Cultural themes in elementary EFL textbooks in use in Turkey: a content analysis of pictorial representations

Abstract

The topic of this study is ”A content analysis of the cultural themes presented in pictorial form in elementary level EFL textbooks”. The literature review (see Chapter IT) concerns itself first with the general definitions of culture, as derived from anthropological, philosophical, and literary views. It then examines the reasons for: (a) teaching culture in foreign language education; (b) the topics usually included in syllabi; and (c) the approaches or methods for teaching culture. Chapter III describes a content analysis of pictorial themes in four elementary level EFL textbooks. Valdes (1986) emphasizes the importance of materials in teaching culture and she states that ”It is important for the teacher who wants to stress culture themes in the language course to evaluate materials carefully” (p.l55). Since this study seeks to investigate the teaching of culture in the EFL classroom, it seems obvious that we need to examine foreign language teaching materials.