3rd International Conference on Teaching English as a Foreign Language

26th & 27th November 2010.

Testing the truth: content and code in reading texts in Portuguese produced ELT coursebooks.

Nicolas Hurst,The Department of Anglo-American Studies,

The Faculty of Letters,The University of Porto.

Culture as content“Culture is a concept which needs to be handled carefully. Nowadays it is much used, often far too loosely. One of the problems is that the most common use of the word - as national culture - is very broad and conjures up vague notions about nations, races and sometimes whole continents, which are too generalised to be useful, and which often become mixed up with stereotypes and prejudices. … It is necessary to be far more precise than this.” Holliday, A. 1994: 21-22

“Culture is where identities, desires and investments are mobilised, constructed and reworked. It is a site where antagonistic meanings push and pull at our sensibilities, deep investments, and relationships with others. Any consequently there is not one monolithic culture that communicates unitary meanings. Circulating within any culture are an array of contesting and contradictory discourses that vie for our attention.” Britzman, D. 2003: 71

Reasons for Reading: L1 and L2

L1 context: Getting information to suit current purpose Gaining pleasure and/or emotional stimulation Attain social advancement or advantage L2 context: Acquire knowledge of a language feature Practice a syntactic structure Analyse a discourse feature or the structure of a text

“… there should be a clear separation between teaching reading and teaching language using texts. Most of the reading materials try to kill two birds with one stone and seem to fail to hit both targets.” Masuhara, H. in Tomlinson, B. 2003: 345.

Background on ELT Texts and Reading:A: “Materials aimed at explicit learning usually contrive

examples of language which focus on the feature to be taught. Usually these examples are presented in short, easy texts or dialogues and it is argued that they help the learner by focussing attention on the target feature.”

Tomlinson, B. in Carter, R. & Nunan, D. 2001: 68. B: “The more concrete, imaginable and interesting, the more

readable the text. Texts on arcane topics are likely to be harder to process ... Texts located in familiar settings, on everyday topics, are likely to be easier to process than those that are not”

Alderson, J. C. 2000: 62.

ELT, Coursebooks and Cultural Content

“Culture in language learning is not an expendable fifth skill, tacked on, so to speak, to the teaching of speaking, listening, reading, and writing. It is always in the background, right from day one, ready to unsettle the good language learners when they expect it least, making evident the limitations of their hard-won communicative competence, challenging their ability to make sense of the world around them.” Kramsch, C. 1993: 1

“Language teaching is a particular institutionally shaped learning

space where cultural, discursive and linguistic flows merge, are transformed under the given pedagogical, social and material conditions and are sent on in the – in the final resort – global flow of meaning.”

Risager, K. 2006: 24

The present study: the Extreme series The books by Belita Carlo Almeida, Edite Frias & Elisabete

Caldas Almeida cover the national programme of English for ‘3º ciclo do ensino básico’ (7º, 8º e 9º anos), published by Porto Editora.

2004 2005 2006

TOPICS 7º ano / Nível 3 [2004] Issues/Vocabulary

8º ano / Nível 4 [2005] Issues/Vocabulary

9º ano / Nível 5 [2006] Issues/Vocabulary

EntryUnit Classroom language The Internet, Chat rooms, Acronyms

Unit 1 What an ID! Personal identification; Family relationships; Physical description

Fly me to the moon Holidays: Moon travel, Tailor-made holidays, ecovolunteer trips, Space, Nature: Endangered animals

Look sharp, live smart: Spotlight Health and welfare; Holidays: tanning culture; Parts of the body, Illnesses; Healthy/unhealthy food

Facts and Trivia: USA; Halloween time Guy Fawkes’ Day

Unit 2 What a family! Family relationships; Daily routine; Free time activities; Telling the time

Get in shape Sports; Extreme sports; Vegetarianism; Weather conditions

Look sharp, live smart: a quick fix Addictions: tobacco, alcohol, drugs; Advertising; Celebrities and addictions; Teenagers’ problems

It’s Christmas time Facts and Trivia: Australia X-meeting: famous people

Unit 3 What a school! Subjects, rooms and facilities; School rules; Means of transport; Jobs/occupations

Fashion victims Teen types; Physical/Psychological description; Fashion and appearance; Clothes & Shopping

Reach for the sky: Flying solo Work; Teenagers’ ambitions; Pocket money & part time jobs; Ideal jobs; Personality traits

Facts and trivia: The UK; Valentine’s Day Facts and Trivia: New Zealand

Unit 4 What a house! Location: city, countryside, beach; Types of houses; Parts of a house; Furniture and fittings; The Environment

Why be blue? Teenage problems; Eating disorders; Depression

Making an impression Work & jobs; Employment & unemployment; Answering ads; Letter of application; Curriculum Vitae; Cyber cafés

April Fool’s Day X-Travelling: Hawaii, India, South Africa

Unit 5 What a city! Shopping: shops, products, material, size; Directions; At the restaurant

Blockbuster Entertainment: cinema, television, books, computer games, radio, newspapers

Cool your mind: plastic world Environment: problems, solutions, the 3 Rs; Overpopulation; Animal life & Zoos; Rainforest

Facts and Trivia: London Facts and Trivia: Canada

Unit 6 What an adventure! Holidays: destination/accommodation, types/duration of holidays, Means of transport; Land, air and water sports Extreme sports; Female/male sports

Bits and chips New technologies; Robots; Videophones; Computers

Multicoloured love Entertainment: cinema, music, types of films Discrimination, racism, human rights, moral values, violence, prejudice.

The Fourth of July X-celebrating: Pancake Day, Saint Patrick’s Day

TEXTS 7º ano / Nível 3 [2004] 8º ano / Nível 4[2005] 9º ano / Nível 5[2006]

Unit 1 p.12: short text Future careersp.14 :2 short texts 2 Teens intro.p.25 :3 v.short texts Crime solutions

p.15 extended text Moon travelp.25 large text Holiday tastesp.30 large text Ecovolun interview

p.11 Text on Tanning culturep.15 Text Teen/Dr. interviewp.24 Text on sleep/Vampire teensp.26 4 short texts teen health

Unit 2 p.36: large text on familyp.44/45 :6 v.short texts Daily routine

p.41 3 part large text Sumo p.48 3 part large text Veget foodp.57 Extended text Surfing

p.37 text on Smoking/Rightsp.46 4 short txt Celeb life disastersp.53 4 short letters Dear Abbey

Unit 3 p.64:extended text/email on Schoolp.67:pop song School subjects p.73: 5 short texts on cheating

p.77 6 short texts Teen typesp.82 large textTrue coloursp.90 4 short texts Body piercingp.93 Extended text Net shopping

p.63 short text on teen ambitionsp.66 large text on pocket moneyp.70 large text on free time/cashp.75 10 shorts txts on Colour /IDp. 80 text on Own boss

Unit 4 p.101: large text Favourite roomp.107: large text Global warmingp.109:large text Environmentp.110: large text Pollution

p.103 Extended bio Kate Mossp.106 5 short texts Eat Disordersp.111 Extended text Teen stress

p.85 v.short txt What’s wrongp.87 poem txt on Unemploymentp.95 4 short Job advertsp.98 text on Cyber cafésp.101 text on IT jobs

Unit 5 p.118:v.extended text: shop quizp.121: short text Giving directionsp.123: short text Getting directionsp.124 : Shopping dialoguep.130: Restaurant dialogue

p.128 4 short synopsis of filmsp.131 Extended txt Special effectsp.138 4 short txt Computer gamesp.142 2 jumbled newspaper articles

p.112 txt on Animals/environmentp.120 text Rainforest Foundationp. 123text on Overpopulationp.126text on recycling etc

Unit 6 p.138/9: 11 sentence texts Holidaysp.140: Dialogue Hols. Destinationsp.144: Extended text Surfingp.152: Dialogue/interview on Sports

p.153 short txt Robots & peoplep.155 short txt Incredible spherep.156 v.short text Videophonesp.162 large txt computer addictionp.166 large text Game Zone

p.134 text on Birth of cinemap.138 Film synopsisExtraO Gentsp.140 bio text Robbie Williamsp.145 film trailer text Amistad

The Triple “A” Test for ELT Reading Texts

• A:1 = authentic in relation to the genre that the text represents...to the

source/purpose...to the responses required...to the linguistic features...

(see Wardman, C. 2009: 14-18)

• A:2 = appropriate

in relation to the L2 level...to the age of the learners ...to their cultural background......to local educational expectations...

(see Gray, J. 2002: 151-167)

• A: 3 = accurate in relation to facts and figures...to the topic/theme in question... to

the social, political and geographical features of the target culture... to issues of identity...

(see Byram, M. 1993a: 3-16)

Sample texts

1) Extreme 7: Unit Six: p.140: Extended dialogue on choosing holiday detinations, planning a holiday...

2) Extreme 9: Unit Three: p.70: Large text on five different ways to earn some extra money in your free time...

In conclusion ... “Particular global and local discourses create the conditions of

possibility of engaging in the social practice of using ‘English’, they produce and constrain what can be said in English.”

Pennycook, A. 1994: 33

“ The cultural representations contained in the material, in both text and images, help to provide the students with mirrors for their own lifestyles, perspectives, identities and images of the world.”

Risager, K. 2006: 181

Thanks for being here.

Please contact me if you’d like to discuss any of the issues raised in this talk ... My e-mail address is nrhurst@letras.up.pt