Date of Last Revision

2023-05-02 14:06:44

Major

Education

Date of Expected Graduation

Spring 2015

Abstract

The purpose of this research project is to explore the perceptions and attitudes of past and current foreign language students regarding the relevancy of culture within foreign language education. The first portion of this paper contains a literature review from a variety of international research articles discussing the necessity, implementation methods, and assessment techniques for implementing culture within the foreign language classroom setting. While the research from the literature review emphasizes for researchers and educators the importance of including culture within the foreign language curriculum, very little research has been recorded regarding the perceptions and beliefs of foreign language learners. Thus, I will compare my own experiences as a foreign language student to that of being a teacher candidate within a foreign language classroom with the results of my research study. In addition, I will compare some of the methods and practices of my own mentor teacher from my student teaching with the findings of the literature review. Finally, my research seeks to discuss past and current foreign language students’ definitions of culture, background in learning a foreign language, and their own attitudes regarding culture from their own foreign language learning experiences through a formal, 10-question survey. In conclusion, I make comparisons from the literature review, my own experiences, and the results of my study for future implications regarding the implementation of culture within the foreign language classroom.

Research Sponsor

Dr. Susan Colville-Hall

First Reader

Matthew Wyszynski

Second Reader

Ghada Awad

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