English language teaching for intercultural awareness in the Algerian middle school education : textbooks analysis

Abstract EN

Given that the success of interaction with individuals from different cultural backgrounds through foreign language depends not only on good command of grammatical rules but also on taking into account, and respecting, the socio-cultural parameters of the communication situation, this paper sought to evaluate the effectiveness of four EFL textbooks used in Algerian middle schools in preparing learners for cross-cultural communication.

To achieve this goal, the textbooks in question have been evaluated using analysis criteria based on Risager's (1991) and Skopinskaja's (2003) works.

The obtained results indicated that the cultural presentations in textbooks do not help learners to interpret cultural elements from different perspectives.

The paper culminates with some recommendations for textbooks designers and teachers as well to take into account the intercultural dimension of foreign language education.