The role of speaking-focused tasks in developing intercultural communicative competence: a qualitative content analysis of high school EFL textbooks

Abstract

Recent global events and instant communication have significantly increased cross- cultural interaction. Consequently, English is now spoken by individuals from a variety of cultural backgrounds. To achieve effective communication with their interlocutors, language teaching must present knowledge and perspectives on how individuals construct the image of others as well as develop their communicative competence. In this vein, textbooks play a crucial role in facilitating the language learners’ communicative and intercultural communication skills. To this end, the present study analyzed the speaking strand in four English language textbooks used in Anatolian high schools in Türkiye, in order to investigate how these textbooks facilitate intercultural communicative competence (ICC) and communicative competence (CC). The learning objectives for developing ICC (Byram, 2021), the communicative competence model (Celce-Murcia, 2008), and Littlewood’s (2004, 2013) “communicative continuum” categories were utilised in analyzing speaking- focused tasks. Additionally, the speaking strand objectives were examined according to the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001) and the functions of the language (Halliday, 1975). The results regarding ICC indicated that tasks lacked depth in content, and that the inclusion of other cultures was limited. Concerning CC, it was observed that tasks required modification to incorporate various strategies allowing for more meaning-focused, authentic tasks that simulate natural language use and effective communication. Finally, the results concerning the cognitive categories and language functions provided insights into the implications of these frameworks for future textbooks.