The cultures traditionally associated with English, such
as British and American ‘Anglo’ cultures, are not as relevant to
ASEAN users of English as are the cultures of ASEAN itself.
The curriculum needs to focus on the cultures that comprise
ASEAN and Asia (Honna, 2008). This is all the more important
as government schools in ASEAN typically do not offer courses in
any of the national languages of the group, other than their own,
of course. The English curriculum therefore could provide these
students with the opportunity of at least learning about the cultures of their region. The importance of this can be gauged by noting
that ASEAN is culturally extremely diverse. Not only are the major
religions of Buddhism (Thailand, for example), Islam (Indonesia
for example), and Christianity (The Philippines, for example)
worshipped across the group, there are also literally hundreds
of ethnic groups represented within the nations of ASEAN. The
ELT curriculum therefore provides an opportunity to develop
ASEAN intercultural competence in the citizens of ASEAN
countries.