Whose property?

<“Foreign language instruction at any level should be a humanistic pursuit intended to sensitize students to other cultures,>

Is such action an imposition if the student agrees to being sensitized?

Milky wrote:

So called "rules" are flouted, ignored or challenged every day in language use. What do you think is the status of "vous" over "tu" in contemporary use? Can you tell students about that? Are you up-to-date on modern convention? Do you know if the convention you mention still holds true in all variants French?

I just knew you were going to say that!

We are starting to get bogged down in detail.

I think this discussion is predicated on the assumption that “language” and “culture” exist in watertight compartments. There is a complex interrelationship between them and they cannot always be neatly separated. The questions posed in this thread do not admit of easy answers and to an extent the answers are going to depend on who is teaching which language to whom, where and for what purpose.

I hope we can all agree that language teaching should not be taken as an opportunity for the teacher to try to persuade his students that his culture is in any way superior. But teaching a language is not like teaching mathematics. When someone teaches his own language to someone else he is handing over a part of his own experience – it cannot be any other way.

Cultural imposition can also come through lack of consideration of teaching models and learning styles.

"Imposing the Western TESOL models upon Asian students without taking into account cultural compatibility could lead to serious pedagogical challenges. Some teachers' lack of intercultural communication skills and their narrow range of teaching approaches have become a barrier hindering them from adapting their teaching to learner needs and to communicate successfully with Asian students in their teaching. Just as one of the Asian students pointed out, "These teachers are very kind, but they do not know how to teach us."

<To learn about Spanish culture because you want to learn the language is one thing. To have Spanish language and culture imposed upon you when you don't want to learn the language is quite another.>

Mr P missed a third context:

"Especially, in many countries now, the learning of English is not based on the student's decision or will but on their 'duty'. In an EFL context, students basically have no choice but to learn English as their second language."

http://www.hltmag.co.uk/nov01/mart3.htm