Between one’s own culture and the target culture: the language teacher as intercultural mediator

The relationship between language and culture is close, and there can be few topics more central to the teaching of English as a foreign language. What is the role of the teacher in providing information and input about a culture? Which culture(s) should be taught? This paper begins by reviewing the literature on the role of culture in EFL teaching, pointing out the particular problems teachers may have to deal with in a context where English has become a lingua franca, so that there is no longer any particular culture associated with the language in general.