scholarly journals An Analysis of the Cultural Contents in Elementary English Textbooks and its Effectiveness for Teaching English

2016 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-92
Author(s):  
권은지 ◽  
Kim Dongkyoo
Keyword(s):  
Teaching English ◽  
English Textbooks ◽  
Elementary English

高等学校英語検定教科書が扱う文化題材の考察 －異文化理解の観点から－ • The Analysis of Cultural Issues in Japanese High School English Textbooks: From the Perspective of Intercultural Understanding

2016 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 3
Author(s):  
Kouki Ookawa
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Cultural Issues ◽  
Intercultural Understanding ◽  
Teaching English ◽  
High School English ◽  
English Textbooks ◽  
Asian People ◽  
Cultural Components

Cultural understanding is one main objective in teaching English at Japanese high schools, as suggested by the Ministry of Education (MEXT). Four cultural components, in twelve English textbooks, were examined: variety of categories, areas where English was used, the purposes of the materials, and the quality of the content. The result of this research indicates that these materials cover tangible contents such as places and buildings and intangible ideas such as certain beliefs and personal views. American and Japanese topics were frequently used, while the number of lessons related to countries where English is used as the second language was very small. These findings suggest that it is necessary to increase not only the content concerned with those countries but also with Asian nations such as Korea, China, and Taiwan since many students will have chances to communicate with these Asian people in English in the future. 文化理解教育は文部科学省が作成した学習指導要領の外国語科の指導目標の1つであり、英語教科書を通じて学習する過程で大変重要である。本論では12の高校英語教科書に掲載されている文化的な素材を、カテゴリー、英語が使われる地域、題材の意図、内容の質的観点から調査した。研究結果は、教材の内容は場所や建物などの具体的なものから、信条や個人的な考え方などの抽象的な概念まで、様々な種類の題材を扱っていることを明らかにした。アメリカと日本の文化は多くのレッスンにおいて頻繁に扱われていたが、インドやシンガポールなど英語が公用語の1つとなっている国についての文化紹介の頻度は少なかった。これらの調査結果から筆者は、このような扱われる頻度の少ない国々についての題材を増やすだけでなく、韓国、中国、台湾などの題材を増やす必要があることを提案する。なぜなら多くの学生が近い将来、それらのアジアの国々の人々と英語でコミュニケーションをする可能性が高いからである。

scholarly journals Teaching English as a Lingua Franca in Brazil: Insights into Materials Writing

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 62
Author(s):  
Claudio de Paiva Franco
Keyword(s):  
Teaching English ◽  
Teaching Materials ◽  
Lingua Franca ◽  
English Textbooks ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Oriented Approach ◽  
Selection Of

In this paper, I intend to examine the main English as a lingua franca (ELF) issues discussed in the National Common Curricular Base (Brasil, 2018) and compare them to the views put forward by mainstream scholars in the field (Baker, 2016, 2018; Dewey, 2007; Jenkins, 2006, 2012, 2015; Pennycook, 2006, 2009; Widdowson, 1994). In addition, as a researcher and creator of teaching materials, I intend to share some insights into materials writing by presenting the main strategies adopted in writing a series of English textbooks for pre-teens, evaluated and approved for distribution by the Brazilian Textbook Program, that I have written with Tavares (Franco & Tavares, 2018). Therefore, I hope this article may help shed light on developing and implementing materials that adopt an ELF-oriented approach in a scenario created by the legislation and the selection of textbooks that seems to be promising for the establishment of the ELF paradigm in Brazil.

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