Visual Representation of Sports Activities in Secondary School English and Turkish Coursebooks

Along with language teaching purposes, coursebooks also convey different kinds of cultural and social messages through both written texts and visualization. Therefore, studying coursebooks in terms of such qualities is necessary in foreign language education. In the learning process, visualization plays a pivotal role since visuals cater for concrete sensory stimuli and thus is an indispensable part in all coursebooks. The aim of this study is to comparatively investigate how sports, including recreational activities, are portrayed in secondary school English and Turkish coursebooks prepared according to the new education system in relation to such variables as which sports are particularly shown, and sex of persons doing sports and/or recreational activities. A total number of eight coursebooks (four English and four Turkish) are studied and the findings are also compared with similar studies. The results showed the problems associated with these coursebooks.