تحليل محتواي كتاب‌ درسي آموزش دستور زبان انگليسي از منظر فرهنگ و جايگاه زبان انگليسي به عنوان زبان بين‌المللي

در دنياي امـروز كه ضرورت دانستن زبان انگليسي براي انجام تعاملات بين فرهنگي امري غيرقابل انكار است، آموزش و يادگيري زبان انگليسي بايد همـراه بـا درنظر گرفتن ارزش­هـاي فرهنگ خودي باشد كه در سايۀ توجه بيشتر به هويت ملي و فرهنگي زبان­آموزان امكان پذير است. از آنجايي كه در فرآيند يادگيري زبان انگليسي، بخش عظيمي از مفاهيم و الگوهاي فرهنگي نيز به صورت آگاهانه يا ناآگاهانه به زبان­آموزان منتقل مي­شوند، نبايد از توجه به تأثير انتقال اطلاعات ميان­فرهنگي بر نگرش و هويت فراگيران غافل شد. با توجه به جايگاه كنوني زبان انگليسي به عنوان زبان بين­المللي، انتظار مي­رود كه منابع درسي تدوين شده نيز بتوانند چندفرهنگي بودن و تهي بودن اين زبان از ارزش­هاي فرهنگي كشورهاي انگليسي­زبان را منعكس كنند. بنابراين، هدف پژوهش حاضر بررسي ميزان به كارگيري فرهنگ­هاي غير بومي در كتاب­هاي آموزشي زبان انگليسي در رابطه با جايگاه زبان انگليسي به عنوان زبان بين المللي است. بدين منظور، مدل فرهنگي يواِن (2011) كه شامل چهار مؤلفۀ محصولات، اعمال، نگرش­ها و اشخاص است مورد استفاده قرار گرفت و ميزان وقوع هر يك از اين مؤلفه­هاي فرهنگي در كتاب دستورزبان Communicate What You Mean: A Concise Advanced Grammar، كه كاربرد گسترده بين­المللي در حوزۀ آموزش زبان انگليسي به غير انگليسي­زبانان در مقطع دانشگاهي دارد، مورد بررسي قرار گرفت. يافته­ها به وضوح نشان دادند كه اين كتاب به ارزش­هاي فرهنگي بومي كشورهاي انگليسي­زبان ارجحيت داده و از توجه به ارزش­هاي فرهنگي ساير ملل غافل مانده است. اين امر حاكي از وجود گرايش­ها و تعصب­هاي يك سويعه­اي است كه ريشه در فرهنگ غرب دارند و نشان مي­دهند كه زبان انگليسي،علي رغم جايگاه كنوني خود به عنوان يك زبان بين­المللي، هم چنان در حال ترويج يك جانبۀ نگرش­ها و عقيده­هاي غربي به زبان­آموزان سراسر جهان است.

Introduction: Given the close relationship between language and culture, language can be seen as a manifes tation of culture. With the advent of globalization and the formation of multicultural and multilingual societies, there is a need to introduce the culture of other countries to es tablish intercultural communication. According to the current s tatus of English as an international language (EIL), English language learners do not need to internalize the cultural principles of native speakers since this language does not belong to a particular nation exclusively (Smith, 1983). Therefore, the main role of EIL is to create the possibility of intercultural exchange between second language users around the world (McKay, 2004). Similarly, teaching and learning of English should be done in such a way that language is considered only as a means to communicate and exchange ideas on various issues (Kachru, 1992). Hence, the cultural content of language textbooks should not be limited to the presentation of the cultural values of English-speaking countries at the expense of the cultural values of other nations (Alptekin, 2002). Background of the s tudy: In recent years, the s tudy of English Language Teaching (ELT) textbooks from a cultural perspective has been of particular importance in various countries (for example, Birjandi & Meshkat, 2003; Ansary & Babaii, 2003; Amini & Birjandi, 2012; Tahririan & Sadri, 2013; Aliakbari, 2004; Khajavi & Abbasian, 2011). A common finding of these s tudies is that the cultural components of non-English speaking countries are not presented in ELT materials. In other words, these s tudies have been unanimous in concluding that ELT materials have not been successful in educating and familiarizing second language learners with the cultural values of other countries and the image presented by them is limited to the culture of Wes tern countries. Methodology: The present s tudy aimed to analyze the ESL grammar textbook Communicate What You Mean: A Concise Advanced Grammar (CWYM) from a cultural perspective. The main criteria for selecting this book was that it has been widely used as the course book for teaching Grammar & Writing courses in English language programs at the undergraduate level in mos t of the universities across the country. In order to carry out the content analysis, Yuen’s (2010) model was employed which consis ted of four components of Products, Practices, Perspectives and Persons. Initially, the researchers carefully perused all the chapters of the book along with various grammar exercises that were included in them. Then, they extracted and categorized the examples of each cultural component in four groups of Products, Practices, Perspectives and Persons and reported the frequency and percentage of each one of them. Discussion and Conclusion: The present paper analyzed the cultural content of CWYM grammar book, which is widely used in teaching English grammar to non-native speakers. The findings revealed that despite the current s tatus of English as an international language, the main emphasis of the book is on the cultural values of English-speaking countries and the culture of non-native users of English has been ignored to a great extent. These results are consis tent with the findings of other s tudies, including Shimoku (2000), McKay (2004), Adaskou et al. (1990), and Zarei et al. (2017). What all these s tudies have in common is that ELT materials promote the attitude and lifes tyle of English-speaking countries that are clearly rooted in the cultural values of Wes tern countries. Despite efforts to localize English language textbooks, imported books which are currently available in the market are s till in favor of of Wes tern cultural values and impose the cultural norms of English-speaking countries on second language learners around the world which is obviously at odds with the current s tatus of English as an international language. One of the proposed solutions in this regard is to moderately localize ELT materials through providing a combination of educational resources based on the cultural values of learners as well as international cultural values. Moreover, language teachers should critically evaluate the cultural components of ELT materials before presenting them, thereby assis ting learners to achieve intercultural competence and have a good performance in both local and multicultural environments. It is only in this way that language learners can gain more knowledge and confidence about their own culture and reach a point where they can play an active role in introducing their national cultural values to other nations.