The Representation of American Culture in EFL Textbooks in Hungary

Abstract

In today’s globalized world, it is gradually becoming more and more important to learn
languages. In order to do that effectively, teachers and students need appropriate materials, tools and
teaching aids to achieve their language learning goals. That is why textbook analysis has gained more
and more importance throughout the past years, textbooks being among the most important teaching
and learning aids. It is common knowledge that students are more inclined to acquire a foreign language
if they are exposed to materials which interest them. The topics that pupils usually find interesting are
cinema, technology, and culture. That is why this paper aims at analysing the various types of American
cultural representation in two textbook series that are commonly used in Hungarian schools: the English
File and the Pioneer series. They are analyzed in terms of vocabulary, reading comprehension, and
listening comprehension from the perspective of American cultural representation. The findings are the
following: although one way or another both series include certain elements of American culture, texts
and tasks – in terms of vocabulary and syntax – tend to stay neutral, utilizing vocabulary that may
represent all English standard varieties at once. It suggests a lack of cultural diversity, which is a serious
shortcoming in terms of pluricentricity, but can be interpreted as an advantage in terms of contextual
and grammatical coherence.