Improving English Language Acquisition by Imparting Cultural Awareness in The Classroom

Abstract

Language teaching entails not only learning the fundamentals of the language but also various cultural refinements. As Malaysia is a multilingual and multicultural nation, every child that goes through the Malaysian Education System (MES) should be operationally proficient in Bahasa Malaysia and independently proficient in the English language. Having to learn English as a second language in a Malaysian setting, teachers must depend on the students’ cultural and social background as this will contribute to their attainment in language proficiency. This diversity of cultures and backgrounds serves as a medium to be considered in acquiring a second language case, particularly for English language learners. Thus, this research intended to investigate how English language acquisition could be improved by instilling cultural awareness in a language classroom, as well as the issues, challenges, and strategies that the teachers used to instill cultural awareness in their language classroom. Qualitative research was conducted using purposive sampling and semi-structured interviews with ESL teachers from various types of schools in Malaysia.. The findings of this research signify that it is important to impart cultural awareness in a language classroom, despite the language and cultural diversity among the students. This implies that the diversity in the student’s backgrounds needs to be addressed accordingly to promote unity among themselves in order to impart cultural awareness in a language classroom.  Hence, by incorporating or instilling cultural awareness into a language classroom, it will undoubtedly improve students' English language acquisition