Use of Popular Culture in Enhancing English Language Teaching

Popular Culture is the entirety of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, themes, images, and other phenomena that are within the mainstream of a given culture.Popular culture encompasses the most immediate and contemporary aspects of our lives. These aspects are often subject to rapid change, especially in a highly technological world in which people are brought closer and closer by omnipresent media. Certain standards and commonly held beliefs are reflected in pop culture. Because of its commonality, pop culture both reflects and influences people’s everyday life.The modern world has been rendered a global village by the electronic media and technology that expose a learner of a particular socio-cultural background to myriad cultural influences. The role of popular culture had long been acknowledged by scholars and educationists, but today a new dimension has emerged as a matter of concern. The role of media, especially the electronic media and the internet in promoting and controlling popular culture is evident. A study of English Language Teaching strategies therefore entails discussions on the influence of popular culture, that is, the variety of “popular culture” fashioned by media on learners and how this may be exploited by the English educator in enhancing the English teaching-learning process. Professional associations such as the International Reading Association (2001) and the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) (2008), and consortia such as the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (2004), have started to develop 21st-century skills frameworks and curriculum maps that accentuate use of pop culture in teaching English effectively. This article explores some innovative modalities of use of pop culture in ELT.