Proceedings of the International scientific and practical conference ―Science, Technology and Culture: Dynamics of Change in the XXI Century‖ (December 1921, 2025) / Publisher website: www.naukainfo.com. – Baku, Azerbaijan, 2026. – 90 p.

44 The first scientific definition of culture was presented by the English anthropologist E. B. Tylor [4] in 1871, who considered it to consist of beliefs, laws, morality, knowledge, customs, and art acquired by man as a member of society. Scholar E. Hall defines culture as a complex of views, patterns of behavior, and material objects; a system of control that invisibly influences our thinking [1]. American anthropologists A. Kroeber and C. Kluckhohn posit that culture is a complex phenomenon reflecting material and social phenomena; nevertheless, we do not observe culture in its entirety, but rather only specific cultural manifestations [2]. At the same time, we can view this phenomenon as the product of human collective activity. According to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), an essential requirement for effective communication at the professional, social, and cultural levels is the acquisition of the cultural aspects of the language during the process of its teaching and learning. However, we assert that immersion in the target language‘s cultural environment must be inextricably linked with the national specificities of the student‘s own country, recognizing the individual‘s right to be educated on the images, values, ideals, and realities of their native culture. Awareness of this fact is particularly critical when teaching a foreign language at the school level, which entails early acculturation. Consequently, instruction should be non-intrusive and should not infringe upon the student‘s personality or national identity. The process of acculturation – familiarization with another culture – must be indissolubly connected with the process of inculturation – familiarization with one‘s own culture – thereby leading to interaction between the native and the foreign culture. In this context, intercultural learning is defined not merely as interaction with another culture, but as the cultural development of the learner. This process is predicated upon the productive interaction with and conscious awareness of the other culture, alongside the search for new avenues of cooperation and coexistence among diverse cultures.