Exploring Culture-Related Content in English Textbooks: A Closer Look at Advanced Series of Iran Language Institute

Ashrafi, Somaye; Ajideh, Parviz

doi:10.22049/jalda.2018.26195.1056

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

Somaye Ashrafi ¹
Parviz Ajideh ²

¹ Ph.D. Candidate of ELT, Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Persian Literature and Foreign languages, The University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.

² Professor in TEFL, Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Persian Literature and Foreign languages, The University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.

https://doi.org/10.22049/jalda.2018.26195.1056

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 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.

Keywords

20.1001.1.2383591.2018.6.1.9.9

Main Subjects

Language and culture

Article Title [Persian]

بررسی محتوای فرهنگی کتاب های درسی انگلیسی: نگاه اجمالی به کتاب های سطح پیشرفته ی کانون زبان ایران

Abstract [Persian]

هدف این مقاله بررسی سه کتاب سطح پیشرفته ی کانون زبان ایران است تا اینکه میزان تفاوت آنها را در ارایهی ابعاد فرهنگی کوچک و بزرگ، تفاوت در توزیع منابع طبقات فرهنگی و میزان غالب بودن موضوعات فرهنگی ارایه دهد.تنها عناصر فرهنگی در بررسی ها شناسایی شده و آیتم هایی که بار فرهنگی ندارند لحاظ نگشته اند. بررسی آماری نشاندهنده ی این است که طبقه ی غالب فرهنگی متعلق به فرهنگ هدف است و فرهنگ خودی کمترین توجه را به خود معطوف کرده است. یافته ها نشان می دهند که باوجود اینکه موضوعات فرهنگی فرهنگ کوچک درکتاب سطح پیشرفته ی 2 و 3 کمی بالاتر از موضوعات فرهنگ بزرگ است اما فاصله ی بیشتری بین این دو بعد فرهنگی در کتاب سطح پیشرفته ی 1 وجود دارد. عدم هماهنگی در موجودیت موضوعات در بین کتاب ها مشاهده می شود. موضوعات اصلی مطرح نشده مربوط به فرهنگ کوچک می باشد(برای مثال "شرایط زندگی،" "رسم های اجتماعی،" و "زبان بدن"). کمبود قابل ملاحظه ی اطلاعات فرهنگی خودی و عدم تعادل در ارایه ی موضوعات فرهنگی در پرورش و رشد توانش ارتباطی بین فرهنگی زبان آموزان ایرانی کافی نخواهد بود و لذا باعث دشواری در ارتباط بین فرهنگی خواهد گشت.

Keywords [Persian]

توانش بین فرهنگی
فرهنگ خودی
فرهنگ هدف
فرهنگ بیت المللی
فرهنگ بزرگ
و فرهنگ کوچک

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Exploring Culture-Related Content in English Textbooks: A Closer Look at Advanced Series of Iran Language Institute

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Volume 6, Issue 1 - Serial Number 11March 2018Pages 91-109

Volume 6, Issue 1 - Serial Number 11
March 2018
Pages 91-109