Promoting English Education in Culturally Aware Non-English Society

This article argues for the necessity of integrating cultural learning into the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom, particularly for Nepalese students. Simply mastering the linguistic aspects of English-grammar, syntax, and phonetics-is insufficient for achieving genuine communicative competence and understanding the nuances of daily life in English-speaking cultures. The article proposes adapting Spitzberg’s Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC), Bennet’s Intercultural Sensitivity (IS), Smuts’ Holistic Approach (HA), and Thomas’ pragmatic skills (PS) to provide EFL teachers with a framework for incorporating sociocultural factors. Key elements discussed include understanding culture as a pivotal element in developing communicative competence, preparing students for intercultural phenomena, and analyzing their pedagogical implications for the classroom, where society is well aware of its culture. It uses secondary resources for situational analysis, and concludes that being cultural sensitive is both a need and a desire. Finally, it recommends that EFL teachers expose students to cultural collections to help them acquire cultural learning strategies and become interculturally competent.