Which Culture? Whose Culture?

228 4. Role playdramatizations that can be used to initiate discussion and introspection. 5. Culture quizzestests 125 Consequently, the level of language complexity, themes, and text types should be adapted to the standard of competence of English teaching for Junior High School Madrasah Tsanawiyah. 2. Which Culture? Whose Culture? The overall occurrence of cultural information suggests a balance presentation amongst culture. Relatively, source culture is the most prominently presented in the textbooks, followed by target culture, culture-free, and international target culture materials. Chart 4.27 indicates that the proportion of each culture presentation is quite similar in the two examined textbooks. A slight difference occurs between English in Focus and English on Sky series regarding the proportion of source and target culture. Source culture in EIF series is bigger than the target culture, while source culture in EOS series is smaller. Additionally, EOS contains more culture-free material 31 than does EIF 26. Similarly, both books present international target culture in a very small proportion, smaller than the culture free materials. The respondents in this research also agree that in the English textbooks they use, source culture is dominant compared to target language and international target culture. Q : Menurut ibu, apakah ada muatan budaya dalam buku bahasa Inggris yang digunakan? Ms. SP : ―Ada sih. Tapi kebanyakan budaya Indonesia. ‖ Ms. HF : ―Ada juga budaya Barat dan internasional, tapi kebanyakan budaya Indonesia. ‖ Ms. IK : ― Menurut saya yang paling banyak itu Budaya Indonesia. ‖ 126 125 R.R Jordan, in Ferrit Killickaya, ―Authentic Materials and Cultural Content in EFL Classrooms‖ in The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. X, No. 7, July 2004 http:iteslj.orgTechniquesKilickaya-AutenticMaterial.html 126 See Appendix 4 229 The prominent appearance of source culture is similar to English textbooks studied by Abdullah Chandran 127 2009 in Malaysia; Rajabi Ketabi 128 2012 in Iran; Mahmood, Asghar Husein 129 in Pakistan 2012 and also Adaskou, Britten Fahsi 1990 130 in Morocco. This research is also similar to Abdullah Chandran‘s study in term of local references that often appeared in English textbooks. The presentation of local culture helps the learners to activate their local knowledge, i.e. familiarity with customs and preoccupations of their community Widdowson 131 , 1998; Munandar Ulwiyah 132 , 2012. By this mean, language learners can raise their own cultural awareness while learning the target language 133 . This is also in line with Law No 17 PP 19 Year 2005, which states that Indonesia curriculum, KTSP School Based Curriculum insists cultural consideration as the basis of its development. Additionally, McKay 134 2002, 2003 suggests that 127 Norhana Abdullah and Sandra Kumari Chandran, Cultural Elements in a Malaysian English Language Textbooks retrieved at October 20, 2012 from dms.usim.edu.my 128 Soraya Rajabi and Saeed Ketabi, ―Aspects of Cultural Elements in Prominent English Textbooks for EFL Setting ‖ in Theory and Practice in Language Studies, Vol. 2, No. 4 April 2012: pp. 705 —712. 129 Muhammad Asim Mahmood, Zobina Muhammad Asghar, and Zahida Hussain, ― Cultural Representation in ESL Textbooks in Pakistan：A Case Study of ―Step Ahead 1‖ in Journal of Education and Practice Vol 3, No.9, 2012: pp. 35 —42. 130 Kheira Adaskou, Donard Britten, and Badia Fahsi, ―Design Decisions on the Cultural Content of a Secondary English Course for Morocco ‖ in ELT Journal Volume 441 January 1990: pp. 3 —10. 131 Henry G. Widdowson, ―Context, Community, and Authentic Language‖ in TESOL QUARTERLY Vol 32, No. 4, Winter 1998: pp. 705 —716. 132 Muhammad Iwan Munandar and Imaratul Ulwiyah , ‖ Intercultural Approaches to the Cultural Content of Indone sia‘s High School ELT Textbooks‖ in CS Canada Cross-Cultural Communication Vol. 8, No. 5 September 2012, pp. 67 —73. 133 Ferrit Kilickaya ―Authentic Materials and Cultural Content in EFL Classrooms ‖ The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. X, No. 7, July 2004, accessed from http:iteslj.org at November 24, 2013. 134 McKay in Min Thu Tuy Nguyen , ―Learning to Communicate in a Globalized World: To What Extent Do School Textbooks Facilitate the Development of Intercultural Pragmatic Competence? ‖ RELC Journal vol.42 April 2011, pp. 17 —30. 230 EFL instructional materials should also enrich learners‘ knowledge of their own language and culture and empower them to use English to express their unique identity to other people from different cultures. Additionally, the respondents also add that the presence of target culture and international target culture is needed for MTsN students as it serves as comparison and information of various cultures, therefore missunderstanding in communication is avoided. They also add that ideally, Islamic values are also included in English textbooks survey, p.155 Q : Apakah perlu ditampilkan budaya Barat dan internasional di dalam buku bahasa Inggris? Mr.MH : ―Perlu juga. Untuk sekedar wawasan. Hanya saja porsinya tidak terlalu besar. 1d‖ Ms. SP : ― Perlu juga. Untuk bahan banding saja. 5d‖ Ms. IK : ― Perlu juga. Untuk informasi. Hanya saja porsinya ti dak terlalu besar. 4d‖ 135 The similar result of this study with the previous studies across the countries reveals that in many countries, the teaching of English is becoming much more localized by integrating local flavors with the target culture. Incorporating local characters, names, places, and arts is now being exquisitely intermixed with the cultural contexts of English-speaking countries. By this mean, English serves as an international language. As Smith 136 proposed thirty years ago, only when English is used to express and advocate local culture and values will it truly represent an international language. The western target culture, to some extent, need also be added as there are much general cultural values that can be infused. On the other hand, Chart 1.27 also suggests that international target culture is given a small proportion in the textbooks. This issue is actually a widespread debate among the countries in Asean, whether English materials should be taught by 135 See Appendix 4 136 Larry E Smith, ―English as an International Auxiliary Language‖ in RELC Journal volume 7 no.6 December 1976: pp. 38 —43. 231 the model of native speakers target culture or international target culture. Jenkins 2000, Kirkpatrick 2002, Pennycook 1994, Seidlhofer 2001a, 2001b and Tomlinson 2005, argue that standard native-speaker varieties of English can no longer be considered to be the only correct varieties and should no longer be held up as models for learners to emulate 137 . This indicates that the EIL pedagogy should be one of global appropriation and local appropriation in that it should prepare learners to be both global and local speakers of English and to feel at home in both international and national cultures Kramsch and Sullivan 138 , Alptekin 139 . What missing from the presentation of these cultures is the ―deep culture‖ parts. And this happens to all cultures, including source culture. When source culture is just presented by the products or the famous figures, learners would be merely a ―tourist‖ of their own cultures. They know what artifacts they have, the famous tourist destinations in their hometown, what food they have in their culture, but potentially fail in explaining the values of their culture to other people in target culture setting. Similarly, when target culture and international target culture are presented only by their popular cultures, technology, and inventions, Indonesian le arners would see themselves as an ―observer, outsider, visitor, admirer, and consumer‖. This is in consonance with Paige, Jorstad, Siaya, Klein, and Colby 140 , in their review of the literature on culture learning in language education, who note that language textbooks often represent cultures by taking a ‗tourist‘s perspective‘, that focuses on topics such as ‗Food‘ and ‗Transport‘, that is, the products and the practices in terms of the four aspects of culture discussed 137 Brian Tomlinson, ―The Future for ELT Materials in Asia‖ in Electronic Journal of Foreign Language Teaching Vol. 2, No. 2 2005: pp. 5 —13. 138 Claire Kramsch and Patricia Sullivan, ―Appropriate pedagogy‖ in ELT Journal Volume 503 July 1996, pp. 199 —212. 139 Cem Alptekin, ―Towards Intercultural Communicative Competence in ELT ‖ ELT Journal Volume 561 January 2002: pp. 67—64. 140 Ka Ming Yuen, ―The Representation of Foreign Cultures in English textbooks ‖ in ELT Journal Advance Access March 2011: pp. 1-9. 232 above. According to Paige et al., the information in language textbooks is generally fragmented and highly generalized, indicating only the norms of behavior. Without actual experience of the culture or being alerted to individual differences, textbook users may assume that the information about, for example, the way some individuals behave, applies to the culture as a whole, which easily gives rise to prejudice or stereotype. Consequently, textbooks‘ cultural presentation less supports self-awareness and self- understanding towards local culture, and understanding on the values of other cultures. Regarding how much source culture, target culture, and international target culture should be put, it relates to the grand philosophy of English teaching adapted by Indonesia. As the National Standard Board of Education mentions that the future development of English textbooks is aimed at improving the learners‘ cross-cultural understanding, English textbooks for Madrasah Tsanawiyah are ideally designed to facilitate the learners to reach this understanding. Local is taken priority in a way that source culture of Indonesia is explored more intensively and extensively, by its quantity and quality. Not only the cultural products which are presented, but also the socio-cultural aspects of Indonesian cultures such as: family structure amongst various ethnics in Indonesia, local celebrations and ceremonies as well as the values behind it, and religious practices of different religions in Indonesia. Besides the source culture, target culture and international target culture are also presented in a considerable proportion which enables the learners notice the similarity as well as the difference among the cultures and construct a better understanding. To support this, patterns of interaction in the textbooks are modified. The current textbooks mostly present the interaction within the speakers in Indonesian context. This could be modified by adding more interaction patterns with the native speakers US and UK and international target culture Australia, Japan, Abu Dhabi, etc. as well as interaction between native speakers. For instance, a student of Australian high school is sending an email to his online friend in Padang, telling about his school summer holiday. The Padang student replies an email by describing his holiday which he spent 233 by following some celebrations in his hometown and asking about the holiday celebration in Australia. McKay 141 asserts that ‗by not portraying second language speakers of English in dialogue with one another, educators are missing an opportunity to provide learners with models of second language speakers of English communicating effectively with each other‘. What can be concluded from this phenomenon is that English textbooks lack of more passages that reflect the culture of other English speaking countries; content of Indonesian culture is presented more deeply, not only focusing on the products but also the practice and perspective; the comparisons and contrasts between different cultures should be added; and the cultural knowledge in the part of exercise in EFL textbooks should be addressed 142 .

3. Senses of Culture