Analysis of the intercultural adaption of English textbooks in Albanian context

REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA
UNIVERSITY “FAN S. NOLI” , KORCE
FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND FILOLOGY
ENGLISH LANGUAGE

TOPIC:

Analysis of the intercultural adaption of English textbooks in Albanian

context.

Accepted by: Prof.Dr Edlira Xega Worked by: Elsa Hasanas

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 Analysis of the intercultural adaption of English textbooks in Albanian context

TABLE OF CONTENT

TABLE OF CONTENT…………………………………………………………………………..i
ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………………...ii
INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………………….iii
- Hypothesis............................................................................................................
- Research objectives .……………………………………………………………..

METHODS....................................................................................................................................6
RESULTS ...............................................................................................................................7-10

CONCLUSIONS……………………………………………………………………………..….11

BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………………………….12

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 Analysis of the intercultural adaption of English textbooks in Albanian context

ABSTRACT

“Cultural differences should not separate us from each other, but rather cultural diversity
brings a collective strength that can benefit all of humanity. Also: "Intercultural dialogue is the
best guarantee of a more peaceful, just and sustainable world.”

(Robert Alan Aurthur)

What is culture? There are a lot of different definitions. According to Sapir, “culture may be
defined as what a society does and thinks.” According to Duranti, it is “something learned,
transmitted, passed down from one generation to the next, through human actions, often in the
form of face-to-face interaction and through linguistic communication.” Anthropologists define
culture as “the whole way of life of a people or group; culture includes the social practices that
bond a group of people together and distinguish them from others.” In the past, people learned a
foreign language to study its literature, and this was the main medium of culture, i. e. it was
through reading that students learned of the civilization of the target language. Today, however,
language learners are concerned with such crucial aspects of culture as greetings,personal
possessions, verbal taboos, cafes, contrasts in town and country life, patterns of politeness,
fashion, medicine, etc. Generally people think of culture as “high culture” – art, literature, music,
and the like. However, the most important part of culture in communication is that which is
internal and hidden, but which governs the behaviour and includes values and thought patterns.
According to Lustig (2009), this dimension of culture can be seen as an iceberg with the tip
sticking above the water level of conscious awareness. By far the most significant part, however,
is unconsciuos or below the water level of awareness. It is geneally recognized that language and
culture are related to each other. Language is communication between people with their own
cultural norms. Culture is a complex concept that inludes language. Moreover, Leavitt (2010)
claims, that misunderstandings are likely to occur between members of different cultures and we
must learn to deal with them in any situation in which two cultures come into contact.
Furthermore, language is considered to be the most visible and available expression of any
culture. To sum up, culture is related to language and vice versa. It is necessary to teach both
language and culture in an integrated way, i.e. to use the target language as the medium of
instruction in culture teaching. When students learn a foreign language, they learn more than a
linguistic system. They acquire a certain degree of familiarity with the foreign cultural system.
Neglecting the cultural difference results in misunderstandings. It is necessary to learn how to
understand and create language that is in accordance with the sociocultural parameters of the
specific situation, as EFL students first of all ground communication on the background of their
native culture and only then on the culture of the target language, which is called intercultural
communication. Intercultural communication is interactional data from members of different
cultural backgrounds, i. e. it is communication across cultures or comparative data and studies of
a large number of cultures. Intercultural communication is a symbolic process in which people
from different cultures create shared meanings. Intercultural communication is concerned with
unmediated communication between people from different cultural backgrounds. In the 21st
century we have no choice about whether to live and communicate in a world of many cultures.

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 Analysis of the intercultural adaption of English textbooks in Albanian context

INTRODUCTION

The contextualisation of foreign language teaching gained prominence and became the focus of a lot of
studies during the second half of the twentieth century. A society’s use of language has clearly developed
over time to meet diverse needs and, in this process, it has become a highly socioculturally determined
system.

The cultural content of English language teaching textbooks may become one of the best tools for
introducing learners to otherness. However, the societal contextualization of English comes with
controversy due to the specific status of English as an international language or as a lingua franca. This
implies that English language teaching does not have to be necessarily limited to culture-specific factors.
Indeed, English can, and is, used by and with non-native speakers of English and in ‘neutral’
environments, those where the culture-specific elements of English-speaking countries are irrelevant.
Additionally, English language teaching may be conducted in a ‘neutral’ way. For instance, certain Arab
nations use the Arab world as their only setting and make no reference to English-speaking nations or
even to Western societies. In contrast, in societies which do not hold strong prejudices towards English-
speaking nations, it appears that English-language teaching tends to be more complete and comprehensive
when language and culture go hand in hand. Language is the most sophisticated communicative means
created and adapted to satisfy a society’s constantly changing needs and, in this process, language
invariably carries with it a heavily sociocultural hue. Hence, English-language teaching textbooks which
aim to promote intercultural analysis and reflection would benefit from an explicit focus principally,
although not necessarily exclusively on the culture of English-speaking communities.

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 Analysis of the intercultural adaption of English textbooks in Albanian context

Hypothesis

If we provide societal contexts and encourage interculturality in foreign language learning we

will have successful intercultural communication, good comprehension of cultural habits and
expectations and flourishing international understanding.

Research objectives

We need to include societal contexts when we teach languages. The relevance of acquainting the foreign
language learner with the target culture has been and should be highlighted for important purposes such
as:

 Enhancing students’ knowledge of the world and their knowledge of foreign communities
 Making them more familiar with the most prominent behavioural patterns of the target societies,
promoting attitudes of respect and tolerance
 Fostering reflection upon one’s own culture
 And last but not least emphasising the relative role of one’s cultural assumptions or developing
real intercultural communication in an intercultural world.

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 Analysis of the intercultural adaption of English textbooks in Albanian context

METHODS

Research methodology

The method used to collect data and examples of cultural adaptation of English textbooks in
Albanian context is qualitative. The reason why I chose this method it’s because the aim was to
produce contextual and real information about how interculturality is introduced and adapted to
the EFL learners in Albania.

In order to get a better insight of how different English textbooks deal with
interculturality,adaption of social and cultural context,some different textbooks of pre-
intermediate,B1.2 and B2 level were chosen and separate examples are analysed.

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 Analysis of the intercultural adaption of English textbooks in Albanian context

Traveller Pre-intermediate (Student’s book)

Module 8 (pg 106) - “ Cultural differences”

The first exercise of this reading passage asks the

learners to think of gestures or customs that exist in
their country and if they think the same gestures are
found around the world. This is a good way to make
learners reflect culturally upon their own country
gestures and customs,makes them more critical and
promotes ICC.

Then,the exercise below requires from the students to

guess the answers of the questions given which are
questions related to different countries customs and
gestures which are found in the reading passage.
They can answer the questions and then check them
after reading the text. The text is titled “ They do it
differently ! “ and offers examples of how people are
misinterpreted or misunderstood because of their
customs or gestures which are actually different and
unique on different countries of the world.

The last exercises to read again and answers to some questions related to the text and then
dealing with the new vocabulary of the text.

All of the exercises and the reading passage not only help the EFL learners to expand their
vocabulary but what’s important make them aware of different culture,customs,traditions and
gestures used around the world. By gaining this new knowledge,students are able to develop
their own intercultural knowledge and communication,become more familiar with the most
prominent behavioural patterns and reflect upon their own culture and customs.

Another interesting part that I discovered while getting back to this student’s book and trying to
anaylize if it encouraged and nourished interculturality and ICC was that after every module
students were introduced either to a cross curricular page or a culture page which I think it is a
great way to inform students with extra information related to culture or any other area that can
influence greatly on their interaction with different cultures and communities.

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 Analysis of the intercultural adaption of English textbooks in Albanian context

Traveller Level B2 student’s book (mm

publications)

Module 5 (pg 113) - “ Fire Ant Festival “

We can see the presence of the cultural part since the

beginning of this module where the exercise one ( A
pre-reading task) asks students if they like going to
festivals and if there are any interesting festivals
taking place in or near their area. Except of
stimulating discussion between the students
themselves and the teacher it also focuses on some
cultural issues such as celebrations and
festivals,makes students reflect upon their own
country’s celebrations and culture,if there are any
festivals near them,if they enjoy going to them and
what they prefer most about the activities taking place
on these festivals,how much time they spend there etc.

Even in the other exercises (2,3 and 4) after reading quickly the brochure about the Fire Ant
Festival the students have the opportunity to extend their vocabulary and information about this
festival. The reading part introduces them with a very interesting material about the annual Fire
Ant Festival taking place in Ashburn,Georgia on the fourth weekend in March. The brochure
explains clearly what happens during the festival on every day of the weekend and invites the
reader to take part. It also gives the timetables for each activity,the prices and ways of contacting
and learning more about the festival.

In the last exercise ( Post-reading ) students are invited again to talk about if they would like to
go to this festival and which of the activities they would enjoy most.

The reading material and the exercises help students not only to expand their vocabulary,but
even gaining new information and knowledge about different cultures,make them aware about
the differences and similiarities between their own country celebrations and culture compared to
the foreign ones being introduced to them.

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 Analysis of the intercultural adaption of English textbooks in Albanian context

Module 5 (pg 132) - “Cinco De Mayo!”

First of all, students are going to read a short article about Cinco De Mayo and then they have to
fill the text with the missing sentences that are provided. Since this exercise is part of the round
up of the module,it does not provide other additional exercises related mainly to the reading
passage but considering that the holiday it talks about it’s an interesting and popular cultural
holiday it nourishes and encourages interculturality and I think it is very effectual for EFL
learners as intercultural learners.

The reading part is an article about Cinco de

Mayo,an important Mexican holiday, a
celebration of Mexican heritage and pride.
The readers are introduced to this holiday and
learning some new information about it since
it is a very important holiday and both the
government and visitors make the most of it
with lots of food,music and drinks.
Therefore, in the US Cinco De Mayo has
taken on significance and the date is
recognized as a date to celebrate the culture
and experiences of Americans of Mexican
ancestry such as St.Patrick’s Day,Oktoberfest
and the Chinese New Year are used to
celebrate those of Irish,German and Chinese
ancestry respectively.

Since this is an article which provides

information that includes a lot of
countries,cultures and different holidays
having the same cause celebrated around the
world,it’s a perfect example for EFL learners
to become more critical intercultural learners,be aware of different ways of how people celebrate
and commemorate victories and their heritage and pride. In the same time they can reflect about
their own country of origin holidays,they can make a parallelism and see if there is any
resemblance or distinction between them.

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 Analysis of the intercultural adaption of English textbooks in Albanian context

On Screen Level B1.2 Student’s book ( Express Publishing)

This textbook offers to the EFL learners a CLIL page in every module.

CLIL is an approach for learning content through an additional language (foreign or second),
English in our case thus teaching both the subject and the language.

At the bottom of each of these pages students can find a Culture Spot,information about different
cultures around the world,customs,traditions and different activities.

Module 8 (pg 100) - “Culture Spot”

This short passage talks

about baseball,which since
the mid-19th century has
been America’s national
pastime. The first exercise
asks the students about the
sport,what do you need to
play it,how is it played,in
which country it is a
national sport etc and asks
the students to find out the
answers by reading the
text. Learning some new
information about the
origin of this sport since it
has a culture of it’s
own,films and popular
books are written after that and it is a national pastime in America it is a great way to make
learners reflect about entertainment activities in a foreign country.

Then,the second exercise asks from the students to reflect upon their own country’s national
sport,what equipments do they need to play it,how is it played,collect some information and
present it to the class. This exercise actually makes EFL learners real critical intercultural
learners,encourages interaction and communicative competence about cultural issues and
activities.

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 Analysis of the intercultural adaption of English textbooks in Albanian context

CONCLUSIONS

Language and culture are intricately interwoven with each other. The knowledge of other
cultures is as important as proficiency in using a foreign language. In the EFL teaching at
schools and universities, great attention should be paid to teaching culture of the target language
as well as to teaching linguistic knowledge.What the students really need is to be taught directly
what people say in particular situations in the English culture. Most language teachers would
agree that in order to apply language skills effectively, the knowledge of cultural environment is
crucial. Successful intercultural communication means much more than language skills as
understanding a foreign language does not ensure understanding the speaker’s intentions. It is
also a comprehension of cultural habits and expectations. Moreover, international understanding
is one of the basic goals of language education. It is important to understand the differences
among the various cultures within which people of different races, religions, political and social
beliefs live together. Peace and progress in the world depend on understanding, tolerance,
exchange and cooperation. Foreign language study is one of the core educational components for
achieving this aim.

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 Analysis of the intercultural adaption of English textbooks in Albanian context

BIBLIOGRAPHY

H.Q. Mitchell, Traveller pre-intermediate,mm publications

H.Q.Mitchell,Traveller Level B2,mm publications

Jenny Dooley-Virginia Evans, On Screen Level B 1.2, Express publishing

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