The Impact of Understanding Culture on Foreign Language learning at Sudanese Universities and Foreign Institutions in Khartoum

Abstract

This study tackled the Impact of understanding culture on foreign languages learning in Sudanese Universities and foreign institutions in Khartoum. It is observed that, a majority of students do not have the ability to understand foreign languages as their own language. The weakness is observed specifically, when translating proverbs or answering the textbooks comprehension questions where these comprise the deeper part of the culture. The objective of this study was to investigate, foreign language instructors about the importance of teaching culture in foreign language classes as a means to assist understanding the target language. Descriptive and analytical methods had been followed in this study. Soft and hard copies of the study questionnaire were used for data collection. The result of the questionnaire showed that, more than ninety percent of the participants agreed upon the importance of teaching culture in language classes. They also agreed that, culture should be a part of the foreign language curriculum. It is recommended that, culture teaching has to be a part in the syllabus of language teaching, and also to integrate culture teaching in the language classes as well as applying teaching native syllabus in foreign language classes.