The Westward gaze
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Date
2024
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University of Oum El Bouaghi
Abstract
Language and culture are interrelated; through language, individuals transfer cultural aspects and concepts. According to Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory, culture shapes the mind and the cognitive development of individuals. This work predominantly aims to investigate the potential influence of Wokeism, which has become a constituent part of some Western cultures, on EFL students as part of their inevitable exposure to the target language set of cultures. To achieve this aim, a qualitative phenomenological inquiry was employed making use of a focus group and semi-structured interviews as the main data collection instruments for this research. The questions and illustrations employed in both tools were carefully designed and chosen to ensure the collection of the appropriate data to answer the research questions. Employing purposive sampling, a group of ten students of different levels was selected from a target population that involved students of English at the Larbi Ben M’hidi University. Using NVivo, thematic analysis was employed as a crucial step for identifying and exploring the perspectives of participants in relation to the observed phenomenon. The findings of this study were confined into five main themes, namely Americanization, West idealism, reality awareness or lack thereof, popular media influence, and westernized feminism. These themes embodied the influence of woke culture and ideology on the students’ perceptions, attitudes, and identities. The findings served to provide pedagogical implications mostly at the level of raising awareness of the possible impact of topics that are typically regarded as taboo, the calculated institutional inclusion of which might mitigate their threat to the Algerian identity.