Contextualising the Foreign Language. An Investigation of the Extent of Teachers' Sociocultural Background Knowledge

Abstract

In foreign language education, a shift has been noticeable, first, from teaching the foreign language as a linguistic code to teaching that code against the sociocultural background of, primarily, one country in which the foreign language is spoken as a national language, and more recently, to teaching the foreign language with a view to preparing learners to use it in intercultural contact situations. The study's aim was to inquire into the extent of foreign language teachers' familiarity with the foreign countries and cultures that tend to be associated with the foreign language they teach. The operationalisation of this research question resulted in a study being focused on Spanish and Belgian teachers of English. Our findings suggest that foreign language teachers can be said to be sufficiently familiar with some cultural topics, but not with others, and that a positive significant relationship exists between the frequency of teachers' direct and indirect travels and the level of their familiarity in Belgium, but that the picture in Spain is less clear in this respect.