Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching

ISSN: 1750-1229 (Print) 1750-1237 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rill20

Culture teaching methods in foreign language

education: pre-service teachers’ reported beliefs
and practices

Minna Maijala

To cite this article: Minna Maijala (2018): Culture teaching methods in foreign language education:
pre-service teachers’ reported beliefs and practices, Innovation in Language Learning and
Teaching, DOI: 10.1080/17501229.2018.1509981

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/17501229.2018.1509981

Published online: 13 Aug 2018.

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INNOVATION IN LANGUAGE LEARNING AND TEACHING
https://doi.org/10.1080/17501229.2018.1509981

Culture teaching methods in foreign language education:

pre-service teachers’ reported beliefs and practices
Minna Maijala
School of Languages and Translation Studies, University of Turku, Turku, Finland

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Culture teaching in a foreign language (FL) classroom involves linguistic Received 16 October 2017
and cultural knowledge about the target culture as well as pedagogical Accepted 6 August 2018
skills of integrating these into classroom practice. In general, more
KEYWORDS
attention should be paid to culture teaching methods in FL teacher Foreign language teaching
education in order to move from the traditional, teacher-centred and learning; pre-service
approach towards a new dynamic and learner-centred practice. The language teacher cognition;
main focus of this study is on Finnish pre-service FL teachers’ reflections culture teaching; language
and initial experiences in culture teaching during their one-year teacher teacher education
education programme at a Finnish university. In 2012–2015, the data
was collected through three questionnaires (N = 65) and interviews (N =
10) during consecutive one-year teacher education programmes. In the
qualitative and quantitative analysis, we focused on trainees’ reflections
on cultural content, methods, and initial culture teaching experiences.
The main stumbling blocks in culture teaching emerging from this study
were: the integration of culture into the lessons, the use of the target
language, and the use of personal cultural experiences in a
pedagogically meaningful way. Based on the results of our study, we
suggest that more reflection and work on culture teaching is required to
meet the needs of teacher trainees. The results indicate that some
development in Finnish pre-service FL teachers’ perception on culture
could be observed, e.g. they wanted to promote interaction and share
their personal cultural experiences with their students. Furthermore,
recommendations for teacher educators regarding how to teach culture
teaching, and how trainees could learn to integrate it into lessons are
given.

1. Introduction
Foreign language (FL) teachers need to be well-informed about the foreign language and culture.
They have to be experts in various fields, a kind of linguistic and cultural all-rounders. In addition,
FL teachers play an important role as a ‘mediator between learners and those who are already
members of the language-and-culture group of which they seek understanding’ (Byram and Feng
2005, 925; see also Damen 1987, Ch. 16). On the basis of my own experiences as a FL teacher and
teacher educator in Finland, it is my conviction that not until after teaching their first lessons at
the Teacher Training School, Finnish FL teacher trainees seem to recognise how much knowledge
and skills actually are required in culture teaching.
Teacher thinking is a relatively young field of study, especially from the perspective of pre-service
language teachers (see e.g. Borg 2006; Gatbonton 2008). Previous studies concerning FL teachers’
cognitions during teacher education indicate that pre-service teachers’ own experiences as language

CONTACT Minna Maijala minna.maijala@utu.fi

© 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
2 M. MAIJALA

learners have a strong influence on their future practices as teachers (Johnson 1994; Borg 2003;
Bandura and Sercu 2005) and they may be difficult to change, since they are already established
when trainees enter the teacher education programme (see e.g. Pajares 1992). However, beliefs
are important when they develop their teaching practices during the teacher education (see e.g.
Johnson 1994). Therefore, the pre-existing beliefs and images should be recognised and reflected
in teacher education for them not to remain unchanged and inflexible (for a review see e.g. Gross-
man, Wilson, and Shulman 1989; Kagan 1992; Borg 2006, 52–54). Studies dealing with the initial
teaching experiences of pre-service teachers are required in order to find out how the theoretical
information on language learning is interpreted and how this is adapted into classroom practices
(Johnson 1994). Studies of the impact of teacher education on pre-service FL teachers (for review
see Borg 2006, 63) deal mostly with second language teacher education, especially teaching
English as a second language. In order to get a broader picture of the development of FL teachers,
studies concerning the development of teachers of other languages than English are needed.
Several studies indicate that FL teachers understand teaching and learning culture and intercul-
tural competence primarily as teacher-centred transmission of the cultural knowledge of the
target culture, which they are familiar with (Bandura and Sercu 2005; Ryan 2012). Therefore, it is of
utmost importance that reflecting on methods of culture teaching and learning is included in FL
teacher education. In research literature, there is some evidence that teacher education has an
influence on cultural teaching practices (see e.g. Bandura and Sercu 2005). However, further
studies on pre-service teacher thinking and understanding of (inter)cultural teaching and learning
are needed (Ryan 2012). Especially, empirical research on the acquisition of intercultural competence
is still very limited (Sercu 2004). Against this background, the purpose of this study is to examine
Finnish pre-service FL teachers’ conceptions about culture teaching and to get an insight into
their first experiences in culture teaching in FL classroom. Firstly, previous studies on culture teaching
methods and the role of culture teaching in FL teacher education are discussed. Secondly, the col-
lected data is analysed in order to capture initial culture teaching experiences of Finnish pre-
service language teachers. Finally, the results of the study are discussed in order to find out how
more attention to cultural pedagogy could be paid to in FL teacher education.

2. Theoretical background
Two areas of research literature are discussed below: a) culture teaching methods of FL teachers and
b) the role of culture teaching in FL teacher education.

2.1. Culture teaching methods of FL teachers

In FL teaching and learning, the role of culture can be regarded as the ‘fifth dimension’ (Damen 1987).
However, FL teachers often seem to define language teaching objects mostly in terms of linguistic
competence (see e.g. Castro, Sercu, and Méndez 2004; Galeano and Torres 2014), that is, grammar
and vocabulary. In FL classrooms, culture is mostly taught separately and not integrated with
other basic skills such as writing and speaking, although it is generally known that some elements
of language teaching are more cultural in nature and other more linguistic (cf. Liddicoat and
Scarino 2013, Ch. 2). The integration of cultural knowledge into linguistic knowledge in FL classrooms
lies mostly on the shoulders of FL teachers. Their task is to create a meaningful context for learning
the new language and culture by bringing the target culture to the classroom.
There has been much discussion in the literature about the views of culture and on how the views
are closely related to teaching practice and student learning. It is widely recognised that beliefs about
the culture or cultural knowledge are significant for shaping teaching practice (cf. Borg 2003; Liddi-
coat 2004). Liddicoat (2002, 2004) suggests that there are a static and a dynamic approach to culture.
He characterises the static view of culture as treatment and transmission of facts that can be separ-
ated from language teaching. In contrast, the dynamic view of culture can be regarded as an active
 INNOVATION IN LANGUAGE LEARNING AND TEACHING 3

and interactive engagement with cultural knowledge. Accordingly, culture learning is not merely
information, but also interaction and understanding. A similar theory is presented by Dervin
(2011), who distinguishes between ‘solid’ and ‘liquid’ interculturality based on the sociologist
Zygmunt Bauman’s paradigms of solidity or liquidity (cf. Bauman 2004). The solid concept is about
descriptions of national features of all of the representatives of a certain country by other or them-
selves. This often leads to stereotyping. The liquid approach refers to interculturality that is created
when individuals encounter. Teaching practice and studies in the of FL education are mostly based
on the solid or static concept of culture (cf. Dervin 2011). In addition to the solid and liquid view on
culture, Dervin (2010, 2011) found in studies on interculturality a third category of interculturality, the
Janusian view. With this he refers to the misconception that on the one hand researchers call for the
liquid understanding of culture but on the other hand they categorise, for instance, study participants
into national groups. In this way, their approach to culture is still solid.
Several studies indicate that methods of how culture teaching should be practiced in FL class-
rooms are often missing (see e.g. Castro, Sercu, and Méndez García 2004; Sercu 2005; Garrido and
Álvarez 2006). The study of Castro, Sercu, and Méndez García (2004, 102) revealed that European
FL teachers would like to devote more time to culture teaching. They felt frustrated, because they
could not do this, the stumbling blocks being the lack of time, institutional constraints or perhaps
even themselves believing that teaching the language is more important than teaching intercultural
competence. A study among Spanish FL teachers indicated that methods in culture teaching do not
necessarily reflect constructivist beliefs (Sercu, Méndez García, and Prieto 2005). The methods do not
often include reflection, cultural comparison or how to act in intercultural situations (Sercu et al.
2005). Teachers do not seem to stimulate further discussions, encourage cultural projects or reflect
on the textbook content (Costa Afonso 2011). In other words, ‘the growing importance of reflexivity’
in culture teaching, as suggested for instance by Kramsch (2014), is not necessarily internalised by FL
teachers. It would be beneficial to integrate learner-centred methods into culture teaching practices.
One possible explanation for the dominance of teacher-centred methods and factual approach in
culture teaching could be the use of FL textbooks as the major source for cultural topics. Several
studies have revealed that in designing their lessons, teachers tend to deal with the cultural topics
presented in the textbooks (see e.g. Bandura and Sercu 2005; Sercu et al. 2005; Tomlinson 2012; Liddi-
coat and Scarino 2013, Ch. 6).
FL teachers who have plenty of cultural knowledge and personal experiences of the target culture,
are also able to convey these to their students (see e.g. Kelly et al. 2004; Galeano and Torres 2014). For
instance, Damen (1987) encourages FL teachers to integrate their ethnographic learning experience
into teaching practice. She suggests seven steps for teachers, pre-service or in-service, to plan per-
sonal ethnographic projects. Damen provides culture teaching methods that have been used in cul-
tural training. These are, for instance, culture discovery (searching information about the target
culture), culture quizzes, culture self-awareness techniques (i.e. sensitivity exercises, self-assessment
questionnaires), dialogues (role plays), group discussion, informant interviewing, making the
language and culture connection (explaining the connotative aspects of vocabulary), media unit
(use of films or other visual devices), problem solving practice, readings (use of background infor-
mation from articles, newspapers or other written sources), and simulations (Damen 1987, 280–
290). If cultural and cross-cultural aspects are included in the syllabus, they can be tested, for instance,
through self-assessment by giving opportunities for discussion and reflection with peers or teachers
(see e.g. Damen 1987; Byram 2009).

2.2. Culture teaching in FL teacher education

In many countries, the linguistic content (e.g. grammar, literature and language history) is often
emphasised in FL teacher education (see e.g. Johnson 2009). Garrido and Álvarez (2006) examined
the needs of language teachers in relation to the integration into the intercultural dimension.
They stated that general language teacher education programmes have until now been unable to
4 M. MAIJALA

support the intercultural development of FL teachers. Already in 2002, a report directed to the Euro-
pean Commission recommended that in language teacher education more attention should be paid
to the intercultural and sociocultural pedagogy (see Kelly et al. 2004). There are similarities and differ-
ences between second language (SL) teacher education and FL teacher education that should be
considered when teacher education programmes are designed. One similarity is that novice teachers
need to acquire skills and competencies used by effective teachers and discover methods used by
them (Richards 1990). One striking difference which affects the FL teacher education is the perspec-
tive they have to the target language and culture. While in FL teaching and learning the perspective is
from the outside in the context of learners’ own culture, in SL the target culture is viewed from the
inside. The motivation of learners can also vary. FL learners usually learn the new language volunta-
rily, but SL learners, e.g. immigrants and international students, may be required to take the language
course (Sercu 2004). In addition, the classroom as a context for language learning is different in SLA
and FL education. SL classrooms are usually surrounded by the target language, but FL classrooms are
often geographically far away from the learners’ own country (Block 2003, Ch. 2). This has influence
on culture teaching. In addition, FL teachers outside the target culture are often non-native speakers
who share the same language and cultural background as their learners. SL teachers are generally
native speakers of the language being taught who sometimes do not speak the learners’ L1 and/
or share the same cultural background (Sercu 2004; see also Braine 2010).
There is not much research literature on how FL pre-service teachers apply the theoretical
knowledge acquired at the university to real classroom situations. In studies that compare
novice and expert teachers’ expertise, the uncertainty experienced by pre-service and novice tea-
chers emerges. According to Tsui (2003, 79–80), the focus of experienced ESL teachers had
changed from self to students. Similarly, the findings by Gatbonton (2008) showed that both
novice and experienced L2 teachers were attentive to students’ behaviour in the classroom.
One difference was that novice teachers focused more on students’ negative than positive reac-
tions. This reveals the uncertainty they have about themselves as teachers. Numrich (1996) ana-
lysed diaries kept by 26 novice teachers during a practicum. The study designated that novice
teachers focused on students’ reactions. In addition, the results of the study indicate that the inte-
gration of culture succeeded especially by those novice teachers who had had positive learning
experiences in studying culture.
As far as we know, (pre-service) language teachers’ perception of culture teaching has not been
studied in the Finnish context. Accordingly, it is difficult to say, how the view on culture has
evolved. Dervin and Dirba (2006) conducted a small-scale study on Finnish (N = 9 pre-service teachers
of French) and Latvian student teachers’ (N = 9 pre-service teachers of English) perceptions of inter-
cultural competence at the beginning of their training. They concluded that no clear signs of liquid
understanding of culture were found in this qualitative study. Harjanne, Larenas, and Tella (2017)
studied Chilean and Finnish in-service FL teachers’ perceptions of teaching and study realities in
their classrooms. The results of their questionnaire survey conducted in 2010 showed that Finnish
in-service language teachers use a lot of the mother tongue instead of the target language in
their teaching and that they rely on textbooks to a great extent. However, another result of the
survey was that teachers generally acknowledged the value of integration of language and
culture. The results of the study by Harjanne, Larenas, and Tella (2017) point out that there is a dis-
crepancy between teacher-centred practices and the willingness to integrate cultural aspects. This
makes Finnish FL classrooms and (pre-service) teachers an interesting case. The top ranking of
Finland in the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is often explained
through the Finnish research-based teacher education in which practical training in teacher training
schools is included (see Sahlberg 2010). In addition, the strong independence of teachers’ work is fre-
quently mentioned as one of the success factors (see Simola et al. 2017). The important role of
teacher training schools and the use of mentoring teachers in the Finnish teacher education is
also one rationale for the present study. Further factors why Finnish language teacher education is
an interesting case are presented in Section 3.1.
 INNOVATION IN LANGUAGE LEARNING AND TEACHING 5

3. Research project: culture teaching methods experienced by FL pre-service

teachers
3.1. General remarks
In the Finnish context, FL students apply for the pedagogical studies at the Department of
Teacher Education usually after receiving their bachelor’s degree in their major subject at the
university subject department. In this way, a distinction is made in the Finnish subject
teacher education between subject matter knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge (cf.
Shulman 1987; Johnson 2009). In most cases, Finnish language students have one language
as a major and one or more languages as minor subjects. After completing the master’s
degree and the pedagogical subject teacher studies at the Department of Teacher Education,
they are qualified to teach languages at all school levels from basic to adult education.
During the one-year teacher education programme at the Department of Teacher Education
and Teacher Training School associated with the Faculty of Education, the pedagogical skills
are learned.
At the Department of Teacher Education, there usually are special teacher educators for each
subject (e.g. foreign languages, science, and history). The one-year pre-service teacher education
is mostly integrated into the Master’s programme, but can also be completed after receiving the
Master’s degree. When Finnish pre-service language teachers enter the teacher education pro-
gramme, it is expected that they have gained the necessary content knowledge about the
target language and culture at the university subject department. The fact is, however, that
Finnish pre-service language teachers have differing subject matter backgrounds when they
come to the teacher education programme (cf. Grossman, Wilson, and Shulman 1989). At the
Department of Teacher Education, they are mainly taught theoretical pedagogical knowledge to
enable them to transform the content into a learnable form. At the same time, the practical knowl-
edge which teachers need in their classroom practice (cf. Shulman 1987; Burns and Richards 2009;
Pachler et al. 2014, Ch. 2), is acquired in Teacher Training Schools. Hence, Finnish pre-service tea-
chers should be able to apply to a classroom setting both their academic knowledge acquired in
university courses and the pedagogical content knowledge acquired at the Department of Teacher
Education (cf. Mehlmauer-Larcher 2012). The mentoring teachers in Teacher Training Schools are
mostly experienced teachers. They are responsible for the supervision of the training lessons con-
ducted by trainees and provide scaffolding and models of successful teaching for them. In the
context of this study, the amount of lessons held by trainees at the Teacher Training School
varied from 15 to 30. In the context of the university in the focus of this study, trainees practice
in multicultural classrooms which can help to develop their intercultural competence (cf. Kelly
et al. 2004, 34).
Although European language teachers are expected to teach for intercultural understanding,
they do not necessarily get explicit training in dealing with social and cultural aspects and
linguistic and cultural diversity (Kelly et al. 2004). This holds true also for the Finnish FL
teacher education. In Finland, the specific content and organisation of the subject teacher edu-
cation programmes vary from one university to another. Sometimes the content of pedagogical
studies can differ even from a teacher educator to another in the same university. During the
pedagogical studies at the Department of Teacher Education, cultural aspects in FL teaching
and learning are often integrated into other themes. Considering the main objectives of the
Finnish subject teacher education programme, for instance, giving skills to act as an auton-
omous, responsible and ethical teacher, supervisor and actor in society, one academic year
can be regarded as a very short period in the professional development of a teacher (see
e.g. Virta 2002).
In this study, we concentrate on the one-year teacher education programme in a Finnish univer-
sity. Accordingly, practices described below refer only to that particular university.
6 M. MAIJALA

3.2. Research questions

When teaching and learning are studied, we are dealing with mental processes which are very
difficult to observe and to measure (Borg 2006, Ch. 6; Pajares 1992). Borg (2006) uses the term
teacher cognition ‘as an inclusive term to embrace the complexity of teachers’ mental lives’
(p. 50). When teacher cognition is studied, we need to ‘take a look’ inside the heads of teachers,
as when studying any other forms of learning. The aim of this study is, above all, to reveal the knowl-
edge and beliefs of Finnish pre-service FL teachers about culture teaching and to explore their initial
culture teaching experiences during the teacher education programme. The specific research ques-
tions are the following:
How do pre-service language teachers define culture teaching methods? How should culture, in their opinion, be
taught?

What are pre-service language teachers’ initial experiences of culture teaching during the one-year teacher edu-
cation programme?

3.3. Data collection and participants

In this study, the data was collected through questionnaires and interviews during a one-year teacher
education programme at a Finnish university. In the questionnaires, prospective language teachers
were asked how they understand ‘cultural content’ in FL teaching and which teaching methods
promote acquisition of cultural competence in FL lessons. The questionnaire form was chosen to
collect data, although this method can have many disadvantages, especially when it is used to
examine respondents’ beliefs. In the questionnaires of our study, it could be seen that some
answers were superficial and did not allow in-depth exploration (cf. Borg 2006, Ch. 6). This is why
an interview was chosen to complement the data. The data collection was mostly in the Finnish
language, because it was important that participants fully understand the questions and could
answer in detail. We noticed that participants who answered in their mother tongue (Q1–Q2) were
more profound and detailed than those who answered in English (Q3). In the Q3, respondents
were advised in the instruction that they could also answer in Finnish although the questions
were in English Table 1.
The questionnaires were filled in by altogether 65 pre-service language teachers between the
years of 2012 and 2014. The piloting Q1 was conducted at the end of the one-year teacher education
programme in 2012. The following Q2–Q3 were completed during the first half of the programme (in
2013 and 2014) before the topic of culture teaching had been dealt with at the university course. Par-
ticipants’ previous experiences in teaching were very limited, mostly consisting of short periods as a
substitute teacher. Only 7 respondents were male, while 58 were female. Their ages ranged from 22
to 57 years at the time of data collection. The small number of male students in the study reflects the
small proportion of them among language teacher trainees. Because it was possible to identify the
male students, the gender of the students is omitted in quoting the responses. This holds also for
the age of students, because only few of them were older than 40. Only in the Q1 one respondent

Table 1. Participant profiles (Q 1–3 and interviews).

Previous experience
Participants Age Gender Major subjects of the participants as a FL teacher
Piloting questionnaire 1 22–39 16 Female German 4, Spanish 2, English 7, Russian yes 11, no 8
April 2012 (N = 19) 3 Male 4, Italian 1, Swedish 1
Questionnaire 2 22–38 20 Female, 2 Male German 9, French 7, Spanish 7 yes 9, no 13
October 2013 (N = 22)
Questionnaire 3 23–57 22 female English 8, German 7, Spanish 4, yes 14, no 10
October 2014 (N = 24) 2 male Swedish 2, French 1, Russian
Interviews May 2015 (N = 10) 23–30 9 female German 5, Russian 1, Spanish 3, yes 1, no 9
1 male Italian 1
 INNOVATION IN LANGUAGE LEARNING AND TEACHING 7

had another nationality than Finnish. In conducting the survey, 22 of the respondents filled in a paper
copy (Q2) and 43 answered through a web-based questionnaire (Q1 and Q3). In the Q2 and Q3, the
researcher was present as a teacher educator and was well known to the participants. The piloting
questionnaire (Q1) was completed before the researcher and teacher educator started working at
this particular institute of teacher education. The piloting Q1 was more detailed and included
more multiple-choice variants (similar questionnaire study was conducted by Sercu et al. 2005) in
order to find the relevant questions for the following questionnaires (see Appendix 1).
The data from the questionnaires was complemented through interviewing ten pre-service FL tea-
chers (Students 1–10, from now on ST1–10). In the interviews, we tried to capture the development in
trainees’ cognitions during the one-year teacher education programme. The interviews lasted on
average 30–35 min and were conducted face to face in Finnish at the end of the programme in
2015. The interviews focused on different views and practices in relation of FL teaching and learning,
e.g. content knowledge of FL teachers and impact of teacher education on the language teaching
and learning. In addition, trainees were asked to describe in their own words the relevance of
culture teaching and reflect on their own practices and experiences in culture teaching during the
teacher education programme.

3.4. Analysis of the data

When analysing the questionnaires, written responses to open-ended questions were the source of
the most insightful data in our study (cf. Borg 2006, 169). The keywords used by the respondents were
assigned to different categories, which were elaborated by using examples and explanations the
respondents provided (cf. Borg 2013, 35). The qualitative analysis of the open questions was con-
ducted in the original language of the respondents (excerpts original in Finnish are designated
with OF). The selected quotations in Finnish language were translated into English.
In the role of the teacher educator, the researcher was well known to the interviewees. The inter-
views were transcribed and analysed qualitatively in the original language. As a result of the qualitat-
ive content analysis, a set of topics was generated. As usual in qualitative research, we did not aim to
generalise the findings (cf. Burns 1999, Ch. 2), but we report and reflect on the experiences of the
trainees. The data from interviews play a supporting and complementary role in elaborating the
data from the questionnaires. In this way, the quantitative and qualitative components of the
study are treated together (cf. Bryman 2007).
By using several sources, we have tried to overcome the weaknesses in a single data collection
method (cf. Bailey 2006, Ch. 6) and increase the reliability and validity of the research (cf. Burns
1999, Ch. 2). One limitation of this study is its subjective nature, since the researcher has a double
role as a researcher and teacher educator of most of the respondents. In addition, the collection
of data was done in the middle of a busy teaching period. But after collecting and analysing the
data, it crystallised out that the study reveals information that is important not only for the becoming
FL teachers but also for the professional development of teacher educators.

4. Research findings
In general, culture teaching was regarded very important by Finnish FL pre-service teachers. In the
questionnaires, many respondents emphasised that culture is the context for FL teaching and learn-
ing. In the Q3, four students said that culture was ‘everything but grammar’. Altogether 39 of all 65
respondents mentioned daily life and routines in daily communication as important objectives in
culture teaching. Language as a tool for communication in daily life situations was mentioned
especially by prospective Spanish teachers, since they felt that there are huge cultural differences
between Europe and Latin America. They often stressed the significance of cultural comparison, in
order to avoid cultural misunderstandings or saying something that is not appropriate. This indicates
that they had the preconception of the existence of others, that is, underlying ideas of national
8 M. MAIJALA

cultures seemed to play a certain role in the background (cf. Phillips 2007; Dervin 2011). In the minds
of trainees culture seems to be divided into ‘foreign’ and ‘home’ cultures. How the trainees talk about
the cultures shows explicitly features of the so-called ‘culturespeak’ (Hannerz 1999), which emerges
through mentioning the differences between cultures. The fixed cultural categories point to the
static/solid understanding of culture (Liddicoat 2002, 2004; Dervin 2011).
In the interviews, most pre-service FL teachers stated that they recognised the importance of
culture teaching during the teacher education programme. Some of them felt that culture teaching
had been neglected when they were at school. The willingness reported by trainees to change their
prior school experiences indicates that teacher education has an impact on their cognitions (cf. Borg
2003). They want in their future profession convey as much culture as possible as the following
excerpt from an interview shows:
[—] so before this year I did not even think about culture teaching. When I think about my own experiences in the
school, I would say that we did have too little culture teaching. [—] Now I feel that it brings a nice extra to the
teaching and also variation. Usually students [at the teacher training school] think it is really fun. If you can inte-
grate some culture into your teaching, it can be motivating for the students and it can even raise discussions. [—]
(ST8, German, OF)

The interviewees were asked if their knowledge of the target language and culture was sufficient
in relation to the FL teacher profession. It emerged in the interviews that generally, trainees were
more satisfied with the linguistic than cultural knowledge acquired at the subject department.
They often brought up that cultural knowledge was placed too early in their studies and there
were not enough courses. Five interviewees wished more in-depth cultural knowledge during
their studies at the subject departments. In the interviews, trainees mentioned that especially their
spoken language skills in everyday situations were insufficient. This had caused uncertainty during
the lessons. In the interviews, six interviewees said that they had been themselves responsible for
the development of the linguistic knowledge, especially when daily life is concerned. In general,
they seemed to need more colloquial language competence integrated in their studies at the
subject department. It has also been noted in the research literature that language teachers
mostly need to be responsible for their personal professional development themselves (see e.g.
Bailey 2009). It seems that the trainees’ need for daily life language competence derived from the
practice observed and/or experienced in the Teacher Training School. In the communicative
language teaching (CLT), which is the common practice in Finnish language classrooms, students
are encouraged to use the target language through communicative oral tasks and peer scaffolding
(see Harjanne, Larenas, and Tella 2017). However, the CLT often reduces the communication to the
use of colloquial language, especially at the beginners’ level. The continued intercultural exploration,
which is, searching for the culture in language through questioning and further reflections, would
allow going beyond the solid understanding of culture (cf. Dervin 2011). Not only language in the
daily life, but something to express and interpret cultural aspects is needed (cf. Liddicoat and
Scarino 2013, Ch X, p. 15).
In the questionnaires, the prospective FL teachers were asked to consider which teaching
methods in their opinion promote acquisition of cultural competence in FL lessons. Table 2 summar-
ises the culture teaching methods mentioned by trainees.
In the list of culture teaching methods, ‘teacher tell/gives’ or ‘use of media’ were the most men-
tioned ways of conveying culture in the FL classroom. This shows that student teachers construct the
culture in a rather teacher-centred manner. Although trainees would in their thinking be moving
towards the dynamic/liquid teaching practice, their approach seems invariably static/solid (cf. Liddi-
coat 2002, 2004; Dervin 2011).
In both the questionnaires and the interviews the aspects of integration, the use of target
language (by both teachers, students and visitors), the use of media and teaching materials and
the relevance of cultural experiences were crystallised as the most significant ways to teach
culture in FL classrooms. These aspects are discussed in turn below.
 INNOVATION IN LANGUAGE LEARNING AND TEACHING 9

Table 2. Culture teaching methods mentioned by pre-service FL teachers (Q1–Q3).

Pre-service Pre-service Pre-service
teachers who teachers who teachers who
mentioned the mentioned the mentioned the
method (Q1, N method (Q2, N method (Q3, N
= 19) = 22) = 24)
Method Number % Number % Number %
Use of the target language in classroom communication/ Practice of 4 21.05 13 59.09 7 29.17
communication routines
Visitors in the classroom 6 31.54 9 40.90 7 29.17
Teacher tells about his/her personal cultural experiences 9 47.36 11 50.00 11 45.83
Teacher gives information about the target culture 4 47.36 6 27.27 4 16.67
Use of media 16 84.21 14 63.64 19 79.17
Cultural projects (e.g. searching information), presentation by learners 9 47.36 6 27.27 6 25.00
Discussions/comparisons by learners 4 21.05 2 9.09 – –
Reading literature 5 26.31 3 13.63 4 16.67
Tasting food 4 21.05 2 9.09 3 12.50
Use of authentic texts and pictures 3 15.78 – – 6 25.00
Games and quizzes 2 10.53 – – – –
Simulations of real life situations in the target culture 2 10.53 5 22.72 1 4.17
School visits abroad and exchanges 2 10.53 1 4.55 3 12.50
School visits in the own culture 2 10.53 1 4.55 – –
Letter exchange with peers in the target culture/social media 1 5.27 2 9.09 1 4.17
Use of the textbook as a source of information 1 5.27 2 9.09 1 4.17
Cultural objectives in the classroom 1 5.27 5 22.72 3 12.50

The integrative approach in FL teaching and learning. In both the questionnaires and the interviews,
it could clearly be seen that language and culture are considered important and inseparable by trai-
nees, as the following excerpts from the interviews illustrate:
I think it is important that these two [language and culture] go hand in hand. Otherwise the language is separated
from the context and becomes an abstract thing that has no real-life relevance. (ST6, German, OF)

[—] But I think you can always find time and you can always integrate it [culture] to other issues. [—] In my
opinion, many teachers see it [culture teaching] as exclusive but I really should not be in that way. (ST5,
German, OF)

ST4 (German) felt in the interview that ‘sometimes we have had culture infos and such things, but it
[culture teaching] has been separated from the other content of the lesson’ and that ‘integration
could happen more often.’ ST1 (German) felt that it would be nice ‘if culture could be integrated
and not dealt with only when it is in the textbook or like this that first we do grammar and after
that culture’. In the interviews, it came out that the integration of culture should be practiced
more during the lessons at the Teacher Training School. Some interviewees mentioned that they
had practiced culture teaching ‘very little during this year’ or ‘nothing at all’, and ‘actually just at
the end of the programme we taught some cultural topics at the senior secondary school’. One inter-
viewee said that ‘at one phase I tried to do it [culture teaching] and I started one lessons with a cul-
tural topic, only five minutes, but otherwise I did not teach it, I should do it more often’. The trainees
often were insecure how to integrate culture teaching into their lessons as the following excerpt from
an interview shows:
I noticed that it [culture teaching] has to be prepared. I admit that at the beginning it was very difficult because
we planned the lesson very mechanically. But anyway, we had some lessons where we had a cultural part. In the
future, it would be very important to integrate it [culture] to the whole teaching. (ST 9, Spanish, OF)

Some trainees felt that they had had successful experiences in integrating culture and some had even
searched for methods how it could happen naturally. It seemed to be difficult to find the right timing
and set up the framework for culture teaching. Trainees generally had recognised the link between
language and culture and showed willingness to integrate them. This indicates that they are hovering
10 M. MAIJALA

between the static/solid and the dynamic/liquid view of culture (cf. Liddicoat 2004; Dervin 2011) but
are not yet able to put the dynamic/liquid approach systematically into practice. The mixing of these
approaches can be interpreted as the so-called Janusian view (Dervin 2010, 2011). A further tendency
discerned was that student teachers had recognised that the teacher is responsible for the exact
amount of culture teaching during the lessons and also how it is learned.
The use of the target language in classroom. The use of the target language as a language for com-
munication can cause uncertainty and misunderstanding in the classroom interaction (see e.g. Breen
1985). The language proficiency of language teachers has a direct influence on the lesson. For
instance, teachers with lower proficiency level may avoid communication with students in the
target language (see e.g. Braine 2010). In this study, Finnish trainees found the use of the target
language as an efficient method to convey culture. For instance, one pre-service Swedish teacher
mentioned the use of ‘typical phrases of the culture (e.g. “not my cup of tea”, “fika” [to drink
coffee in Swedish])’ as an example of culture teaching methods. Trainees seemed to recognise the
culture in language and showed willingness to create possibilities for learners to live the ‘experience
of communicating’ through the use of the target language (cf. Liddicoat and Scarino 2013, Ch. 5). Trai-
nees felt that teachers’ role is significant as a role model in using the target language (cf. Kramsch
2009; Liddicoat and Scarino 2013, Ch. 5), as the following excerpts from the questionnaires illustrate:
[—] It is important that the teacher sort of takes a role when teaching the foreign language. S/he speaks in the
target language and uses also the body language typical for the target culture. (Student teacher of Spanish, Q2,
OF)

The teacher should use the foreign language as much as possible and include also in his or hers classroom ges-
tures and ways of speaking typical of the target culture. [—] (Student teacher of French, Q2, OF)

[—] In the classroom the target language should be used as it is used in the target culture (for example to address
formally with ‘Sie’, polite ways of speaking).[—] (Student teacher of German, Q2, OF)

The use of textbook and media as teaching materials. The FL textbook is often the main source of
content and methods in culture teaching (see e.g. Bandura and Sercu 2005; Sercu 2005). Accordingly,
one of the challenges in FL teacher education is how to learn to use the cultural content in FL teach-
ing materials in a pedagogically meaningful way (see e.g. McGrath 2013, Ch. 4). In the questionnaires,
student teachers only seldom (4/65) named the use of textbook as a culture teaching method, but
frequently (49/65) the use of other media, that is, mostly films on YouTube.
The role of textbooks in culture teaching was not much reflected in the questionnaires but in the
interviews it was evident. For instance, ST1 (German) reflected on her initial culture teaching experi-
ence with learners of German at the age of 10. She told how she had managed to shed more light on
the cultural background of the textbook figures. ST1 had used a film about the Austrian empress Sisi
in order to explain the name of the dog Franz Joseph in the textbook. She had also had a visitor from
Germany in the classroom, who had told about his school in Germany. In this context, ST1 also men-
tioned that the cultural topics (living in Germany, school) treated in the lesson were all chosen from
the textbook. As the experiences of ST1 demonstrate, textbook topics may become ‘more exciting
when pupils are offered opportunities to discover similarities and differences between their own
lives and everyday life in German-speaking countries.’ (Andon and Wingate 2013, 195). This could
happen by creating a cultural framework for the textbook figures. Generally, it can be concluded
that it was difficult for student teachers to find ways how to link subjective cultural knowledge
and experiences to the cultural information in the textbook.
The relevance of personal cultural experiences. It seems that experienced FL teachers accept the
subjective nature of cultural knowledge more easily than novice teachers (cf. Kramsch 2009). In
the questionnaires, student teachers often brought up that it is important to integrate one’s own cul-
tural experiences into teaching. In addition, they considered it valuable that students are given an
opportunity to share their own experiences with their peers. For FL teachers, it is important to
possess own cultural experiences which can be only acquired by spending periods of residence in
 INNOVATION IN LANGUAGE LEARNING AND TEACHING 11

the countries where the language is spoken (Kelly et al. 2004, 34–35). Trainees often referred to this in
the questionnaires:
I have noticed the difference in teachers who have spent time in the target culture. They can tell better about the
culture and everything regarding the country and the language. (Student teacher of English, Q1, OF)

The teacher can tell about his/hers personal cultural experiences in the target culture. […] The teacher can invite
visitors from the target culture (if s/he knows somebody) and organise different projects (like Comenius). (Student
teacher of German, Q2, OF)

The discussions and reflections on cultural experiences with students were found to be important
by trainees:
We watched a video about a carnival and then had a discussion with the pupils. Many of them had been in places
where carnivals are held. There had been some carnivals in their own countries as well. So the students told about
their experiences and we then compared their experiences with the German carnival culture. (ST8, German, OF)

So I have been trying, well, I have lived twice in Germany and I have a lot of personal experiences from there. I
have tried to tell about my experiences at least in small things. In one lesson at the senior high school we talked
about studying in Germany and in that way we dealt with living and studying. (ST6, German, OF)

Trainees had also tried to create authentic situations in the classroom. This emerged in the inter-
views, in which role-plays in daily life situations in the target culture were often brought up, as the
following excerpt from an interview shows:

ST8: Well, I have taught football culture in Germany and then we had these Christmas traditions. It was in the
senior high school, these Christmas markets. We held a real Christmas market in the classroom. [… .] Then
we had something about carnival and Easter. […] (ST8, German, OF)

In the interviews, it was often mentioned that pre-service teachers felt very important that stu-
dents were interested in their experiences. They were sensitive to the students’ responses to their
culture teaching (cf. Gatbonton 2008). Some interviewees stated that during their lessons they
were not prepared for students’ reactions as the following excerpt from an interview illustrates:

ST10: So, I think that [culture teaching] is very important in every way. It is also important for the stu-
dents to know that in culture there are a lot of different aspects. I tried, for instance, although
it is a kind of crazy thing, but I wanted to test it, because I like it myself. I like this poem
because it is parodic. [—] I tried to hold a small presentation and show a film from YouTube.
[—] I think it was funny and my supervisor also liked it, but the students did not like it at all.
This was a surprise for me. [—] Students perhaps think topical issues are more important. [—]
Researcher: So you think it should be topical?
ST10: Yes, if it is that what students think is interesting.
Researcher: Yes, this was your own experiment … You really think that nobody was interested?
ST10: Yes, the interest ended immediately when I started to talk about history. But when I show my own
photos and tell them [students] where I have been, it seems to be more exciting although the
history would be qualitatively better. But the topicality is the thing. [—] (ST10, Spanish, OF)

In the interviews, pre-service teachers often reflected that the questions regarding cultural topics
seemed to come ‘out of the blue’. This had caused uncertainty for them during the lesson. In addition,
the way how personal cultural experiences should be integrated into the lessons bothered pre-
service language teachers: Which experiences can I integrate? Are they relevant enough? Are they
real? This uncertainty came out in the interviews, as the following excerpt from an interview
illustrates:

ST7: So it [culture teaching] is stressed all the time and I think it is important. But I guess when you still are a
trainee and you stay only a limited time with a group. I felt that it was very difficult to tell about my own
cultural experiences. Although the pupils certainly understand that these are my personal experiences,
but I still felt that I am teaching and my experience is not enough when pupils reflect. Although when
I observed the teaching of my supervisor, it seemed that the cultural experiences are naturally integrated
into his/hers teaching. It looked like culture really is integrated and not just an isolated part at the end of
12 M. MAIJALA

the lesson. [—] I felt like students are expecting that I have a lot of information in many various fields of
foreign culture. But my target culture is such a country that is different from village to village. [—] But I
certainly could have said to them [students] that this is my personal experience. [—] I think that I don’t
dare to share my own experiences if they do not have a context somewhere. [—] I don’t have enough self-
confidence to present myself as all-knowing although I know that I don’t have to be like that, but anyway.
(ST7, Italian, OF)

The trainee’s comment shows that she finds it difficult to apply her personal cultural experiences to
real classroom situations. She seems to focus on what students think about her experiences or whether
they are of value for the students (cf. Numrich 1996; Gatbonton 2008). She had also noticed that in
culture teaching, attention has to be paid to several aspects simultaneously, namely, cultural varieties
and emotions, not just the knowledge about the target culture (cf. Kramsch 2009).

5. Discussion: outcomes and implications for language teacher education

When reflecting on their beliefs and experiences in culture teaching, pre-service language teachers
noticed many issues that they should be paying attention to in the future. On the basis of the ques-
tionnaires and interviews analysed in this study, these issues were, above all, use of target language
and teaching materials in the classroom, and integration of personal cultural experiences into lessons.
On the one hand, teacher candidates brought up content and methods, which were familiar to them
from their experiences in school (teacher tells/shows/brings up). On the other hand, they mentioned
both knowledge that had been acquired during their university studies before their entered the
teacher education programme (literature, linguistic knowledge), and such objectives and methods
which they had found meaningful during the teacher education programme (communication in
the target culture in daily life situations).
From the results of the study, it can be concluded that, Finnish pre-service language teachers are
in general not aware of how much knowledge culture teaching involves in order to find the perfect
timing and methods for cultural issues. On the basis of this study, it can be discerned that trainees
have internalised the meaning of subjectivity (Kramsch 2009) and personal engagement in culture
teaching. When reflecting on their initial teaching experiences, they often focused on emotional
aspects of language learning (cf. Kramsch 2009; 2014). Although trainees recognised the importance
of personal experience in culture teaching, this seemed to raise feelings of uncertainty, especially the
amount of personal cultural experiences and the ways these can be integrated into lessons. The facts-
oriented perspective in language teaching seemed to help them to reflect on their own cultural
experiences (cf. Byram and Feng 2005). Our study confirms the earlier conclusion by Garrido and
Álvarez (2006, 174) that pre-service FL teachers should be ‘encouraged to pay attention to daily cul-
tural interactions so that they can develop their own conceptual understanding of what cultural
knowledge really is’. Ideally, this should happen even before entering the teacher education
programme.
The data indicated that teacher trainees’ understanding of culture is quite restricted. It reflects
mostly a ‘solid’ (Dervin 2011) or ‘static’ (Liddicoat 2002, 2004) view of culture. However, there were
signs that Finnish trainees moved from solid/static to liquid/dynamic view on culture. Compared
to the results in earlier studies (Dervin and Dirba 2006), Finnish trainees in this study could
provide many personal experiences to explain their thoughts. This indicates that trainees seem to
value the importance of sharing personal experiences in culture teaching. Trainees often mentioned
the significance of interaction, understanding, and discussions in culture learning, which illustrated
the trend towards the dynamic view of culture, being at this moment a mixture of static and
dynamic approach. However, results of this study showed that trainees are focusing on national cul-
tures (cf. Dervin 2011), which implies that the stronger consideration on questions of cultural under-
standing is needed in FL teacher education. This could happen by paying attention to how teachers
can develop more dynamic/liquid thinking about culture(s) in general, for instance, by interactive
questioning (Liddicoat and Scarino 2013, Ch. 5).
 INNOVATION IN LANGUAGE LEARNING AND TEACHING 13

Table 3. Recommendations for language teacher training based on the results of the study.
Results of the study Recommended practices for FL teacher educators
Use of target language - Co-operation with institutions giving linguistic and cultural knowledge
- Pay attention to the language and cultural skills needed in teacher profession already before entering
the teacher training
- Train pre-service teachers to use target language during the lessons (cf. Harjanne, Larenas, and Tella
2017)
- Reflect and share good and bad experiences, so that trainees can be prepared to face uncertainty better.
Integration of culture - Give trainees practical examples of how to integrate culture (for example, teacher educators can think
aloud how they would handle certain situations themselves)
- Give trainees advice on how to incorporate culture into their lesson plans
- Train how to integrate teachers’ ethnographic learning experience with teaching practice (cf. Damen
1987)
- Give trainees a chance to reflect on theories and their own practices (cf. Sercu 2013)
- Let trainees document their points of view at the beginning and at the end of teacher education
- Raise awareness of discovery learning (use as teacher educator or mentor yourself approaches that
encourage students to research and present their findings)
- Raise awareness of learner-centred culture teaching methods in order to analyse and understand new
cultures (cf. Galeano and Torres 2014)
Use of teaching - Help trainees to analyse FL textbooks (for example conduct a small-scale analysis of teaching materials
materials and then reflect on it with peers) (McGrath 2013, 207–208)
and other media - Let trainees justify their selection of texts and exercises from the textbook
- Help trainees to reflect on the cultural content of the textbook (Damen 1987; Costa Afonso 2011)
- Train how to build a cultural framework for texts and activities in teaching materials
- Train how to link teachers’ cultural knowledge and subjective experiences to the cultural information in
the textbook
- Let trainees design own cultural activities

Although there has been a lot of discussion in the Finnish context about the goals in the new core
curriculum that emphasises among other thing language awareness and intercultural learning
(Finnish National Board of Education 2014), no students mentioned general educational goals in
the connection to culture learning (similar results were obtained by Dervin and Dirba 2006).
The results of the study also indicate that it is beneficial for culture teaching that teacher candi-
dates have a good knowledge of language used in daily life (cf. Lantolf 2009). In the interviews, trai-
nees often explained how their students responded to their culture teaching. This implies that they
regard culture teaching as a dialogic process (cf. Damen 1987; Byram and Feng 2005). The results of
this study also designate clearly that trainees pay very much attention to the reactions of their stu-
dents (similar results observed by Gatbonton 2008). Our results show that teacher trainees should
practice how to build a cultural framework for the texts and activities in the textbooks. Novice tea-
chers do not necessarily know, which textbook activities are well designed and suitable for their
group of learners (cf. Tsui 2003, 213). Sercu (2013) suggests that during the teacher education pro-
gramme it would be beneficial for pre-service language teachers to implement different language
teaching theories in practice, by conducting small-scale action research. After implementation
they should be given a chance to reflect on their experiences.
Based on the results of this study, some implications for language teacher education are proposed
(summarised in Table 3).
For all the recommended practices, peer observations and whole group feedback could be added.
There should also be room for personal comments (Sercu 2013). In teacher education, teacher edu-
cators should use the think-aloud method in order to make good practices visible. It is a fact that
reflective methods are not enough (Akbari 2007) and the role of action and practice should not be
underestimated. Culture teaching can only be learned through trial and error.

6. Conclusion
In this article, we have conducted a study concerning Finnish pre-service language teachers’ knowl-
edge and beliefs about culture teaching methods and explored their culture teaching experiences
14 M. MAIJALA

during the one-year teacher education programme. The importance of the topic was justified
through research literature on the role of culture teaching in FL education and teacher education.
The data was collected with questionnaires filled in by 65 Finnish pre-service language teachers
and interviews of ten prospective language teachers during the one-year teacher education pro-
gramme at a Finnish university. On the basis of our results, there is evidence to suggest that
good knowledge of language and culture gives self-confidence. By reflecting and sharing experi-
ences, pre-service teachers can be prepared to face uncertainty in culture teaching. The study
revealed some development in pre-service teachers’ perception on culture. Some indications (inter-
action, personal experiences) towards liquid or dynamic approach to culture were identified. Our
study revealed that three areas related to teaching culture should to be paid attention to in FL
teacher training: the use of target language (especially in daily life), the use of teaching materials
and the relevance of own cultural experiences. Above all, ways of integrating culture into lessons
should be addressed.
Teacher education should be an important source for new ideas. The main concern should be the
question of how we can help teacher trainees to learn how to teach languages. For instance, in the
Finnish context, language teaching methods like language awareness, discovery approach and
action-based learning are in the focus of the new core curriculum 2016 (Finnish National Board of
Education 2014). Accordingly, these new ideas should be promoted in the FL teacher education.
Based on the results of the study, we have provided some recommendations on how to deal with
cultural issues in FL teacher education, but we are not able to give an overall valid recipe (see
Table 3).
Regarding language teacher training, there is need for more studies which increase understanding
of how language teachers learn and develop. Especially, studies that deal with teaching other foreign
languages than English are required. This study designates that more reflective approach focusing
both on the teachers’ thinking and on their behaviour are beneficial in teacher education. This
implies that teacher training methods which enhance both theoretical and action-based reflection
should be designed and developed further.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor
Minna Maijala, Ph.D. in German (2003), Ph.D. in Education (2010), is Docent in Language Pedagogy at the Department of
Teacher Education and since 2004 lecturer in German as a Foreign Language at the Language Centre, University of Turku.
In 2013–2015 she has worked as a senior lecturer in Language Pedagogy at the Department of Teacher Education, Uni-
versity of Turku. Her research interests are teaching and learning German as a foreign language, the cultural content in
foreign language teaching, and foreign language teaching materials.

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 INNOVATION IN LANGUAGE LEARNING AND TEACHING 17

Appendices

Appendix 1. Questionnaires 1–3.

Questionnaire 1 (Original in Finnish)
1. Basic information (Age; Nationality; Mother tongue, Experience in foreign language teaching; Which languages do you study at
the university?; Which foreign languages would you like to teach in the future?; Which countries have you visited in which the
language is spoken?; Describe your visits to the countries in which the language is spoken.)
2. In your opinion, does a foreign language teacher have to maintain the knowledge of the target culture(s) by visiting the country/
countries in question? Please specify if needed. (Options: Yes, definitively; Yes, to a certain limit; Not necessarily; Not at all; I don’t
know.)
3. How do you get information about the foreign culture(s) associated with the foreign language(s) you want to teach in the future?
(Choose as many options as necessary.)
4. Do Finnish foreign language teachers have enough opportunities to maintain their contacts with the target county/countries?
Please specify if needed. (Options: Yes, definitively; Yes, to a certain limit; Not necessarily; Not at all; I don’t know.)
5. How often do you read literature that is related to language and culture teaching and learning? (Options: Every week; Every
month; More seldom; Never) Please specify.
6. About which topics would you like to learn more? Please mark the most important with a ‘1’, the next with a ‘2’ etc. (Oral
communication; Written communication; Grammar; Everyday life in the target culture; Society in the target culture; Literature;
Language learning methods; Culture teaching methods; Another topic)
7. Which objectives of culture teaching do you consider to be important in foreign language teaching? Please give examples.
8. How do you understand ‘cultural content’ in foreign language teaching?
9. How have you conveyed cultural content in a foreign language classroom? Please give examples.
10. How can a foreign language teacher convey cultural content in a foreign language classroom? Please give examples.
11. How can culture learning be evaluated? Please specify.

Questionnaire 2 (Original in Finnish)

1. Basic information (Age; Nationality; Mother tongue, Experience in foreign language teaching; Which languages do you study at
the university?; Which foreign languages would you like to teach in the future?; Which countries have you visited in which the
language is spoken?; Describe your visits to the countries in which the language is spoken.)
Open questions:
2. How do you get information about the foreign culture(s) associated with the foreign language(s) you want to teach in the future?
3. How do you understand ‘cultural content’ in foreign language teaching?
4. Which objectives of culture teaching do you consider to be important in foreign language teaching? Please give examples.
5. How can a foreign language teacher convey cultural content in a foreign language classroom? Please give examples.

Questionnaire 3 (Original in English)

1. Basic information (Age; Nationality; Mother tongue, Experience in foreign language teaching; Which languages do you study at
the university?; Which foreign languages would you like to teach in the future?; Which countries have you visited in which the
language is spoken?; Describe your visits to the countries in which the language is spoken.)
Open questions:
2. How do you get information about the foreign culture(s) associated with the foreign language(s) you want to teach in the future?
3. How do you understand ‘cultural content’ in foreign language teaching?
4. Which objectives of culture teaching do you consider to be important in foreign language teaching? Please give examples.
5. How can a foreign language teacher convey cultural content in a foreign language classroom? Please give examples.