After homogenizing the participants through a researcher-made vocabulary pretest, three groups received the treatment which was reading comprehension materials reflecting a particular culture. During the treatment, some reading passages related to American and English cultures, Persian culture, and culture free materials were taught to group A, group B, and group C, respectively. At the end of the study, a researcher-made vocabulary posttest was administered. Results of one-way ANCOVA and paired samples t test revealed the significant effects of cultural familiarity whereby vocabulary gains were greater after participants read within the culturally oriented text. Moreover, the results showed that there was no significant difference in vocabulary knowledge posttest between male and female learners.

Maintaining that language and culture are interwoven to the extent that learning the former is largely dependent on the latter, this study aimed to investigate the attitude of Iranian English as Foreign Language (EFL) Learners of Tehran South Branch of Islamic Azad University (both undergraduates and postgraduates) towards the learning of the cultural aspects of language, both the target and source cultures, in their EFL classrooms. To this end, a quantitative approach was employed and a Likert scale questionnaire was designed. Fifty EFL learners were randomly invited to answer the questionnaire in relation to their attitude being exposed to the culture of target language. The findings of the chi-square test indicated that the Iranian undergraduate and postgraduate EFL learners consider culture as an important element in learning the target language. Both the culture of the source language and the culture of the target language were deemed important while learning a second language. The findings of this study also showed that postgraduate EFL learners have more intension to learn more about the culture of both source and target language than undergraduate EFL learners in Iran.