English Textbook: a Culture-Based Analysis
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P-ISSN: 0854 – 9125 E-ISSN: 2599 – 2678 Vol. 27 No.1, June 2020 ENGLISH TEXTBOOK: A CULTURE-BASED ANALYSIS Trifonia Fahik Universitas Pendidikan Ganesha, Singaraja, Indonesia e-mail: [email protected] Abstract This article presents the results of the analysis of the cultural content of a textbook curriculum 2013 entitled When English Rings the Bells used by students in grade VII of junior high school. The data of the research were collected from reading all sections in the book. The cultural content of the book is grouped according to Byram’s theory which classifies the cultural content of the textbook into eleven parts and to analyse the contents of culture in the textbook. The theory of Krippendorff (1985) is used as guidance. The analysis showed that ten cultural categories were found in the textbook. The most reviewed cultural content is a social identity and social group, behaviour and belief and geography. Cultural content that is displayed is mainly Indonesian culture. Target culture is presented in a small portion. Unfortunately, the authors did not present national history and international culture is in this textbook. Keywords: contents analysis, textbook, curriculum 2013 Received: 11 January 2020 Revised (1): 22 May 2020 Revised (2): - Accepted: 25 May 2020 Published: 01 June 2020 INTRODUCTION a textbook in terms of reading texts and The English textbook for grade seven listening script related to linguistic practices students in Junior High School entitled “When may not represent the target culture (English- English Rings a Bell" is used as the primary speaking country). In line with this, a study source in the learning process. The book has conducted by Mahmood (2012) revealed the been revised three times since the first same thing, stating that the cultural content in publication in 2013. The reason why the book is the textbook makes students alienated from revised is to make the contents of the book their own culture. The culture that is written in suited with the basic competencies for the the textbook does not represent the culture in learners in grade seven. It means that the the community. content of the textbook, which is used as the In Indonesia, the writing of textbooks must learning sources in the classroom is expected to be adjusted to the demands of the curriculum. present Indonesian culture, target culture, and The newest Curriculum in Indonesia International culture. Thus, students can gain a (Curriculum 2013), issued by the Indonesian lot of cultural knowledge from the textbook in Ministry of Education and Culture includes the learning process as it is said that language is eighteen (18) values of National characters and a reflection of the culture and vice versa. Cultural education as character building in all Ndura (2004) argues that the elements of education. The (eighteen) 18 implementation and development of English characters’ values need to be taught during the books and other teaching materials must learning process in schools and all subjects, represent a different point of view from a including English as a second language. pluralistic society. Subsequently, students are Regarding the fact that the existence of the involved in the process of uncovering and language cannot be separated from the culture, dealing with cultural biases and encourage thus the textbooks used in the learning process inter-cultural educational implementation. have certain cultural content. The aim of Chao (2011) conducted a study and found that Curriculum 2013 is for the learners to gain Lingua Scientia| 55 P-ISSN: 0854 – 9125 E-ISSN: 2599 – 2678 Vol. 27 No.1, June 2020 certain values, besides knowledge Fitri et al. idea for the process of learning in the (2018). In line with this, Wasundari et al. (2018) classroom. Syarilili et al. (2018) emphasised the state that teachers need to support the idea of importance of language learning through ‘character education’ by integrating local teaching culture. English teachers would find it cultures in learning English as a foreign difficult to teach their students cultural content language. without textbooks, as textbooks provide the Many researchers highlight the importance necessary information without transporting the of textbooks in teaching and learning in the students into the country of the native- foreign language classroom. (Syarilili et al., speakers. It is also critical that cultural material 2018) stressed the importance of language is present in textbooks to improve student learning through culture teaching. Cultural intercultural communication skills. contents usually presented in the textbook. The Moreover, McKay (2002) cited in Chao standard assessment is needed to assess the (2011b) point out that the importance of content of textbooks is to find out what kind of developing cross-cultural sensitivity as an cultural content presented in textbooks. In line international language (ILL) learning during with this, Abbasian and Branch (2017) state English and then suggests that to reflect the that textbooks must be assessed to find out real needs of the various English learners in the what cultural elements are presented and the global village, the three culture cultures – the feasibility of the cultural content to learned by source culture, the target culture, and the students. international culture – should be included in The term textbook refers to the books English textbooks written and published; it can be used as a Many studies have been conducted by some learning source. Passasung 2013, cited in Nur researches to analyse the cultural content in and Faris (2014) stated that in Indonesia, most English textbooks used at various levels in English teachers use the textbook as a learning Indonesia. Adnyani (2011) mentioned that source. Moreover, Rautiainen (2015) states that when learning a foreign language, it is the importance of textbooks can be a tool for important to understand and percieve other the students to gain some knowledge in the cultures as well as the cultures of the learners. learning process, such as beliefs, skills, and The study related to cultural contents was to attitudes. explore the textbooks from many different Hinkel (1999) cited in Rajabi and Ketabi points of view. Nur and Faris (2014) found that (2012) stated that textbooks are widely in comparison with a source culture and recognised as the primary source used in international culture, target culture is prevailing language classes. Textbooks also play a central in the textbooks and culture is represented in role, particularly at the beginning level, in the the textbook mostly by an aesthetic sense. In formal teaching of foreign and second line with this, Santosa and Mulia (2015) languages. Cortazzi and Jin (1999) cited by revealed that aspect of the sociological Rajabi and Ketabi (2012) state that a textbook meaning occupies all forms of the texts, can be a teacher, an authority, and an ideology followed by aesthetic sense. Syahbana and a map, a resource, a trainer”. Pratama (2017) analysed what values were Given that the role of textbooks is crucial in existed in reading books and how reading texts Indonesia's English teaching, the content of the had reflected the values. Lestari (2017) textbook should be appropriate for learners emphasised the relationship between language and in line with national educational goals. As and culture and how English teachers should stated in Indonesia's minister of education and introduce the culture of English in reading text culture regulation, No. 20, the year 2018, one for the students in the learning process. of the national education goal is to emphasise Moreover, Chapelle (2013) described that the character education by, one of many things, content of the textbook typically includes some considering local wisdom. In this case, terms, such as the Earth, body, economy, textbooks, as a learning source, can support the grammar, music, and history of geography. Lingua Scientia| 56 P-ISSN: 0854 – 9125 E-ISSN: 2599 – 2678 Vol. 27 No.1, June 2020 To this day, written textbooks form a lot of the suggested criteria is the assessment of language teaching, even if it is complemented textbook content using a list of criteria to by other resources from the Internet or evaluate the cultural content in a textbook. elsewhere Chapelle (2013). Although there Based on the reflection above, this study aims were many studies have researched the to find out the following research question: cultural content in a textbook, the literature on 1. What elements of culture do the assessment of cultural content in the the EFL textbooks “When English Rings textbook is not very comprehensive, and a Bell” for seventh-grade students writers vary in their interests and focus on the contain? role of culture in the ELT textbook Suk Bae This study is aimed at finding out elements of (2005). There are, however, some writers who culture presented in the English textbook suggest a more thorough list of criteria for entitled When English Rings a Bell for seventh- textbook evaluation of cultural content which grade students in Junior High School. The served for research purposes. classification of cultural contents proposed by Byram et al. (1994) propose criteria for Byram et al. (1994:51:52) is used as a guideline textbook evaluation. The categories are as to answer the single research question. follows: METHOD 1. Social identity and social groups (social a. Unit of data analysis class, regional identity, ethnic minority, The data of the research was the reading professional identity). passages taken from the English textbook 2. Social interaction (outsider and insider “When English rings a bell” for the students of differing level of formality). grade seven in Junior High School. This book 3. Belief and behavior (daily routines, was written by Siti Wachidah, Asep Gunawan religious, beliefs, and moral). and Diyantry, and published by the Indonesian 4. Socio-political institutions (state Ministry of Education and Culture as the institutions, health care, law and order, compulsory textbook of the 2103 curriculum.