English language instructors' beliefs towards the objectives of English language teaching regarding culture teaching and culture teaching activities at university contexts

By the 21st century, with the affects of globalization, there has been an increase in international dialogues among nations. In this multicultural interaction, the idea of teaching culture besides teaching a foreign language has gained significance in education environments. The aim of the study conducted in March 2015 in Kayseri is to question the beliefs of English language instructors about the objectives of foreign language teaching, objectives of teaching culture in English language teaching context and explores the frequency of specific culture teaching activities practiced in English courses at both Melikşah University and Erciyes University. A total of 100 Turkish instructors and instructors from other nationalities participated in this study. A survey based research was used in the study. The original of the questionnaire was created by Sercu et al. (2005). In the present study, Kılıç (2013) version of the study was adapted and used as a data collection tool. The findings indicated that instructors don't consider teaching culture and intercultural competence among their primary objectives for learning English. Instead, knowledge for general English and language skills are among the top objectives. Providing information on daily lives and routines of target culture and develop attitudes of openness and tolerance towards other people and cultures are seen as the main objectives of teaching culture by the participants. Sharing and illustrating fascinating and interesting aspects of target language and also talking about their own experiences or familiar things are the most frequent activities conducted in English Language classrooms.