EFL for Culture-bound Students in a Globalizing World: Needs, Fears and Achievements

Abstract

Introduction

In the last decade there has been an increasing concern in the challenges that face both the educators and the learners of EFL, whether those of cross-cultural communication in general (e.g. Byram, 2000; Cameron ,D. 2002; Kramsch, 2010; Luke,2005), or of web-based communication in particular (e.g. Kress & Leeuwen, 2001; Warschauer & Kern, 2000), but in no other place is the need for clearly identifying the sensitive and serious issues that have a negative impact on cross-cultural communication, especially those related to economy and  identity. The former issue has a basic role in determining specific purposes for studying English but the latter issue orients those purposes, particularly in culture-bound contexts, making them just defensive against 'the other'. The cultural and economic limitations affect the quality of language acquisition and its uses. That is, instead of using English to achieve economic aspirations in the global market, and for practicing a healthy communication in one global language there will be a lot of cultural clashes via this language. In this dialectic between acquiring EFL with a little learning, or preconceived cultural notions of 'the others', and trying to globally communicate lies the focal point of this article.