Abstract:

It is widely recognized that language and culture are inextricably tied: language use is meaningful only in a context, and culture is part of such context. One important implication is that a language cannot be taught without its culture. It is also widely recognized that teaching materials, particularly the textbook, determine to a large extent what is taught / learned in a foreign language class. In the Algerian teaching context, the English language syllabi are based on the designed textbooks to ensure that parallel classes all over the country would cover approximately the same content, and follow the same progression. This paper aims at assessing the weight of the English language cultural component as incorporated in two textbooks currently used in the Algerian middle school: Spotlight on English Book One and Spotlight on English Book Two. It is concerned with those aspects of cultural content which are selected and perhaps more significantly, those which are omitted.

Keywords:

Textbook evaluation, culture, intercultural competence.