Presentation of Cultural Information in a Series of English Textbooks

Main Article Content

Ian Glenn Carag Labtic
Adisa Teo

Abstract

Although several studies have been conducted on the analysis of the cultural information in the English textbooks in Thailand, none of them focused on the presentation of the types of culture and their presentation in the four skills of language learning. With the use of the framework based on Lee’s (2009) and Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (2001), the cultural information in the textbooks was analyzed in terms of Big “C’ and Small ”c” Culture. The findings revealed that Big “C” Culture were slightly more prominent than Small “c” Culture and both were presented in the receptive skills of listening and reading more frequently than in the productive skills of speaking and writing. This study sheds some light on the types of cultural information addressed in English textbooks to facilitate the learning of culture as a component of intercultural communicative competence and to prepare EFL students for international communication settings.

Article Details

Section
Research articles

References

Böcü, A.B., & Razı, S. (2016). Evaluation of textbook series ‘Life’ in terms of cultural components. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 12(2), 221-237.

Brown, H. B. (2001). An interactive approach to language pedagogy (2nd Ed.). White Plains, New York: Addison Wesley Longman.

Byram, M. (1997). Teaching and assessing intercultural communicative competence. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters Ltd.

Chastain, K. (1988). Developing language skills: Theory and practice. Orlando, Florida: Harcourt Brace Janovich Publishers.

Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, teaching, assessment (2001). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Cortazzi, M. & Jin, L (1999). Cultural mirrors: Materials and methods in the EFL classroom. In E. Hinkel (ED), Culture in second language teaching and learning (pp. 196-219) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Crystal, D. (2003). English as a global language. (2nded.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Crystal, D. (2008). Two thousand million? English Today, 24(1), 3-6. doi:10.1017/S0266078408000023

Crystal, D. (2010) - English as a 'global' language? www.macmillanglobal.com/blog/teachingtips/david-crystal-english-as-a-global- language. Published on 19th April, 2010 in Teaching Tips by Matt Kay

Cunningsworth, A. (1995). Choosing your coursebook. London: Heinemann.

Hamiloğlu, K., & Mehdi, B. (2010). A content analysis related to the cross-cultural/intercultural elements used in EFL coursebooks. Sino-US English Teaching,7(1), 16-23.

Kirkpatrick, A. (2010). English as a lingua franca: A multilingual model. Singapore: NUS Press.

Jenkins, J. (2003). World Englishes: A resources book for students. London: Routledge.

Jing, X., & Laohawiriyanon C. (2010). Cultural contents in a university EFL listening textbook inChina. Proceedings of the 2nd international Conference on Humanities and Social Sciences, Prince of Songkla University, Hatyai, 1-14

Kachru, Y., & Smith, L.E. (2008). Culture, context, and world Englishes. New York: Routledge Taylor and Francis Group.

Kramsch, C. (1998). Language and culture. Oxford University Press.

Kramsch,C. (2013). Culture in foreign language teaching. Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research 1(1), (Jan., 2013) 57-78

Krashen, S. D. (1981). Second language acquisition and second language learning. Oxford: Pergamon Press.

Kaewsakul, W., & Teo, A. (2016). Cultural contents in Fundamental English coursebooks. NIDA Journal of Language and Communication, 21 (27),1-17.

Lee, K-Y (2009). Treating culture: what 11 high school EFL conversation textbook in South Korea do. English Teaching: Practice and Critique, 8, 76-96.

Matić, J. (2015). ‘BIG C’ and ‘SMALL C’ Culture in EFL Materials used with Secondary Year Students Majoring in English at the Department of English, University of Belgrade. Retrieved September from http://www.komunikacijaikultura.org/KK6/KK6Matic.pdf

McKay, S.L. (2003). Towards an appropriate EIL pedagogy: re-examining common ELT assumptions. International Journal of Applied Linguistics.13 (1), 1-22.

Ministry of Education (2008). The basic education core curriculum B.E. 2551 (A.D. 2008)Bangkok: ACFT.

Peterson, B. (2004). Cultural intelligence: A guide to working with people from other cultures.Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press.

Richards, J. C. (2001). The role of textbooks in language program. 1-6. Retrieved from http://aaboori.mshdiau.ac.ir/FavouriteSubjects/role-of-textbooks.pdf

Sinicrope, C., Norris, J., & Watanabe, Y. (2012). Understanding and assessing intercultural competence: A summary of theory, research, and practice.

Smith, L. (1976). English as an international auxiliary language. RELC Journal, 7(2), 38-42.

Tomalin, B. & Stempleski, S. (1993) Cultural awareness. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Yamada, M. (2010). English as a multicultural language: Implications from a study of Japan’s junior high schools’ English language textbooks. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 31 (5), 491-506.

Weber, R. P. (1990). Basic content analysis (2nd ed.). Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.