In teaching/learning English as a Foreign Language, one of the goals is to develop interculturally competent citizens. Consequently, culture must play a major role. As textbooks are carriers of cultural information, special attention should be paid to the cultural content of textbooks. This article compares the cultural content of six B2-level textbooks for English language teaching in Spain. The editions range from 1992 to 2013 and were distributed by well-known publishing houses. The purpose of the study is to identify whether cultural content (general, big ‘C’ and small ‘c’) has been incorporated in newer editions to answer to globalised needs and, secondly, to determine which skill is used preferably to do so. The author has adopted a culture learning model developed by Lee (2009) and design a three-fold cultural checklist. Then, content analysis methodology (Krippendorff 2004) has been used to quantify qualitative data. Data suggest that even in newer editions, products, artefacts and external behaviours are used more frequently when trying to portray a specific culture, leaving aside general cultural content and internal culture (small ‘c’). It was also found that skill usage is different depending on the type of culture learning.
The cultural content of textbooks has become an important issue since the main goal of teaching English as a foreign language has shifted from communicative competence to intercultural citizenship. This paper reviews the trends in teaching culture in EFL and examines different approaches to the cultural analysis of textbooks. Then, our study analyses the cultural content of two editions of an intermediate (B1) EFL textbook using our own cultural content checklist. By comparing older and more recent editions, we examine how comprehensive the cultural content is in each book and determine how many thematic categories are covered in both textbooks.
Journal information, indexing and abstracting details, archives, and instructions for submissions: https://ojsspdc.ulpgc.es/ojs/index.php/LFE/index El desarrollo de la competencia comunicativa intercultural a través del aprendizaje cultural en los libros de texto. El desarrollo de la competencia comunicativa intercultural a través del aprendizaje cultural en los libros de texto 1 AbstractNowadays we live in an intercultural society and this should imply a revision of the language learning approach. Since a good level of linguistic competence does not guarantee successful communication, many scholars have turned to intercultural communicative competence (ICC), a trend reinforced by the Common European Framework of References for Languages (2001). Textbooks are the most important tool for the foreign language teacher (Sercu, 2000). Thus, it should be analyzed whether books are effective for cultural learning as part of ICC development. Following Paige (1999) and Lee (2009), we have designed an itemized three-category model (Culture in general, "big C" culture" and "small c" culture) to analyze three B2-level English textbooks. Using this model, we have recorded a number of incidences per item and per category in each book, differentiating between productive and receptive skills (speaking, writing, listening and reading). At the end of this paper, the results will be discussed regarding the different textbooks, categories and skills, highlighting the most relevant information in each case. ResumenLa omnipresencia de la comunicación intercultural en nuestra sociedad hace necesario un cambio de enfoque en la enseñanza de idiomas. La mera corrección léxico-gramatical no es 1 Title in English: The development of intercultural communicative competence through cultural learning in textbooks. 2
The interrelationship between language and culture has a direct bearing on language teaching. Our study focuses on the cultural analysis of textbooks. We have analysed 6 B1 and B2-level textbooks for teaching English to adults in Spain. To this aim, we have used a model of cultural learning analysis based on the earlier work of Paige and Lee. This functional framework gathers every category and aspect of culture needed to develop each of the competencies that are required to accomplish comprehensive culture learning.Findings show that the invisible aspect of culture (small "c" target-culture learning), which is crucial to understanding the values and ways of thinking of a society, receives less coverage in textbooks. Regarding the comparison between B1 and B2 levels, the data indicate that the number of big "C" Culture occurrences is similar for both levels, although there are differences in other cultural aspects. Thus, despite some promising changes in the way of addressing culture learning in EFL textbooks, we are still far from developing intercultural speakers.
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