The discussion of cultural aspects in the foreign language class has been a subject quite debated in the language teaching and learning field. The teaching of culture is thought to be indispensable for two main reasons: 1) it can help students develop their communicative competence in an effective way through the contact with sociolinguistic and cultural patterns of the foreign language and 2) it can make them aware of the culture diversity in the world, thus developing more tolerance and positive attitudes to other cultures, which in turn can lead to an increased motivation. In this article, I focus on the relationship between culture teaching and motivation to learn English. I discuss to what extent certain cultural topics and activities and the way these are developed by a teacher can influence students' motivation to learn English. The results presented are part of a doctoral project, developed with a second year high school students in a public school in 2004.
English; motivation; culture