Cultural Elements in EFL Course Books

Abstract

Language echoes cultural values, norms and many other features of a society, and is regarded as an inseparable part of such characteristics. Despite the fact that values and features of a society may be kept apart from language in language education, this though would be an incomplete process of language instruction. With this study, we aim to highlight inner and outer circle (+expanding circle) cultural and societal characteristics of the target language, in our case, English. For this, we examined state recommended English course books used in institutions of the Turkish Ministry of Education. As a result of our evaluation, we found that the outer circle (+expanding circle) characteristics occupied a significant place in the content of material designed targeting learners of English. And, this was duly attributed to writers who similarly come from an outer circle (+expanding circle) culture. Whether this leads to a positively effective way of teaching is largely debated by scholars in the field.

Cultural issues in Syrian EFL classrooms

“…There are several studies focusing on the relationship between culture and language (Lambert, 1973;Ochs, 1988;Kramsch, 1993;Lazear, 1995;Jiang, 2000), besides the studies examining the cultural elements in course books (Rajabi and Ketabi, 2012;Ulum, 2014;Roshan, 2014;Ulum and Bada, 2016). It is easily understood from this specific study that Syrian refuge in Turkey learning English have a tendency of learning different cultures.…”

Turkish Efl Students’ Conceptions on Accent

“…They analyzed plots, settings, and characters in these works and thematised to display the outstanding phenomenon of how now English has ceased to be the property of the inner circle only. Moreover, in their study, Ulum and Erdoğan (2016) also evaluated state recommended English textbooks used in the schools of the Turkish Ministry of Education. They accordingly discovered that the outer circle (+expanding circle) characteristics occupied a big place in the materials designed targeting learners of English.…”

The Presentation of Sources of Culture in English Textbooks in Thai Context

“…Today, English is an international language (EIL) used for global communication and a lingua franca for cross-cultural communication with both native English speakers and non-native English speakers (Bada & Ulum, 2017;Crystal, 2003;Jenkins, 2003, McKay, 2002Ulum, 2016;Ulum & Erdoğan, 2016;Ulum & Köksal, 2019;Ulum & Köksal, 2019;Yamada, 2010). Crystal (2008) mentioned that as of 2003 the non-native English speakers already outnumbered the native English speakers by a ratio of three to one.…”

“…International culture refers to cultural information of countries where English is a second language or a foreign language such as the Philippines, India, and China. International cultural content is vital for students to learn because it helps them to gain cultural knowledge of the world and develop international understanding (Bada & Ulum, 2017;Crystal, 2003;Matsuda, 2002;McKay, 2002;Ulum, 2016;Ulum & Erdoğan, 2016;Ulum & Köksal, 2019s;Ulum & Köksal, 2019b). This is especially the case when students whose first language is not English have a chance to use English in an international context (Cortazzi & Jin, 1999).…”

“…Therefore, the cultural background of the authors may have come into play and the notion of authorship as mentioned by Richards (2001) may have been involved. That is, possible predispositions may have been made by the authors to premeditate or intentionally present the lessons and topics in Access English Textbooks to serve as a means for endorsing the interest in as well as the influence of Anglo-American power (Bada & Ulum, 2017;Fairclough, 1989;Ulum, 2016;Ulum & Erdoğan, 2016;Ulum & Köksal, 2019a;Ulum & Köksal, 2019b;Matsuda, 2002;Pennycook;1994;;Philipson, 1992). For instance, on page 15 of Access English Textbook 3 the presentation of a tourist attraction "Tower of London" and the account of "The Yeoman Warders" somehow can be viewed as an indication of the British interest in promoting their tourism industry and history.…”