Teachers' and learners' attitudes towards cultural integration in EFL textbooks

The aim of the thesis was to investigate teachers' and learners' attitudes towards cultural integration in EFL textbooks as well as finding out if there is a difference at learners' attitudes towards cultural integration in EFL textbooks in terms of their proficiency level. The thesis was carried out with 48 EFL teachers working and 100 learners studying at English Preparatory Program of a private university in Istanbul. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected with the use of a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The results of the quantitative data firstly showed that both teachers and learners had positive attitudes towards the integration of native, target, and international cultures, and the scores of their attitude increased from the integration of native culture to international cultures. Secondly, the teachers had more positive attitude towards the cultural integration in EFL textbooks than the learners. Whereas there was a significant difference between teachers' and learners' attitudes towards target culture integration, the differences were not found to be statistically significant when it came to native and international cultures. Lastly, the quantitative data demonstrated that B1 level learners had more positive attitude towards the integration of target and international cultures than A1 level learners, but it was found the contrary for the native culture integration. However, these differences at learners' attitudes in terms of their proficiency level were not statistically significant. The qualitative data revealed the reasons why the participants had positive attitudes towards cultural integration in EFL textbooks. It was found that although most of the learners had positive attitudes towards cultural integration, the reasons that they put forward to explain their attitude showed differences. In the light of the findings, it may be concluded that both learners and teachers believe English is a universal language, and it cannot be limited with only English and American cultures. In addition, they believe that learners' native culture should not be neglected and be integrated in EFL textbooks as well. Keywords: Teaching Culture; Culture in EFL Textbooks, Attitude