A study of the cultural content of illustrations in selected elementary school EFL/ESL textbooks

Understanding the culture of the target language is necessary in learning a foreign language. Considering the significant role of cultural content of EFL/ESL textbooks for elementary school children, this study investigated 802 illustrations and 3,543 characters appearing in six series of EFL/ESL textbooks. Three aspects were examined: (a) an evaluation of the most frequently used EFL textbooks in Korea and representative ESL textbooks in the United States in reference to diversity indicators collected in a checklist; (b) an investigation of textbook biases, stereotypes and, underrepresentation in the textbooks; (c) a comparison of the content of the selected EFL textbooks with the content in ESL textbooks. The results indicated that EFL and ESL textbooks do not depict the true diversity of American society. Gender stereotypes were prevalent, more male than female main characters were presented, and Caucasoid characters were given more focus than members of any other racial groups. In comparing the EFL series with the ESL series, ESL textbooks presented the diversity of American society more accurately and showed fewer biases than did EFL textbooks.; The study drew the following conclusions: (a) racial and gender stereotypes of particular groups continue to appear in textbooks and, consequently, may limit the students' perceptions of the target culture; (b) EFL textbooks, especially those published in Korea, show more biases than American ESL textbooks; (c) EFL/ESL textbooks need to be revised and improved in order to reflect the diversity of American society; (d) textbook evaluation should play a significant role in determining the adoption of a textbook series and in gathering information about a textbook series.