Teachers⿿ Perceptions on Using Popular Culture when Teaching and Learning English

AbstractThis article describes the findings of two subsequent interdisciplinary research studies on popular culture conducted by the author. The first study was focused on revealing the features of popular culture by analyzing a corpus of 2000 neologisms that appeared in English in the last few decades. The second study was aimed at eliciting university teachers⿿ perceptions on the role of popular culture in English language classroom. This study was supported by the survey carried out in the framework of the research featuring 50 participants ⿿ instructors at university language teaching departments and the analysis of three language textbooks in terms of appearance of popular culture. The author argues that popular culture having global supranational character, giving priority to fashionable uses of words and emotionalism might serve as a stronger encouragement of language acquisition. The article gives insight into such issues as language features of popular culture, its representation in English language classrooms on the tertiary education level and the awareness of teachers concerning the benefits of using materials on popular culture. The results outlined in the article have a potential to further motivate students towards learning English as well as improve their communicative and socio-cultural competences