The Representation of Culture in Iran Language Institute Advanced Level Textbooks

Abstract

This study was interested in screening the cultural references in the content of the instructional materials of Iran Language Institute at Advanced levels. This research was done on the vocabulary and reading sections as the kernel parts of these books. To achieve the objective, Ramirez and Hall’s (1990) categorization was used. In this model there were eight categories to consider passages and four categories to consider vocabulary. All passages and new words of these books were evaluated based on this model. Results indicated that a) in advanced book One and Two the focus was on sentences with culture specific references and in Three and Four the focus was on sentences with no reference to culture specific background. Half of the texts were general texts related to science, biographies. The rest of the passages related to the culture of English speaking countries and Islamic culture. b) Half of the texts were general texts related to science, biographies. Nineteen per cent of the texts were about English speaking countries and another nineteen per cent were passages whose identity and reference had been left out and seven per cent of the texts were about Islam and Islamic culture. c) According to Ramirez and Hall (1990), there are eight categories to consider passages and five out of eight categories were in advanced books, so there was a good variety in these texts.