A Hidden Curriculum in Language Textbooks: Are Beginning Learners of French at U.S. Universities Taught About Canada?

Chapelle, Carol A.

doi:10.1111/j.1540-4781.2009.00852.x

Cited by 41 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Bragger and Rice note that textbooks are used "for curriculum design, for lesson planning, as a basis for assessment, and perhaps too often, to define their [instructors'] approach to teaching" (p. 107). Several researchers have examined how various aspects of language are addressed in textbooks, including approaches to grammar (Aski, 2003;Fernández, 2011), cultural content (Chapelle;Gulliver, 2010), stylistic variation (Etienne & Sax, 2009), pragmatics (Nguyen, 2011), and fluency (Rossiter et al, 2010). However, apart from examinations of pronunciation-specific materials (Gorsuch, 2001), little attention has been given to how pronunciation is treated in general ESL textbooks.…”

Section: Plusieurs Enseignants Hésitent à Enseigner La Prononciation mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is widely acknowledged that textbooks play a powerful role in many language classrooms (Bragger & Rice, 2000;Chapelle, 2009). Bragger and Rice note that textbooks are used "for curriculum design, for lesson planning, as a basis for assessment, and perhaps too often, to define their [instructors'] approach to teaching" (p. 107).…”

Section: Plusieurs Enseignants Hésitent à Enseigner La Prononciation mentioning

confidence: 99%

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How Well do General-Skills ESL Textbooks Address Pronunciation?

Derwing¹,

Diepenbroek²,

Foote³

2013

TESL

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Many instructors are reluctant to teach pronunciation in adult ESL classrooms, often because of lack of formal training. However, significant numbers of ESL students want pronunciation instruction. Although stand-alone pronunciation courses for second-language (L2) learners exist, many students cannot gain access to them. One approach to meeting the needs of both instructors and students is for general-skills L2 textbooks to include pronunciation activities. We examined 12 ESL general-skills textbook series (48 texts in total) and six accompanying teachers' manuals to determine to what extent these popular books include pronunciation activities and how consistent the texts are across individual series.We also recorded which aspects of L2 pronunciation are the focus of the lessons. Task types were examined in a subset of five series. We found striking variability in the concentration of pronunciation activities both across and within series. For several years, researchers and practitioners have argued for more attention to pronunciation in second-language (L2) classrooms (Couper, 2006;Isaacs, 2009). There is also evidence that many English-as-a-second-language (ESL) students would like more opportunities to improve their pronunciation (Derwing & Rossiter, 2002; Foote, Holtby, & Derwing, 2011). This is not surprising given that L2 speakers who have a strong mastery of other aspects of Englishlanguage proficiency but who still have pronunciation difficulties may have limited career advancement opportunities and lower earnings (Davila, Bohara, & Saenz, 1993;Pendakur & Pendakur, 1997;Reitz & Sklar, 1997). Similarly, whereas some textbooks used several task types, others relied heavily on a limited range. Furthermore, some texts offered little in terms of explicit explanations. In some instances teachers' manuals provided instructors with guidance; others included little more than repeated admonitions to remind the students to monitor their L2 pronunciation. The implications for teachers of general ESL courses are discussed. Plusieurs enseignants hésitent à enseigner la prononciation aux adultes dans les cours d'ALS, souvent parce qu'ils manquent de formation formelle. Toutefois, un nombre considérable d'apprenants en ALS voudraient qu'on enseigne la prononciation. Même si les cours autonomes de prononciation pour les apprenants d'une langue seconde existent, plusieurs étudiants n'y ont pas accès. Une démarche qui répondrait tant aux besoins des enseignants que ceux des étudiants consisterait à intégrer des activités de prononciation dans les manuels L2 évoquant des compétences générales. Nous avons examiné 12 séries de manuels de compétences générales en ALS (48 volumes en tout) et six manuels pour enseignants dans le but de déterminer dans quelle mesure ces manuels bien répandusAlthough the demand for ESL pronunciation instruction has been partly addressed in that several pronunciation textbooks and teacher resources are currently available (Celce-Murcia et al., 2010;Gilbert, 2004;Grant, 2010;Hewings, 2004;Yates & Z...

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Section: Plusieurs Enseignants Hésitent à Enseigner La Prononciation mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Plusieurs Enseignants Hésitent à Enseigner La Prononciation mentioning

confidence: 99%

How Well do General-Skills ESL Textbooks Address Pronunciation?

Derwing¹,

Diepenbroek²,

Foote³

2013

TESL

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Methodology should be evident from the documentation of the study, and here we can see a range of different methods developing: from quantitative content analysis encompassing the counting of words or topics in larger amounts of texts (e.g., Chapelle, 2009), to more qualitative discourse analysis of selected passages (e.g., Kramsch, 1988;Chapelle, 2010) and impressionistic readings of textbooks (e.g., Risager, 1991).…”

Section: Research Purposes and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Finding little Canadian and Quebecois cultural content of beginning French language teaching materials in use in schools in the northern United States, Chapelle (2009) uses the transnational paradigm to argue that American students living in the northern United States should learn about the language and culture of Canada and Quebec. She points out the value of Canadian and Quebecois cultural content which offers opportunities to explore aspects of local historical, linguistic, and cultural diversity, such as the non-neutral, political role of language and identity in Canadian society, and the complex history of migration of French Canadians across the US-Canadian border.…”

Section: Cultural Choices: the National Tradition And Transnational Cmentioning

confidence: 99%

Culture in Textbook Analysis and Evaluation

Risager¹,

Chapelle²

2012

The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics

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Textbooks often play a central role in the formal teaching of foreign and second languages, especially at beginning level. To this day, much language teaching is structured by published textbooks, even if it is supplemented with other materials from the Internet or elsewhere. In view of the importance of textbooks in providing learners with their first authoritative glimpses of the target culture, only a little work in applied linguistics has explored issues concerning the choice of cultural content for textbooks. However, the research that has been conducted points to the importance of different ways of representing culture, the ideological dimensions of cultural choices authors make, as well as the variety of methodological perspectives that are useful.

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“…A study of nine French textbooks used in large public universities in the United States found some mention of Canada in each, but the amount of coverage of Canadian topics and context was not substantial (Chapelle 2009). Moreover, in view of the interesting lessons that US students might learn from Canada about language, the choices of topics missed some significant opportunities.…”

Section: Critical Perspectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The spread of computer-assisted language learning

Chapelle

2009

Lang. Teach.

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This paper argues that the vertical spread of computer-assisted language learning (CALL), i.e., a spread throughout language materials and curricula, makes it difficult to draw a clear distinction between CALL and other language materials. In view of the emphasis that teachers, researchers, and administrators have placed on evaluating CALL, I argue that some valuable lessons about materials evaluation can be drawn from reflection on issues in CALL evaluation. In particular, I discuss the opportunities for professionals to reconsider assumptions held about comparative research, draw upon research perspectives and methods from applied linguistics in materials evaluation, and include critical perspectives which examine the opportunities that materials offer language learners to engage in language and culture learning. This paper argues that the vertical spread of computer-assisted language learning (CALL), i.e., a spread throughout language materials and curricula, makes it difficult to draw a clear distinction between CALL and other language materials. In view of the emphasis that teachers, researchers, and administrators have placed on evaluating CALL, I argue that some valuable lessons about materials evaluation can be drawn from reflection on issues in CALL evaluation. In particular, I discuss the opportunities for professionals to reconsider assumptions held about comparative research, draw upon research perspectives and methods from applied linguistics in materials evaluation, and include critical perspectives which examine the opportunities that materials offer language learners to engage in language and culture learning.

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A Hidden Curriculum in Language Textbooks: Are Beginning Learners of French at U.S. Universities Taught About Canada?

Cited by 41 publications

References 29 publications

How Well do General-Skills ESL Textbooks Address Pronunciation?

How Well do General-Skills ESL Textbooks Address Pronunciation?

Culture in Textbook Analysis and Evaluation

The spread of computer-assisted language learning

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