University Students’ Beliefs, Awareness and Attitudes regarding the Target Culture Learning in an EFL Context

ABSTRACT: The present study aimed at finding out the university students’ general approach to the target culture learning in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context by investigating the three sub-categories of beliefs, awareness and attitudes. The purpose of this study is to discover what students think about the target culture learning, how much they are aware of the target culture, and what their attitudes are towards the target culture learning. For this purpose, a number of related factors have been investigated. Also, this study is based on the theory that accepts that there is a close relationship between culture and language. This study was designed as both qualitative and quantitative study which involves a 5 point Likert-scale questionnaire and a six-item semi-structured interview. A total of 731 students of Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) from 20 different departments participated in this research study. Only Turkish, Turkish Cypriot and Iranian students were included in the study because they constitute the biggest student population at EMU. The participants were selected randomly from the Preparatory class, 1st year, 2nd year, 3rd year, 4th year, Master’s and PhD degrees. The results of the study revealed that university students who have the strongest beliefs, the highest level of awareness and the most positive attitudes regarding the target culture learning are female students. As far as the nationality is concerned, Turkish Cypriot students showed greater awareness of the target culture learning than Turkish students but not Iranian students. In terms of age, the greatest awareness is associated with the students at the ages between 23 and 28. In addition, considering the findings, it is understood that the ones who have stayed in an English-speaking country more than a year and the ones who have a high level of International English Language Testing System (IELTS) score are more positive towards the target culture learning. In terms of educational field, it can be said that the students who study in the Department of English Language Teaching (ELT) of the Education Faculty have the strongest beliefs, are more aware and have the most positive attitudes regarding the target culture learning. In terms of year of attendance, graduate degree students (MA and PhD) seem to display greater awareness and more positive attitudes compared to the English Preparatory School students. There is a similar relationship between exit level 4th year students and the English Preparatory School students. In addition, the results showed that most of the students are open to learning the target culture while learning the English language. Finally, the results of this study revealed a number of implications for the ELT environment in terms of learning and teaching the target culture with the English language. Keywords: Target culture learning, beliefs, cultural awareness, attitudes. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………