Palestinian and global cultural dimensions in English for Palestine textbooks for grades 11 & 12

الملخص EN

English for Palestine, the new English curriculum which has been introduced recently for grades one to twelve, was designed to meet the needs of the Palestinian students to study English according to the latest theories and applications in the field of English language teaching.

It sought to realize the needs of the Palestinian students for a Palestinian syllabus which suits their identity particularly.

Simultaneously, it intended to expose the Palestinian students to global and intercultural dimensions.

This research highlighted and investigated these important issues in the new English syllabus.

It attempted to examine the cultural and intercultural dimensions that the Palestinian new syllabus presented.

It also tried to discover how these different cultural dimensions in the syllabus were handled and presented.

It mainly concentrated on the textbooks of grades eleven and twelve.

The method of the study was descriptive and analytical.

It depended on the survey and analysis for the contents of the textbooks for these grades.

The results of the study showed that the books were very rich in these various cultural aspects and that these various dimensions were interwoven and interrelated.

These books successfully explored vital global and intercultural issues to a great extent but simultaneously they succeeded in placing a reasonable degree of focus and display for the Palestinian cultural identity.

Thus, the study showed that the authors of these books succeeded to some extent in applying the strategy of the planners which stated the importance of creating local and global cultural awareness among the learners as well as highlighting the Palestinian cultural identity.-