Culture teaching in EFL classes: Teachers’ beliefs, attitudes, and classroom practices

It is inevitably believed that culture teaching is the pivotal feeling of integrating culture into the teaching of a language, including in the EFL setting. This study aims to explore the English teachers’ beliefs, attitudes, and the reflection of their beliefs and attitudes on the teaching syllabi. The sequential explanatory mix-methods design was applied in junior high schools in Ngawi. The data were obtained from 144 English teachers’ answers to a questionnaire and interviews with six teachers. Then, the data were analysed by using descriptive statistics, the independent sample T-test, and the Mann-Whitney test. The results indicated that the majority of junior high school English teachers believed in the importance of incorporating culture into their teaching of the language taught and students’ learning process. Moreover, both state and private junior high school English teachers showed similar beliefs and attitudes related to culture teaching. When they taught English, the culture associated with that language had also been taught so that the misconception of learning the language can be minimized. The result of teachers’ practices strongly indicates that the English teachers in Ngawi had implemented the teaching of culture and inserted various cultural elements in the process of their teaching and learning in the EFL classes.

Measuring competences for democratic culture: teaching human rights through religious education

This paper aims to present research on measuring competences for democratic culture. It describes the development of a multiple-item scale that measures competences in teaching democratic citizenship and human rights through religious education. A principal component analysis based on the 135 items of the Council of Europe’s Reference framework of competences for democratic culture was carried out in two phases, in order to construct and refine the scale. The result was a 52-item scale divided into six components. This was tested for its reliability, factor structure and validity; firstly on a sample of 123, and secondly on a sample of 403 secondary RE teachers (2018-19). The research scrutinises the concept of democratic competences as being the ability to mobilise and deploy relevant values, attitudes, skills, knowledge and/or understanding. It concludes that these competences are more complex structures than has been assumed.

The Level and Specifics of Intercultural Sensitivity of the Russian Students Attending Chinese Universities

Studies on intercultural sensitivity as an affective aspect of intercultural competence have been gaining increasing attention in today’s globalized world where representatives of different countries and cultural groups are supposed to function effectively and supportively in various spheres of life. This paper has reported some of the research results indicating the level and specifics of intercultural sensitivity of the Russian students attending Chinese universities. Building students’ intercultural sensitivity is an essential aspect of the Chinese language and culture teaching experience. Practical recommendations have been provided for increasing the students’ level of intercultural sensitivity in order to reduce stress and avoid conflict situations in multinational educational organizations.

Teaching Design of English Picture Book for Primary Schools Based on Performance Culture Teaching Method-Taking the Story Time in Unit 1 of the Third Grade of the PEP Version as an Example

<p>The performance culture teaching method was first proposed by the American Sinologist Wu Weike. It is a teaching method to learn a second language through the comprehension and practice of the target language. It focuses on culture and practice. The learner presents the story in a rehearsal manner in the context of the target language culture. Picture book teaching is a popular teaching method for primary school English teachers at this stage. Its novel feature of moving from outside class to classroom makes it an indispensable teaching method in primary school English teaching. This article takes the PEP version of the third grade English textbook as an example for teaching design and integrates the performance culture teaching method with the picture book teaching in the primary school English classroom teaching. The focus of research in teaching design is teaching implementation, that is, the application of performance methods in primary school English classrooms. This teaching design combines picture book teaching and performance culture teaching methods to promote primary school English teaching.</p>

Problems of physical culture teaching and sports development at the Karelian Pedagogical Institute in the 1930s

The development of the education system in the 1930s, activities to eliminate the illiteracy of the population, the introduction of universal compulsory education, the opening of primary and secondary schools required a significant increase in the number of teachers. In this regard, the state policy of the USSR in the field of higher education was aimed at creating pedagogical and teaching institutes and strengthening their activities in training pedagogical personnel. During these years, a new academic subject «physical culture» was introduced into the course of higher educational institutions. The article is devoted to the problems of teaching physical culture at the Karelian Pedagogical Institute in the 1930s. On the basis of legislative, archival and documentary materials, the author presents the activities of the military-physical culture department, its teachers in teaching physical culture and developing sports among students. The study highlights the difficulties of organizing sports work associated with the lack of special rooms, equipment, as well as specialists in the field of physical education.

CHINESE CULTURE TEACHING IN MANDARIN LANGUAGE COURSE AT UiTM

Language is closely associated with culture as the carrier and also the main presentation of the culture. People use language to create culture, while culture enriches the expression of language. Thus, language is inseparable from culture, at the same time the spreading of culture depends on the language. In this quantitative research, 70 students and 5 lecturers from the UiTM Sarawak campus were chosen to participate in a questionnaire survey based on the Daily Conversation Mandarin Language 1 serving as the research text. The objective of this study is to investigate the current situation of Mandarin teaching and learning in UiTM, and to provide suggestions for the teaching of Chinese culture in the curriculum, thus enhancing the quality and efficiency of teaching Mandarin as a foreign language.

TEACHING INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE

The article еnlightens some problems in the field of teaching culture withinthe frames of foreign language studies curricula. It is also stated that in accordance with the standards of basic foreign language competences this aspect is still neglected to some extent in the classroom. The article provides a concept of intercultural communicative competence though some researchers find it too vague. In addition, some discrepancies between the new approach to teaching culture and traditional methods, beliefs and discourses related to teaching culture have been analyzed and discussed. The authors have carried out a critical analysis of results of numerous studies of the cultural component of in the field of culture teaching so as to reveal their drawbacks and advantages and to propose possible ways of solving this issue. As some researchers claim in order to develop intercultural competence amidst students of foreign languages departments teachers are to broaden their knowledge of language and culture interaction to avoid stereotyped approaches. Because of new tendencies in teaching culture not only besides philological or literatural issues, they have to deal with such disciplines as semiotics, anthropology, history, sociology and other sciences in the process of discussing culture to master their skills and respond to new challenges.

CONTRIBUIÇÕES DA CAPOEIRA ANGOLA ENQUANTO ESTRATÉGIA DE MANIFESTAÇÃO DA CULTURA AFRO EM ESCOLAS PÚBLICAS DE NATAL/RN

THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF CAPOEIRA ANGOLA AS A STRATEGY FOR THE MANIFESTATION OF AFRO CULTURE IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF NATAL/RNCONTRIBUCIONES DE LA CAPOEIRA ANGOLA COMO ESTRATEGIA DE MANIFESTACIÓN DE CULTURA AFRO EN ESCUELAS PÚBLICAS DE NATAL/RNRESUMONo conjunto de manifestações de matriz africana existentes no Brasil, atualmente a Capoeira Angola é um símbolo de resistência no país, principalmente após ter sido reconhecida por seus valores culturais e educativos. Com base nessa realidade, este artigo tem por objetivo debater a Capoeira Angola enquanto estratégia pedagógica de resistência e manifestação cultural, sendo uma das possibilidades de aplicabilidade do Ensino de História e da Cultura Afro-Brasileira nas escolas públicas de Natal/RN. Com base na realidade local, a abordagem metodológica é de natureza qualitativa, sob a perspectiva dos Estudos Culturais. Para a composição da pesquisa, foram utilizados procedimentos de revisão de literatura e entrevistas semiestruturadas com um professor de Capoeira Angola e um professor do Ensino Fundamental – Anos Iniciais do Ensino Fundamental, visando complementar a discussão teórica realizada no texto. Os resultados mostram que o tratamento dado ao ensino da Capoeira Angola pelos profissionais da escola revela as dificuldades quanto à aplicabilidade do cumprimento da Lei 10.639/2003 no currículo escolar.Palavras-chave: Cultura Afro; Capoeira Angola; Escola Pública.ABSTRACTIn the set of manifestations of African origin existing in Brazil, Capoeira Angola is currently a symbol of resistance in the country, mainly after being recognized for its cultural and educational values. Based on this reality, this article aims to discuss Capoeira Angola as a pedagogical strategy of resistance and cultural manifestation, being one of the possibilities of applicability on History and Afro-Brazilian Culture Teaching in public schools in Natal-RN. Based on the local reality, the methodological approach is of a qualitative nature, from the perspective of Cultural Studies. For the composition of the research, literature review procedures were used, such as semi-structured interviews with a Capoeira Angola teacher and a teacher from the initial grades of elementary school, aiming to complement the theoretical discussion carried out in the text. The results show that the treatment given to Capoeira Angola teaching by school professionals reveals the difficulties regarding the applicability of fulfillment with Law 10.639 in the school curriculum.Keywords: Afro Culture; Capoeira Angola; Public School.RESUMENEn el conjunto de manifestaciones de matriz africana existentes en Brasil, actualmente la Capoeira Angola es un símbolo de resistencia en el país, principalmente después de haber sido reconocida por sus valores culturales y educativos. Con base a esta realidad, este artículo tiene por objetivo debatir la Capoeira Angola como estrategia pedagógica de resistencia y manifestación cultural, siendo una de las posibilidades de aplicación de Enseñanza de Historia y Cultura Afro Brasileña en las escuelas públicas de Natal - RN. Con base a la realidad local, el abordaje metodológico es de naturaleza cualitativa, en la perspectiva de Estudios Culturales. Para la composición de la investigación, fueron utilizados procedimientos de revisión de literatura y entrevistas semi-estructuradas con un profesor de Capoeira Angola y un profesor de los cursos iniciales de la Enseñanza Básica, en vistas a complementar la discusión teórica realizada en el texto. Los resultados muestran que el tratamiento dado a la enseñanza de la Capoeira Angola por los profesionales de la escuela revela las dificultades de aplicabilidad del cumplimiento de la Ley 10.639 en el currículo escolar.Palabras clave: Cultura Afro; Capoeira Angola; Escuela Pública.