THE MANIFESTATION OF CULTURE IN IRANIAN AND TURKISH HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH TEXT BOOKS

The aim of this study is to examine the cultural references in Iranian and Turkish high school English text books. Because textbooks play a pivotal role in the realm of language teaching and learning and they are looked upon as an indispensable vehicle for foreign language learning, this study aims at investigating the extent to which the Iranian and Turkish high school English textbooks represent the cultural principles. this study is interested in screening the cultural references in the content of the instructional materials of Iran and Turkey at high school level. This research was done on the reading section as the kernel part of these books. To achieve the objective, Ramirez and Hall’s (1990) categorization is used. The analysis was carried out within a coding scheme with eight categories. Results of the study indicate that the ELT textbooks in Turkey and more in Iran appear too weak to provide new information or broaden students’ worldview or cultural understanding. In other words, the study seems to postulate that changes should be made if we want to prepare the students to communicate in the multicultural world of English and if we want to use the nationally developed textbooks for the optimum benefit. The findings of the study present the point that cultural principles are not utilized in the Iranian and Turkish high school textbooks.