Culture is a very sensitive issue in global coursebooks
because of global cultural diversity and sometimes contradiction (Alptekin,
1993; Viney, 2000), which makes defining it a difficult task (Holliday, 2005).
This section will encompass three main sub-sections dealing respectively with
defining culture, cultural appropriacy, and the question of the investment of
target language culture in coursebooks.
2.3.1. Defining culture
The problem of defining culture, for Holliday (2005), is that
it is related to how to frame it (p. 17). For him it is a fallacy to think of
culture as deterministically related to geography to the extent that every
country, region, or continent has a distinct autonomous culture. He claims that
the danger in such understanding of the notion of culture is that it might lead
to reductionism and stereotyping (p. 18). One illustration of this claim is
Said's (1993) assertion that, despite the complexities of the Middle East
region, it is reduced in the west to the notion of Islam.
Kramsch (1998) defines culture as «a membership in a
discourse community that shares a common social space and history, and a common
system of standards for perceiving, believing, evaluating, and action» (p.
127). The matter, then, concerns the way particular groups perceive the world,
which is, in the case of ELT coursebooks, highly important as it decides the
acceptance or resistance of particular communities to their content (Prodromou,
1988; Alptekin, 1993; Canagarajah, 1999).
In the same vein, Wardhaugh (1992) advocates that culture
contains what a particular person needs to know in order to act appropriately
according to the norms of their particular community. The emphasis, hence, is
on the particularity of cultural norms (Flowerdew & Miller, 1995, p. 345).
Such a particularity of cultural norms represent an obstacle for publishers of
global coursebooks, as it challenges their potential of designing globally
accepted materials without running into culturally sensitive issues of people
all around the globe.
2.3.2. Cultural appropriacy
The exploration of (in)appropriacy is important because it
reveals publishers' concern to produce «appropriate» coursebooks that
could sell internationally (Viney, 2000; Gray, 2002). The end product of this
attention to what is globally inappropriate could be related to the notion of
«globality», being the product of the process labelled globalisation
(Schafer, 2007). In this context researchers talked about the notion of
inapropriacy that is to be avoided in global coursebooks (Viney, 2000; Gray,
2002, Dellar, 2006). Hence, the next sub-section will tackle the definition of
inappropriacy before exploring trials of avoiding it in global coursebooks.
2.3.2.1. Defining inappropriacy
Inappropriacy concerns efforts made by coursebook writers,
and behind them publishers, to deal only with what Renner (1997) and Gray
(2002) call `safe topics' by avoiding terms and issues perceived as culturally
offending for some potential users around the globe (Dellar, 2006) or even
non-aspirational. With regard to «safe topics», Rinvolucri (1999)
argues that coursebook writers deliberately avoid some real-life topics as
«[a]mbition, rage, jealousy, betrayal, destiny, greed, fear and the other
Shakespearian themes [which] are far from the soft, fudgey sub-journalistic,
woman's magaziney world of EFLese course materials» (p. 7). The reason
behind this sanitised content is, for Gray (2002), the guidelines that the
publishers impose on coursebook writers.
Examples of inappropriate, or politically incorrect, cultural
terms and topics are found in Gray (2002) who calls them PARSNIPs (an acronym
referring respectively to politics, alcohol, religion, sex, narcotics, isms,
and pork). The assumption behind the avoidance of these topics is that they are
inappropriate for many cultures.
In fact, culturally unacceptable issues vary across the world
and what is perceived to be taboo or problematic in one culture may be normal,
in the sense of being accepted, in other cultures (Alptekin, 1993).
Interviewing the publishers of Headway Intermediate (Soars &
Soars, 1996), Gray (2002) found that other examples of inappropriate issues
that are to be avoided in ELT global coursebooks include «anarchy, Aids,
Israel and six pointed stars, genetic engineering, terrorism, and
violence» (p. 159).
Gray (2002) detected a tendency that some of the
above-mentioned inappropriate topics are avoided through the investigation of
the content of a coursebook as well as through the guidelines imposed by
publishers. The guidelines consisted in every topic that the publishers
perceived as upsetting and controversial for their potential
global users such as political and ethical matters.
2.3.2.2. On avoiding inappropriacy in global
coursebooks
For seemingly cultural reasons publishers impose on ELT
coursebook writers a list of topics and issues to be avoided (Viney, 2000;
Gray, 2002). This claim is attested by Viney
(2000) who himself is a coursebook writer. In a reply to an
article written by Rinvolucri(1999), in which he strongly criticised
ELT coursebooks, Viney (2000) contended that
publishers provide coursebook
authors with guidelines to be followed. One of the guidelines
in the
Heinemann Guide for Authors (1991) dealing with inappropriacy is
quoted in Viney
(2000).
Due to the sensitivity of some of the markets for which we
produce books, we have to be very careful about the topics which we cover.
Obviously when producing books for the UK and Northern European markets most
subjects are acceptable, but in more conservative and religious markets there
are various things we must be careful with. The list below should be used as a
guideline but please do discuss any topics you feel strongly about using with
your editor (parag. 29).
Viney (2000) states that the list «includes abuse, aids,
narcotics, terrorism, disputed borders, sex, rape, religion, pornography»
(parag. 30). The concurrence of this list in ELT coursebooks could show the
accentuation of «globality», by focusing on controversial and
problematic issues. Interestingly, for the publishers and coursebook authors,
the more inappropriate topics are avoided in a textbook, the more it is likely
to be considered `global' (Bronner, 2002). However, trying to cater for a world
audience and at the same time avoiding
to offend a world audience could result in what Gray (2002)
calls «sanitisation of content» (p. 166) that aims at making the
coursebook politically correct (ibid). Dendrinos (1992) explored this issue too
and concluded similarly that sanitisation of content based primarily on
trivialisation of topics and opting instead for advertising and comedy is an
observable characteristic of ELT global coursebooks.
Hence, it can be argued the cultural diversity of the world
represents a challenge to the mono-ethnic mono-cultural content issues peculiar
to the target language culture invested in coursebooks. This issue will be
explored in the following sub-section that concerns the necessity and at the
same time the possible cultural inappropriacy of investing target language
culture in global coursebooks.
2.3.3. Investing target language culture in ELT
coursebooks
Target language culture, called also L2 culture (Kramsh,
1993; Thanasoulas, 2001), refers to the lifestyle related in the context of
global ELT coursebooks to «native speakers» of English (Derbel &
Richards, 2007). As will be shown afterwards, teaching target culture is
claimed to be important for learners (Cortazzi & Jin, 1999; Thanasoulas,
2001).
Viewing the particularity characteristic of Anglo-American
culture(s), they are bound to be different and even to contradict the cultural
norms of diverse world cultures (Alptekin & Alptekin, 1984). The example
Alptekin (1993) provides illustrates this claim as he argues that «while a
child from the Anglo-American world will normally think of a dog as `man's best
friend', Middle Eastern children are likely to perceive it as dangerous and
dirty» (p. 136). This statement is at best problematic if not downright
racist as the author could have evoked that in Middle East culture «a
dog» stands for fidelity as well.
No doubt, the contradiction Alptekin (1993) illustrates could
create opposition to the material itself or even to learning a foreign
language. Canagarajah (1999) addresses such possible resistance to cultural
content manifested, for example, in ideological icons presented in American
Kernel Lessons: Intermediate (O'Neil, Yeadon, & Cornelius, 1978). In
his study, learners in Sri Lanka Tamil showed resistance to this content by
vandalising the coursebook through drawing images or changing the dialogues in
it, to load it with their particular local concerns related to independence
from Sri Lanka (Canagarajah, 1999, p. 90). Both of Alptekin (1993) and
Canagarajah (1999) target the ideological (including the cultural) mismatch
that could exist as a result of cultural difference. The existence of such a
resistance to target language culture is an obstacle not only towards
publishers' desired «globality» but also to learners' need to be
aware of target culture items. Illustrating this importance, Alptekin (1993)
asserts that
a learner of English who has never lived in the
target-language culture will most likely be confronted with problems, as far as
the English language system is concerned, if the English systemic data [i.e.
knowledge of the formal properties of a language] are presented through such
unfamiliar contexts as, say, Halloween or English pubs (p. 136).
Alptekin (1993) stresses the fact that unfamiliar cultural
content makes language inaccessible to learners from different cultures due to
the difference in schematic knowledge. He states that while a pub is a place
for socialising as far as native speakers of English are concerned, for some
societies it is not linked with the same background knowledge (Rochman,
2007).
Culture, it is claimed, is a very influencing factor on
learning especially for foreign language learners who come to the English class
with their previously acquired knowledge that they learnt while learning L1. It
is from this perspective that investing target language culture content in ELT
coursebooks detracts world learners from learning effectively.
In fact, some researchers question the feasibility of
ignoring culture in ELT (Valdes, 1991). For example, Valdes (1991) asserts that
«there is no way to avoid teaching culture when teaching language»
(p. 20) as they are interconnected to the extent that «culture itself
penetrates all the corners of language education» (p. 29). However, Valdes
(1991) links the investment of culture in teaching language with appropriacy,
as he suggests that «[i]f [culture] cannot be escaped, it seems obvious
that every teacher and every learner should be alerted to it and should make
the most of it, to use it as a tool [for learning language] where
appropriate (italics mine, ibid).
Rampton (1990) highlights the necessity of teaching target
language culture and goes as far as claiming that ignoring it when teaching a
foreign language means promoting cross-cultural misunderstanding. Therefore,
excluding culture from ELT coursebooks could produce learners with
`understanding disorders', a problem that seems similar to the situation
described in Elwood (2004):
[c]oming to a foreign country reminds me of starting to watch
a movie from the middle. Starting in the middle, we don't understand the story
and we don't know the characters. It takes a while to understand what's going
on. Sometimes we think we understand, but then we realize that our
interpretation was wrong. It can be confusing and even frustrating. If we ask
someone who has watched the movie to explain, his or her explanation may be too
complicated, or on the other hand, it may be too simple (p. 92).
Using coursebooks that are empty of target language culture,
therefore, confuses learners and hinders their effective learning. However, the
target culture is bound to contain culture-specific elements, which are at odd
with some markets of the global coursebook (Alptekin, 1993; Canagarajah, 1999;
Viney, 2000). Talking about this issue, Ellis (1990) argues that global
coursebooks do not give enough consideration for not offending Muslims in the
content. Areas where this insensitivity figures according to Pennycook (1994)
are
social interactions between men and women, including living
together, advertising for boy girlfriends in personal ads (a favourite of
textbook writers), and holiday romances; social setting, often `boy meets girl'
setting and the drinking of alcohol [which] are all discordant with Islamic
norms; and other topics such as rock music, astrology, gambling, and revealing
clothes (miniskirts, off-the-shoulder gowns, swim-suits) which all pose
problems to Muslim audiences (p. 177).
These inappropriate cultural items mentioned in ELT global
coursebooks present an obstacle to the «globality» of the coursebook
as they could be, in contradiction to the schematic knowledge of world audience
and at the root of learners' resistance to them (Canagarajah, 1999).
Schematic knowledge refers to the knowledge acquired from
society while systemic data is knowledge of the formal properties of language
(Carrel, 1981; Alptekin, 1993). It is argued that learning the language is
difficult to happen without accessing the cultural practices related to that
language (Kachru, 1985; Widdowson, 1990; Hyde, 1994). An example that
illustrates this claim is that learners of a foreign language face problems
when
attempting to read materials if they do not have access to
the cultural background related to that foreign language (Alptekin, 1993).
Carrell (1981) argues that in order for comprehension to take place, the text
is bound to contain the suitable cognitive schemata, as L2 learners are more
likely to understand the text if it contains a theme that is familiar for them
(qtd in AlIssa, 2006, p. 43).
Additionally, Winfield and Barnes-Felfeli (1982) conducted a
study focusing on learners' ability to recall information from two texts one
about Don Quixote and the other about Japanese Noh theatre. The participants
were ten Hispanics and ten mixed group comprising Arabic, Navaho, Hebrew,
Greek, and other non-native speakers of English. The main finding of Winfield
and Barnes-Felfeli (1982) was that Hispanic speakers did much better than the
others in recalling information about Don Quixote, which permitted the
researchers to conclude that being familiar with the theme helps fluency.
Absence of «content schemata» (Al-Issa, 2006, p.
41), which is familiarity with the topic or the theme, could result in what
Wallace (1988) calls lack of «cultural competence» (qtd in Rochman,
2007), which is learners' knowledge of beliefs, values, attitudes, and
behaviours of the target language culture. This fact hardens the attempt of
coursebook writers to produce an «appropriate» content.
The development of this cultural competence is perceived to
be reduced because of publishers' guidelines concerning avoiding inappropriate
items (Viney, 2000; Gray, 2002). These guidelines are not specific to one
culture but as diverse as the diversity of world communities. Viney (2000)
summarises these restrictions on content or visual representation:
Pictures of people with cigarettes can get books banned in
some school systems. Low
cleavage in pictures gets them banned in others.
Inadequate ethnic balancing is a serious
problem in the USA. Representation of women will be analysed
and counted in many countries. Some countries don't like to see disputed
territories labelled on maps. You could have a section on holidays in
Gibraltar, Israel, The Falklands and Taiwan and get effectively banned in
several countries with one unit (parag. 18).
This quote from Viney (2000) depicts the controversy faced by
coursebook writers in their attempt to cater for world audiences (Bashogh,
2003). It seems that this is the price to pay in order to reach
«globality». Making compromises is essential for the global
coursebook to be marketable globally (Riches, 1999; Bashogh, 2003). However,
the question is how far the writers of global coursebooks could go in their
attempt to please every group of prospective textbook users around the
globe.
To conclude, it could be said that incorporating the target
language culture in global ELT coursebooks is necessary but sometimes
inappropriate. An important issue that is worth exploring in the questionnaire
of this study is local learners' perception of the possibility of inappropriate
target language culture themes in global coursebooks and the extent to which
there is a match between their perception and the real content.
In addition to the problem of appropriate cultural content in
global coursebooks, the issue of representation of minorities seems to cause
textbook writers and publishers similar dilemmas. The upcoming section explores
representation of social classes and the issues surrounding it in global
textbooks.
