AWEJ Volume.5 Number.3, 2014 Pp.319-329
Cultural Awareness; A Key Element in Teaching English in the
Globalization Era
Natasha Rajabieslami
The Community College of Qatar (CCQ), Qatar
Abstract
As our globe is becoming more unified and less diverse in the sense of the cultural behavior, English teachers in the contact zone context may confront a number of dilemmas created by the universal unifying standards in the field of education and the diverse cultural values among their students under the conditions of globalization. This paper has been conducted to find out how a teacher may put effort to make his/her students familiar with a global culture without offending their own identities and values. To do so this study investigates on a professional linguist teacher’s assumptions about the cultural process of globalization and identity via interviews and classroom observations. The highlight of the interviews and classroom observations reveal how a teacher may adopt different tactics and tasks in order to establish a mutual cultural learning. The aim of this study is to introduce a range of strategies and tailor made techniques to give voice to his students enabling them move towards SELF development keeping abreast of the global cultural flows.
Key words: Agglobalization, Cultural awareness, contact zone
