Local culture and locally produced ELT textbooks: How do teachers bridge the gap?

Abstract

The Ministries of Education in different countries have established that ELT materials would play an important role to provide learners in state-funded schools access to English language education. Nonetheless, the discussion concerning local culture and ELT materials has not yet reached textbooks designed for children in their first years of English language learning. This study aims to explore whether the ELT materials used in the first two years of compulsory English language education in Chile, 5th- and 6th- grades, include representations of the local culture, and whether these materials are being localised by the teachers. Through a content analysis of a corpus of four ELT materials approved and distributed in public schools from 2013 to 2016 and from 2017 to 2019 and the examination of 63 teachers’ perceptions on localisation of ELT coursebooks, the article argues that the ELT materials analysed include representations of local culture specifically associated with ‘national geography’ and ‘stereotypes and national identity’. Although teachers reported that they were unsure about whether the cultural representations of the materials facilitated learning, they claimed to include representations of local references when adapting the textbooks. The article concludes by suggesting that the ELT materials locally produced demand urgent review.