| The study describes and analyzes the socio-cultural content of English as a Foreign Language textbooks used in Costa Rican public secondary schools. The study also addresses the way in which English as a Foreign Language (EFL) textbook materials relate to cross-cultural awareness and understanding, and to national educational goals and the development process in "underdeveloped nations.".;The study reports that the textbook series analyzed is inadequate in the selection and manner of presentation of socio-cultural information about U.S. culture and society. The texts mistreat ethnic minorities, present a distorted, stereotypical, and romanticized view of the target culture, and ignore the historical dimension.;The stereotypical image presents the people of the U.S. as a predominantly young, problem free, urban, highly educated, middle class society, in which most people hold high prestige professional, technical, managerial occupations, with high incomes. The communication of such stereotypical image of the U.S. culture is considered to have, in the Costa Rican context, the potential of furthering cultural dependency and domination, and as a barrier to efforts for more autonomous, indigenous development. The contribution of the textbook series analyzed to the goals of cross-cultural awareness and understanding, as well as to the aims of Costa Rican educational legislation is called to serious questioning.;The study combines Content Analysis Methodology, principles of Facet Design Theory, and a model for the description of socio-cultural content in foreign language textbooks. These three elements are used to develop a coding system for the analysis of the socio-cultural content of the EFL textbook series examined. The coding system includes four areas of analysis: (1) Representativeness and demographic characteristics of the text characters, (2) Interpersonal relations, (3) Topics of conversation, problems/concerns, interests, contexts, and activities of the characters, and (4) Explicit cultural information and manner of presentation of the socio-cultural information. |
