Teaching across frontiers: from cultural clashes to broadening mindsets

Abstract

EFL Teaching is a complex process since it goes beyond the linguistic level and is broadly related to culture. The cultural aspect of EFL teaching is obviously reflected in the EFL content but also in the teacher-student, and student-student communication. When teachers and learners belong to different cultural communities it obviously benefits both sides in terms of language and culture. Yet, there can be some clashes that result from different cultural backgrounds and poor communication. The purpose of this paper is to review the impact of culture on EFL teaching and learning according to a survey-based study and to discuss some recommendations for minimizing cultural bumps in EFL teaching and learning.