Book Review: Culture and Cultural Interaction in Foreign/Second Language Teaching Edited by Gülnur Aydin

Abstract

Context is needed for communication to take place. Byram (1988) states that language does not have a context-free function; indeed, he is of the view that language refers to the context of culture. In this context, using language in the context of a certain communication and culture comes to the fore in foreign/second language teaching; specialization in different communication situations and contexts becomes more important than specializing in language structures. Reflecting cultural characteristics in language teaching and carrying out teaching activities in a cultural context gain importance. As the editor, Gülnur Aydın states in the foreword, the most fundamental reason for the emergence of the book is the necessity of transferring culture to language teaching environments. Moreover, the editor states that the intellectual preparation of the book started in a workshop held at a university in 2019 with the discussions in the context of language teaching and culture among the academics who are experts in the field. This book, which started to be designed at the workshop, went through the preparation phase and was published two years later.