Evaluating Target and Native Cultures in the Prescribed Textbooks (English for Iraq)

Abstract

    The current study attempts to investigate English (inner circle) and Arabic (Iraq) aspects of culture in the textbook 'English for Iraq' for the Fourth ,Fifth, and Sixth  secondary classes . In achieving the purpose of this study, the researchers have adopted various textbook analyses by a selection of the samples that consist of six books, the student's books and the activity books of the 4th, 5th  and 6th secondary classes. These aspects of culture are categorized into three main categories: Iraqi cultural parts, English elements of culture, and the fundamental common elements in both cultures, referred to as intercultural aspects. Therefore, the researchers have analyzed different aspects of culture in these books concerning: the peoples' name, pictures, addressing people, women, celebrations, historical places, and various social events including  general situations and circumstances. The sample of the study consists of two books each stage; namely students’ and teachers’ books. For collecting data, the researchers used  a qualitative descriptive method. The findings of the research show that both English and Iraqi elements are not sufficient due to shortage of essential cultural aspects, as far as English is concerned the textbooks include cultural elements that are not targeted such as European countries for example  Sweden, Spanish, Canada, and USA . Finally , the cultural aspects are not balanced due to the introduction of some English cultural elements on the expense of the Iraqi ones and vice versa specifically what is found in 6th stage. Due to the above results, it can be  concluded that most of the contents of English culture are not sufficient as it fails to address the number of cultures required such as perspectives ones which strongly rooted in the minds of learners.