Attitude towards Local Language Variation and Cultural Identity Construction in Second Language Acquisition (A case Study of Abyaneh Language)

This study aimed to inform stakeholders of what might be needed to empower teachers with the skills and equipment necessary for the introduction of this innovation and provide information that could facilitate implementation of local language with focus on cultural identity in teaching English in intermediate level schools, with the hope that such practice could be generalized throughout the EFL environments at large. The views of intermediate level teachers had not been studied prior to this research. A mixture of qualitative and quantitative approaches was used in the data collection process. The researcher designed a questionnaire and an interview to ascertain the teachers’ attitudes, and also the status of local language usage in teaching English in the classrooms in order to construct cultural identity during teaching in the class , andthe teachers’ readiness to use local language to teach English and move away from formal language (Persian). The results of the research disclosed that teachers felt that local language was effective during teaching English skills and would welcome the implementation of local language in intermediate schools, but overall they felt that more training and information was needed for better identity construction.

Keywords:

Cultural identity , local language , learning , Teachers’ attitude