A Literature Review of A Literature Review of Cultural Content in EFL Textbooks Cultural Content in EFL Textbooks

Abstract

In today’s day and age, culture is a central aspect of language teaching. The complexity of the concept results in complications to teach culture, which is reflected in the materials that exist for teaching culture across the world. This literature review deals with how culture is represented in a specific material; it investigates the textbook as a material for teaching culture. It is of interest to look into what type of cultural content is represented, given that some textbooks include either L1 culture or target language culture; some include both as well as international culture. The study aims to investigate what culture (L1, target or international) is represented and to distinguish reasons as to why the textbook is beneficial or problematic to use. This paper presents the findings under three categories: inclusive representations of cultural content, negative and biased representations of cultural content, and culture and critical thinking. The findings and suggestions for future research are finally discussed.