A Systematic Review to Comprehend the Cultural Representation in L2 Mandarin Textbooks

Cultural representation in foreign/second language textbooks has received considerable research attention in recent years. This diachronic study reviews previous studies’ methodological trends and research foci on cultural representation in L2 Mandarin textbooks from 2005–2020. It systematically searched all relevant publications in three accessible databases: Web of Science, Scopus, and CNKI. A total number of 48 relevant publications were collected and analyzed. The review indicates that most publications are empirical studies, covering qualitative, quantitative, and mixed studies and most sampled textbooks are elementary textbooks from China. It also reveals that the main source for collecting data is documented, and the commonly used data analysis methods are comparative, content, discourse, and semiotic analysis. Besides that, examining cultural elements in textbooks seems to be a key research focus among the publications, followed by analyzing cultural orientation, unconventional culture phenomenon, and ideology behind cultural representation in textbooks. The current study contributes to the literature by providing a detailed review of cultural representation in L2 Mandarin textbooks and identifying the research gaps. Accordingly, it concludes with recommendations for future research to study cultural representation in textbooks.

Investigation of Health System Assumptions in Curriculum of Fourth Grade Elementary Textbooks Using Shannon Entropy Content analysis

Introduction: Health education is an inseparable part of a curriculum for all students. Health education should represent the essential knowledge, attitudes, and skills. So, the present research aimed at investigating health system assumptions in fourth-grade elementary textbooks. Method: This research is applied and descriptive-analytical has been done manually by Shannon's entropy content analysis, which suggests a quantitative approach to data processing. The research has investigated the respondents' viewpoints about the content of fourth-grade elementary textbooks and 12 major components (Physical health, Nutritional health, Environmental health, Natural environment health, Family health, Safety incidents, Physical activity, Mental health, Prevention of high-risk behaviors, Control, and prevention of diseases, Disability, Public health, and school health) and 58 minor components of health education and promotion. Results: In this research, all fourth-grade elementary textbooks have been reviewed. According to Shannon's entropy content analysis results, mental health has the highest frequency with 277 components, and disability has the least frequency with 12 components. Among the 1157 health components in fourth-grade elementary textbooks, there are 81 physical health components, 263 nutritional health components, 57 environmental health components, 33 natural environment health components, 227 family health components, 19 safety incident components, 73 physical activity components, 277 mental health components, 25 component of prevention of high-risk behaviors, 14 components of disease control and prevention, 12 disability components, and 58 components of public health and school health. Conclusion: According to the content analysis, there is no normal distribution between the components of health education and health promotion among the components studied in the content of the fourth-grade books, so that little attention has been paid to health education components in fourth-grade elementary textbooks.

ADDRESSING GENDER BIAS ISSUES IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL EFL TEXTBOOKS: AN ANALYSIS OF GROW WITH ENGLISH

Purpose of the study: A textbook is a book containing comprehensive teaching-learning materials for a certain subject which is regularly used by both teachers and students at school. Textbooks should not contain unfair content or matters, such as gender bias. This study was conducted to examine the extent to which gender bias appears in the EFL textbook mostly employed in Aceh, Indonesia. Methodology: This research was aimed at investigating the representation levels of gender in English elementary textbooks of Grow with English book 4, book 5, and book 6. A content analysis method was used, for which every page of the textbooks was investigated to explore the five aspects of visibility, priority, feminine/masculine generic construction, activity, and occupation. Main Findings: The result of the investigation shows that every textbook contains gender bias of various representation levels. Males dominated three categories, namely priority, activity, and occupation. Meanwhile, females are only dominant in the visibility category. The results suggest that the EFL textbooks mostly used in Aceh are still not free from gender bias issues. Applications of this study: Indonesia is a country where English is used as a Foreign Language (EFL). Indonesian schools are apt to use textbooks written by Indonesian authors as the major source for English instruction in schools. Therefore, researchers should focus their attention on the content of English textbooks used in schools because they become the guidance for these students in learning. Novelty/Originality of this study: The results of the study suggest that the EFL textbook should be considered for revision to ensure that it is free from unfair content. This is aimed at national textbook designers when they have to produce a textbook for Indonesian learners so that the books they make available to schools are free from gender bias issues in the textbooks.