‘Should textbook images be merely decorative?’: Cultural representations in the Iranian EFL national textbook from the semiotic approach perspective

Abstract

Studies examining culture representation in language textbooks have rarely adopted the semiotic approach, despite its potential for presenting and (re)creating cultural meanings at their various levels (i.e. cultural, intercultural, multicultural, and transcultural) in the co-instantiations of texts, tasks, and images. To address this issue, a qualitative analysis, embarking on the Peircean semiotic theory, was applied on the text-image-task semiotic relationship. It explored its potential for constructing and reconstructing cultural meanings relative to the Iranian national English as a foreign language (EFL) textbook, Vision 1, from the perspectives of Iranian EFL students, teachers, and teacher educators. Content and thematic analyses of the interview records revealed three themes: first, the co-instantiation of the image and text was indexical, cultural awareness and connotations were almost untouched; second, the textual and visual components driving intercultural meanings and interpretations were not in accordance with the tasks; and, third, some alternative more culturally engaging images were provided by the interviewees. On the whole, the findings confirmed the previous findings that the discourse of this brand-new Iranian localized EFL textbook leaves little space to raise cultural awareness for its users. Based on the findings, a dynamic model for evaluating cultural representations in textbooks is suggested, hoping to show how EFL textbooks can be developed, implemented, and received more effectively in instructional settings.

Cultural Representations in Indian English Language Teaching Textbooks

“…Investigating these resources in the Indian ELT context could provide avenues for further research. While this research has provided a broad-brush quantitative overview of cultural content, a deeper semiotic analysis of Indian ELT textbooks that investigates the images in these textbooks and their cultural appropriateness related to the text is warranted and should be actively pursued by Indian or South Asian ELT textbook researchers (Derakhshan, 2021).…”

“…Baker (2011) and Nault (2006) argued that the teaching of culture, through ELT textbooks, should be integral to four critical functions (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) of ELT. For this reason, researchers have often engaged with cultural representations in English language teaching textbooks (Davidson & Liu, 2020; Derakhshan, 2021; Thumvichit, 2018; Weninger & Kiss, 2013).…”

“…Cultural representations in ELT textbooks have been analyzed in countries other than India (Awayed-Bishara & Muzna, 2015; Davidson & Liu, 2020; Derakhshan, 2021; Song, 2013). One framework for realizing such analyses is the Cortazzi and Jin (1999) framework, which classifies ELT textbooks under three categories: (i) target language culture (used by speakers whose first language is English); (ii) local/source culture (a learner’s own culture); and (iii) international culture (various other cultures around the world).…”

“…As “textbooks play a pivotal role in the success of language education” (Weninger & Kiss, 2013, p. 695), they are instrumental for English language teachers to engage with cultural representations in language teaching practices. Richards (1998) suggested that ELT textbooks function as a base upon which teachers, with their knowledge and skills, can evaluate and modify materials, if required, Derakhshan (2021); Hu et al (2021); Li et al (2021). Baker (2011) and Nault (2006) argued that the teaching of culture, through ELT textbooks, should be integral to four critical functions (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) of ELT.…”

Can We Learn about Culture by EFL Textbook Images? A Semiotic Approach Perspective

“…They have concluded that textbooks containing both aesthetic elements and functional purposes can make teaching more attractive (Kiss & Weninger, 2017;Mofidi & Hashemi, 2019;Shen & Su, 2015). This, in turn, can lead to a better learning experience and the promotion of students" learning motivation and aesthetic experiences (Chan et al, 2012;Derakhshan, 2021).…”