개정 영어과 교육과정에 따른 초등학교 5, 6학년 영어 교과서의 문화적 내용분석

This study examines the cultural contents of elementary school English textbooks based on the Revised English Curriculum with a view to improving the content and presentation of different cultures represented in current textbooks. To that end, cultural contents from four 5th-6th grade textbooks were analyzed in terms of the content type, presentation method, activity type, and the origin of the content material. A survey was also conducted to assess students’ preferences in learning about different cultures. The results showed that the cultural contents presented in current textbooks focused mostly on ‘Products’ such as food and clothes, and ‘Practices’ such as school and society, and that the most common way of introducing cultural contents was by means of CD-ROMs and pictures. The results also revealed that cultural aspects from English-speaking countries were represented predominantly more than those from other cultures including the Korean culture. The current findings underscore the importance of providing specific guidelines in terms of cultural content and presentation method in the elementary school curriculum as well as the importance of presenting cultural contents from various countries.