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2. Types of Culture in English Textbooks
The books under study present mostly the source culture Indonesian culture in comparison to target culture and
international target culture. This ratio is quite ideal as English is taught as a Foreign Language thus the English textbooks in
Indonesian contexts are aimed at focusing more on local content while introducing the learners to the target culture and
international. Contextualizing and localizing the context of EFL materials is beneficial as it raises the local culture awareness while
learning source and international target culture.
Lastly, despite the number of occurrence among cultures seems ideal, but these cultures are presented by the ―surface culture‖ with
a little occurrence of ―deep culture‖. Additionally, the English teachers add that source culture is
dominant compared to target culture and international target culture. They think that the target culture and international target
culture are needed as comparison and information so that misunderstanding in communication is avoided. They also expect
that English textbooks used in MTsN in DKI Jakarta contain Islamic values in addition to various cultures.
3. Senses of Culture in English Textbooks
Culture is introduced by its aesthetic sense most of the time. Movies, songs, arts, monuments are commonly presented
throughout the book chapters. These products are included as ―surface culture‖. Aesthetic sense can serve as a good motivation
for the learners as it relates with their interest in popular cultural products. Following this, pragmatic sense is introduced in the
grammar and vocabulary sections. Two other senses like semantic sense and sociological sense are less shown, whereas these senses
are included as ―deep culture‖. This kind of presentation could lead to a general assumption that cultural understanding is simply when
somebody have visited the country, eaten the food, watched the movies, read the novels comics, or bought the souvenirs.
4. Elements of Culture in English Textbooks
Product and person are two most frequent culture elements presented in the textbooks. Artifacts, buildings, brands, famous
figures, songs, and movies are to name some. Most of the time, the product element of culture is implicitly presented or inserted as a
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part of texts or dialogues. Several time, person element shows up explicitly as descriptive texts which are noticable. Practice appears
in a very small number, presenting some celebrations in target culture such as Halloween, Valentine Day, Baby Shower in a form
of pictures. Practice in source culture was absent, while Perspective element was not presented at all at least explicitly.
5. The Cultural Presentation and Intercultural Competence
The presence of various culture products in the textbooks is surely a good initiative for intercultural information. To this level,
the textbooks support the learners to be aware of different cultures around them. However, there is no explicit information regarding
the behaviours, beliefs and values practice and perspective element; or semantic, sociological sense; shared beliefs or values
that certain culture hold, and how to articulate source culture values in the target language. Therefore, when u
sing Byram‘s level of intercultural competence, this level of awareness is included in
basic cultural awareness the lowest level of intercultural awareness.
B. Suggestion
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