Cultural Content Analysis of ‘O’ Level English text Book in Pakistan (original) (raw)
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Journal of Education and Practice, 2012
The study is an attempt at analyzing the cultural authenticity of the course contents of English as a foreign language at International Islamic University Islamabad. This study assumes that these course co cultural barriers for the learners who belong to a different set of cultural values and religious and educational background. It traces the limitation of foreign textbooks writers because of their unawareness of the local culture and the social, educational and religious environment. The study on the one hand questions the suitability of such textbooks for the learners (mostly from religious institutions) and on the other hand gives proposals for the development of English textbooks based on contents is descriptive in nature and is done to describe or find out a problem rather than to address it. To bring an improvement in course contents is the basic goal of course evaluation. manipulate a problem statement for this type of research yet ignoring the student factor in writing English text books and selecting these books without doing a prior research into the needs analysis of the learners can as the main problem which inspired the study. This study adopts both a descriptive as well as a prescriptive approach. It analyses the contents to see what is there in the contents and what is required for the learners from a cultural perspective. On the basis of its two fold description the study has given suggestions as to what should be an ideal situation for the selection, adaptation and development of English language textbooks for the learners. The main hypothesis of the study was that there learning English, their social and educational background and the contents of the course book. The inappropriateness of the theories that advocate the inclusion of target language culture essential factor for teaching and learning English in every situation and for all learners is the secondary hypothesis of the study. The study has narrowed down its focus to the cultural relevance of the course contents being tau the IIUI, the communication gap between the authors and the target learners, and to give suggestions regarding the possibility to include the learners' culture in English language courses. The study adopts a first glance evaluation in the light of guidelines provided by pedagogical theorists and deliberately avoids learners' response method (in which learners responses are measured) because of the researcher's own interest in the impressionistic evaluation. The main purpose of the study was to br make teaching of English more learners' centered, to create awareness among the teachers, policy makers and course designers to consider learners needs in the process of textbooks selection and development. Th proves that the themes, setting, characters and worldview, presented in the contents of the book represent a foreign and unfamiliar world for the learners. The study suggests that the learners would be more motivated to learn English if language were presented in the context with which the learners could identify themselves.
Advanced Linguistics, 2021
As an international language, English has gained more importance in international contexts to convey cultural messages. Hence, being proficient in the English language does not only require learners to be competent in the forms and functions of the language, but they also need to consider sociocultural values. In this regard, it is significant to be aware of the differences and similarities between the source culture and target cultures to build cultural awareness and have intercultural communicative competence. Being one of the most used teaching materials, coursebooks play a crucial role to develop intercultural communicative competence by introducing various cultures. Due to the importance of coursebooks in terms of representation of cultures, this study aims to examine the frequency of appearances of source culture, target culture, and international target cultures in reading texts of “English File Elementary” and “English File Pre-Intermediate” prepared by Latham-Koenig, Oxende...
Evaluation of Local Cultural Aspects in Pakistani English Textbook at Intermediate Level
The use of the textbook in teaching English as a second language has been acknowledged as a significant tool during the last century. However, the critical approaches and modern methods have challenged the belief that the textbook stands sovereign and the ultimate blind source in language learning. This study aims to investigate the paradigms of the "hidden curriculum" (Cunnigsworth, 1997) which are assimilated unstated and established by the authors. The main purpose of the study is to analyze the textbook taught at intermediate level in Pakistani colleges at district Faisalabad. The results of the paper may be helpful in identifying the problematic areas concerning the content of the textbook. The findings of the research paper recommend that the qualities and the strength of a textbook could be recognized in the regions of material organization with respect to the areas of learners' indigenous preferences.
THE ANALYSES OF THREE ENGLISH TEXTBOOKS THROUGH THE PERSPECTIVE OF CULTURAL CONTEXT
When evaluating a textbook of English Language Teaching, especially from the cultural context, there are many challenges mostly because of the great impact that the quality of textbooks has in teaching process. The great importance of culture and the need to integrate culture into teaching, has been discussed and highlighted in many studies. Textbooks are an essential part of learning a language in classrooms. Today it seems very common that teachers forget the importance of target culture information and its impact on learning a language and developing the learner’s linguistic knowledge. The purpose of this study is to examine the cultural elements of three different English Language textbooks used in teaching foreign learners. The textbooks include Face2Face, New Matrix and English Plus, which is the textbook used at “Turgut Ozal Secondary School” where I completed my internship. Initially, we expand our knowledge on culture and culture awareness. Moreover, we notice the importance of cultural diversity and textbooks as authentic materials and their impact on the success and failure of teaching culture to second and foreign language students. We see closely some of the guidelines to evaluating cultural context in the two chosen textbooks and then present a survey questionnaire done only for the cultural section of English Plus course book to elicit the teacher’s perceptions. The results have indicated that the teachers of Turgut Ozal College were very satisfied with the English Plus textbook, which is currently part of the curriculum that they are following for the secondary school. The survey presents a clear picture of the cultural context of the textbooks, and indicates that it has been very helpful for the students in increasing their understanding and awareness regarding the culture in English speaking countries. Keywords: English textbooks, cultural context, language, teaching, students
An Evaluation of the Cultural Aspects in the University English Textbook, Well Read 1
An Evaluation of the Cultural Aspects in the University English Textbook, Well Read 1, 2018
This descriptive study, first, seeks to identify the extent to which the different cultures (source culture, target culture, and international target culture) are represented in the textbook, Well Read 1. This textbook is written by Laurie Blass, Mindy Pasternak, and Elisaveta Wrangell and published by Oxford University Press (2007). Second, it aims to recognize the way these cultural aspects are presented. Third, it ascertains the most dominant and portrayed culture(s) in the prescribed textbook. The content analysis method was employed to meet the abovementioned objectives, and Cortazzi and Jin's (1999) model was followed. The purposive sampling was applied to elicit the data from this textbook through selecting representative texts and passages. The findings clarified that the three cultures (source culture, target culture, and international target culture) are generally represented to varying degrees throughout this culturally-based textbook. Besides, the cultural aspects were explicitly and implicitly embedded in different cultural areas in the form of online, magazine, academic and timeline articles. Moreover, it is evident that the target and the international target cultures predominate with little reference to the learners' source culture, i.e. Islamic and Arabic culture (Turkey, Mediterranean, and Morocco). Being aware of the different cultural aspects and the inseparability of language and culture is crucial for an efficient use of English in diverse contexts.
Analysis of Cultural Contents in an English Textbook Series
The purpose of this study was to analyze the cultural presentation in a series of Access English Textbooks used by the majority of secondary schools in Region 16 (Satun and Songkhla provinces) for teaching English to lower secondary students (Matayomsuksa 1-3). Specifically, it explored to what extent cultural contents are presented, what sources and types of culture are presented and how are they presented in the receptive and productive skills of language learning, and whether there is any imbalanced distribution of cultural themes. The data were qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed. First, the units of analysis were identified based on Brown’s (2001) receptive and productive skills in language learning. Second, the frameworks of Lee (2009) and Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (2001) were used to analyse types and themes of culture. Third, sources of culture were analyzed based on Cortazzi and Jin (1999), Crystal (2003), and McKay (2002). Finally, descriptive statistics were used to present the results of the analysis. Results of the study are summarized as follows: 1. Almost three-fourths (71.60%) of the units analyzed contained cultural information. In all Access English Textbooks, receptive skills presenting cultural contents accounted for a higher frequency (56.64%) than productive skills (43.36%). This result not only implies the close relationship between language and culture, but also indicates that Access English Textbooks contain considerable amount of cultural contents that may prepare Thai students for wider communicative settings. 2. In terms of sources of culture, target culture accounted for the highest frequency (47.36%), following with a slight difference were source culture (19.40%) and international culture (17.40%); and the lowest was the unspecified source of culture (15.38%). The target culture was presented the most in receptive skills (31.67%) while the source culture was presented the most in productive skills (17.54%). 3. Regarding the presentation of types of culture in Access English Textbooks, a slight difference in proportion was found between the presentation of Big “C” Culture (53.21%) and that of Small “c” Culture (46.79%). In addition, Big “C” and Small “c” Culture were more frequently presented in receptive skills (56.64%) than in productive skills (43.36%). 4. Noticeable imbalanced distribution of cultural themes was found when all the fifteen themes of Big “C” and Small “c” Culture were ranked. The theme “literature” (17.69%) and “geography and races” (15.12%) of Big “C” Culture were the highest in frequency while the theme “politics” (0.00%) of Big “C” Culture and the theme “body language” (0.00%) of Small “c” Culture were absent in Access English Textbooks. Based on the results of the study, implications for the treatment of cultural contents in English textbooks and recommendations for further research were discussed.
Cultural Contents of an EFL Textbook
2021
Culture constitutes an inseparable part of language teaching and learning process. Using the framework advocated by Cortazzi and Jin (1999) and Yuen (2011), this study aims to scrutinize the potential use of a vocational high school textbook to facilitate students' intercultural communicative competence indicated by the coverage of the types of cultures comprising the source culture, target culture, and international target culture and the 4Ps elements of cultures comprising products, practices, perspectives, and persons represented in the textbook. A descriptive study by utilizing a set of checklists and interviews were employed to garner the data. Moreover, two English teachers at a school where the selected textbook was used were involved to construe their voices concerning the intercultural communicative competence learning and instruction process conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, some systematic procedures comprising initial coding, axial coding, and selective coding were employed leading to the findings, conclusions, and implications. The findings reveal all the types and elements of the cultures were found in textbooks even though with different proportions in each unit. The study reached a conclusion that the textbook was considered to have some potential for developing students' intercultural communicative competence for it has balance cultures in terms of the source cultures, target cultures, and international target cultures. Meanwhile, internet access and students' English proficiency were the common issues as the teachers developed the materials particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, target culture was believed by the teachers to have more benefits for students' learning.
2019
Textbooks have an important role in English teaching and learning process. Culture is an important material in English textbook, because language and culture are related to each other. Some of English textbook such as English on sky used by teachers in Junior High School exposed more target cultures than local cultures. In Indonesian educational system, the changed of curriculum are very frequent, and the textbook also must be revised, including English textbook. Every book must have some advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, the writer is interested to analyze the new revision of English textbook in kurikulum 2013. Hence, this study was conducted to analyze the categories of culture presented on English textbook entitled BRIGHT used by student of grade IX and to find out the categories of dominant cultures in English textbook entitled BRIGHT used by student of grade IX. The textbook was published by Erlangga in 2015 and designed based on the standard of Kurikulum 2013. Content a...