Representation of French Culture as a Foreign Language through Textbooks

Ninuk Lustyantie, Evi Rosyani Dewi

Abstract


The purpose of this study is to gain an in-depth understanding of the representation of French culture as a foreign language through textbooks. The existence of French as an international language gives stimulus to French instructors and learners to learn not only the language but also the culture of this language. This study applies a qualitative approach and adopts the critical discourse analysis method of data interpretation. Checking the validity of the data included credibility, dependability, transferability, confirmability, and triangulation of data. The object studied was the Intermediate Level Alter Ego (B1). The findings of cultural elements indicate the existence of verbal and non-verbal texts which include CulturalKnowledge (67%), which are Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité, LeFéminisme, LesArts, Cultural Practice/Behavior (19%), and CulturalArtefacts (14%). Tracing for cultural aspects through textbooks is complex and a challenging academic activity because culture is intertwined with people’s norms, values, attitudes and a given society’s way of life. This research has an impact on countries that use French as a foreign language because the cultural representation contained in it can change the viewpoints of French language learners.

https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.19.3.22


Keywords


Culture; French; Foreign Languages and values; Instructors and Teachers; Language Textbook

Full Text:

PDF

References


Abdullah, N. (2009). Cultural Elements in Malaysian English Language Textbooks . Language.

Adaskou, K. (1990). Design decisions on the cultural content of a secondary English course for Morocco. ELT Journal, 44(1), 3–10. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/44.1.3

Alcon, E. (2000). The Role of Conversational Interaction in the Development of a Second Language: Its Application to English Language Teaching in the Classroom. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 16(1), 135–154.

Awayed-Bishara, M. (2015). Analyzing the cultural content of materials used for teaching English to high school speakers of Arabic in Israel. Discourse & Society, 26(5), 517–542. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926515581154

Awayed-Bishara, M. (2018). EFL discourse as cultural practice. Journal of Multicultural Discourses, 13(3), 243–258. https://doi.org/10.1080/17447143.2017.1379528

Beaman, J. (2015). Boundaries of Frenchness: cultural citizenship and France’s middle-class North African second-generation. Identities, 22(1), 36–52. https://doi.org/10.1080/1070289X.2014.931235

Bennett, J. M., Bennett, M. J., & Allen, W. (2003). Developing intercultural competence in the language classroom. Culture as the Core: Perspectives on Culture in Second Language Learning, 237–270.

Besse, A.-S. (2007). Caractéristiques des langues et apprentissage de la lecture en langue première et en français langue seconde: perspective évolutive et comparative entre l’arabe et le portugais [Characteristics of languages and reading learing in first and second language: an evolutionary and comparative perspective between Arabic and Portuguese]. Université Rennes.

Bonilla, Y. (2010). GUADELOUPE IS OURS The Prefigurative Politics of the Mass Strike in the French Antilles. Interventions-International Journal of Postcolonial Studies, 12(1), 125-137. https://doi.org/10.1080/13698010903553393

Boudjadi, A. (2012). La pluralité culturelle dans les manuels scolaires de FLE de l’enseignement secondaire [Cultural plurality in EFL textbooks of secondary language education]. Synergies Algérie, 15, 107–120.

Byram, M. (1988). Foreign language education and cultural studies. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 1(1), 15-31. https://doi.org/10.1080/07908318809525025

Byram, M. (2013). Foreign Language Teaching and Intercultural Citizenship. Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research, 1(3), 53–62.

Byram, M., Gribkova, B., & Starkey, H. (2002). Developing the Intercultural Dimension in Language Teaching: A Practical Introduction for Teachers. Council of Europe, Strasbourg, France.

Clark, P., & Hussey, I. (2016). Fair trade certification as oversight: an analysis of fair trade international and the small producers’ symbol. New Political Economy, 21(2), 220–237. https://doi.org/10.1080/13563467.2015.1079173

de los Heros, S. (2009). Linguistic pluralism or prescriptivism? A CDA of language ideologies in Talento, Peru’s official textbook for the first-year of high school. Linguistics and Education, 20(2), 172–199. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.linged.2009.01.007

Dean, J., & Aune, K. (2015). Feminism Resurgent? Mapping Contemporary Feminist Activisms in Europe. Social Movement Studies, 14(4), 375–395. https://doi.org/10.1080/14742837.2015.1077112

Dinh, T. N., & Sharifian, F. (2017). Vietnamese cultural conceptualisations in the locally developed English textbook: a case study of ‘Lunar New Year’/‘Tet.’ Asian Englishes, 19(2), 148–159. https://doi.org/10.1080/13488678.2017.1279763

Dollez, C., & Pons, S. (2013). Alter ego + 3 B1: Méthode de français. Hachette. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.id/books?id=oicAmgEACAAJ

Fickel, L. H., Henderson, C., & Price, G. (2017). Language, culture and identity at the nexus of professional learning. Educational Research, 59(4), 391–407. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131881.2017.1373029

Hall, S. M., & Holdsworth, C. (2016). Family Practices, Holiday and the Everyday. Mobilities, 11(2), 284–302. https://doi.org/10.1080/17450101.2014.970374

Halliday, M. A. K. (1978). Language as a Social Semiotic. London: Edward Arnold.

Hamiloğlu, K., & Mendi, B. (2010). A content analysis related to the cross-cultural/intercultural elements used in EFL coursebooks. Sino-US English Teaching, 7(1), 16–23.

Herzel, R. (2008). Theatre History and Seventeenth-Century France. Seventeenth-Century French Studies, 30(1), 3–16. https://doi.org/10.1179/175226908X314589

Hunt, C. J., & Gonsalkorale, K. (2018). Conformity to masculine norms among treatment-seeking male problem gamblers. International Gambling Studies, 18(3), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/14459795.2018.1429482

Jarvis, P. (2006). The Theory and Practice of Teaching. The Theory and Practice of Teaching. UK, London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203016442

Joseph-Gabriel, A. K. (2015). Creolizing Freedom: French–Creole Translations of Liberty and Equality in the Haitian Revolution. Slavery & Abolition, 36(1), 111–123. https://doi.org/10.1080/0144039X.2014.888869

Kearney, E. (2015). Intercultural Learning in Modern Language Education. Intercultural Learning in Modern Language Education. Bristol, Blue Ridge Summit: Multilingual Matters. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781783094684

Kramsch, C. (2013). Culture in foreign language teaching. Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research, 1(1), 57–58.

Kusumaningputri, R., & Widodo, H. P. (2018). Promoting Indonesian university students’ critical intercultural awareness in tertiary EAL classrooms: The use of digital photograph-mediated intercultural tasks. System, 72, 49–61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2017.10.003

Lynn, M. (2017). Does tipping help to attract and retain better service workers? Journal of Foodservice Business Research, 20(1), 82–89. https://doi.org/10.1080/15378020.2016.1195218

Mahieux, A., & Mejia-Dorantes, L. (2017). Regeneration strategies and transport improvement in a deprived area: what can be learnt from Northern France? Regional Studies, 51(5), 800–813. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2016.1177174

McConachy, T. (2018). Critically engaging with cultural representations in foreign language textbooks. Intercultural Education, 29(1), 77–88. https://doi.org/10.1080/14675986.2017.1404783

McConachy, T., & Hata, K. (2013). Addressing textbook representations of pragmatics and culture. ELT Journal, 67(3), 294–301. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/cct017

Sadeghi, K., & Sepahi, Z. (2018). Cultural content of three EFL textbooks: teachers’ and learners’ cultural preferences and cultural themes of textbooks. Pedagogies, 13(3), 222–245. https://doi.org/10.1080/1554480X.2017.1417128

Seidlhofer, B., Breiteneder, A., & Pitzl, M.-L. (2006). English as a lingua franca in Europe. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 26, 3–34.

Shin, J., Eslami, Z. R., & Chen, W.-C. (2011). Presentation of local and international culture in current international English-language teaching textbooks. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 24(3), 253–268. https://doi.org/10.1080/07908318.2011.614694

Stanisevski, D. (2014). Liberty, Equality, Solidarity A Theoretical Minuet in Four Steps. Administrative Theory & Praxis, 36(4), 530–531. https://doi.org/10.2753/atp1084-1806360405

Su, Y. C. (2016). The international status of English for intercultural understanding in Taiwan’s high school EFL textbooks. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 36(3), 390–408. https://doi.org/10.1080/02188791.2014.959469

Tajeddin, Z., & Teimournezhad, S. (2015). Exploring the hidden agenda in the representation of culture in international and localised ELT textbooks. Language Learning Journal, 43(2), 180–193. https://doi.org/10.1080/09571736.2013.869942

Thanasoulas, D. (2001). The Importance Of Teaching Culture In The Foreign Language Classroom. Radical Pedagogy, 3, 1–25.

Tomescu, A.-M. (2019). L’enseignement de la civilisation en didactique du fle [The teaching of civilization in learing FLE]. Universitatea din Piteşti, 4(115), 500–504.

Tomlinson, B. (2003). Developing Materials for Language Teaching. Bloomsbury Academic. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781474211826

Usó-Juan, E., & Martínez-Flor, A. (2008). Teaching learners to appropriately mitigate requests. ELT Journal, 62(4), 349-357. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccm092

Wardhaugh, R., & Fuller, J. M. (2015). Summary for Policymakers. In Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Ed.), Climate Change 2013 - The Physical Science Basis (pp. 1–30). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107415324.004

Whorf, B. L. (1997). The Relation of Habitual Thought and Behavior to Language. In Sociolinguistics (pp. 443–463). London: Macmillan Education UK. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-25582-5_35

Widodo H. P., Perfecto M. R., Van Canh L., & Buripakdi A. (2018) Incorporating Cultural and Moral Values into ELT Materials in the Context of Southeast Asia (SEA). In: Widodo H., Perfecto M., Van Canh L., Buripakdi A. (eds) Situating Moral and Cultural Values in ELT Materials. English Language Education, vol 9. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63677-1_1

Wodak, R., & Meyer, M. (2001). Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis. Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis. UK, London: SAGE Publications, Ltd. https://doi.org/10.4135/9780857028020

Yu, Y., & Wang, B. (2009). A study of language learning strategy use in the context of EFL curriculum and pedagogy reform in China. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 29(4), 457–468. https://doi.org/10.1080/02188790903309041

Zarate, G. (2003). Médiation culturelle et didactique des langues [Cultural mediation and didactics of languages]. Strasbourg: Conseil de l’Europe.


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


e-ISSN: 1694-2116

p-ISSN: 1694-2493