Şerife Durna is an English Lecturer at Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University, Türkiye. She obtained her MA at Çağ University, Mersin, Türkiye and she is PhD candidate at Erciyes University, Kayseri, Türkiye. Her research interests include culture, teaching English to young learners and curriculum development. Email: serifedurna46@gmail.com

 

Note

Preliminary findings of this study were orally presented with the title “Exploring Cultural Elements in EFL Textbooks in Turkish and German Secondary Schools: A Comparative Study on EFL Textbooks for 6th Grade” at 14th International Conference on Teaching, Education and Learning (ICTEL), Lisbon, Portugal, 23-24 May 2017.
 

Abstract

Textbooks or coursebooks, as the main source of learning, especially in English as a foreign language (EFL) contexts where the language is not spoken in the environment, are important for introducing different cultures as they contain written and visual cultural references. It is vital to evaluate the textbooks from different aspects, and it may give even more insight to compare textbooks produced for different countries. In both Türkiye and Germany, EFL is part of the curriculum as a compulsory course in public secondary schools. While in Germany the selection of EFL textbooks may vary from one federal state to another, in Türkiye the Ministry of National Education selects a certain set of EFL textbooks for all public secondary schools. In this study, an EFL textbook used at public secondary schools in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany) and a Turkish EFL textbook at the same level were compared in terms of the cultural elements they contain. The cultural elements were examined in three main categories: source culture (Turkish/German), target culture (British/American) and international target culture, and the extent to which the textbooks differ from each other in terms of cultural elements. The results of the quantitative analysis of the cultural elements in the textbooks are presented along with practical implications and suggestions for further research.
 

Introduction

English has been incorporated into regular school curricula in more than 100 nations as a second or foreign language spoken by over 1.5 billion people (Crystal, 2012). Therefore, the purpose of teaching language in today's globalised society is to equip learners with the skills they will need to acquire and use the language and to prepare them for communication with people from diverse cultural backgrounds. For this reason, intercultural competency training has become increasingly important. Since foreign cultures are the primary source of information in EFL classes, textbooks ought to include allusions to both native English and non-native cultures (Alptekin, 2002; Cortazzi & Jin, 1999).

Since textbooks are educational materials, it is imperative that they be appropriately designed to meet the needs of students. Therefore, it becomes even more crucial to assess them, so that programme designers, material developers and educators can make informed judgements about the effect they will exert in learning contexts (Azizifar, et al, 2010). Textbook review has become crucial in order to facilitate language learning, and textbook evaluation should involve the assessment of linguistic and cultural elements in textbooks (McGrath, 2002)

Many language teachers in an EFL context view teaching culture as a crucial issue (Chang, 2004; Damen, 1987; Kramsch, 1995; 1998; Lange & Paige, 2003). They also view it as the primary source of language education, with textbooks covering linguistic and cultural information related to the target language (Chen, 2000; Cortazzi & Jin, 1999; Huang, 2003). Many linguists believe that any language acquisition strategy that ignores the target culture would be inadequate when it comes to language teaching. Since language teachers are also considered culture teachers because learning a new language entails learning a new culture, the subject of cultural transmission through textbooks has gained significant attention among educators (Allwright and Bailey, 1991; Byram, 1989). Many academics and linguists fervently contend that culture ought to be regarded as a crucial ability similar to the other ones in language teaching, and it should be part of teaching materials (Alptekin, 1993, 2002; McKay, 2000; Hussein, 2022).

Furthermore, it has been noted by Byram (2012, 2013) and Kumaravadivelu (2008) that intercultural citizenship and global cultural consciousness ought to be primary goals of language acquisition. Additionally, they emphasise the transformative nature of language instruction, which can only be achieved by critical thinking while reflecting on culture and understanding. Materials that support the growth of a reflective, receptive, and globally aware language learner may facilitate this skill

Because of this, textbooks play a significant part in education's ability to influence society. Whether they reflect the target language culture, the learners' home culture, or the global cultural diversity, obvious cultural references in the texts and visual elements have been the subject of several studies in textbooks with a critical perspective (McKay, 2000). Textbooks convey messages, either overt or covert, that help students establish perspectives on their own and other cultures, pass values down to future generations, and indirectly foster intercultural competency.

There are several studies on textbook culture that look at textbooks from a single nation, but few that compare the cultural references as source, target, and international culture between textbooks from two different countries. Based on this observation, the purpose of this study is to compare EFL textbooks for the sixth grade in secondary public schools in Türkiye and the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, with regard to the cultural components they include. It aims to investigate the degree to which the relevant textbooks make allusions to the target (British/American), inter-national target, and source (Turkish/German) cultures, as well as whether there are any notable differences between the textbooks in this regard.

 

Culture in teaching materials

According to Cortazzi and Jin (1999), culture is the framework of presumptions, ideas, and beliefs that are utilised to understand the words, deeds, and thought patterns of other people. Language experts have stressed learning English-speaking countries' cultures in addition to the language over the past 40 years, and the subject of culture's role in language education has been examined from a variety of angles (Paige, Jorstad, Siaya, Klein, & Colby, 2003).

EFL textbooks have traditionally placed a strong emphasis on Western culture (Alptekin, 1993). Target culture predominates in textbooks for a number of reasons, including being cost-effective for publishers, being challenging for native speakers to write sections free from their own culture, and target culture's historical emphasis on its own culture (Alptekin, 1993).

Prodromou (1988) and Alptekin (1993) assert that teaching a language is impossible without incorporating it into its cultural basis and using the target culture as a teaching instrument. Additionally, learners may become alienated, stereotyped, or even reluctant or resistant to learning if they attempt to express themselves in a foreign culture. According to Phillipson (1992), the promotion of Western (British/American) global textbooks is a government-sponsored industry with both an ideological and an economic objective.

Cortazzi and Jin (1999) underlined the ideology conveyed to educators and students as well as the drawbacks of relying too heavily on textbooks as their primary source of instruction when assessing textbooks for cultural components. According to Canagarajah (2003), textbooks published abroad, the majority of which are created by Western commercial companies, have an influence on curricula in local schools. Moreover, he asserts that teachers in their immediate surroundings mostly rely on these prefabricated textbooks for pragmatic reasons like time and resources. But it is obvious that these textbooks have restricted the role that local educators can play (Tomlinson & Masuhara, 2018).

In addition to emphasising the value of cultivating intercultural awareness throughout the English as an International Language learning process, McKay (2002) suggests that English textbooks should incorporate the source, target, and international cultures to better represent the needs of various English language learners in the interconnected world. 

 

ELT in Germany and Türkiye

Numerous scholars have investigated the significance of culture in the Turkish setting ( Hamiloğlu & Mendi, 2010; Türkan & Çelik, 2007). Though English is an international language, which has made it necessary to foster intercultural awareness and a worldwide perspective, there is still much to learn about the status of English-speaking cultures as they are depicted in EFL textbooks.

Türkiye has not shown enough success in teaching English, despite tremendous attempts (Çolak, 2023). One of the theories for why language training in Türkiye is so ineffective is that EFL textbooks are developed locally under the direction of the Ministry of Education (Büyükkantarcıoğlu, 2004; Doğançay-Aktuna & Kızıltepe, 2005). Since they must adhere to the approved foreign language instruction curriculum, language instructors are required to use them. According to Cortazzi and Jin (1999), their cultural meaning is frequently "taken at face value and often unjustifiably considered as correct, or even as the only interpretation” (p. 200). The government's cultural strategy is mirrored in the locally issued educational resources, which subtly shape students' perceptions of culture (Rathert, 2023). The source culture, including Turkish cuisine, history, and weather, is covered in a study looking at Dede and Emre's Spotlight on English (1988) (Cortazzi and Jin, 1999). Cortazzi and Jin (1999) draw attention to this problem by stating that “although students learn English so they may converse with foreigners, they are not expected to travel to target countries or to learn about target cultures” (p. 205).

Çakır (2010) looked at the cultural references of middle school textbooks used at middle Turkish schools. He discovered that these textbooks lack cultural references, idioms, and superstitions in the target language. Çelik and Erbay (2013) examined four cultural dimensions—products, practices, perspectives, and people—in relation to a set of three coursebooks used in Turkish public elementary schools. Unlike the preceding studies, all three of the coursebooks take into account other cultures despite a distinct emphasis on Europe. Kırkgöz and Ağçam (2011) examined the cultural components in 18 different textbooks to determine the degree to which these texts make references to the Turkish source culture, the British/American target culture, and the international culture. The authors found out that locally published ELT textbooks fairly balance the representation of the source culture, the target culture, and the worldwide target culture.

Germany was also selected for this comparative analysis due to the dearth of cultural studies seen in textbooks. Due to the sixteen curricula offered by the sixteen German states (Bundesländer), conducting such a study is challenging in the German context. While the general objectives are the same in textbooks used, the instructional resources differ. German textbook publishers offer various versions of their textbooks separately for each state, contingent on the curricular specifications of each state. While some states have created shared curricula, the majority have not. Studies pertaining to the cultural components of German literature are quite rare. In a study, Kohl (2016) looks at Abraham Lincoln as a theme in English and history textbooks and summarises the ways and reasons that Lincoln can be taught in political science, history, or EFL classes. He concludes that EFL classrooms mostly cover American history. The cognitive, affective, and procedural components of EFL elementary textbooks from Germany and Syria were compared by Hasan and Raddatz (2009). The German textbooks introduce British culture right away, but the Syrian textbooks only cover the original culture up to the third volume of the textbook series, which also covers British culture.

 

Methodology

The current study employed Content Analysis (CA) as a technique to determine the cultural content of the primary texts. The texts may take the shape of written, visual, or spoken forms, and the content may consist of words, images, or themes (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2000; Neuman, 1997). Content analysis is regarded as a dependable method in educational research since it follows a clear strategy to systematically categorise the data (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2000; Holsti, 1969; Neuman, 1997).

A list of cultural references was developed based on an analysis of the textbooks' written (names of persons and locations, themes in the written texts, etc.) and visual (images, maps, photographs, drawings, etc.) contents. Then, using the paradigm put forward by Cortazzi and Jin (1999) and McKay (2000), those cultural allusions were divided into three categories: the source (Turkish and German, respectively), the target (British/American), and the international target culture (French, Russian, Spanish, etc.). The written words and images that made no explicit reference to any particular culture were deemed to be assertions devoid of cultural content and were, thus, excluded. The analysis findings are given in separate sections for each book's source, target, and worldwide cultures.

This study involved an analysis of two books: English Net (Şilit, 2016; henceforth English Net) (152 pages) from Türkiye and Lighthouse 2 (Abbey et al., 2016; henceforth Lighthouse) (254 pages) from Germany. By removing terminology and references, 140 pages of English Net and 179 pages of Lighthouse were examined in order to compare the two books' cultural allusions.

 

Findings

Statistical findings

There were a total of 205 references to culture from the Turkish local textbook English Net and 219 from the German local textbook Lighthouse. Figure 1 shows the results of the quantitative data of cultural references in two books as a whole.

                Figure 1. Distribution of cultural allusions in English Net and Lighthouse

In English Net, the target culture has the highest percentage (40.48%), followed by the international culture (30.24%) and the source culture references (29.26%). Target culture has the largest share in Lighthouse 2, at 77.62%, followed by source culture at 13.24% and worldwide cultural allusions at 9.13%.

 

Findings from English Net

Cultural allusions in English Net were mostly absent from a variety of media, including books, stories, images, activities, and so on. They only included names of individuals and places, though, and traditional foods. First of all, in the book there was just one Turkish name, Sezen. The names of the other characters were all from either the target culture or the global culture. The only examples of source culture references were images of several Turkish cities, such as Ankara, the country's capital, and various tourism cities, e.g., Antalya, Istanbul and Izmir and the map of Türkiye.

Character names were frequently included in the speech as a nod to the target culture. Images of popular tourist destinations like Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace, and the London Eye were used to introduce British culture. Nevertheless, the book did not give any information on the cities or festivities. One other allusion to the target culture was the concept of food as a single unit. International culture was also represented by characters from Egypt, France, Germany, Spain, Japan, and Russia, as well as by allusions to regional specialties. At higher levels, learning about culture requires more than just incorporating the aforementioned cultural components into textbooks. 

 

Findings from Lighthouse

In Lighthouse, cultural allusions were displayed in a variety of ways including conversations, images, graphics, games, tales, and brief writings. Lighthouse also provided details on various celebrations, occasions, and myths, which help to provide a richer understanding of the target, source and international cultures. First, allusions to the original culture were found in German cities, such as Köln, the country's capital, and Berlin, as well as in the map of Germany that shows the locations of all the cities.

The target culture was mentioned frequently and additional information was provided through rich content. Character and city names were included, but there was also a wealth of knowledge on historical sites and occasions, celebrations, folklore, and tales from the target culture, such as King Arthur and The Tale of Guy Fawkes. A conversation that portrayed the St. Martin's Day light celebration was also included. Lighthouse also contained details about day-to-day living in countries where the target language is spoken as the first language.

Additionally, the international cultures were included by mentioning the names of actors and the countries like Ghana, Türkiye, Spain, and Sweden. Lighthouse, however, fell short of providing a solid basis for cultural acquisition. The textbook did not emphasise international culture, but references to source and target cultures were sufficient for acquiring new cultural knowledge.

 

Discussion and conclusion

This study aimed to compare two ELT textbooks for 6th graders used in Germany (Lighthouse) and Türkiye (English Net) in terms of cultural references (target, source and international). The references to the target culture in Lighthouse were rich both in quantity and quality. It included everyday life in target countries as well as information about historical places and events. It also displayed enough information about festivals, stories and legends of the target culture. However, it did not have sufficient references to source and international cultures and it could have benefitted from including more references to source and international cultures to further enhance students' intercultural competence (Tüm & Uğuz, 2014). English Net, on the other hand, appeared to have a greater number of cultural allusions both from the source and international cultures, but the allusions lacked depth to engage learners in intercultural competence building. English Net seemed to achieve a more successful balance between the three cultural components (international, source, and target), which is in line with previous studies (Çelik & Erbay, 2013; Kırkgöz & Ağçam, 2011).

These findings, read in the light of Huang’s (2019) note that just integrating items from different cultures that are statistically equal into textbooks does not guarantee that students will develop awareness of cultural diversity. To build learners’ intercultural communicative skills, the deliberate integration of cultural elements with accompanied tasks—rather than just quantity—is essential (Afifah, & Zuchdi, 2018; Ağcihan, & Gokce, 2018; Eslami & Chen, 2011; Gashi, 2021; Zhang & Lütge, 2023).

The results of this study can help educators and stakeholders better understand how to develop culturally sensitive materials to improve students' intercultural competency (Gashi, 2021). This holds especially for the local Turkish textbook evaluated in this study. However, it is important to keep in mind that textbook authors may be forced to condense, limit, and leave out important details that are necessary for true cultural acquisition due to space constraints (Huang, 2019; Gashi, 2021; Cahyati, & Rahmijati, 2017). This highlights the difficulty of preparing materials and teaching about culture, which involves more than just naming and displaying some cultural information. Finding out whether cultural aspects of various cultures are represented in textbooks may serve as a starting point for the development of materials that support global citizens with the intercultural communicative competence to communicate with different cultures (Dooly & Villanueva, 2006). It is also recommended that authors and teachers should be trained in intercultural competence and awareness of different cultures.

This study is limited to only two textbooks. Further studies should evaluate materials from other levels of primary or secondary school, and analysing textbooks from other countries would lead to a more comprehensive understanding of how culture is displayed in English language teaching materials.

 

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