El papel de la cultura en la enseñanza de español como lengua extranjera (ELE) en las universidades de Australia. Un estudio de caso. The Role of Culture in the Teaching of Spanish as a Foreign Language in Australian Universities. A Case Study

Abstract

As teachers of Spanish as a foreign language, we have become aware of a deficiency in the knowledge of culture in students learning Spanish as a foreign language in Australian universities. The deficiency led to this investigation which delves into the situation of what cultural aspects are taught and learnt in textbooks and classrooms, as well as to examine the point of view of both teachers and first year students of Spanish as a foreign language within Australian universities.The main objectives of this study are to discover how language and culture are intertwined, to investigate culture presented in textbooks and its presence or absence in the classroom of Spanish as a foreign language at the beginner level in Australian universities, as well as to show how culture facilitates language learning. University textbooks were analysed and two data collection questionnaires were developed for the study population (teachers and students). With the data obtained, an analysis was made and the results of the role of culture were extracted concerning teachings in textbooks, classrooms, as well as the experience of culture of the two groups of informants.The results of the analysis of the Spanish as a foreign language textbooks indicate that they all incorporate culture in one way or another. However, culture in general appears in isolation and Hispanic cultural variety is scarce. With regards to the results of the questionnaires of the study population, on the one hand, the questionnaires of teachers show that they are aware of the importance of the interrelationship between language and culture, but they cannot always take it to the classroom. However, most indicate that if they could, they would introduce more culture into their classes. On the other hand, the information gathered from student questionnaires indicates that they learn a degree of culture, but they want more. Consequently, the results from this study confirm that, in the classroom of beginner level Spanish as a foreign language in Australian universities, there is some level of culture taught. However, as culture has a beneficial impact on the learning process, it should play a more relevant role in the day to day teaching and learning within the language class