DEALING WITH “WEST-EAST” CULTURAL DIVIDE: THE PROBLEM OF CULTURAL UNAWARENESS IN ESP FOR INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Abstract
The paper presents results of a modest-scale research into the problem of learners’ cultural unawareness about cultures of the East countries suffering the conflicts of global importance within the context of wider “West-East” cultural divide in ESP for International Relations. Different aspects of the problem are studied through an attempt to assess students’ knowledge of the elementary cultural phenomena of general, political and specific interest. The research was conditioned by the problem that aroused in the course of ESP classes that were meant to develop speaking skills as an objective within the major teaching/learning goal of preparing for oral professional communication.
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