A visual semiotic analysis of multicultural values in an Indonesian English textbook

Abstract

In the context of the role of culture in language learning, many textbook analysts have so far investigated the representations of cultures in EFL textbooks. Most of the previous findings on the study of culture indicate that EFL textbooks contain more about the cultures of inner circle countries compared to the expanding and outer circle countries. In Indonesia, this area of cultural issues in English textbooks appears to be underexplored. To narrow the gap, this study using the visual semiotic theory of Barthes (1977) examined the multicultural values represented in an Indonesian vocational high school English textbook through the visual images in the textbook. This study shows that there are four categories of multicultural values represented in the EFL textbook: respecting other people’s tradition, appreciating other people’s perspectives, appreciating other people’s cultural products, and appreciating women’s equal rights. These insights give students opportunities to enhance their intercultural communication competence (ICC) by appreciating cultural diversity and accepting racial and religious differences around them.

The Representation of Multicultural Values in National Mandatory English Textbooks Used in Indonesian Secondary Schools

“…Then, this present study used the underlying theory from Bennett (2011), while the previous studies used Chao's framework (2011). Then, the context of the previous studies are various which are from Indonesia (Isnaini, 2019;Kusumaningputri, 2017;Setyono & Handoyo, 2019), Israel (Awayed-Bishara, 2015), and Japan (McConachy, 2017).…”

“…Moreover, the present studies adapt the more than framework to be used to analyze the multicultural values. Isnaini (2019) analyzed the semiotic representation in EFL textbooks while the current research analyzed both visual, textual, and visual-textual representations in the textbooks, so the analysis was more comprehensive to compare the aspects represented.…”

“…It can be a way to solve the current issues, which are about the appreciation of pluralism, cultural diversity, and take care of our earth. It also gives the students a chance to improve their multicultural competence by appreciating cultural diversity and accepting racial and religious tolerance around them (Isnaini, 2019).…”

“…Based on the finding above, there is an imbalance of multicultural content in the textbook. Isnaini (2019) stated that English textbooks should provide more images representing multicultural values' materials to help language learners improve their multicultural awareness through images. Exposing multicultural representations in the language textbook can become "a starting point for multicultural dialogue" (Setyono & Widodo, 2019).…”

A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Value of Multicultural Awareness Represented in an EFL Textbook

“…Intercultural communicative competence is increasingly becoming an additional target for EFL learners and teachers (Isnaini, Setyono, & Ariyanto, 2019) and it is vital for EFL learners to be exposed to cultural knowledge and practice. Awareness of cultural variation is a crucial part of people's lives as they are expected to respect cultural differences at all levels.…”