The Importance of Teaching Culture in the Foreign Language Classroom ; Značaj kulture u nastavi stranih jezika

Teaching culture should be an essential part of teaching English as a foreign language because one of the main aims of teaching a foreign language is intercultural communicative competence (ICC). The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between language and culture and to determine to what extent culture is incorporated into the Croatian National Curriculum at the secondary school level and the EFL classroom. In order to ascertain the degree to which textbooks comply with the Croatian National Curriculum and the topics prescribed by the grammar and the four-year vocational schools curricula, the textbook analysis focuses on the cultural content in three textbooks used in Croatian secondary schools. The questionnaire study investigates the views of teachers of English on ICC in language teaching and verifies whether their teaching is in compliance with the Croatian National Curriculum. The results show that the examined textbooks generally adhere to the prescribed demands. Also, the analyzed answers from the questionnaire study show that the interviewed teachers are aware of the significance of ICC in foreign language teaching and that they incorporate culture into their teaching. However, the outcomes of the Croatian National Curriculum, which deal with culture, are still not incorporated into the operational plans of the secondary schools. Considering the overall results of the conducted study, it can be concluded that EFL teachers recognise the significance of culture in foreign language teaching but there is still no complete coherence of the outcomes given in the Croatian National Curriculum and what teachers actually promote in their school practice. ; Podučavanje kulture trebalo bi biti suštinski dio podučavanja engleskog kao stranog jezika jer je interkulturalna komunikacijska kompetencija (ICC) jedan od osnovnih ciljeva podučavanja stranog jezika. Da bi se u potpunosti postiglo usvajanje stranog jezika, nužno je uključiti kulturu u podučavanje engleskog kao stranog jezika. Cilj ovoga rada ...