Open AccessCultural Representation in EFL Textbooks for the Seventh Graders: A Multimodal Analysis
Author(s) -
Fransiska Ika Prihatiningsih,
Ismail Petrus,
Sary Silvhiany
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
lingua cultura/lingua cultura
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2460-710X
pISSN - 1978-8118
DOI - 10.21512/lc.v15i1.7319
Subject(s) - representation (politics) , english as a lingua franca , lingua franca , semiotics , linguistics , content analysis , qualitative research , contrastive analysis , psychology , target culture , mathematics education , focus (optics) , applied linguistics , sociology , pedagogy , social science , philosophy , physics , optics , politics , political science , law
This research aimed to investigate the types of cultures represented in the EFL textbooks for the seventh graders. Two EFL textbooks were analyzed: ‘When English Rings a Bell’ and ‘English on Sky 1’. This research used qualitative content analysis as method of research and applied Kress and van Leeuwen’s multimodal social semiotic approach as the technique of analyzing the data. The result reveals that imbalances in the representation of cultural types exist. Source culture is represented more dominantly compared to target and international culture. It implies that both the authors and the publishers of the textbooks prioritize the learners’ identities construction and characters education rather than focus on the use of language as the lingua franca. Consequently, it could constrain the opportunities for learners to acquire international cultural knowledge and become successful intercultural communicators. Therefore, English teachers need to take an active role in selecting appropriate textbooks and adding supplementary materials or activities to patch up the shortcomings of the textbooks.