Cultural Content Analysis of Iranian ELT Coursebooks: A Comparison of Vision I & II with English for Pre-University students I & II

This study was conducted to evaluate the cultural contents and cultural elements represented in Vision (I & II) and Pre-University English (I & II). This study also aimed at determining if there were significant differences between these series in terms of cultural content and cultural element representation. To this end, the two ELT coursebook series were selected and analyzed based on Cortazzi and Jin’s (۱۹۹۹) framework and the framework proposed by Adaskou, Britten, and Fahsi (۱۹۹۰). The results revealed that there were significant differences between these two series in terms of cultural contents and cultural elements. While the Vision series contained more L۱ and Neutral-cultural contents, Pre-University series showed tendency to contain L۲ and L۱ cultural contents. With respect to the cultural elements, both series contained more esthetic and semantic cultural elements. This study has implications for EFL curriculum designing in Iran and can make Iranian EFL instructors familiar with the importance of culture as an indispensable part of language.

کلیدواژه ها:

Iranian ELT coursebooks ، cultural contents ، Cultural Elements