The representation of foreign

cultures in English textbooks

Ka-Ming Yuen

A case study of the foreign cultures represented in two English language textbooks

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used by Hong Kong secondary schools was conducted. Its aim was to investigate
whether the representation of foreign cultures in these textbooks reflected the
status of English as an international language. In order to do this, references to
foreign cultures were categorized into four aspects: products, practices,
perspectives, and persons. It was found overall that the representation favoured
the cultures of English-speaking countries, while the cultures of Africa were under-
represented. The selection of English language textbooks and the implications for
redressing the imbalance in cultural content are discussed.

Introduction It has been argued that since English is used as an international language,
the cultural content of ELT materials should not be limited to native English-
speaking cultures and that when teaching English is viewed as teaching an
international language, the culture should become the world itself (Alptekin
2002: 62; McKay 2003: 139–40). The aim of the present study is to examine
to what extent the representation of foreign cultures in the English language
textbooks used by Hong Kong secondary schools encompasses the cultures
of the world. The concept of culture and its connection with language are
first reviewed. Then the content on foreign cultures in the sampled
textbooks is analysed and the implications of the representation are
discussed.

Culture ‘Culture’ can be understood as the product of ‘Civilization’ (Brody 2003: 39).
This aspect, ‘Big C’, refers to formal culture, including
the formal institutions (social, political, and economic), the great figures
of history, and those products of literature, fine arts, and the sciences that
were traditionally assigned to the category of elite culture. (National
Standards in Foreign Language Education Project 1996: 44)
The other aspect of ‘culture’ is the way of life of a particular group of people
(Brody: ibid.). This aspect, ‘little c’, refers to
daily living studied by the sociologist and the anthropologist: housing,
clothing, food, tools, transportation, and all the patterns of behaviour that
members of the culture regard as necessary and appropriate. (National
Standards in Foreign Language Education Project: ibid.)

458 E LT Journal Volume 65/4 October 2011; doi:10.1093/elt/ccq089

ª The Author 2011. Published by Oxford University Press; all rights reserved.
Advance Access publication March 3, 2011
 Bennett, Bennett, and Allen (2003: 243) refer to ‘Big C’ and ‘little c’ as
‘objective culture’, which includes institutions, artefacts, and everyday
behaviour; the world view maintained by the members of a group or
society, such as values and beliefs, can be described as ‘subjective culture’,
which is more conceptual in contrast to the tangible ‘objective culture’.
For instance, churches and going to church can be viewed as part of the
objective culture of a place, where the belief in God can be included in
the subjective culture.
According to Standards for Foreign Language Learning (National Standards in
Foreign Language Education Project: ibid.), the different aspects of
culture can be termed ‘products’ (Big C), ‘practices’ (little c), and
‘perspectives’ (subjective culture). Moran (2001: 25) added ‘persons’ as
another factor to be considered. While culture is often characterized by its
products, practices, and perspectives, it can also be represented by

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well-known icons, or individuals we know. Pelé and Michael Jordan, for
example, represent the different cultures of Brazil and the United States,
respectively.
To examine the foreign cultures represented in the textbooks, these four
aspects—products, practices, perspectives, and persons—are used as the
framework for the data analysis, which will be further discussed later in the
article.

Culture and language Language can be considered an ‘artefact’ or a system of code (products)
used, to signify thoughts (perspectives), for communication (practices), by
different people (persons). Language can be verbal or non-verbal, like
signs and images. People of the same culture usually use the same language
to communicate among themselves. However, they may also acquire
another system of language, a language that is not natively used in their
own culture, to communicate with people from a different culture;
indeed, English has become a language which people commonly learn
in order to communicate with others who do not speak their native
language.
In general, learning a language involves learning different aspects of the
culture in which the language is used and sometimes also how other
cultures are represented in that particular culture because language
depicts culture of its own and other cultures too. To understand a word or
expression, for example ‘McJob’, which means a low-paid job, one also
acquires some knowledge about the culture of where the language is
used, in this case the American fast food industry. On another level, the
materials for language learning, especially second language learning,
often include culture as a theme. Cultural topics, such as customs and
beliefs, occur widely in language learning materials. When learning
a language, learners are also exposed to the cultures represented in these
materials.
Paige, Jorstad, Siaya, Klein, and Colby (2003: 209), in their review of the
literature on culture learning in language education, note that
language textbooks often represent cultures by taking a ‘tourist’s
perspective’, that is, focusing on topics such as ‘Food’ and ‘Transport’, that is,
the products and the practices in terms of the four aspects of culture

Representation of foreign cultures in English textbooks 459

 discussed above. According to Paige et al., the information in language
textbooks is generally fragmented and highly generalized, indicating only
the norms of behaviour. Without actual experience of the culture or
being alerted to individual differences, textbook users may assume that
the information about, for example, the way some individuals behave,
applies to the culture as a whole, which easily gives rise to prejudice or
stereotype.
Previous studies have questioned the depth of cultural content in
textbooks; the present study examines the breadth in addition to the
depth. The aim is to investigate how the representation of
foreign cultures in textbooks reflects the status of English as an
international language, that is, to what extent different foreign cultures
are depicted.

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Methodology A content analysis of two series of junior secondary English
language textbooks was conducted. The textbooks, written for ES L students
in Secondary 1 to 3, aged from 12 to 14 years old, were chosen for
study because they are commonly used as the core teaching material in
Hong Kong schools. Each unit in these textbooks usually has a reading
component, grammar items, and exercises on language skills. The
two sampled series Longman Elect and Treasure Plus are referred to as
Sample A and Sample B respectively throughout the study. Each series
consists of six books, Books 1A and 1B for Secondary 1, Books 2A and 2B
for Secondary 2, and Books 3A and 3B for Secondary 3 (see Appendix for
details). The data collection and analysis were carried out by the writer
and reviewed by a faculty member who specializes in English language
education and discourse analysis.
The material relating to foreign cultures, including all the texts
and the images, was abstracted (Table 1 gives a sample of the data). Each
unit is divided into numerous sections. For example, the reading
component of the unit shown in Table 1 consists of a pre-reading
exercise, a postcard, a guidebook article, and an email. Each section
takes up a separate entry in the table. The same item from any of
the four aspects is counted more than once if it appears again in
a different section. The length of each section may vary from a few
hundred words to a few sentences such as some grammar examples.
However, the primary concern of the present study is the frequency
of appearance, which reflects the breadth of foreign
cultures represented in the textbooks, whereas the impact of the
placement or the length of the content, affected by how the material is
used and perceived by teachers and students, is beyond the scope of the
present study.

460 K.M. Yuen

Book Topic Page Section Cultural aspect Abstract
(Region: (Region: Cultural
no. of items) aspect)
1A Unit 3 47 Reading: Products . . . the currency . . . won (Asia:
On exercise (Asia: 3) product)
holiday . . . of these colours is not on
the South Korean flag . . . green
(Asia: product)
,picture of Korean food.
(Asia: product)
48 Reading: Products . . . I’m writing this postcard in
postcard (Asia: 5) one of the most famous theme
parks . . . called Everland. (Asia:
product) . . . She wants to do

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some more shopping at
Dongdaemun Market tonight.
(Asia: product) . . .
Tomorrow we’ll visit another
theme park – Seoul Land. (Asia:
product) . . .We also plan to visit
the Korean Traditional Village
(Asia: product) and the National
Folk Museum (Asia: product) . . .
I’ll call and tell you all about our
holiday when we get back to
Canada.
48 Reading: Products Everland . . . has thrill rides and
guidebook (Asia: 2) vast gardens (Asia: product) . . .
Lotte World . . . many thrill rides
(Asia: product) . . .
49 Reading: Products Yesterday we went to Termeden
email (Asia: 7) Spa and Resort. (Asia: product)
. . . We spent the whole day
relaxing in different pools.
Today we visited Lotte World.
(Asia: product) . . . the famous
Gyro Swing (Asia: product)
. . . Jongno (Asia: product). It’s
an open-air area packed with
food stalls. I want to try pan-
fried kimchi (Asia: product) and
sundae (Asia: product) – that’s
a type of Korean sausage, not
ice-cream!
. . . We’re going to Namdaemun
Market (Asia: product) . . .
table 1
Extracts of data from
Sample A
Textbook materials are defined as referring to foreign cultures when there is
a mention or depiction of products, practices, perspectives, or persons of
a place that is foreign and its connection with the origin is obvious. A mere

Representation of foreign cultures in English textbooks 461

 mention of the word ‘computer’, as an example of products, is not
considered to be foreign because its connection to the possible foreign
origin is not clear enough. It is unlikely for people, especially in Hong Kong,
to think of it as ‘foreign’, despite the fact that computers did not originate in
China. In contrast, a ‘Samsung L CD monitor’ for example, is a foreign
product because the brand name clearly indicates the origin. Similarly, a
drawing of a woman becomes an example of a foreign person when there are
traits that signify her foreign origin, such as her skin colour and clothing.
The origin and the number of the products, practices, perspectives, or
persons were recorded. The origins were categorized into Asian countries,
African countries, and Western countries (in general), with the latter further
subdivided into English-speaking Western countries and non-English-
speaking Western countries where applicable.
Findings Cultural material is found in both Sample A and Sample B (see Table 2). It is

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pervasive in both samples, appearing in units that are more culture-related,
like ‘Festivals’ and ‘International food’, as well as in other less culture-related
units, like ‘The animal world’ and ‘A talent show’. The representation of
foreign cultures is shown in Table 3. Products are the most frequently
depicted cultural aspect and perspectives the least. There is an imbalance in
the representation between the cultures of different regions, with the
cultures of English-speaking countries appearing the most frequently and
those of the Asian and the African appearing less frequently. Examples and
details of the four cultural aspects are discussed below.

Book No. of units with material on foreign cultures/total units

Sample A Sample B
1A 4/4 4/5
1B 4/4 3/5
2A 4/4 2/5
table 2
2B 4/4 4/5
Units containing
3A 4/4 3/5
material referring to
3B 3/4 4/5
foreign cultures

Times appearing in Sample A Times appearing in Sample B

Western countries Asia Africa Western countries Asia Africa
English Non-English General* English Non-English General*
Products 125 6 1 23 1 95 51 20 68 3
Practices 26 1 - 10 4 15 10 21 15 4
Perspectives 4 2 - - - 4 2 30 - -
Persons 49 7 - 12 4 18 5 2 8 2
Total 204 16 1 45 9 132 68 73 91 9
221 273
table 3
The representation of
foreign cultures in the
samples
* Items related to the Western countries in general

462 K.M. Yuen

Products Products relating to entertainment appear most frequently, for example,
Hollywood movies and television programmes (such as Spider-Man and
Survivor). Other kinds of products include food (for example ‘fish and chips’
and ‘tom yum soup’), merchandise (such as Barbie and ‘sari’), print (for
example Harry Potter and Time), and travel (places such as Lotte World and
Colosseum). In some cases, they appear mostly as a name mentioned in the
text with some description, but in others, they are literary works such as
poems and stories whose original content is featured. Some commonly
known products of foreign cultures appear in both samples, for example
‘pasta’, ‘kimchi’, Superman, and Universal Studios.
Products from Africa are under-represented with only one such product
mentioned in Sample A (the Kamuzinda Christian Orphanage in Uganda);
in Sample B, there are three (a Swahili phrase Hukuna matata, the Pyramids
of Giza, and the Tsavo National Park in Kenya). In Sample A, there are also

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fewer products from Asia and non-English-speaking Western countries; in
Sample B, there are more products from the two regions, but many of these
are the same products (such as ‘curry’ and the Eiffel Tower) appearing more
than once in different units and sections of the sample. As a whole, the
representation of foreign products is dominated by those of English-
speaking countries.

Practices These include customs (such as Thanksgiving and Sapporo Snow Festival),
daily life (for example ‘America’s national sport is baseball’ and ‘an Indian
student . . . plays street games’), and society (such as ‘New Zealand . . . its
recycling programmes . . . have been very successful’ and ‘Lots of Icelanders
live in Reykjavik’). There is nothing about African customs in either sample.
While there is more information on daily life in Asia and Africa, the content
is mostly about poverty in these regions. For instance, computer lessons are
not offered in the school in India and there is no tap in the village in Africa.
The only text covering practices in Africa in Sample A deals with animal
poaching.
The content on practices in both samples is limited, fragmented, and
superficial. For instance, the street games played by the Indian student and
the size of the population of Iceland are not specified. In the material on US
sports in Sample A, only badminton and baseball are mentioned; other
popular sports, such as American football and basketball, are not. In Sample
B, the material on society adopts a tourist’s perspective, emphasizing that
there is a great deal to do and see in those places. However, considering that
these are English language textbooks, not textbooks on foreign cultures,
such a lack of comprehensiveness and depth can hardly be avoided.

Perspectives Perspectives of foreign cultures can be inspirations (such as ‘equality’ and

Aesop’s Fables), myths (for example horoscopes and superstitions), and world
views (such as ‘. . . in the UK and the US . . . reality shows are just
entertainment, . . . [viewers] do not demand that the programmes be
‘‘real’’’). Some of these perspectives can be held by people from any culture
but in the analysis they are allocated to a particular region based on the
context of the material. For instance, ‘equality’ can be a common inspiration
across cultures but since the context of the material is about the United
States, it is categorized under English-speaking countries. Both samples

Representation of foreign cultures in English textbooks 463

 have relatively less content on perspectives than on products and practices,
and neither of the samples has anything on the perspectives of Asia and
Africa. In Sample A, there are a few indications of certain Western
perspectives; Sample B mainly focuses on Western myths and superstitions.

Persons This category can be famous individuals (such as Stephen Hawking and
Aung San Suu Kyi) as well as others, who can be fictitious or unknown
people. Fictional characters in stories or movies are viewed as products and
are excluded from this part. However, it can be argued that some famous
people are also ‘products’ of a culture, but the present study includes all real
people in this aspect, because no matter how they may have been
mythologized, they are presented as real persons, in contrast to fictional
characters.
Both samples have more famous people from English-speaking countries

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than from Asia and Africa (in fact there is no record from Africa in either
sample). Other persons mentioned are mostly cases used to illustrate
cultural practices. As a whole, there is more material on individuals from the
West.
As shown in Table 3, the representation of foreign cultures in terms of the
four cultural aspects in the two samples is dominated by the culture of the
West, particularly that of English-speaking countries.

Summary and As evidenced in other studies, the content on foreign culture in textbooks is
discussion fragmented and stereotypical. Content regarding products appears most
frequently in the samples with entertainment, travel, and food being the
major types. The other three aspects are less frequently presented,
particularly perspectives. The potential interest of the material is an
important criterion in the selection process. Students’ interest may be more
easily aroused by popular products such as entertainment, travel, and food
than more abstract perspectives such as equality. A ‘tourist’s perspective’ is
again adopted in the textbooks, as that may seem to be more appealing to
young people. The lack of depth in cultural material remains an unresolved
issue.
In terms of the breadth of foreign cultures represented in these textbooks,
an obvious imbalance occurs. This is due to the amount of coverage on the
cultures of English-speaking countries being much greater than that of
other cultures. This has led to a bias in their favour, leaving Africa with the
least amount of coverage.
As Saville-Troike (2003: 15) points out, what culture or cultures need to be
taught in connection with a foreign language depends on the social context
in which that language is being learnt and in which it will be used. In other
words, if English is to be used as a medium for intercultural
communication, the cultural content included in teaching materials should
not focus mainly on the cultures of English-speaking countries. This is also
in line with the overall aim of English language education in Hong Kong,
that is, to extend students’ knowledge and experience of the ‘cultures’ of
other people (Curriculum Development Council 2002: 17), and the same
should apply to anywhere when English is taught as an international
language. The writer believes that increasing the amount of material on

464 K.M. Yuen

 foreign cultures (other than the culture of English-speaking countries) in
textbooks is desirable as it helps develop students’ appreciation of a much
wider range of foreign cultures, especially when English is taught as an
international language rather than merely to communicate with people
from English-speaking societies.

The role of authors, The imbalance in the selection of material on foreign cultures needs to be
publishers, and redressed by authors and publishers, but it should be noted that they are not
teachers the only parties that have the power to manipulate the discourse of
textbooks.
The publication of textbooks is largely driven by the market, but the
stakeholders may not be the students or parents who buy the textbooks, but
schools and teachers who decide which textbook should be used and hence
which book students should buy. English teachers are usually the ones who

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make this decision. To market the textbooks, publishers invite teachers to
seminars and workshops, where they can learn about the characteristics of
the textbooks and then give feedback. Thus, teachers also share the
responsibility of deciding what is to be included because their opinions,
what they think should be included, are important and it is the teacher’s
decision to choose which book to use. However, English teachers may just
act as passive end-users, choosing from what is available. It is clear
that there is an imbalanced representation of foreign cultures in the
samples, but even so teachers will still probably choose between these two,
as they are published by the two biggest English textbook publishers in
Hong Kong. Instead of acting as passive end-users, teachers should take
a proactive role in evaluating textbooks and give continuous feedback to
publishers.
Educating teachers on the making and evaluation of textbooks may
strengthen the quality of materials in the long run: teachers will become
more aware of their role as critical textbook users or even textbook writers
because textbook writers are often people who have worked as a teacher and
received teacher training. It should not be forgotten that institutions and
academics providing teacher training also play a crucial part in shaping the
discourse of textbooks.
Final revised version received September 2010

References Guide (Primary 1–Secondary 3). Available at http://

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Representation of foreign cultures in English textbooks 465

Language Learning: Preparing for the 21st Century. New
York: National Standards in Foreign Language
Education Project.
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The author
Ka-Ming Yuen is an instructor in the Language
Center of the Hong Kong University of Science and
Technology. He is interested in materials
development, the teaching and learning in higher
education, discourse analysis, and creative writing.
Email: lckaming@ust.hk

Appendix Nelson, J. A., J. Potter, S. Rigby, and K. Wong. 2007. Longman Elect JS1A.
Sampled textbooks Hong Kong: Longman Hong Kong Education.
Sample A
Nelson, J. A., J. Potter, S. Rigby, and K. Wong. 2007. Longman Elect JS1B.
Hong Kong: Longman Hong Kong Education.

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Nelson, J. A., J. Potter, S. Rigby, and K. Wong. 2007. Longman Elect JS2A.
Hong Kong: Longman Hong Kong Education.
Nelson, J. A., J. Potter, S. Rigby, and K. Wong. 2007. Longman Elect JS2B.
Hong Kong: Longman Hong Kong Education.
Nelson, J. A., J. Potter, S. Rigby, and K. Wong. 2007. Longman Elect JS3A.
Hong Kong: Longman Hong Kong Education.
Nelson, J. A., J. Potter, S. Rigby, and K. Wong. 2007. Longman Elect JS3B.
Hong Kong: Longman Hong Kong Education.

Sample B Daniels, G., M. Wilkins, and A. Williams. 2007. Treasure Plus 1A. Hong
Kong: Oxford University Press (China) Ltd.
Daniels, G. and A. Williams. 2007. Treasure Plus 1B. Hong Kong: Oxford
University Press (China) Ltd.
Dixon, M., K. Fried, and M. Wilkins. 2007. Treasure Plus 2A. Hong Kong:
Oxford University Press (China) Ltd.
Grant, R. and M. Wilkins. 2007. Treasure Plus 2B. Hong Kong: Oxford
University Press (China) Ltd.
Dixon, M. and M. Wilkins. 2007. Treasure Plus 3A. Hong Kong: Oxford
University Press (China) Ltd.
Fried, K., J. C. Kent, and M. Wilkins. 2007. Treasure Plus 3B. Hong Kong:
Oxford University Press (China) Ltd.

466 K.M. Yuen