Teaching Culture in EFL: Considerations in Course Development

This paper contends that EFL students ought to study concepts of culture and alternative viewpoints rather than conventional cultural information. In order to cultivate transferable skills for appreciating and adapting to ‘other’cultures in work and travel, the most effective strategy is to develop awareness of the location of culture.This paper looks at theories behind development of a course at a Japanese university,including some definitions of culture and conventions of its location.It questions some of these via viewpoints on the relationship between culture and language. Some examples are presented from the course.The conclusion is that EFL students of pre-and intermediate levels can be challenged to explore cultural theories and apply them to both accustomed and new experiences. This in turn may go some way towards avoiding perpetuation of cultural myths and stereotypes.course developmentcultureEFLmusicsemiotic