A MANUAL FOR EVALUATING

THE CULTURAL CONTENT OF EFL TEXTBOOKS

Professor Bader Dweik- The Middle East University for Graduate Studies- Amman, Jordan. (Email)
Bader47@yahoo.com

Nadia Abu Nuwar Amman Arab University for Graduate Studies Amman, Jordan. (Email)
NadiaAbuNuwar@yahoo.com





Abstract

This paper aims to develop a checklist that can be used in evaluating the cultural content of any EFL
textbook that is intended to be adopted for teaching. Such an evaluative tool which is based on the
international educational literature takes into consideration the following cores (i.e. rationale and
objectives, topics and materials, language features and language skills, class activities and cultural
activities, home assignments or exercises, and the teaching aids in terms of illustrations, the teachers
book, and the audio scripts of the audio cassettes). The checklist focuses on varieties of goals that
include understanding of both home and target cultures, communicating in a socially and culturally
accepted manner, integrating culture with the language components and language skills, illuminating
the intimate relationship between language and culture, and linking exercises, activities, teaching aids,
illustrations to meet the cultural objectives of language learning.

Introduction

In order to bring global and home awareness into the brains of EFL students, some considerations
should be given to the cultural content in any selected EFL textbook. Values, beliefs, celebrations,
traditions, etc., and the role of the cultural content are essential to increase students' multicultural
experiences and strategies. Therefore, two steps are involved in selecting an EFL textbook: analysis and
judgment. This can be achieved by forming a cultural checklist, which takes into consideration the
intimate relationship between language and culture, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the
desired EFL textbooks. The cultural checklist presented here is based on works, ideas, and suggestions of
some international educationalists such as: (i.e., Oswalt, 1970; Chastain, 1978; Daoud and Celce-Murcia,
1979; Hammerly, 1982; Stern, 1992; Crandall, 1993; Tomalin and Stempleski, 1993; Cisar, 2000; the
English Language National Team, 2002; Corbett, 2003, and Mead, 2004).

The researchers intend to form a cultural checklist which addresses the type of cultural materials that
should be included in EFL textbooks. Furthermore, since EFL teachers are encouraged to take the
educational process, this information may stimulate them to have space of freedom in decision- making
about textbook evaluation or designing their own syllabuses.

Steps Involved in Evaluating EFL textbooks

After selecting the desired and the appropriate textbooks, some information related to the cultural
objectives should be examined by skimming through the introduction, table of content, and content.
Teachers should follow the two following steps in evaluating an EFL textbook:

1. Surveying the Course Cultural Syllabus

Whether the choice decision is left or not to the teacher, a relative emphasis should be given with a
strong grasp to each part of the content, along with the students' actual caliber to arrive with them at
the textbook's objectives.

A) Teachers should recognize how far the specific objectives and the cultural content meet the general
objectives of the selected textbook:

General objectives and the specific objectives presented at the threshold of each unit.
General objectives versus the cultural content of the selected EFL textbook.
Specific objectives versus the cultural content of an EFL textbook.

B) They should recognize the type of social aspects and cultural materials that charge language for
achieving intercultural understanding, communication, and awareness proficiency:

Describing issues about foreign countries, nationalities, and languages.
Describing issues about Jordan or other Arab countries.
Displaying issues about Arab and foreign special events/ festivals or celebrations.
Discussing the traditions and customs of Foreign and Arab countries.
Discussing issues about Arab and foreign educational systems (i.e., school subjects, classes, etc.)

C) They should examine other language areas that reinforce understanding and communication about
the meaning of the cultural content:

International understanding.
Communicating values.
Distinguishing generalization.
Developing awareness and appreciation.

Language Features and Language Skills

D) Recognizing other language areas that are considered instrumental in advancing students' skills (i.e.
listening, speaking, reading, and writing), and whether these skills are given the same emphasis.

E) Examining to what extent are culture and language integrated in: class activities, cultural activities,
and cultural exercises or home assignments that enhance:

Intercultural understanding and cross cultural communication (i.e., knowing the meaning of those
words, and fitting the words into recognized patterns of class activities).
Communicating the meaning of different cultural forms along with practicing the four major skills.
Practicing different cultural activities (i.e., games, songs, celebrations, role playing, etc.) that assist
students to bring out their stored cultural knowledge into practice.

F) Examining to what extent are illustrations considered helpful to uncover the meaning of content:

Representing different nationalities, countries, and the local society.
Telling students about the values of the presented social groups.
Describing the aspects of illustrations and distinguishing stereotypes.

G) Examining to what extent are culture and language integrated in teaching aids/ teacher's book, and
the tape scripts of the audio-cassettes:

Understanding the cultural objectives and methodology of the textbooks, along with understanding
how the pragmatic information can be taught.
Having actual memorization of dialogs, songs, poems, and others that are bestowed upon the audio-
cassettes.

2. Analysis and Judgment

First: Analysis

After skimming and deducing the aforementioned cultural dimensions given in the course syllabus,
these data should be recorded and organized as shown below:

A. Rationale and objectives (i.e., understanding, communication, and awareness.)

B. Social and Cultural topics:

Penfriends.
Characters (i.e., the older and younger generations.)
Letters.
Photos.
Phone calls.
Family (i.e., family tree, family cohesion, family vacation, family size, and other families.)
Animals.
Transportations.
Weather and seasons.
Types of homes.
Life styles (i.e., city versus country living condition.)
Likes, dislikes, abilities, and feelings.
Clothes, sizes, and colors.
Computers.
Directions.
Invitations.
Cooking, meals and drinks.
Morning/ evening/ or afternoon.
Days of the week.
Music and dancing.
Games and sports.
Leisure and collaborative activities.
Inventions and materials.
Patterns of humor.
Good manners and punctuality.
Training and timetables.
Healthy eating and advice.
Typical conversations.
Road safety rules.
Describe people, animals, and places.
Shapes.
Experiences.

C. Cultural materials (i.e., intercultural understanding, values communicating, and cultural awareness.)

D. Language features and language skills.

E. Class activities and cultural activities.

F. Exercises or home assignments.

G. Teaching aids: illustrations.

H. Teaching aids: the teacher's manual compromises the tape scripts of the audio- cassettes.

Second: Judgment

After deriving the indication of the average of each set of data, the teacher should be able to present
his/her judgment on the basis of the conducted qualitative analysis of the textbook and the teacher's
book/ or manual. Subjective errors among raters may be due to the dispersion in results. Therefore, the
researchers present the cultural criteria as a rating scale to minimize such errors to a limited extent.
Each factual question reflects the degree of its relevance to the cultural content under each dimension.
The teacher/ or evaluator should record values in the right column and under the proper scale as
adopted by (Daoud and Celce-Murcia, 1979)

Excellent 4

Good 3

Adequate 2

Weak 1

Totally lacking 0

These two processes (Analysis and Judgment) may aid the teacher in objective, content, and resource
materials evaluation of any chosen EFL textbook. Many researchers as described earlier addressed the
significance of including culture in EFL textbooks. Therefore, the researchers found that evaluating the
cultural content of any EFL textbook should stick to some helpful cultural criteria. These criteria consist
of 22 evaluative questions distributed under eight dimensions: rationale and objectives, topics and
materials, language features and language skills, class activities and cultural activities, home
assignments/ or exercises, and finally teaching aids: in terms of illustrations and teacher's book.

The Cultural Checklist: The evaluative questions
A. Rationale and Objectives 4 3 2 1 0
1. Does each unit in the Textbook have clearly stated goals?

2. Is the content of the Textbook consistent with the general objectives?

3. Does the cultural material increase the level of understanding regarding the
conventional behavior in various common situations in the target culture(s)?
4. Does the cultural material present foreign cultural projects that involve interacting
and communicating with members of the local community or using community
resources?

5. Does the thematic content develop cultural awareness by understanding the
dynamic nature of the target culture(s)?
B. Social and Cultural Topics

6. Are the topics rich with different social aspects?

7. Do these social aspects fit the students' age?

C. Cultural Materials

8. Does the Textbook promote student's awareness of intercultural understanding?

9. Does the Textbook promote active student participation to communicate different
values (i.e. punctuality, neat, working hard, mannerism, and courtesy)?
10. Does the cultural content include generalization about the target culture(s)?

11. Does the thematic material increase students' awareness and appreciation of
his/her own culture, as well as the target culture(s)?
D. Language Features and Language Skills 4 3 2 1 0
12. Are new vocabularies repeated in subsequent units
for reinforcing the meaning of the cultural content?

13. Does the Textbook develop the students' four language skills with the themes of
cultural content?
E. Class Activities and Cultural Activities

14. Does the content perform intercultural understanding and cross-cultural
communication in both cultures (i.e. knowing the meaning of those words fitting the
words into recognized patterns of class activities?

15. Do they provide practice in oral skills to communicate the meaning of different

forms rather than learning about them, as well as to develop students' productive skills
(i.e. speaking and writing skills)?
16. Do the cultural activities provide students with opportunities to participate in
games, songs, celebrations, sports, or entertainment representative of the foreign
culture?

F. Exercises/ or Home Assignments

17. Are students given opportunities to use their interim language system to
communicate the meaning of cultural themes in meaningful situations, as well as to
express themselves again meaningfully?

G. Teaching Aids: Illustrations

18. Do the characters represent different nationalities, countries, and the local society?

19. What do Illustrations tell us about the values of the social groups who adopt them?

20. How are the people in the image dressed, and does the stereotype refer always to
the same group?
H. Teaching Aids: Teacher's Book and the Tape Scripts of the Audio Cassettes.

21. Does the Manual Book help the teacher understand the rationale objectives and
methodology of the Textbooks as well as understand how social values can be taught?
22. Do the audio cassettes promote students to have actual memorization of dialogs,
songs, poems, etc?
As EFL textbooks are the key vehicle in teaching- learning process, fulfilling such evaluation
steps may show curriculum planners, evaluators, syllabus designers, supervisors, or novice teachers,
and other consumers the importance of relating the cultural content and its resource materials to the
textbook's objectives, the students' interests, and indicating the significance of integrating culture
with second language teaching. Specially, (Dweik, 1986) has recommended that students should not
read about materials for the sake of only reading, they should read materials that appeal to their
interests and "be pleased by reading them." (P.99)
Hence, the cultural checklist may bridge the gap through finding a common ground; between
what exists on the real ground in the EFL textbooks, and what the EFL teachers think about the
cultural content as projected by (Joiner, 1974):
Because of the potential impact of the textbook on the students' conception of the foreign
culture, it is important that language teachers look beyond eye-catching illustrations and
investigate the hidden cultural content of the materials which they use. (P.242)
Also, it may highlight the cultural materials that should be designed to meet the cultural
evaluative criteria, whose aim is to achieve understanding of the native culture, to communicate the
cultural content, and to boost students' primary four language skills. It should reflect the intimate
relationship between language and culture in all the objectives, content, and teaching aids of any
selected EFL textbook. The resource materials should go inline with the content of the EFL textbook
whose aim is to add DEEP meaning to the content. The textbook should increase students' awareness
of their home culture, and to encourage students in using some of those aspects into their lives.
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Chastain, K. (1978). Developing Second Language Skills. Theory and Practice. Florida: Harcout
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Cisar, S. (2000, October) Standards-based textbook evaluation guide: Foreign language standards
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