Cultural bias in EFL textbooks

Brozd, Lara. (2018). Cultural bias in EFL textbooks. Diploma Thesis. Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu, Department of English Language and Literature
Department of Pedagogy. [mentor Širanović, Ana and Geld, Renata].

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Abstract

Culture has become a vital part of EFL teaching and learning and is one of the main concerns of language pedagogy. Since textbooks are still used as primary teaching tools, the present study investigates the presence and portrayal of different cultures, that is, the others, in two sets of EFL textbooks used in Croatian schools. Sadker and Sadker's (2001) list of seven forms of bias in instructional materials was used to examine the presence of cultural bias in the portrayal of the other, and related cultural content was analysed to see whether it promotes linguistic or cultural competence. The other was categorized according to the variables that constitute one's cultural identity: race/ethnicity, nationality, family structure and ability/disability. The analysis of images and main texts was conducted both quantitatively and qualitatively, using the method of content analysis. The results confirm the presence of the other in EFL textbooks in both images and texts, however, there is a dominance of white English characters, while some racial, ethnic and social groups remain excluded or underrepresented. All seven forms of bias were identified in textbooks, while cultural content was found to foster mainly linguistic competence. It is hoped that this study will encourage teachers and learners to critically evaluate cultural content of the EFL textbooks they work with and use that kind of content to challenge the existing cultural mainstream in Croatian schools.

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