A new decade for social changes

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A new decade

for social changes

ISSN 2668-7798

www.techniumscience.com

Vol. 36, 2022

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Exploring Interculturality in Algerian Middle School EFL Textbooks

Hairech Faiza¹, Belkhir Yasmina Sakina²

1 2Department of English, University of Abdelhamid Ibn Badis Mostaganem, Algeria [email protected], [email protected]

Abstract. Textbooks are indispensable tools for any learning. Teaching and learning a language cannot be dissociated from its culture. Nowadays, proficiency in a language is no more related to grammar mastery, vocabulary, or fluency. Accordingly, language users are presumed to communicate in real-life contexts. Kramsch (1993) stresses the role of both language and culture as components of the latter as considerable in determining and shaping language use and usage.

Therefore, it is noticeable that attention is considerably paid to the cultural elements in textbooks’

contents to assure adequate cultural understanding. Course books are also media for socializations as they vehicle the socio-cultural norms of the foreign language to be taught.

Intercultural competency may be acquired from the content through different aspects (linguistic, visual). EFL textbooks content is not exclusively restricted to linguistic knowledge, but also has the objective of developing an intercultural competence of the target language among their learners. The pupils are in exposure to the target culture, yet their age (11-14) is critical as they might not be able to evaluate some cultural aspects that may collide with the home culture. In this prospect, we investigate how intercultural competence is articulated and presented in the four middle school textbooks of English (My book of English: First, second, third, and fourth levels). Our aim is to verify whether textbooks used for teaching English as a foreign language in Algerian public schools employ an intercultural approach, by examining how both the target and source cultures are depicted. The research tools that we used are checklists. Checklists were used in texts analyses to elicit the cultural aspects presented in the content.

Keywords. Intercultural competence/Awareness, EFL middle school textbooks, internal culture, external culture, native culture, foreign culture

1.Introduction

Language and culture are tightly intertwined. According to Kramsch (1995), language represents culture; it interprets, mediates, and records culture. Thus, language is not only a means of communication, though the latter constitutes a primary function of language; it also mediates social interactions since language is social par excellence. The social context affects the language we use daily. Every experience, undergone by Man in his society, determines his linguistic choice. To put it differently, language and culture are mutually related. Hence, mastering any language is no more bound to the mastery of its linguistic form; it is rather the command of both culture and language forms. For instance, teaching English as a foreign language in Algeria is based on teaching both native and foreign cultures to Algerian students Technium Social Sciences Journal

Vol. 36, 111-118, October, 2022 ISSN: 2668-7798 www.techniumscience.com

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and pupils alike. However, the type of cultures and the extent to which the latter is emphasized at different levels is to be explored. Henceforth, the study at hand aims at exploring the presence of culture in middle school textbooks of English to figure out what and how culture is introduced to middle school pupils. In addition, the analysis seeks to inquire about whether the cultural content introduced to learners is apt to equip them with the necessary skills that make of them intercultural speakers of English. To achieve the target objective the following research questions are probed:

1. To what extent is culture (native and foreign) present in the middle school textbooks of English?

2. What type of cultural aspects is included in the middle school EFL textbooks?

3. Are the cultural elements found in the textbooks sufficient in the making of an intercultural speaker?

In order to answer the aforementioned questions, the following Hypotheses are suggested:

1. Since intercultural competence has become a crucial skill in foreign language learning, it is hypothesized that cultural elements might be omnipresent in the selected books.

2. Due to the critical age (adolescence) of the pupils, the primary focus of the textbooks could be on the external local cultural components.

3. Textbooks might be effective tools for enhancing cultural competence rather than intercultural one.

2.Culture

Culture is as defined by Greenblatt and Levy (1995; 2007) a relative concept since it constantly changes due to variables such as time, people, and places. It is also an amalgam of religions, traditions, languages, values, and norms, to list but a few. Due to its complexity, the concept of culture received considerable interest.

In this study, the attempt is to explain Hall’s model of the cultural iceberg (1976) and to try to account for the cultural presence in the four middle school textbooks of English. Hall was the pioneer to coin the concept of the iceberg of culture in 1976. According to the scholar, Technium Social Sciences Journal

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culture is analogous to an iceberg. Hall (1959) claims that “Culture hides much more than it reveals, and strangely enough, what it hides, it hides most effectively from its own participants”

(p.39). On the small visible portion are the external features of culture, labeled as behavior in the model, such as language, food, dress, festivals, and holidays. The hidden part is larger but cannot be seen because it is below the surface and underlies the behaviour. It contains beliefs and assumptions, body language, values, etc. In this vein, Upton (2018) states, commenting on Hall’s modal:

In the Iceberg Modal of Culture, Hall depicts the similarity between an iceberg, of which one can only see the tip above the water, and culture, of which one can only see the surface behaviours. The size of the iceberg below the water is unknown to the person who is looking from the outside. In the same way, the so-called deep culture (beliefs, values, and perceptions) lying beneath the surface is unknown to the person only looking at the visible aspect of culture. (p.24)

From the quotation above, one can deduce how intricate is the notion of culture to any person who tries to understand it from both sides, outside or inside the iceberg. As such, one may conclude that it is imperative for language teachers to distinguish between the external and internal aspects of cultures, also known, as surface and deep or visible and invisible features of culture due to the complex nature of the relation between language and culture.

Teaching languages necessitate language materials through which learners could practice and understand language forms. One of the primary tools that provide teachers and learners with a variety of language materials is the textbook. In this respect, Sandorova (2016) states: “FL course-books still represent the core of FL education, they have a great impact on what is taught and how it is taught in the FL classroom” (p.178). According to Rodriguez (2015), textbooks constitute one of the crucial elements in acquiring cultural knowledge. In the same line of thought, Opoko-Amankwa et al., (2011), commenting on the textbook’s content, state: “Textbooks should not simply aim at providing a body of knowledge. Rather, they should stimulate the pupils’ interest, develop creativity and interactive learning, and create cultural awareness” (p. 293). Accordingly, textbooks are not solely meant to equip learners with linguistic skills, they are also used to raise students’ inter/cultural awareness and intercultural competence as well. In short, culture could be considered as a core element in the construction of textbooks, for it enriches the learners’ general knowledge and fosters their intercultural competency that constitutes a key factor in the making of an intercultural speaker.

3.Methodology

This study examines elements that are related to teaching culture, namely textbooks which are the substance in which cultural ingredients are presented to English language pupils who are the receptors to develop ICC competence. The four English middle school textbooks that we examined are designed by the Algerian Ministry of Education.

Every sequence and every page of the four textbooks were examined. The cultural contents of the textbooks were selected. The activities in which culture was being presented were scrutinized and categorized according to Hall’s model (1976). The study at hand is qualitative; all the sequences of the four textbooks were analysed using checklists to depict the cultural content and categorize the cultural elements into four variables: native vs. foreign and internal vs. external aspects of culture.

Technium Social Sciences Journal Vol. 36, 111-118, October, 2022 ISSN: 2668-7798 www.techniumscience.com

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3.1.Description of the corpus of study

The corpus used in this study is the series of four middle school textbooks of English designed by the Algerian ministry of education for middle school EFL learners. The first, second, and third textbooks (My Book of English 1, My Book of English 2, and My Book of English 3) consist of four sequences; the fourth textbook (My Book of English 4) contains three sections. All of the four books cover the four skills of learning. Besides, language mastery the books attempt to enhance the pupils’ communicative competence.

4. Data analysis and discussion

In this section, and after the exploration of the cultural content in the four middle school textbooks of English, the obtained data are shown in the following tables.

Table 1: Classification of Cultural Aspects in Textbook 1(My book of English Middle school year one)

Sequences Features Native Culture Foreign

Culture

External culture

Internal Culture Me and My

Family

Values: Parents love p67 yes yes

Me and My Daily Activities

Values:

Respect of time p 80-85 Love of pets p84

yes yes

yes Me and My

School

Values: p100-105

Rights and duties Respect for teachers and classmates

Respect for the environment Respect of time Behaviours:

Politeness, greetings Celebrities

Abdelhamid Ibn Badis p115

Martyrs p116-117

Yes Yes

Yes yes

Yes Yes

Yes yes

Me, My Country and the World

Maps, flags, and universal monuments p129-133-135-141 Universal Foods,

currencies,p130-131-146 Algerian monuments,

food p139 yes

Yes

yes

yes yes Textbook1 focuses mainly on the native culture, contrary to the foreign which is scarcely mentioned at this level. The scrutiny of Textbook 1 reveals that, in the book‘s rubrics, the cultural themes introduced vary between the surface or visible aspects of both native and universal culture. For instance, the book contains themes such as tourist places, food, holidays, Technium Social Sciences Journal

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celebrities, historical facts, and traditions. Among the universal cultural features are parents and home country’s love and respect, social and personal duties and rights, and science’s importance in individual and collective lives.

Table2: Classification of Cultural Aspects in Textbook 2 (My Book of English 2^nd year Middle School)

Sequences Features Native

Culture

Foreig n Cultur e

External culture

Internal Culture

Me, My Friends and My Family

Universal sports activities p23 Hairstyles and haircuts p29 Clothes:

Universal traditional garments p43 Universal value: Friendship p44

Yes

yes

yes yes yes yes

yes yes yes yes Me and My

Shopping

Currency: Pound p63 yes yes

Me and My Health

Food universal dishes p93 yes yes

Me and My travels

Algerian Historical and touristic sites p 107-111-136-144

Algerian crafts jewellery, poetry p114,124

World heritage p145

yes yes

yes

yes yes yes

The study of Textbook 2 shows that most of the cultural components presented in the different rubrics of the book, though very few if compared to Textbook 1, belong to the surface native culture of the pupils. For example, the book tackles several themes such as historical places, traditional garments, and touristic sites. Very scarce are the rubrics that refer to foreign cultures.

An instance of such rubrics is “I play and enjoy p43”, in which the book’s authors introduce a variety of traditional clothes that belong to different countries of the globe. Also important is to mention that in this book’s main focus is grammar-oriented par excellence, for a huge amount of grammatical elements are introduced in Textbook2. Hence, it could be said that the shift to grammar, in this book, impedes the pupil’s exposure to inter/cultural knowledge.

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Table3: Classification of Cultural Aspects in Textbook 3 (My book of English 3^rd year middle school)

Culture

Foreign Culture

External culture

Internal Culture Me and My

Abilities and My interests

Universal heritage (games, literary books, music) p12

Algerian music p24 -26-34-35-36 Universal scholars p 43

yes

✓

✓ yes

yes yes yes

Me and lifestyles

Clothing p50-53

Universal games p 51-52 Historical site p 66

Algerian traditional clothes p69 Algerian traditional dishes p71 Algerian cities now and then p77-78- 79

Algerian children’s games p81-82 Algerian paintings p82

✓

✓ Yes

Yes Yes Yes Yes yes

✓ Yes

yes

yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes Me and the

Scientific world

Muslim scientists p 96

Universal philosophers and scientists p 98

Muslim heritage p 101 nt-ex

Yes Yes yes

yes

Yes Yes yes

In table 3 the analysis reveals a slight shift from the native cultural features to the universal cultural aspects such as games, literary books, and music. Besides, a variety of local cultural elements are omnipresent in the third textbook. The local features included in the texts such as Algerian food, clothes, cities, and games are all of external nature, a fact that may not enhance the pupils’ intercultural competence.

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Table4: Classification of Cultural Aspects in Textbook4 (My book of English 4^th Year Middle School)

Culture

Foreign Culture

External culture

Internal Culture Me, Universal

landmarks(1)

Touristic places p12-14-18-19-23- 46-49

Universal artists’ biographies p17- 18-22

Algerian writers biography p40-44 yes

yes yes

yes yes yes Me, My

personality and life experiences

Famous movies and movie stars p59 Famous writers p60-66-91

Algerian historical figures p84 Universal celebrities p92

Yes yes

yes yes yes

yes yes yes yes Me, My

community and citizenship

Universal historical figures p103 Local vs. global charities p 129 Algerian cuisine, table manners and hospitality p128

Yes yes

yes yes

yes

Yes Yes

The table above shows that the primary concern of the book designers was language forms to the detriment of intercultural competence, knowing that fourth-year pupils would sit for the Brevet exam (BEM) at the end of the school year. Despite the small amount of cultural content in the book, it is noticeable that the foreign external aspects of culture outnumber the external native ones. However, in the last sequence of the textbook, a shift towards the internal cultural features is detected, a step, though not sufficient, that would prepare the pupils to become interculturally competent speaker. This result confirms the findings of Merdassi and Baghzou (2021) regarding the cultural content in My Book of English 4.

5. Conclusion

As mentioned in the previous sections, culture and language cannot be dissected; hence, teaching any language is bound to the teaching of its culture. Yet, teaching English that has embraced the status of a universal language, necessitates, not only the teaching of its culture, but also needs the teaching of the universal cultures due to the global nature of the English language.

In the Algerian Context, pupils are first taught English in the first year of middle school.

This justifies the heavy use of the external native aspects of culture in the textbooks. Because of the young age of the first year middle school pupils, introducing a new culture might be a sensitive issue, let alone introducing its deep elements. A young pupil of ten years old who has not yet reached a cultural maturity (native culture) is not able to learn a foreign culture. Hence, teachers and textbooks’ primary concern should be enhancing native cultural awareness as a first step in paving the way for the future intercultural speaker. This has been confirmed in the study at hand as the findings show that the course-books’ designers are aware of the significance of native cultural awareness to a young pupil. This explains the gradation in introducing the cultural content in the four textbooks: from extensive external native culture to moderate internal foreign culture. In so doing, textbook designers agree with Hall’s (1976) vision of culture “When one first enters a new culture, only the most overt behaviors are apparent.”Hall Technium Social Sciences Journal

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also claims that when one passes a long period in that culture, the deep aspects, and the underlying values and beliefs that shape that behavior emerge.

By the end of the middle school level, an Algerian EFL pupil should have gained a considerable knowledge of culture (native and foreign) that initiates him to develop intercultural competence.

References

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[2] Levy, M. (2007). Culture, culture learning and technologies: Towards a pedagogical framework. Language Learning and Technology, 11(2), 104-127.

[3] Greenblatt, S. (1995). Culture. In F. Lentricchia & T. McLaughlin (Eds.), Critical terms for literature study (pp. 225-32). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

[4] Hall, E. T. (1976). Beyond culture. New York: Anchor Press/Double day

[5] Hall,E.T.(1959). The Silent Language. Garden City, New York : Doubleday &

Company, Inc.

[6] Upton,J.Z.(2018). A Case Study on Increasing Intercultural Communicative Competence: Exploring Skills, Attitudes, and Knowledge. Master thesis

[7] Sándorová,Z.2016.The intercultural component in an EFL course-book package.Journal of Language and Cultural Education, 2016, 4(3) .ISSN 1339-4045 (print), ISSN 1339- 4584 (online). DOI: 10.1515/jolace-2016-0031

[8] Byram, M. (1997). Teaching and Assessing Intercultural Communicative Competence.

Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

[9] Gómez Rodríguez, L. F. (2015). The cultural content in EFL textbooks and what teachers need to do about it. PROFILE Issues in Teachers’ Professional Development, 17(2), 167-187. http://dx.doi.org/10.15446/profile.v17n2.44272.

[10] Opoku-Amankwa, K., Brew-Hammond, A., & Kofigah, F. E. (2011). What is in a Textbook? Investigating the Language and Literacy Learning Principles of the

“Gateway To English” Textbook Series. Pedagogy, Culture and Society, 19(2), 291- 310. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2011.582264