The Effects of Culture-based Teaching of the US History on the Algerian Students’ Understanding of the American Culture. Doctorat thesis,(2019) Université de Batna 2.
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2019-07-01
Authors
Bentayeb Noreddine
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
This study- conducted as a case study of first year LMD students at the department of English language and literature, Batna 2 University- examines the effects that the cultural thematic approach teaching of the US history, portrayed as an alternative teaching strategy in replacement of the traditional historical one, would have on the students understanding of the American culture. The research design adopted in this investigation is the experimental one. It is believed to suit our research since it permits a close examination of the effects that teaching culture through history might have on the students' achievement in developing their knowledge about the American culture. We applied a written American culture test to the entire first year population then we chose our 20% sample from the students who obtained a score inferior to 10/20 as a common characteristic. The teachers' interview, the students' questionnaire, the observation grids as well as a pre-test and a post-test of the participants' US cultural competence as a measure of progress before and after treatment were the data gathering tools we employed. The findings revealed the existence of a number of challenges, including the history-dominated course content, the teaching materials, the teaching activities and the time allotted to the course, that hinder the understanding of the American culture as a division of the program of CCL. The findings also provide irrefutable evidence that the thematic cultural approach to teaching US history develops students' superior understanding of the American culture. This study recommends the diminution of the historical part in the CCL course to a minimum to allow the addition of many cultural elements meant to promote the learners' understanding of the American culture. The study also recommends the reconsideration of the teaching method, the content of the course, the teaching materials, the teaching activities and the time allotted to the course.