2. Applied Linguistics (Inspirations from neighbor disciplines)
Ali Roohani; Mohsen Hosseini
Abstract
Culture is regarded as a part of English language teaching (ELT). Also, ELT textbooks are a main source of intercultural teaching / learning in most English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learning contexts. Thus, representation of cultural content and development of (inter)cultural aspects are important ...
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Culture is regarded as a part of English language teaching (ELT). Also, ELT textbooks are a main source of intercultural teaching / learning in most English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learning contexts. Thus, representation of cultural content and development of (inter)cultural aspects are important issues in ELT textbooks, particularly in EFL contexts. This study analyzed the representation of culture in the Vision series, a recently developed ELT series used nationwide in Iranian high schools, and examined how multimodality in these local textbooks would provide context to develop (inter)cultural aspects. To collect the data, an adapted version of Cortazzi and Jin’s (1999) classification of culture (source, target, international, and globally-shared) was used to analyze the content of the Vision series to see which culture was reflected in these high school textbooks. Additionally, the Wenninger and Kiss’s (2013) semiotic framework was used to examine how multimodality would serve cultural contents through analyzing image-text relationship. The content analysis demonstrated the domination of source (i.e., Iranian) and globally-shared cultural elements with less attention to the target and international cultures. Furthermore, the results showed that multimodality in these textbooks could provide the opportunity for critical cultural reflection, though it was limited to source and globally-shared cultures. By implication, ELT material developers in Iran should incorporate more appropriate materials and culturally engaging visuals associated with diverse cultures into local ELT textbooks to promote Iranian EFL students’ cultural reflection, and, subsequently, their intercultural competence.
2. Applied Linguistics (Inspirations from neighbor disciplines)
Sorayya Mozaffarzadeh; Parviz Ajideh
Abstract
As an important focus of modern language education, intercultural language learning reflects greater awareness of the inseparability of language and culture and the need for providing the learners with materials concerning teaching intercultural communication to enhance learners’ intercultural ...
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As an important focus of modern language education, intercultural language learning reflects greater awareness of the inseparability of language and culture and the need for providing the learners with materials concerning teaching intercultural communication to enhance learners’ intercultural competence in an increasingly multicultural world. Proper development of a learners’ understanding of another culture’s perspective and worldview is an essential of effective communication. Regarding the significance of issues, the present study is an attempt to consider the trend of addressing culture in Iranian ETL textbooks at the high school level of education before and after the Islamic Revolution. The research findings indicated that the cultural contents are neglected in the ELT textbooks used both pre- and post-Islamic revolution. Therefore, due to overlooking learners’ cultural communicative needs intentionally or unintentionally, Iranian ELT textbooks are insufficient materials for teaching communicative language and in overall teaching culture-general skills such as intercultural competence and understanding. It is noteworthy that this study recommends constructive changes in textbooks to make them more communicative and more consistent with the students’ needs and expectations.
2. Applied Linguistics (Inspirations from neighbor disciplines)
Somaye Ashrafi; Parviz Ajideh
Abstract
The aim of this article was to examine three advanced textbooks in Iran Language Institute (ILI) in an attempt to establish if they differ in the extent to which they represent dimension of big ‘C’ culture and little ‘c’ culture, their stance in distribution of references of cultural ...
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The aim of this article was to examine three advanced textbooks in Iran Language Institute (ILI) in an attempt to establish if they differ in the extent to which they represent dimension of big ‘C’ culture and little ‘c’ culture, their stance in distribution of references of cultural category, and also what themes predominate. The analysis identifies just the cultural elements, and culture–free linguistic items were not counted. The statistical analysis suggests that the dominant culture category was the target culture with the least attention given to source culture. It was also found out that although the occurrences of themes of little “c” culture dimension in advanced textbooks 2 &3 were slightly higher than those of big “c”, there was a wide gap between two dimensions in advanced textbook 1 which tends highly towards big “C” culture. There is lack of consistency in the occurrences of themes throughout the textbooks. The main absent themes were common little “c” themes (i.e. “Living Condition,” “Social Convention”, and “body language”). Such considerable lack of source information and imbalanced representation of cultural themes might not be sufficient to flourish Iranian learners’ intercultural communication competence (ICC) and thus might make intercultural communication difficult for them.
