The Potential of Local Culture in English Language Teaching (ELT): A Response Paper to Domination of English Material in ELT

Abstract

Language and culture have been widely assumed to be inseparable. Under this assumption learning language requires learning the culture of the target language. In ELT context, this suggests the ELT practices that use learning materials, activities and teaching approaches related to English culture. While these practices have been widely believed to be very useful for successful English learning, they have been greatly questioned as they might not be suitable with students' own or local contexts or culture. This paper presents a result of a theoretical review-based study on the potential of using local cultural materials under the domination of Western cultural materials in EFL context. The data in the study include selected books, review articles and empirical research articles. PQRS (Preview, Question, Read, Summarize) was used as the method of data analysis. From the study, it was found that Vigotsky's social development theory, schemata theory and the phenomenon of World Englishes strongly support the use of local cultural in ELT. The theories suggest that using local culture-related materials in EFL classrooms, teachers would potentially facilitate students to achieve English competencies while resisting the domination of English material in English language teaching.

Local Culture Topics for Prewriting and Drafting in Teaching Essay Writing at English Department UKI Toraja

“…What's more, it was explained that in the learning process providing a local context is one of the techniques that can be used for teaching foreign languages. (Gay et al, 2020;Khan, 2016;Umasih et al, 2019;Yusniawati & Lestari, 2021) Essays are longer pieces of writing, longer than a paragraph. An essay has three main parts: an introduction, some supporting paragraphs, and a conclusion.…”