Iranian Parents’ Resistance to Incompatible Aspects of Western Culture: Implications for ELT Material Development

Abstract

The British and US varieties of English have now come under suspicion of promoting American and British ways of life and marginalizing the local identities of their learners. Prompted by these suspicions, many scholars and policy makers have voiced doubts about the cultural adequacy of the native speaker-controlled ELT programs. In a recent survey conducted by the present authors (forthcoming), the attitude of the Iranian education officials towards the teaching of English in its western cultural context was surveyed. The findings indicated that they strongly disapproved of the teaching of English along with its western cultural values. To find out whether the above official resistance in Iran has the backing of the general public, a cultural resistance survey was conducted. 393 male and female Iranian parents from different walks of life participated in this survey. The results showed that the high school students’ possible adoption of the western lifestyle and their exposure to the manifestations of incompatible western culture were resisted by their parents. Based on the findings of this research, the researchers made a number of recommendations for international, regional and local ELT material development.