Intercultural Approaches to the Cultural Content of Indonesia’s High School ELT Textbooks

Muhammad Iwan Munandar, Imaratul Ulwiyah

Abstract


The role of English in intercultural communication entails an understanding of the linguistic and cultural variations of English users. Intercultural approaches to English language teaching (ELT) promote an awareness of source culture, target culture and international target culture. This paper examines how the cultural content is incorporated into Indonesia’s high school ELT textbooks. The data were collected from two ELT textbook series for Indonesian high school students. Findings show an extensive use of local references, which help learners adopt the language material, adapt it to their context of language learning, and serve their own purposes of communication. The complex relationship between language and culture manifests in the way the textbooks deal with the cultural aspects of linguistic forms and cultural representations of Englishspeaking community. This issue draws attention to the important role of ELT teachers in addressing shortcomings of ELT textbooks.

Key words: Intercultural approach; Cultural content; ELT textbook


Keywords


Intercultural approach; Cultural content; ELT textbook

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/j.ccc.1923670020120805.975

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