English Culture Presentation in Basic Education English Textbooks

Abstract

Presenting culture within textbooks affects education. Introducing a foreign language in addition to its culture enhance its appreciation. English is considered as a foreign language in Libya and it is introduced to students since year one. This study was to trace the presentation of English culture within English as Foreign Language textbooks that are presented to basic education students. Different main and sub cultural aspects were highlighted within eight textbooks. Thematic analysis was used and Ramires and Hall (1990) cultural themes constituted the basis to highlight these aspects. It has been noticed that personal and social themes are the dominant cultural themes whereas political and environmental themes are the less represented ones. It has also been noticed that cultural aspects that are related to attitudes, beliefs and perception (small c) are less represented than aspects related to achievements (big C). Finally, it has been noticed that presentation of culture does not have a certain pattern that goes with the level of the textbook. Inconsistency of culture representations suggests that more care should be taken to the sequence and density of culture presentation within language textbooks. Results of this study also suggest that more research needs to be carried out to other relevant factors such as students and teachers’ perception and attitude towards introducing culture in language textbooks.