초등 영어 교과서 문화요소 분석

Abstract

An Analysis of Cultural Elements in Elementary School English Textbooks

Jung Sook Choi

Graduate School of Education Pukyong National University

Abstract The purpose of this study is to analyze the cultural elements in the 3rd and 4th grader's textbooks that are used from 2011 in the elementary school. For the analysis, 5 kind books are chosen and they are analyzed by three categories. The three categories are as followings: First, how much are the learning contents and the cultural elements of the culture sections in the textbooks related? Second, how are the textbooks composed? Third, what cultural elements are in each culture section? Last, which countries and areas are used in each culture section of the textbooks? The results of the study are as follows: First, most textbooks close relationship between learning contents and the cultural elements in each lesson. The rate of relationship is from 100% to 58%. The rates differ by publisher. Second, the cultural elements, as analysed by Moran(2001), are products, practices, perspectives, communities and persons. According to the results, each book focuses 90% on only three of five elements: products, practices, perspectives. Last, it is divided into two regions, classified as main regions, and the other regions. Main regions are classified by ,Asian areas, and British/American areas that use English, and the other regions are Europe and others. According to the results, Asian areas are used 53%, British/American ares 33.5% and Europe and others are 14.5% in main regions. In the other regions, Europe and other areas are used 61.8%, Asian areas 20.3% and British /American areas are 17.9%. In these results, we could recognize that there are lots of countries and areas are used in the textbooks. It is good to study various cultural elements but it might be confusing to the learners. In conclusion, culture and language are inseparable, so when we teach and learn other languages, we need to understand the culture of the target countries. Without understanding the culture of other countries, it is hard to learn other languages properly. When we teach English and culture at the same time, we could expect better results of English study than without culture study.