Textbook evaluation in terms of cultural components: a comparison between third-year primary school and first year Middle school textbooks of english
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Date
2023
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University of Oum El Bouaghi
Abstract
In recent decades, an increasing number of studies have come to light suggesting theincorporation of culture in EFL textbooks, as both are the backbone of learning and teachingforeign languages. The aim of this study is to examine and compare the cultural categoriesand dimensions in first-year middle school and third-year primary school textbooks ofEnglish. Content analysis is used, relying on the frameworks of Cortazzi and Jin (1999),Tajeddin and Teimournezhad (2014), and Xiao (2010) to explore the categories of culture(source, target, international, and neutral) and Adaskou, Britten, and Fahsi (1990) toinvestigate the dimensions of culture (aesthetic and sociological). The findings are quantifiedusing frequencies and percentages. In terms of cultural categories, the third-year primaryschool textbook includes three categories, with significant differences in percentages. Sourceculture dominates, followed by neutral culture, while target culture had almost goneunnoticed. International cultures are entirely missing. However, all categories of culture arerepresented in the first-year middle school textbook, with no equal weight in percentages,dominated by the source culture, followed by target, international, and neutral culturesrespectively. As for the cultural dimensions, the sociological dimension has gained the highestpercentage followed by the aesthetic in both textbooks. On the basis of the findings,suggestions have been made to aid in re-examining the cultural content presented in AlgerianEFL textbooks.
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Keywords
Textbook; Cultural categories; Cultural dimensions