Language teaching involves culture teaching. This study examines mother tongue teachers’ opinions on the integration of culture elements in the mother tongue classroom. It investigates instructional strategies used by mother tongue teachers in the integration of cultural elements in indigenous language classroom. The study made use of focus group interview with 10 mother tongue literacy teachers. Six key informants were also interviewed. The results showed that, language is a product of culture and must be incorporated as an essential aspect of mother tongue learning and teaching. The results also indicated that, both the mother tongue teachers, and the key informants employ a variety of approaches in the integration of cultural elements in the mother tongue classroom. It is only when cultural elements become an integral part of mother tongue curriculum and instruction, that learners acquire both cultural and communicative competence.
Keywords: Culture, Indigenous Language, Integration, cultural elements, instructional approaches
