1-EFL/ ESL teaching and learning materials evaluation

Teaching materials that are currently used in teaching any foreign language require feedback for
further development in order to meet the wants of EFL/ESL classroom. Both of the analysis and
evaluation of the currently used textbooks plays a crucial role in developing new textbooks (Al Harbi,
2017). These materials do not only cover course books, but they can be ‘realia’, visual aids, and
authentic materials such as: off-air recordings and newspaper articles, flash cards, and games, etc
(McGrath, 2002; Tomlinson, 2012). Printed materials also provide language teachers with the
resources they need to plan their lessons and they are reliable means for learners’ revision
(Tomlinson, 2012). On one hand, Tomlinson (2012, p.143) stated that “Materials can be informative
(informing the learner about the target language), instructional (guiding the learner in practising the
language), experiential (providing the learner with experience of the language in use), eliciting
(encouraging the learner to use the language) and exploratory (helping the learner to make
discoveries about the language)”. On the other hand, Gray (2013, p.3) claimed an opposite view with
regards to the functions of teaching materials since

They are cultural artefacts from which meanings emerge about the
language being taught, associating it with particular ways of being,
particular varieties of language and ways of using language, and
particular sets of values. At the same time, they are also ideological
(in the Marxist sense) in that the meanings they seek to create tend
to endorse and reproduce (although not invariably) existing power
relations, particularly with regard to social class(...), and similarly with
regard to race, gender and sexual orientation

As previously mentioned, my focus is on the printed materials and the textbook in particular as it is
considered as a pivotal pedagogical tool used as a medium for delivering education in the Algerian
EFL classroom. . It is also mandatory, so used across the whole country wherever EFL is taught. Thus,
the following section aims at examining some of the literature related to the evaluation of
commercially, or state -sponsored materials used to teach foreign languages as far as English
language is concerned. Also, an example about the framework of materials evaluation proposed by
Littlejohn (1998) is included in this section in addition to some of the reasons behind evaluating
teaching materials.

To begin with, materials evaluation is seen as a set of educational judgements found in the field of
foreign language teaching and learning. McGrath (2002), for instance stated that the emerging new
field of materials evaluation of language learning and teaching curriculum should be considered as
any other type of assessment such as: syllabus design, assessment of learners’ outcomes, and all
that is concerned with the classroom processes. Moreover, Littlejohn (1998) and Ellis (1998) referred
to the importance of evaluating the content and methodology used in language teaching in order to
investigate their appropriateness to a particular teaching and learning context. Hence, Littlejohn’s
(1998) focus was on evaluating and analysing teaching materials regardless of the interpretation and
evaluation offered by teachers and learners about these materials. In his article, Tomlinson (2012, p.
143) as well made a reference to the importance of investigating the appropriateness of teaching
materials to a particular context. Thus, he stated that the term: materials development, or evaluation
“ refers to all the processes made use of by practitioners who produce and/or use materials for
language learning, including materials evaluation, their adaptation, design, production, exploitation
and research”. The focus was, therefore, on these sub-components to be taken into consideration to
make the material more appropriate to learners. At another level, Tomlinson (2012, p.144) viewed
materials development as both: practice and field in the sense that ‘As a practical activity it involves
the production, evaluation and adaptation of materials. As a field it investigates the principles and
procedures of the design, writing, implementation, evaluation and analysis of materials’. Moreover,
Ellis (1998) made a reference to “a before-programme evaluation” concept to evaluate materials in
the sense that the term requires identifying the relevance and the appropriateness of a particular
material to a group of learners and to diagnose what is inappropriate in order to make the required
adaptations. Importantly, materials evaluation is highly recommended in the field of teaching
English as a foreign language in order to examine whether these materials meet the needs of
learners in a particular context and to what extent they foster the learners’ communicative ability.
Textbooks evaluation is also required to recapitulate what is missing and to examine to what extent
the content of English textbooks meet the stated aims and objectives. Evaluation of materials is also
fundamental to assess learners’ autonomy and problem- solving activities (Thotapally, 2014).
However, McGrath’s (2002, p.4) interest centred on the role of teachers as an important one in
evaluating course books. In this respect, he quotes that “What is important is that teachers should
see the course book not as the course but as an aid to fulfilling the aims and objectives which they
have themselves formulated”. Hence, teachers have to decide about the selection or replacement of
teaching materials if they proved to be inappropriate (McGrath, 2002). Thus, one of the most
important concerns in materials evaluation process is getting teachers’ attitudes and experiences
about their usefulness since language teachers would teach successfully if they enjoy the materials
they are using (Hammad, 2014). In a similar vein, Kim (2015) made a reference to the evaluation
process where both teachers’ and learners’ needs should be identified since they are the main users
of textbooks materials.

Early literature suggested the difference between these two terms: evaluation and analysis. That is,
in some cases, these two terms are used interchangeably, whereas, in other cases are not and the
distinction is made as the following: according to Tomlinson (2012), for instance, he explained that
“evaluation” is more connected to selection while the term “analysis” is more allied with
implementation. He further argued that “ evaluation” is used when it is asked to investigate the
effect of a given textbook on learners, whereas, “ analysis” is a task which focuses on the aims and
the materials to identify their content and also to analyse what is asked to do by both language
teachers and learners. At another level, Weninger and Kiss (2014) distinguished between “textbook
analysis” and “textbook evaluation” because the former is more concerned with theoretical
checklists and previous theories used to examine textbooks, while, the letter is more related to the
context where the material is used and evaluated immediately by language teachers such as: finding
a solution to a specific problem. McGrath (2002, p.22) as well claimed the distinction between
evaluation and analysis in the sense that “(...) analysis is a process which leads to an objective,
verifiable description. Evaluation, as the word suggests, involves the making of judgements”.

There are some reasons to evaluate teaching materials. For instance, one of the reasons for
materials evaluation is the failure to enhance second or foreign language learners’ ability to use the
target language because ELT textbooks focus on the teaching of linguistic aspects instead of
encouraging language acquisition and development (Tomlinson, 2010). Based on this reason, a
distinction was made between language acquisition and language development due to the
relationship between both terms: language acquisition is seen as a primary stage for acquiring
communicative fundamentals of a foreign language, whereas, language development is more
concerned with the ability to use the language correctly in different contexts (Tomlinson, 2010). In
the same vein, Littlejohn (1998) added two other recent reasons for materials development. First,
the wide spread of UK publishers all over the world which causes the spread of their cultural norms
and values to foreign language learners whose cultures are different than the target ones. Second,
currently, these materials are full of complex packages for language learning and teaching in terms of
classroom management, unlike previous textbooks compromised of only reading passages and some
questions about them. Additionally, English language course books compromise of tasks and
activities used for teaching English language. These tasks and activities reflect specific real world
information as they contain information about different cultures of different countries such as:
lifestyles, values, norms, and perspectives. Thus, the main important reason for evaluating textbooks
is to examine the authenticity, or to evaluate the way the content is represented in these materials
(Richards, 2014).

1-1-Strengths and weaknesses of the current ELT materials

Tomlinson (2012) further pointed to the positive attributes of current ELT materials. The first
attribute addressed the locally produced ELT materials which made connections to local cultures of
learners. Also, they encourage learners to experience their personal feelings and thoughts by making
reference to the context where they live. Other materials engage even high – level learners into
important and valuable issues. Moreover, topics and themes being used in these materials are
updated and they are more appropriate to their users. It is also worthy to mention that ELT materials
include activities to encourage learners’ awareness and lead them to make more discoveries about
English language and how it actually works. On the other hand, Tomlinson (2008) pointed out to a
long list of criticism of current ELT materials in use. These materials do not achieve affective
engagement and participation and they also give much more importance to the way of teaching
rather than learning. The most important shortcoming is that these materials do not expose learners
to authentic language as they do not foster their communicative ability. Another shortcoming is the
Western ethnocentric point of views which are evident in these materials with regards to the best
ways of learning. Lastly, giving less importance to the portrayal of non-western cultures in ELT
materials is also claimed by (Tomlinson, 2012). Based on what is mentioned above, it is strongly
advocated for giving complete attention to which cultural information to include in the process
of materials development.

1-2- General framework for analysing materials (Littlejohn, 1998) model

A brief summary of Littlejohn (1998) framework of analysing materials is used as an example to
illustrate the way ELT materials are analysed and evaluated. The following model considers three
main stages as follows: specific aspects to examine, ways and methods of examining materials, and
the application of the findings on the teaching context.
To begin with, the first stage is mainly associated with analysing particular parts of the material. In
this respect, the purpose of this phase is to select which element, or aspect that the researcher aims
to examine. It could be about the representation of gender, or racism. Other parts might be about
the content and visual pictures included in these materials (Littlejohn, 1998). Moreover, with
regards to aspects evaluation, he provided a frame work for evaluating these aspects and which
compromises of: publication and design. Publication section examines the division between sections
to scrutinize how they are divided into sections and sub-sections. Also, it examines how coherence is
maintained in a particular material. Another aspect is related to getting access to these materials
and how it is supported. Design section, however, mainly considers the rationale underpinned the
design of materials. More specifically, it essentially examines the aims behind the language, the
selection and the nature of tasks, and the focus of the subject matter of particular pedagogical
materials. Interestingly, Littlejohn (1998) strongly advocated for the importance of focusing on the
role of what learners are asked to do and how what they do relates to learners’ process competence
in terms of knowledge, affects, skills, and abilities in the Design stage. Additionally, the role of the
material also requires to be determined in this stage.

The second phase is connected to the ways of examining language learning materials by teachers-
analysts. In this vein, Littlejohn (1998) again illustrated the way of evaluating the sequence of sections
as an example. This could be done by examining the syllabus and the nature of activities related to
them. Additionally, three main levels are required to be conducted in order to examine aspects of
the material by teachers in order to make more inferences and judgements.

The first level examines the statement of description of all the materials aspects such as: the
publication date, the target audience, the type of material whether it is general or specific, and the
page numbers...etc. At this level, a descriptive examination of the subdivision of units, or chapters
and their length is also made. Moreover, looking at how sections and means of access (objective of
the lesson) into these materials will help find out the role allocated for both teachers and learners.
Also, this level considers the main steps will be involved to follow the order of instructional sections.
With regards to level two, it focuses on what is required from users. It investigates what teachers
and learners will do and the undertaken actions to learn a foreign language by using a particular
teaching material. In order to realize such an objective, analysing tasks into constituents is highly
recommended. More specifically, the analysis of the task requires asking what is expected from the
learner to do in a particular task and with whom and what content is reflected in that task. The focus
of this level is on the “task” because it is a tool for doing an action included in the material to be
performed by learners while Ellis (1998) argued that tasks are the basis for language acquisition. By
doing so, learners’ role will be defined. With regards to the same context, Ellis (1998) provided a
different frame work for tasks evaluation. The final level refers to the conclusions emerging from
the two previous levels. More specifically, conclusions will be drawn on the overall purpose of the
materials and the basis for selecting and sequencing the content and the tasks (Littlejohn, 1998).
Also, conclusions are made about the demands placed upon teachers and learners( teacher’s and
learner’s roles) in addition to find out the role of these materials in facilitating foreign language
teaching and learning in general and whether they guide a classroom work, or to focus on teachers’
and learners’ creation and decision-making (Littlejohn, 1998). In this level, conclusions are made
about the role of the material in encouraging learners’ knowledge, affects, skills, and capacities.

The last stage is more associated with relating the main findings to the teaching context. This phase
helps implement the results. The combination of the three levels and two previous categories are
essential for evaluating materials. Littlejohn (1998) claimed the importance of the findings emerged
from the aforementioned categories in testing out the designed claims and whether they actually
reflected what it claimed to be done in terms of learners’ autonomy, problem solving activities, and
learners’ centeredness. At this stage, the framework provides any mismatches between the aims
and the nature of the material being working on it. The framework also provides teachers’ and
learners’ decisions on further actions to be taken after examining the material (Littlejohn, 1998).

From another perspective, materials evaluation was narrowed into “micro-evaluation”. “A micro-
evaluation is characterised by a narrow –focus on some specific aspect of the curriculum or the
administration of the programme” (Ellis, 1998, p.219). His evaluative frame work was mainly
concerned with micro-evaluation focused on the communicative tasks included in teaching materials
in particular. The main problem behind conducting tasks evaluation is to examine the content of
these tasks in order to find out what learners are taught about and what procedures they follow to
answer them (Ellis, 1998).

Analysing the cultural content of English language textbooks used in Algeria is my focus because I am
interested in researching the ways in which the content comes into being and the ways it is used in
classrooms (Gray, 2013). It is also evaluative in a sense that analysing the content leads to evaluate
both teachers’ and third- year pupils’ perceptions about its appropriateness.
2- Cultural representation in foreign language textbooks
It is claimed that the explicit cultural content of EFL textbooks has to be carefully designed because
the cultural information portrayed in these course books is intended for a specific language and
which directly or indirectly refers to sets of cultural values, norms and perspectives. Also, cultural
selections that the writers make could portray different messages to learners (Richards, 2014).
However, English as a lingua franca may be regarded as a problematic issue since it is widely used
globally in diverse contexts which may result in its culture being imposed on non- English speaking
communities through the use of EFL/ESL textbooks.

It is useful to shed light on the term ‘cultural artefacts’ as it is the core of cultural representation in
any foreign language textbook. Gray (2010) considered ‘curriculum artefacts’ as the same as ‘cultural
artefacts’. That is, these cultural artefacts are not only used for acquiring knowledge, but rather they
are ideological organs used to legitimate a particular construction of reality in textbooks (Apple &
Christian Smith, 1991). Kullman (2013) as well argued that

“The English language coursebook is a pedagogical tool but also a cultural

artefact and, in evaluating any cultural artefact, there must be a
consideration of the culture within which this artefact is produced and the
prevailing discourses that have shaped it, as well as its own role in
influencing current and future discourses”.

Jàrvinen (2017) as well emphasised the ideological nature that underpinned the pedagogical and
cultural artefacts in school textbooks. This view was also supported by Cortazzi & Jin (1999) and
Kumaravadivelu (2012) who argued that a textbook is an ideology that reflects a particular
worldview, or a social construction that might be imposed on teachers and pupils to think about
culture in a particular way. However, Curdt-Christiansen and Weninger (2015, p.1) claimed that
socio - cultural materials “are the products of complex selective processes reflecting political
decisions, educational beliefs and priorities, cultural realities and language policies”. Significantly,
one artefact that defines the type of culture to be taught is the ‘textbook’ (Apple and Christian-
Smith, 1991), whereas, Shardakova and Pavlenko (2004, p.28) claimed that these textbooks
“possess a unique authority to construct and mediate alternative cultural and linguistic worlds,
in fact, “imagining” them for the students”. According to what is stated above, it could be said that
textbooks materials are ideological in nature. Thus, much work has been done to analyse cultural
representation in terms of inclusion and exclusion in English language teaching materials since what
is included or excluded signifies thoughtful political, economic, and cultural power relationships
being reflected in particular textbook (Apple and Christian-Smith, 1991).

It is interesting to mention that many studies addressed the issue of diversity and multiculturalism
construction in textbooks in many different countries. That is, a number of cultural representation
studies were mainly interested in examining the knowledge and discourses that portray cultural
dominance of English as an international language (Apple and Christian-Smith, 1991; Curdt-
Christiansen and Weninger, 2015). Similarly, Curdt- Christiansen’s and Weninger’s study (2015) is
linked to the politics of textbooks since they analysed the dominance of English language textbooks
of different socio-political contexts to rigorously scrutinize the social relations that covertly or overtly
underpinned the content of these textbooks. As a concept, cultural representation refers to the
visual and verbal entities, individuals, and groups reflected in a particular discourse (Azimova and
Johnstone, 2002). Thus, the cultural representation as an aspect in ELT textbooks has been
evaluated. For example, Kullman (2012) evaluated the global English language course books
published in the UK as cultural artefacts because some ideological understandings and discourses
might be exported through global textbooks. The main aim of evaluating these course books is to
“consider how far there is a match between the particular understandings and discourses that are
embedded in the textbook and those understandings and discourses of the local context” (Kullman,
2012, p.1). At another level, Gray (2010) shared a similar approach as the previous study where his
analysis focused on the representation of the world in a corpus of English textbooks from 1970 till
the present with aiming at showing how these textbooks consistently evolved the discourses of the
new capitalism and ideology transformation. Both Gray (2010) and Kullman (2012) focused on
analysing ELT materials used for commercial global purposes, while in the current thesis; I opted for
the Algerian local English textbooks designed by Algerian textbooks writers collaboratively with some
experts from English-speaking countries. In this respect, global textbooks are designed for a global
use in particular countries, or regions, whereas, local course books are written for a specific country
by local writers, or publishers from countries where English is the first language, or in collaboration
(Garton& Graves, 2014). Dervin (2015) argued that there are four main trends for researching the
presence and absence of diversities in textbooks from 2010 to the present. First, research focused on
analysing the representation of diversity, diversity and citizenship, language and culture in English
textbooks, and lastly, the role of textbooks in promoting intercultural competence. Another study
reports on the Algerian cultural representation of four public middle school textbooks in addition to
the reactions practised by local teachers while dealing with local and global cultural representation
following content analysis as an approach. The findings, therefore, showed that the cultural
representation is dominated by English - speaking cultures in addition to some instances from the
local and regional cultures. Also, the interviewed teachers claimed that the cultural element is not
useful for stimulating communication (Messekher, 2014). Another representation of culture
conducted by Ramirez and Hall (1990) who focused on analysing the representation of both cultural
and linguistic elements included in the Spanish textbooks and which are used in New York State.
With regards to the same context, Alsaif (2016) as well analysed the cultural diversity in published
English textbooks used in KSA based on the aim of challenging the Western cultural dominance
namely American and British cultures. Alsaif (2016) found that the Western culture of inner-circle
countries is the dominant variety portrayed in English textbooks looking forward to raise policy
makers’ awareness of the importance of including a variety of cultures that English language
represents. These findings were also confirmed in Shin, Eslami & Shen (2011) study which was
mainly about exploring the status of effect of English as an international language and the
transformation of the English cultural norms and values into teaching English practices in local
contexts. Their study, therefore, focused on analysing the cultural content of a series of ELT
textbooks while the results showed that the cultural aspects were to a large extent varied in each
textbook and inner circle cultural content is the dominant cultural variety in most of the textbooks.
Similarly, cultural analysis of Iranian ELT textbooks was carried out by Aliakbari (2004) as well. His
research is an attempt to investigate the way culture is introduced and its place in English language
teaching of higher school level in Iran. More specifically, his study is about investigating which
cultural references are introduced and whose cultures are presented in the cultural content of
English textbooks. Searching for the extent of which textbooks promote the learners’ intercultural
competence is also included in Aliakbari‘s study. Likewise, an Iranian study conducted by Majdzadeh
(2002) found that the locally produced Iranian ELT textbooks focused exclusively on Iranian culture
and religion and that could hinder promoting learners’ intercultural competence and skills. With
respect to the Algerian context, Souryana’s PhD thesis (2012) mainly considers evaluating three
Algerian EFL textbooks which are ‘Think it over’ (1989), ‘Comet’ (2001) and ‘New prospects’ (2007)
with a particular focus on issues such as Culture, Ideology and Otherness which are important for
learners’ development of intercultural competence as well. In particular, his research aims at
investigating the national/local, target/ target or the international/ global cultures of English
speaking countries reflected in these textbooks. In his research, mixed method research was carried
out such as the social semiotic multimodal approach and a questionnaire designed for a group of
teachers of Secondary school as data collection tools. The research findings revealed that the
international/ global cultures were given a considerable place in the two textbooks which are ‘Think
it over’ (1989), ‘Comet’ (2001). However, the ‘New prospects’ (2007) seems to be more local/
national centred culture.

With regards to my current study, it involves carrying out a cultural analysis of two language
pedagogical materials used at secondary and intermediate levels in order to discover how native
speakers of the target language are represented. Also, it aims at examining which culture variety (s)
is included or excluded and to what extent English as an international language affects Algerian
English textbooks.

One main aim of conducting textbook analysis is to react against a monolithic, unique representation
of cultures and to support including a variety of racial and cultural backgrounds in order to empower
pupils’ capacities of identifying different voices (Shin, Eslami & Shen, 2011). Moreover, it cannot be
guaranteed that teachers and learners would follow what is included in these textbooks as they are
not passive receptors of knowledge (Jàrvinen, 2017). Kullman (2012, p.12) as well pointed to the
socio-cultural theory that advocates for the important role of the language teacher in helping
“individual learners to find their own new voices in the new language, and to mediate between these
new voices and the learners’ first language voices”. According to what has been stated above, it is
clear that teachers and pupils could have more leading roles than textbooks themselves.

1-Document analysis
1- 1-Findings
Table-1- The cultural content of Getting Through (textual and visual)
Chapter 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 No.
1 ref (S)
Art 0 1 0 0 0 0 3 0 4
Economy 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 11
Education 1 1 0 6 0 0 0 0 8
Geography 0 0 4 1 0 0 2 0 7
History 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 4
Institutions 1 8 0 0 0 2 0 1 12
Literature 0 2 0 0 8 2 5 1 18
Everyday 8 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 11
living
Living 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
conditions
Interpersonal 1 0 0 0 2 6 0 0 9
relations
Beliefs, values 4 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 7
Body language 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Social 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2
conventions
Ritual 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
behaviours
Topics related 0 1 11 0 2 0 1 0 15
to
environment
The Islamic 3 0 0 5 0 0 4 0 12
scientific and
cultural
heritage
Total 24 17 15 13 13 12 15 13 122
Percentages 19.67% 13.93 12.2 10.65 10.65 9.83% 12.29 10.65 100%
% 9% % % % %

Table (1) above provides information about the cultural content of Getting Through used to teach
English for Algerian pupils. The study made it clear that literature is the most frequent theme (18 out
of 122). A sizeable proportion of 12 topics referred to the Institutions category. The overall
frequency of both Geography and Economy categories had a considerable number of occurrences
which equals to 7 and 11 themes from the overall of 122 cultural themes respectively. Moreover,
instances from History and Education were included in the same textbook by 4 and 8 themes out of
122 themes correspondingly. Only 4 themes referred to Art category.
With regards to small (c) elements that are explained previously in the methodology chapter, the
most frequent theme refers to Everyday living and Interpersonal relations (11 and 7 themes out of
122 cultural themes) while the number of themes related to Beliefs category is seven cultural
themes. The frequency of topics related to Environment gets great attention by 15 themes while the
number of themes related to Social convention category was 2 out of 122 themes. Moreover, Ritual
behaviours and Living conditions were one theme for each. Concerning Scientific Cultural Heritage
category, it is considered by 12 themes in Getting Through.
Table -2- Cultural representation in Getting Through (based on Aliakbari, 2004)

Cultural references The frequency of Percentages (%)

(Nationalities) occurrences ( cultural
references)
English-speaking cultures:
American 33 42.62%
 British 16
British, American 1
British, American, Irish 1
Scottish 1

Western non-English speaking

cultures: 4.09%
Germany 2
Brazil 2
Italy 1

Algerian local culture 25 20.49%

International cultures 13 13.11%
Asian cultures 3

No cultural reference 24 19.67%

Total 122 100%

This Table (2) shows findings related to the cultural references being portrayed after analysing
Getting Through. The representation of these cultures is clearly depicted from Getting Through
chapters: the highest percentage (42.62%) belongs to the culture of English- speaking countries
which means the cultures of: Britain, America, Ireland, and Scotland...etc. In particular, the most
frequent themes (33 out of 122) belong to American culture. 16 cultural themes were related to
British culture while one main topic was the mixture of British, American, and Irish cultures. Only one
theme represented Scottish culture and another one reflected the British and American cultures in
one topic. The percentage of (20.49%) reflected the representation of the Algerian culture in this
textbook while (13.11%) is the percentage of international cultures being portrayed in the same
English textbook. Thus, 25 is the number of Algerian references and 16 out of 122 cultural themes
portrayed themes where international cultures are present. These themes referred to Asian cultures
such as: Iraq, Japan, and China.

1-1-1- Cultural representation of big cultural (C) elements

According to Table (1), it is clearly noticed that the most frequent themes belong to Literature. Out of
122 cultural themes, 18 themes were related to poetic and literary works. For example, an amalgam
of poems, fairy tales, and stories were included in the cultural content of this textbook. The themes
related to literature are evident that they belong to the cultures of “inner – circle” countries such as:
American: Britain, Australia, and Canada. Examples include a poem entitled as “A Nation’s Strength”
by the American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson; “American friends” is another poem produced by Julia
Stein; “Little Red Riding Hood” is a fairy tale produced by the American cartoonist: James
Thurber...etc. British culture is also included in the cultural content of Algerian English materials
such as: a poem entitled as “Street Scene” produced by Peter Suffolk (England), a task about “science
fiction” of the British writer Mary Shelley...etc. Only two themes out of 122 themes related to
Algerian literature such as: a visual picture of the Algerian poet: Moufdi Zakaria and the “story of the
chest” written by the Algerian writer Taos Amrouche who portrayed the Algerian Tamazight culture
in her writings. Significantly, no literature related to international cultures.

In terms of Institutions as a big cultural (C) category, out of 122, 12 topics are the most predominant
themes related to socio-political Institutions. It is found that these topics are concerned with
international organizations and unions such as: charitable organizations: the Red Cross and the Red
Crescent, International Atomic Energy Agency, United Nations practices, symbols of international
organizations such as: United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, Food and
Agriculture Organization, United Nations Organization....etc. With regards to the cultural references
of themes related to institutions, these themes are culturally international because these
organizations were established on an international basis. Only two topics are about Algerian socio-
political institutions such as: UNICEF and Algeria - convention on the rights of the children- and a
visual image of the Algerian Central Bank.

As for the category of Economy, from 122 cultural items, 11 themes related to economy. The most
predominant themes were about business and commerce, business trips, confidential reports, and
American economic freedom. Moreover, American culture is heavily depicted in this category.
Through analysing the content of Getting Through, Algerian pupils are exposed to “American women
at work” reading passage. Further, another text was about American economic freedom written by
the Americans Milton and Rose Friedman. Only a few examples about the Algerian economy were
also introduced such as: the sector of economy in Algeria, for instance, Uncle Hassan and his daily
practices. Another example is about doing business in Algeria (business agent in Algeria), a business
trip to Algeria...etc. One topic about economics was not referenced which is a reading passage about
six occupations within the sector of Economy because It is not clear who, when, where, and by whom
it is produced.

It is clearly seen from Table (1) above, some themes referred to Education with regards to Getting
Through’s cultural content. According to the analysis, 8 out of 122 cultural themes is the number of
topics which were related to educational concerns. Two main topics about the British culture were
portrayed in the cultural content of English textbook such as: a visit to “England” and an English
University College “Open Day”. Another reading passage entitled as “A bag of tricks” for the
American publishing company: Harcourt, Brace & World was included as well. It is about discovering
the first arithmetic book in history. Another topic was about Bulgarian students’ visit to historical
sites in Algeria. However, other topics about education were not specifically referenced culturally
such as: the classroom charter, writing a letter to a friend about getting nervous during a
Baccalaureate exam and the other one is about geometry.

Geography is the fourth referenced category in Getting Through English textbook. Out of 122
cultural themes, 7 themes are mainly related to geographical facts and characters. Many
geographical facts about America were introduced in the textbook. For example, Algerian pupils are
exposed to know about Christopher Columbus. There was a fact file about volcanoes in America in
relation to one of the American national parks. The American continent map was also discussed. Just
two themes are categorized under the western non- English speaking culture category. These themes
are about the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. Algerian pupils get also to know about only one theme
related to the Algerian geography such as: locations of SONALGAZ Company in the Algerian cities
such as: Biskra, Djelfa, and Hassi RMel. Asian culture was also present in Getting Through, but only
one geographical theme was addressed. For example, a visual picture of the Arab Moorish astrolabe
was shown in addition to two men wearing Arab dress next to it.

Regarding the category of History, only 4 themes were referenced. Historical sites, black minorities,
and the speech of Martin Luther King are some examples. Significantly, American culture was
marked in themes related to history. The majority of themes were about American history discussed
and pointed out to black minority in America as one instance. A more historical event described in
the textbook is the famous speech of Martin Luther King “I have a dream”. Under this category, only
one cultural theme related to Algerian history such as: visiting sites in Algeria such as: Blida and
Mount Chrea, El-Kala...etc. Thus, it could be said that Getting Through textbook really considered
much more American history.

The least referenced category referred to Arts. Only 4 themes related to arts developed from the
cultural content of Getting Through textbook. The following topics were covered: music, musicians,
and films. The representation of American cultures is found in all the cultural elements being
mentioned above. Thus, American culture is clearly appeared in Arts as well. For example, an
American song entitled as Hero which belongs to the American singer Mariah Carey. Also, an
American Garfield cartoon was also portrayed in the content of English textbook. Another example is
mainly related to the American films produced by Steven Spielberg such as: Star Wars. Thus, it can be
said that these topics related to Arts category belong to the American culture.

1-1-2- Cultural representation of little (c) culture

One significant cultural category is Everyday living. 11 out of 122 cultural themes were referenced.
Some examples were found about meal times and table manners during analysing the content such
as: Friday lunch meal, Mesfouf, Khfef, and Tamina. These are Algerian handmade traditional foods.
With regards to this category, in Unit 8, a British advertisement for vacations is included in relation to
Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, South Humberside, and West Yorkshire in addition to the British names
such as: Mr. P.G. Lawlor. However, in Unit, 1 it is also found some aspects of Algerian everyday livings
such as: Algerians’ way of living including some Algerian names such as: Samira, Nassima, Burnous.
Another topic is about Algerian daily practices in addition to the use of Algerian proper names such
as Mouloud, Zohra, and Karim. In one example, an Algerian family’s daily routine during the French
colonization is also taught to Algerian pupils of English. Another task was about holding a speech at
Hyde Park in London as a reference to the tradition of public speaking at Hyde Park Corner in London.
Further, there are other themes about activities of everyday living, but their cultural references are
not clear.

Interpersonal relations category is also predominant in Getting Through. 9 themes out of 122
cultural themes associated under this category. The following examples were provided to illustrate
the frequency of this category. “Having a conversation between two Algerian students: Leila and
Maya” is an example for interpersonal relations category. Also, a reading passage about Algerian
women who prepared Couscous to help the victims of earthquakes is also included in Getting
Through. This example shows the relationship between people during disasters in addition to a
reading passage about charitable organizations and their role in providing help to others.

According to Table (1), another frequent category refers to daily routines, religious beliefs, and
attitudes which get some attention. Out of 122 cultural themes, 7 themes are the frequency of topics
related to values and beliefs category. Moreover, it is noticed that many references were made to
tradition and social change of beliefs and attitudes. For example, a text addressed tradition and
social change: people fall into three categories in relation to time. Algerian pupils are also taught in
Unit 1 about traditional manners and changing manners for varied situations by addressing Sandra
Fellici from Italy. Western culture, therefore, is also apparent within Getting Through material.
Under the category of values, beliefs, and attitudes, it is found themes related to British and
American cultures. For example, holding an interview with the American founder of Microsoft Bill
Gates was also included in this textbook.

By analysing the cultural content of Getting through English textbooks, only two themes out of 122
themes for social conventions (dress, conversational conventions) were identified. Among the social
behaviours being reflected in English textbook, I provide the following examples: the ways used by
people to interpret their dreams as a behavioural convention. Also, the way of dressing and how
climate, tradition and history affect the way people dress worldwide. Pupils are asked to answer a
task in Unit 1 about dress, climate, tradition and history affect the way people dress worldwide in
Northern European countries, Northern Africa, America, and Algeria. The content of this task
addresses cultures of different countries.

Living conditions is a category found in the analysis of the cultural content. Only one example was
provided to illustrate the frequency of this category. Characteristics of a good society according to
the British magazine New Statesman and Society is an example for living conditions category. The
hegemony of the Western culture is also evident in the Living condition category.

With regards to Ritual behaviour category, only one instance being portrayed in the cultural content
of Getting through English textbooks. One of the Algerian religious rites is reflected such as:
celebrating Ramadan Nights “The midnight of Ramadan in Algeria” is found in this textbook. In Unit
1, Algerian pupils are taught about Algerian religious rites rather than other cultural rites.

Another category is associated with the Environment has been developed while analysing Getting
Through. 15 topics from 122 cultural themes are connected to environmental concerns. Only one
example was about Algerian government measures to protect nature. Other topics were principally
allied with the American environment such as: pupils are asked to learn about energy consumption in
modern times. Also, a reading passage about the dangers of air pollution in America where I referred
to the following expression “In the opinion of many hearing specialists, Los Angeles.....” Another text
was about the importance of keeping America beautiful by getting rid of pollution. Other reference
was made to the phenomenon of tsunami in South Asia. Other topics related to environment were
not culturally referenced, for instance: pollution and its negative effects.

Another frequent cultural category was identified as Islamic scientific and cultural heritage. The
cultural representation of this category showed that 12 out 122 themes are related to science and
scientists. This category compromises some topics about sciences such as: teaching about
experiments of the balloons, mobile electrons, and the property of buoyancy. English-speaking
cultures are also evident in this category. Thus, the most frequent inventors being taught about are
from the English- speaking countries like the American Thomas Edison and the Scot: Alexander
Fleming. Another science topic is about the British scientist Michael Faraday in addition to his
contributions in the field of electricity. Only one Arab scientist is referenced: Al-Khwarizmi and his
 Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 No. of

contributions to mathematics. It is worth mentioning here that there were many scientific topics
which were not referenced.

In conclusion, from Table (1) above, it can be noticed that the cultural references are not evenly
distributed throughout the textbook. Of the total number of cultural references identified in the
analysis, in chapter one with (19.67%) was the highest percentage while (13.93%) is the percentage
of the second chapter. The third and the seven chapters have similar percentages of (12.29%). The
fourth, the fifth, and the eighth chapters’ percentage equal to (10.65%). However, (9.83%) is the
percentage of the sixth chapter. It can be assumed that certain topics may lend themselves more to
cultural references, rather than others.

The cultural elements are not equally distributed on Getting Through chapters as it is evident from
the statistics being presented above. Also, it is found that the Literature category is the most
frequent theme (18 themes out of 122 cultural themes) and the least frequent theme is related to
Art and History categories (4 themes out of 122 cultural themes). Concerning small cultural (c), the
most frequent category referred to Everyday living category while the least frequent cultural
category referred to Body language category as there is no evidence for this theme at all. In terms of
the cultures represented, it can be seen that English-speaking cultures dominate the references at
nearly 43% of all cultural references in the textbook. This is more than double the local Algerian
references at 20% and much greater than other Western non-English cultures (4%) and international
cultures (nearly 13%). Therefore, it would be fair to say that this textbook is dominated by English-
speaking culture, and specifically American culture, since of the 52 references of this type.
 ref (s)
Art 9 1 0 0 10
Economy 0 0 0 0 0
Education 10 0 0 0 10
Geography 0 0 0 1 1
History 0 5 0 0 5
Institutions 0 0 0 3 3
Literature 0 0 0 0 0
Everyday living 7 14 0 0 21
Living conditions 0 0 0 0 0
Interpersonal relations 2 1 0 0 3
Values, beliefs 0 7 0 0 7
Body language 0 0 0 0 0
Social conventions 0 3 0 0 3
Ritual behaviours 0 1 1 1 3
Topics related to environment 1 0 0 25 26
Islamic scientific and cultural heritage 1 0 25 0 26
Total 30 32 26 30 118
Percentage (%) 25.42% 27.11% 22.03% 25.42% 100%
Table -3- The cultural content of My Book of English textbook (textual and visual) Remember that
each table/chart/or figure will need a precise and distinctive number in the final thesis

The above table (3) shows findings developed from analysing the newly-designed My Book of English.
The findings reveal a considerable number of occurrences -21 themes out of 118 cultural themes-
belong to Everyday living and daily routines, whereas, -26 themes out of 118 cultural themes-
referred to Islamic scientific and cultural heritage category. Of 118 cultural themes being analysed,
26 themes were referred to topics related to Environment as well. Also, seven cultural references
were related to Values and Beliefs category, whereas, three references were referred to Social
Conventions category. Slightly fewer, 10 occurrences were related to Education. It appears from the
analysis above that ten topics referred to the category of Arts while five themes referred to History
and only one theme referred to Geography. Likewise, three cultural themes about Socio- political
institutions mentioned in this textbook. However, only three themes about Interpersonal relation
category were reflected in the content of My Book of English. Another three themes were examples
from Ritual behaviours category. From the table above, it is surprisingly found out that these
categories were not identified at all in My Book of English such: Economy, Literature, Living
conditions, and Body language. Consequently, the results suggested the predominance of three
main categories within the content of the newly- designed English textbook namely: Everyday living;
Islamic scientific and cultural heritage; and topics related to Environment.
This table shows statistics related to the cultural references being introduced in the cultural content
of the newly- designed English textbook.

Table -4- Cultural representation in My Book of English (based on Aliakbari, 2004)

Cultural references The frequency of occurrences ( cultural Percentages (%)

(Nationalities) references)
English-speaking cultures:
American 2 16.10%
British 15
Scottish 2

Western non-English speaking

cultures:
Germany 1 4.23%
Holland, Switzerland 1
Spain 2
Peru 1

Algerian local culture 60 50.84%

International cultures 5
Tunisia 3
Iraq 2 14.40%
Turkey 1
Japan 2
Japan, Peru 3
Afghanistan 1
No cultural reference 17 14.40%
Total 118 100%

Making a total of 118 cultural themes, it can be clearly seen that just over of half (50.84%) of the
cultural references referred to Algerian culture. (16.10%) is the second largest proportion referred to
English-speaking cultures such as: American, British, and Scottish ones. Other cultural references
(14.40%) of international cultures were also included in My Book of English such as: Tunisia, Iraq,
Turkey, Japan, and Afghanistan. The lowest percentage of (4.23%) referred to non-Western English-
speaking cultures while (14.40%) referred to themes whose cultural references are not recognised.
1-1-3 Cultural representation of big cultural (C) elements
From the above Table (3), it can be seen that the most frequent cultural elements refer to Education
and Arts categories (10 themes out of 118 cultural elements for each category). The following topics
were covered in My Book of English: tasks and texts related to the Algerian pupil (Mohamed Farah
Djeloud) who won the Arab Reading Challenge competition held in Dubai. Also, in Unit 1, there was
visual pictures portrayed Algerian schools design. For instance, one of the intermediate schools was
named according to one of the Algerian war defenders in addition to the Algerian flag that flew on
the main entrance of that school. Algerian Pupils wore blue pinafores according to the pictures
which were shown on the textbook. In Unit 1, Algerian pupils are taught about teaching Imzad
schools in Algeria. A picture of one of these schools accompanied the reading passage entitled as
“Dar Imzad in Tamanrasset” which means the school of Imzad in Tamanrasset city. Moreover,
Algerian pupils are asked to design a poster about the national cultural heritage as a project in the
end of the teaching Unit1, in order to publish it on the Internet. One last example concerning
Education category is Al-Hadja Fatima who is 73 years old and goes to IQRA School for illiterate
people despite her age. All the topics being covered in My Book of English regarding education were
depicted from the Algerian culture.

Another identified category was associated with Arts. Out of 118 cultural themes, 10 main themes
were about creating and performing artworks. For instance, Algerian pupils are taught about
Algerian musical tools and their synonyms in English such as: Bendir (Drum), Tar (Tambourine):
Gasba (Flute), Shkiwa (Bagpipe), Oud, Darbouka, and Qanun in Unit 1. Also, through the analysis,
there were two Algerian paintings entitled as: (Les terrasses de L’aghouat, L’oued Msila après
l’orage) in addition to pictures of some Koranic schools in Algeria drawn by the French artist
Alphonse –Etienne Dinet during his stay in Algeria, in Unit 2. All cultural references related to arts
category are Algerian based. Moreover, there were three main themes about arts, but it is not clear
who, where, and when they are produced. For example, in Unit 1, the topic about musical tools was
tackled in general.

Another frequent category refers to History. Out of 118 themes, five topics were about historical
events and facts related to Algerian national history. For example, teaching about historical sites in
Algeria such as: Djemila which is regarded as one of the great Roman cities in Algeria, the temple of
the Roman emperor Septimus Severus, the Grand Baths, and the Roman theatre....etc. Also, within
the same Unit, there was a reading text about Setif city and describing it historically during the
Roman and Turkish era in Algeria. Moreover, Algerian pupils get also to know about two Algerian
cities (Constantine and Setif) historically. Pictures of these two cities were shown before 100 years
ago and in the present time in order to compare between both.

The less referenced category referred to Institutions. Out of 118 cultural references, 3 topics were
related to socio-political institutions. Two themes were about describing Algerian stamps. However,
the third theme is internationally based organization, for instance, the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Only one theme from 118 cultural themes was allied with Geography. The following geographical
facts covered in My Book of English referred to Algerian culture. For instance, one of the cultural
themes was about the locations of national parks in Algeria according to UNESCO such as: Gouraya,
Hoggar, and Tassili national parks....etc. An Algerian map was also accompanied sequentially to
show the locations of these parks in Unit 4.

It appears from the analysis above that there is neither theme connected to economy, nor to
literature. It can be noticed that there are no instances referred to both categories; unlike, Getting
Through textbook, where these two categories were given much importance. It could be said that
Algerian intermediate pupils have not reached that level yet to study about literature and economy.
They could be added later in secondary school English textbooks instead.

1-1-4- Cultural representation of small cultural (c) elements

With regards to small (c) cultural elements, the most frequent category referred to Everyday living.
Out of 118 themes, 21 themes were related to daily living. Under this category, some instances
referred to Algerian, British, and even international cultures, but Algerian culture was the dominant
one. For example, because food is a part from everyday living, one theme was about having a
conversation between a young lady (Jenny) and her grandmother (Elizabeth) about food, for
instance, Yorkshire pudding with roast beef. The same conversation between Jenny and her
grandmother about childhood games they used to play in the past and now in Unit 2. Also, lifestyle in
the past and in the present was also found in Unit 2. Moreover, there were even topics and tasks
about different interests such as: the description of both Maria’s and Amadou’s personalities as
found in the textbook.

Algerian lifestyle was also evident through hobbies, food, and games. Algerian pupils are taught
about both Nadia’s and Karim’s hobbies. Food in Algeria was also identified in My Book of English as
well. Algerian traditional dishes such as: pancakes (Baghrir), couscous (Barboucha), stuffed flatbread
(Mhajeb), the traditional broad beans dish (Dobara foul), and a traditional crushed bread and
vegetable dish (Boumehres). It is noticeable that these traditional dishes do reflect the diversity of
cultures with regards to food in Algeria. In addition to Algerian traditional cooking tool that is called
Mehres was also introduced in this textbook. Further, pupils of English are taught about Algerian
traditional childhood games in the past such as: Swing (Jaalaila), Jackstone (Kroud), Back to back (Al-
Kourkba), and Rag doll (Laarayess). Nevertheless, other international cultures were also recognized,
for example, Algerian pupils get to learn about Japanese games and animations such as: Sudoko,
Manga, Karaoke, and Anime...etc. Other themes are not culturally approved.

With regards to Values and Beliefs category, 7 themes out of 118 cultural references were values,
beliefs, and attitudes included in this textbook. For instance, social change is considered as an aspect
from this category. Thus, a conversation between Jenny and her grandmother about the games they
use to play in the past and now are reflected within the cultural content of the new textbook.
Another example is a picture of the queen Elizabeth before and now. It is clearly observed that
Values category belongs to the British culture mainly.

Social conventions category is also included as far as the way of dressing is concerned in My Book of
English. There were three out of 118 cultural themes were referred to this category. For example,
pupils get to know about Algerian boys and girls and what they wear in weekends, weddings, schools,
and in the first day back to schools. This task requires from pupils to ask each others about what they
dress during these significant ceremonies and events. In addition, pictures of traditional dress that
represent three main regions in Algeria were also shown such as: Jebba Naili (Djelfa city), Katefa
Mahrouja (Constantine city), and Benouar Staifi (Setif city). The aim behind these exemplifications is
to make Algerian pupils aware of dress in all the Algerian regions.

Accordingly, another referenced cultural category is associated with Interpersonal relations. Only
three themes out of 118 cultural themes referred to this category. The instance being introduced in
the textbook was about identifying a minority within the Algerian society to show structures of the
same society, thus, pupils were exposed to a reading passage about Algerian indigenous minority
who are called Imzad and their culture. Also, a picture of one of Imzad women wearing a special
dress was shown in this textbook. Having an interview with Maria from Peru and Amadou from
Japan was also introduced within the same textbook. This example shows the relationship between
two learners: Maria and Amadou.

The same number of references mentioned in Ritual behaviours category. Out of 118 cultural
references, three themes were related to celebrating Algerian “grandmother day”, celebrating
“National Inventor’s Day”, and “Earth Day”.
It is worthy to mention that there are no cultural references were referred to the following
categories: Living conditions and Body language.

Islamic scientific and cultural heritage category was also identified. Out of 118 cultural themes, 26
themes were associated with Islamic science and technology. The majority of these themes were
about Islamic and Arab scientists and science. For instance, pupils are taught about the historian Ibn-
Khaldoun who is originally from Tunisia and his achievements. Another Islamic philosopher is Al-
Farabi who was born in Afghanistan. Al-Khawarizmi who was born in Baghdad (Iraq) was also
introduced within the same cultural content. Another task was about Arab Islamic inventors such as:
Fatima al firhi from Tunisia, Ziryab and Banu Mussa from Iraq, Al Jazari from Turkey, and Ibn-nafis
from Syria...etc. Moreover, scientists from Algeria were frequently portrayed in Unit 3 of the same
textbook besides to international scientists and inventors. For example, Algerian pupils are taught
about the Algerian scientist Dr. Bourouis and complete his ID card. Also, they get to know about two
Algerian scientists: Dr. Baghdadi and Prof. Haba and their achievements in the field of technology.
One other task was about celebrating “the inventor’s day” and writing about the Algerian Dr.
Bourouis.

On one hand, only one theme was about the American computer scientists: Larry Page and Sergey
Brin. On the other hand, other examples were referred to western non English-speaking cultures in
Unit 3, such as: Alzahrawi is from Spain and the German physicist: Albert Einstein and his activities.

The last category which is developed through content analysis is related to Environment. The
majority of these topics (26 out of 118) referred to environmental concerns. British and Algerian
references were the predominant in this textbook. For instance, pupils are supposed to learn about
Dr. Sian Waters from Durham University in England who proposed solutions to protect Barbary
macaques. Moreover, pupils also get to know about the UK Eco-school and the negative effect of
litter on wildlife. Likewise, the Scottish cultural reference was also present through keeping Scotland
clean by preventing litter. In addition, Algerian pupils are taught about the variety of the ecosystems
in Algeria such as: Djurdjura, Chrea, Taza, Gouraya...etc. Another example was about reading a
passage related to the Algerian Saharan Cheetah as a threatened animal in the South of Algeria.
Furthermore, the eco-school programme to encourage cleaning the environment from litter and to
protect animals and plant species was also taught to pupils. Pupils are also asked to design an eco-
poster for “Earth day” celebration in order to raise their awareness of the importance of Barbary
deer as a threatened spice. In addition, a fact file of Algeria’s biodiversity was also introduced in My
Book of English. In this unit, it is noticeable that both Algerian and British cultures to gather were
used to deal with topics related to environment.

With regards to Western non- English cultures, pupils are taught about two organizations: one in
Holland and the second one in Switzerland whose job is protect the environment. At the level of
international cultures, in Unit 4, a single task about endangered species in countries such as: Norway,
Kenya, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada introduced within the cultural content of English
textbook.

In conclusion, it is noteworthy to say that the cultural elements are equally distributed on My Book of
English. Of the total number of cultural references identified in the analysis, (27.11%) is the highest
percentage belongs to chapter two and (25.42%) is the percentage of the first chapter while (25.42%)
is the proportion of the fourth chapter. However, the smallest percentage of (22.03%) is the
percentage of the third chapter. Also, it is found that the most frequent cultural element refers to
Everyday living category while the less frequent category refers to both Living conditions and Body
language categories. It is also noticed that no reference was made to two main cultural elements,
whereas, two other categories were identified during the analysis such as: topics related to science
and environment. With regards to the cultures being represented in this textbook, it can be noticed
that Algerian culture is the predominant variety at nearly more than half of (51%) while nearly of
(17%) is the overall percentage of English-speaking cultures and much less than (5%) refers to non-
western cultures. (15%) is a sizable proportion of international cultures. Consequently, it could be
said that My Book of English is dominated by local (Algerian) culture because of 60 out of 118 cultural
references were made to Algerian culture only.
1-2- Analysis of differences between both textbooks:
The following table presents quantitatively the findings which were introduced in the slightly old
textbook and the new produced one: Getting Through and My Book of English.
Table- 5- the cultural content of textbooks

Getting Through My Book of English

Art 4 10
Economy 11 0
Education 8 10
Geography 7 1
History 4 5
Institutions 12 3
Literature 18 0
Everyday living 11 21
Living conditions 1 0
Interpersonal relations 9 3
Values, beliefs 7 7
Body language 0 0
Social conventions 2 3
Ritual behaviours 1 3
Topics related to environment 15 26
Islamic scientific and cultural heritage 12 26
Total 122 118
Percentage (%) 100% 100%

Table (5) shows that there are differences between the slightly older textbook and the newly-
produced one. To begin with, Getting Through textbook includes more culture- related topics
compared to the new designed one. That is, the presence of cultural categories is clearly depicted in
Getting Through, whereas, in My Book of English, nearly half of the possible cultural elements were
not presented. It is also significant to notice that Getting Through textbook has more topics related
to Literature while there are frequent topics related to Everyday living in My Book of English.
Economy and Institutions categories are considered as the most frequently themes in Getting
Through while in the newly- designed textbook, only a few, or no topics about these categories were
addressed. Moreover, moral Values and beliefs categories were frequently discussed in Getting
Through and in My Book of English similarly. In addition, geographical facts were reflected well in
Getting Through while only one topic was mentioned in the newly- designed English textbook. More
frequencies were referred to Arts and History in My Book of English than in Getting Through.
Similarly, Social conventions and Ritual behaviours categories were introduced in My Book of English
than in Getting Through.

It can be seen that everyday living category was developed well in My Book of English, whereas, less
focus on this category was found in Getting Through. Moreover, education category is introduced
better in the new-designed textbook compared to the old textbook. With regards to Interpersonal
relations category, it is better included in Getting Through than in My Book of English. Significantly,
topics related to environment category appeared in the cultural content of both textbooks, but it is
well- reflected in My Book of English. Also, Islamic scientific and cultural heritage category identified
in the cultural content of both textbooks, but these topics are frequently mentioned in My Book of
English compared to Getting Through. However, the cultural content of both textbooks do not
introduce non- verbal communication.

The following table shows quantitative findings related to regional cultures being portrayed in both
Algerian English textbooks.
Table -6 - Cultural representation in English textbook
Getting Through My Book of English
English-speaking cultures:
American
British 42.62% 16.10%
Scottish
Irish
Western non-English speaking cultures:
Germany
Brazil 4.23%
Italy 4.09%
(Holland, Switzerland)
Spain

Algerian local culture 20.49% 50.84%

International cultures
African cultures :
Egypt 13.11% 14.40%
Tunisia
Asian cultures:
Iraq
(Japan, China)
Turkey
(Japan, Peru)
Afghanistan
No cultural reference 19.67% 14.40%
Percentage (s) 100% 100%

An analysis of the cultural representation found that there are differences between the textbooks of
intermediate English textbook and the secondary one. It is worthwhile to say that the predominant
culture being introduced in Getting Through textbook mainly encompassed English- speaking
cultures. The American culture is massively presented as it comes first due to a large number of
American representations, followed by British culture and the Scottish one. Although Algerian culture
is represented as well, there is still a great emphasis on English-speaking cultures. Also, Asian, and
African, and other international cultures are under-represented in Getting Through textbook due to a
few cultural references referred to them. The tiniest percentage referred to non- western cultures.
Consequently, Getting Through textbook is dominated by Inner-Circle English-speaking countries
while local and international cultures were to some extent marginalized.

In My Book of English, Algerian culture is introduced massively through different topics related to
Algerian lifestyle, interests, arts, environment, and even science followed by English-speaking
cultures where British culture comes first, then American culture and the Scottish one. Also, Asian,
African and international cultures were given a little degrees of representations. Moreover, western-
non English speaking cultures are introduced equally in both textbooks while there is a slight
difference in introducing regional cultures in the new designed textbook and the old one. Overall,

My Book of English is highly dominated by Algerian local culture.

Related terminology

Masfouf: is one variant of couscous made of semolina, butter, and suger.

Khfaf: (Sfenj) is a kind of doughnuts cooked in oil. It is eaten with sugar, or soaked in honey.
Imzad Schools: they teach Tifinagh (Tuareg Alphabet), traditional culture, and imzad songs and
poetry.
Burnous: is a kind of a long cloak usually white in colour worn by men especially in ceremonies
Couscous: it is an Arabic derived term as it is a type of dish made of wheat semolina. It is steamed
and served in celebrations.