CULTURE-FRIENDLY CONTENT IN EFL TEXTBOOKS: AN ANALYTICAL STUDY OF PUNJAB TEXTBOOK BOARD AT SECONDARY AND INTERMEDIATE LEVEL

Abstract

The growing status of English as lingua franca has changed language teaching which used to emphasize grammatical proficiency to the acquisition of intercultural communicative competence (ICC). In the Pakistani case, the linguistic and cultural prism of millions of students is determined by EFL textbooks prescribed by the state. However, there is little research on the ways ICC is incorporated in these textbooks. This qualitative content analysis is based on Michael Byram five-dimensional model of ICC and examines the portrayal and development of intercultural competence in the English textbook Grades 9-12 of the Punjab Textbook Board. Results show that there were very strong scores in attitudes and factual cultural knowledge and relatively low scores in interpretive, interactional and critical cultural dimensions. The paper identifies the necessity of curricular review to include the activities that would provide more efficient development of intercultural mediation and critical engagement skills in learners to match the Pakistani EFL education with the international standards of language and intercultural instruction.