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PREPARING LEARNERS FOR A GLOBAL EXPERIENCE: AN ANALYSIS OF INTERCULTURAL CONTENTS IN GOVERNMENT SCHOOL EFL TEXTBOOKS IN PAKISTAN
Corresponding Author(s) : Imdad Ullah Khan
Humanities & Social Sciences Reviews,
Vol. 9 No. 3 (2021): May
Abstract
Purpose of the study: This study aims to build the capacity of a learner as a "global citizen," language teaching needs to focus on building the 5 C's of Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities along with language proficiency. The present study analyzes English language textbook contents taught at the secondary school level in Pakistan's postcolonial and multilingual context.
Methodology: Identity and otherization are used as key heuristic tools to analyze the ideological texture of the focal texts and their influence on adolescent learners' emerging identities.
Main Findings: Data analysis in the current article shows that texts in the textbook promote strong in-group identities. Exercises and activities for students focus on lexico-syntactical aspects of the texts. The communicative and intercultural skills of the students are not stimulated in the textbook.
Applications of this study: This study can be useful for improving English language textbooks, and classrooms need to move beyond traditional language teaching and incorporate active critical thinking and intercultural awareness to suit the needs of the students in the globalized world of our present times.
Novelty/Originality of this study: To create a more stable world in this age of interconnectedness, mobility, and globalization, our young generation needs to develop fluid identities open to dialogue with the Other and seek complexity instead of simplification and stereotyping in intercultural encounters.
Keywords
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- Abe, M. (2020). Intercultural Competence of Elementary School Students in a Japanese EFL Context. JES Journal, 20(1), 68-83.
- Ahmad, M., & Shah, S. K. (2019). A critical discourse analysis of gender representations in the content of 5th grade English language textbook. International and Multidisciplinary Journal of Social Sciences, 8(1), 1-24. https://doi.org/10.17583/rimcis.2019.3989 DOI: https://doi.org/10.17583/rimcis.2019.3989
- Ali, N., Ullah, A., Ali, R., Ali, N., & Zeb, A. (2021). The curriculum of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: An analysis of grade-IX English textbook with gender perspectives. Ilkogretim Online, 20(5).
- Amin, R. U. (2021). Access to English, Schooling Background, and Habitus: Evidence from Pakistani Graduate Students. In Research on Teaching and Learning English in Under-Resourced Contexts (pp. 60-71). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003057284-5 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003057284-5
- Ariawan, S. (2020). Investigating Cultural Dimensions in EFL Textbook by Using Byram Checklist. Register Journal, 13(1), 123-152. https://doi.org/10.18326/rgt.v13i1.123-152 DOI: https://doi.org/10.18326/rgt.v13i1.123-152
- Arshad, A., Shah, S. K., & Ahmad, M. (2020). Investigating cultural contents in English language teaching materials through textbook evaluation. Journal of Language and Cultural Education, 8(2), 127-145. https://doi.org/10.2478/jolace-2020-0017 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jolace-2020-0017
- Asadi, H., & Sasani, F. (2017). Otherization in the foreign policy discourse of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. ZABANPAZHUHI (Journal of Language Research), 9(22), 7-24.
- Asif, T., Guangming, O., Haider, M. A., Colomer, J., & Kayani, S. (2020). Moral education for sustainable development: Comparison of university teachers’ perceptions in China and Pakistan. Sustainability, 12(7), 3014. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12073014 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su12073014
- Aziz, F., Saleem, T., Saleem, A., & Batool, R. (2020). From pragmatic competence to intercultural competence: Pakistani ESL teachers perspectives of teaching interculturality in ESL classroom. Amazonia Investiga, 9(33), 37-45. https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2020.33.09.4 DOI: https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2020.33.09.4
- Baig, M. S., Javed, F., & Siddiquah, A. (2020). Pakistani Students’ Ethical and Social Development through Punjab Textbook Board (PTBB) Grade VIII English Textbook. Language in India, 20(7).
- Darvin, R., & Norton, B. (2015). Identity and a model of investment in applied linguistics. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 35, 36-56. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0267190514000191 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0267190514000191
- Deswila, N., Kustati, M., Yusuf, Y. Q., & Harun, R. N. S. R. (2021). Cultural Contents In The Elt Textbook Prepared By The Indonesian Ministry Of Education For Secondary Schools. Journal of Nusantara Studies (JONUS), 6(1), 222-241. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol6iss1pp222-241
- Dinh, T. N., & Siregar, F. L. (2021). Intercultural Competence and Parsnip: Voices From Teachers of English in Australia. In Intercultural Competence Past, Present and Future (pp. 255-274). Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8245-5_12 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8245-5_12
- Flores, N., Kleyn, T., & Menken, K. (2015). Looking holistically in a climate of partiality: Identities of students labeled long-term English language learners. Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 14(2), 113-132. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2015.1019787 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2015.1019787
- Gholaminejad, R., & Raeisi-Vanani, A. (2021). English language teaching in Iranian mainstream schools: Pedagogical, societal and government policy environments. Issues in Educational Research, 31(1), 111-129.
- Hacker, N. L., & Umpstead, R. R. (2020). Study abroad programs for intercultural competence, equity pedagogy, and social justice in US educational leadership students: An example from Ireland and Northern Ireland. Handbook on promoting social justice in education, 1021-1048. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14625-2_121 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14625-2_121
- Holmes, P. (2015). Intercultural encounters as socially constructed experiences. The Routledge companion to cross-cultural management, 237.
- Islam, K. M. M., & Asadullah, M. N. (2018). Gender stereotypes and education: A comparative content analysis of Malaysian, Indonesian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi school textbooks. PloS one, 13(1), e0190807. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0190807 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0190807
- Jackson, J. (2021). Building an online community to contest stereotyping and Otherization during study abroad. In Intercultural Competence Past, Present and Future (pp. 209-227). Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8245-5_10 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8245-5_10
- Joo, S. J., Chik, A., & Djonov, E. (2020). The construal of English as a global language in Korean EFL textbooks for primary school children. Asian Englishes, 22(1), 68-84. https://doi.org/10.1080/1348 8678.2019.1627636 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13488678.2019.1627636
- Khan, I. U., Imtiaz, A. Shahzad, A. S., Khan, S., & Amina, S. (2021a). Emerging Academic Identities in a Foreign Context: Pakistani International Doctoral Students’ Responses to Supervisory Feedback in New Zealand. Linguistica Antverpiensia, 21(1) 1481-1502
- Khan, I. U., Perveen, A., & Imtiaz, A. (2021b). Social Construction of Language Learners: A Bakhtinian Analysis of EFL Learners’ Subjectivity in the Multilingual Context of Pakistan. Progressive Research Journal of Arts & Humanities, 3(1), 22-35. https://doi.org/10.51872/prjah.vol3.Iss1.80 DOI: https://doi.org/10.51872/prjah.vol3.Iss1.80
- Khan, I. U., Rahman, G., & Hamid, A. (2021). Poststructuralist Perspectives on Language and Identity: Implications for English Language Teaching Research in Pakistan. sjesr, 4(1), 257-267. https://doi.org/10. 36902/sjesr-vol4-iss1-2021(257-267) DOI: https://doi.org/10.36902/sjesr-vol4-iss1-2021(257-267)
- Liu, H. (2020). Voiceless Teachers in Education: Intercultural Experiences and Perceptions of Chinese Immigrant Teachers in Finland. Helsinki Studies in Education.
- Mahboob, A. (2015). Identity management, language variation, and English language textbooks: Focus on Pakistan. Language and Identity Across Modes of Communication, 6, 153-177. https://doi.org/10.1515/97 81614513599.153
- Manzoor, H., Ahmed, A., & Umrani, S. (2019). Intercultural communication at play in local english textbooks. Journal of Education and Social Sciences, 13(2). ISSN 2289-9855.
- McDonough, G. P. (2018). The Joy of Dialogue in an intercultural world: Educational implications from Evangelii Gaudium. Annual Review of the Sociology of Religion, 222-244. https://doi.org/10.116 3/9789004380073_013 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004380073_013
- Mesaros, J. K. (2016). Utilizing analytical autoethnography to enhance educator intercultural competence (Doctoral dissertation, Eastern University).
- Mukhtar, A. A., Sahito, Z., & Siddiqui, A. (2021). Teachers’ Perception about English as a Medium of Instructions: Evidence from the Government Higher Secondary Schools of Sindh, Pakistan. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 11(4), 362-371. https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1104.05 DOI: https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1104.05
- Osman, H. (2015). Investigating English teachers' perceptions of intercultural communicative competence in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. University of San Francisco.
- Peng, Z. N. (2020). From Textbooks to Teachers' Perspectives: Building Chinese Students' Intercultural Competence Through College English Teaching (Doctoral dissertation, Middle Tennessee State University).
- Pérez Gracia, E. (2016). Implementation of the intercultural axis in CLIL-Primary Education: Assessment through teachers' planning and textbooks.
- Riebeling, F. (2018). From Concept to Classroom: Theoretical and Practical Approaches and Gaps to Multicultural Education in Chile. Unpublished Education Studies capstone, Yale University, New Haven, CT.
- Salem, L. R. (2019). The Cultural Content of English Language Textbooks: The Target, the Local, or the Third Place Culture. Edited by: Wafa Zoghbor, Suhair Al Alami, & Thomaï Alexiou, 241.
- Sarmiento, I., Zuluaga, G., Paredes-SolÃs, S., Chomat, A. M., Loutfi, D., Cockcroft, A., & Andersson, N. (2020). Bridging Western and Indigenous knowledge through intercultural dialogue: lessons from participatory research in Mexico. BMJ Global Health, 5(9), e002488. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2020-002488 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2020-002488
- Setyono, B. (2018). The portrayal of women in nationally-endorsed English as a foreign language (EFL) textbooks for senior high school students in Indonesia. Sexuality & culture, 22(4), 1077-1093. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-018-9526-2 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-018-9526-2
- Setyono, B., & Widodo, H. P. (2019). The representation of multicultural values in the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture-Endorsed EFL textbook: a critical discourse analysis. Intercultural Education, 30(4), 383-397. https://doi.org/10.1080/14675986.2019.1548102 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14675986.2019.1548102
- Tong, Z. (2020). Implementing the Rabat Commitment: The Development of Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) as a Pedagogical Framework in a Chinese Educational Context.
- Zhang, J. (2021). Imagined communities and identity options in Beijing Olympic English textbooks. In Language Policy and Planning for the Modern Olympic Games (pp. 144-166). De Gruyter Mouton. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781614514954-006 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781614514954-006
References
Abe, M. (2020). Intercultural Competence of Elementary School Students in a Japanese EFL Context. JES Journal, 20(1), 68-83.
Ahmad, M., & Shah, S. K. (2019). A critical discourse analysis of gender representations in the content of 5th grade English language textbook. International and Multidisciplinary Journal of Social Sciences, 8(1), 1-24. https://doi.org/10.17583/rimcis.2019.3989 DOI: https://doi.org/10.17583/rimcis.2019.3989
Ali, N., Ullah, A., Ali, R., Ali, N., & Zeb, A. (2021). The curriculum of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: An analysis of grade-IX English textbook with gender perspectives. Ilkogretim Online, 20(5).
Amin, R. U. (2021). Access to English, Schooling Background, and Habitus: Evidence from Pakistani Graduate Students. In Research on Teaching and Learning English in Under-Resourced Contexts (pp. 60-71). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003057284-5 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003057284-5
Ariawan, S. (2020). Investigating Cultural Dimensions in EFL Textbook by Using Byram Checklist. Register Journal, 13(1), 123-152. https://doi.org/10.18326/rgt.v13i1.123-152 DOI: https://doi.org/10.18326/rgt.v13i1.123-152
Arshad, A., Shah, S. K., & Ahmad, M. (2020). Investigating cultural contents in English language teaching materials through textbook evaluation. Journal of Language and Cultural Education, 8(2), 127-145. https://doi.org/10.2478/jolace-2020-0017 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jolace-2020-0017
Asadi, H., & Sasani, F. (2017). Otherization in the foreign policy discourse of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. ZABANPAZHUHI (Journal of Language Research), 9(22), 7-24.
Asif, T., Guangming, O., Haider, M. A., Colomer, J., & Kayani, S. (2020). Moral education for sustainable development: Comparison of university teachers’ perceptions in China and Pakistan. Sustainability, 12(7), 3014. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12073014 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su12073014
Aziz, F., Saleem, T., Saleem, A., & Batool, R. (2020). From pragmatic competence to intercultural competence: Pakistani ESL teachers perspectives of teaching interculturality in ESL classroom. Amazonia Investiga, 9(33), 37-45. https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2020.33.09.4 DOI: https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2020.33.09.4
Baig, M. S., Javed, F., & Siddiquah, A. (2020). Pakistani Students’ Ethical and Social Development through Punjab Textbook Board (PTBB) Grade VIII English Textbook. Language in India, 20(7).
Darvin, R., & Norton, B. (2015). Identity and a model of investment in applied linguistics. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 35, 36-56. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0267190514000191 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0267190514000191
Deswila, N., Kustati, M., Yusuf, Y. Q., & Harun, R. N. S. R. (2021). Cultural Contents In The Elt Textbook Prepared By The Indonesian Ministry Of Education For Secondary Schools. Journal of Nusantara Studies (JONUS), 6(1), 222-241. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol6iss1pp222-241
Dinh, T. N., & Siregar, F. L. (2021). Intercultural Competence and Parsnip: Voices From Teachers of English in Australia. In Intercultural Competence Past, Present and Future (pp. 255-274). Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8245-5_12 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8245-5_12
Flores, N., Kleyn, T., & Menken, K. (2015). Looking holistically in a climate of partiality: Identities of students labeled long-term English language learners. Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 14(2), 113-132. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2015.1019787 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2015.1019787
Gholaminejad, R., & Raeisi-Vanani, A. (2021). English language teaching in Iranian mainstream schools: Pedagogical, societal and government policy environments. Issues in Educational Research, 31(1), 111-129.
Hacker, N. L., & Umpstead, R. R. (2020). Study abroad programs for intercultural competence, equity pedagogy, and social justice in US educational leadership students: An example from Ireland and Northern Ireland. Handbook on promoting social justice in education, 1021-1048. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14625-2_121 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14625-2_121
Holmes, P. (2015). Intercultural encounters as socially constructed experiences. The Routledge companion to cross-cultural management, 237.
Islam, K. M. M., & Asadullah, M. N. (2018). Gender stereotypes and education: A comparative content analysis of Malaysian, Indonesian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi school textbooks. PloS one, 13(1), e0190807. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0190807 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0190807
Jackson, J. (2021). Building an online community to contest stereotyping and Otherization during study abroad. In Intercultural Competence Past, Present and Future (pp. 209-227). Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8245-5_10 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8245-5_10
Joo, S. J., Chik, A., & Djonov, E. (2020). The construal of English as a global language in Korean EFL textbooks for primary school children. Asian Englishes, 22(1), 68-84. https://doi.org/10.1080/1348 8678.2019.1627636 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13488678.2019.1627636
Khan, I. U., Imtiaz, A. Shahzad, A. S., Khan, S., & Amina, S. (2021a). Emerging Academic Identities in a Foreign Context: Pakistani International Doctoral Students’ Responses to Supervisory Feedback in New Zealand. Linguistica Antverpiensia, 21(1) 1481-1502
Khan, I. U., Perveen, A., & Imtiaz, A. (2021b). Social Construction of Language Learners: A Bakhtinian Analysis of EFL Learners’ Subjectivity in the Multilingual Context of Pakistan. Progressive Research Journal of Arts & Humanities, 3(1), 22-35. https://doi.org/10.51872/prjah.vol3.Iss1.80 DOI: https://doi.org/10.51872/prjah.vol3.Iss1.80
Khan, I. U., Rahman, G., & Hamid, A. (2021). Poststructuralist Perspectives on Language and Identity: Implications for English Language Teaching Research in Pakistan. sjesr, 4(1), 257-267. https://doi.org/10. 36902/sjesr-vol4-iss1-2021(257-267) DOI: https://doi.org/10.36902/sjesr-vol4-iss1-2021(257-267)
Liu, H. (2020). Voiceless Teachers in Education: Intercultural Experiences and Perceptions of Chinese Immigrant Teachers in Finland. Helsinki Studies in Education.
Mahboob, A. (2015). Identity management, language variation, and English language textbooks: Focus on Pakistan. Language and Identity Across Modes of Communication, 6, 153-177. https://doi.org/10.1515/97 81614513599.153
Manzoor, H., Ahmed, A., & Umrani, S. (2019). Intercultural communication at play in local english textbooks. Journal of Education and Social Sciences, 13(2). ISSN 2289-9855.
McDonough, G. P. (2018). The Joy of Dialogue in an intercultural world: Educational implications from Evangelii Gaudium. Annual Review of the Sociology of Religion, 222-244. https://doi.org/10.116 3/9789004380073_013 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004380073_013
Mesaros, J. K. (2016). Utilizing analytical autoethnography to enhance educator intercultural competence (Doctoral dissertation, Eastern University).
Mukhtar, A. A., Sahito, Z., & Siddiqui, A. (2021). Teachers’ Perception about English as a Medium of Instructions: Evidence from the Government Higher Secondary Schools of Sindh, Pakistan. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 11(4), 362-371. https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1104.05 DOI: https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1104.05
Osman, H. (2015). Investigating English teachers' perceptions of intercultural communicative competence in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. University of San Francisco.
Peng, Z. N. (2020). From Textbooks to Teachers' Perspectives: Building Chinese Students' Intercultural Competence Through College English Teaching (Doctoral dissertation, Middle Tennessee State University).
Pérez Gracia, E. (2016). Implementation of the intercultural axis in CLIL-Primary Education: Assessment through teachers' planning and textbooks.
Riebeling, F. (2018). From Concept to Classroom: Theoretical and Practical Approaches and Gaps to Multicultural Education in Chile. Unpublished Education Studies capstone, Yale University, New Haven, CT.
Salem, L. R. (2019). The Cultural Content of English Language Textbooks: The Target, the Local, or the Third Place Culture. Edited by: Wafa Zoghbor, Suhair Al Alami, & Thomaï Alexiou, 241.
Sarmiento, I., Zuluaga, G., Paredes-SolÃs, S., Chomat, A. M., Loutfi, D., Cockcroft, A., & Andersson, N. (2020). Bridging Western and Indigenous knowledge through intercultural dialogue: lessons from participatory research in Mexico. BMJ Global Health, 5(9), e002488. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2020-002488 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2020-002488
Setyono, B. (2018). The portrayal of women in nationally-endorsed English as a foreign language (EFL) textbooks for senior high school students in Indonesia. Sexuality & culture, 22(4), 1077-1093. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-018-9526-2 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-018-9526-2
Setyono, B., & Widodo, H. P. (2019). The representation of multicultural values in the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture-Endorsed EFL textbook: a critical discourse analysis. Intercultural Education, 30(4), 383-397. https://doi.org/10.1080/14675986.2019.1548102 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14675986.2019.1548102
Tong, Z. (2020). Implementing the Rabat Commitment: The Development of Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) as a Pedagogical Framework in a Chinese Educational Context.
Zhang, J. (2021). Imagined communities and identity options in Beijing Olympic English textbooks. In Language Policy and Planning for the Modern Olympic Games (pp. 144-166). De Gruyter Mouton. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781614514954-006 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781614514954-006