A content analysis of two national and international textbooks in Jordan based on a new model for some cultural aspects in teaching English

Other Title(s)

تحليل محتوى كتابي لغة إنجليزية في الأردن أحدهما محلي و الآخر دولي مبني على نموذج جديد لبعض مظاهر الثقافة في تدريس اللغة الإنجليزية

Dissertant

al-Hshush, Muhammad Musa Muhammad

Thesis advisor

Shair, Awatif Ali

Comitee Members

al-Sharah, Nayil Darwish
Abu Zaynah, Farid Kamil

University

Amman Arab University

Faculty

Faculty of Educational Sciences and psychological

Department

Department of Curriculum and Instruction

University Country

Jordan

Degree

Master

Degree Date

2006

English Abstract

The study aimed to suggest a broader and more balanced view to some cultural aspects in teaching English by proposing a new cultural model or 'English for Specific Culture' which takes into consideration more specialities of specific cultures including their learning styles, how people in these cultures acquire a second language as compared and contrasted with their mother tongue, in addition to the traditional view of culture as products, ideas and behaviours… This model for some cultural aspects in English language teaching is used as a basis for the content analysis of the cultural content of two national and international textbooks taught in Jordan (Amra General English One and Headway Advanced).

Through this analysis, the study tried to answer the following questions: 1.

What is the new cultural model or 'English for Specific Culture' (ESC) and what are its basic principles? 2.

Which culture is most represented in Amra General English One: (native English, international, or local Jordanian or Arab culture)? 3.

Which culture is most represented in Headway Advanced: (native English, international, or local Jordanian or Arab culture)? The researcher used as a main instrument for the study an analytical scale of three categories which aimed to classify the content of the textbooks into 'native English culture', 'international culture' or 'local Jordanian or Arab culture’.

The themes and any words that represented cultural aspects were also discussed in detail in this analysis.

Moreover, the researcher tried to find evidence of the new view to culture in more variables by commenting on the learning style and language problems focused in the two textbooks as suggested in the new cultural model.

The results of the content analysis of the books 'Amra General English One' and 'Headway Advanced' have shown a culture gap between the two.

Thus, Amra General English One gave more emphasis to the local Jordanian and Arab culture when compared to 'Headway Advanced' which overemphasized the native English culture.

The study has also shown that the views about other cultures were not always positive or neutral.

It was clear that the two textbooks drew universal conclusions of studies made in Western countries about the best methods of teaching English with no clear evidence in either of the two textbooks that the learning styles of people learning English or any language problems they might encounter as a result of mother tongue interference were considered.

The study has also shown that neither of the two textbooks fulfills the requirements of English for specific culture as some important cultural aspects were given very little or no attention.

Main Subjects

Educational Sciences
Languages & Comparative Literature

Topics

• Education
• Learning
• Textbooks
• Evaluation
• Second language learning
• Jordan
• English language

No. of Pages

92

Table of Contents

• APA
• MLA
• AMA

Language

English

Data Type

Arab Theses

Record ID

BIM-522430