Arslan, S. (2018). A probe into the indicators of intercultural communicative competence in an EFL self-study textbook. International Online Journal of Education and Teaching (IOJET), 5(1), 150-167. http://iojet.org/index.php/IOJET/article/view/306/228 Received: 17.10.2017 Received in revised form: 30.11.2017 Accepted: 13.12.2017 A PROBE INTO THE INDICATORS OF INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE IN AN EFL SELF-STUDY TEXTBOOK Sezen Arslan Yüzüncü Yıl University sezenarslan@gmail.com Sezen Arslan is a PhD student at Hacettepe University, English Language Teaching Department, Turkey. She works as a Research Assistant at Yüzüncü Yıl University. Her main research interests are cultural awareness in foreign language classrooms and foreign language teacher education. Copyright by Informascope. Material published and so copyrighted may not be published elsewhere without the written permission of IOJET. http://iojet.org/index.php/IOJET/article/view/306/228 http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5784-5704 Arslan 150 A PROBE INTO THE INDICATORS OF INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE IN AN EFL SELF-STUDY TEXTBOOK Sezen Arslan sezenarslan@gmail.com Abstract Textbooks play a vital role for teaching about different cultures since they present various regions, people, behavior, conventions, religions, values and some other cultural elements of different societies around the world. This study aimed to investigate the cultural content of a self-study textbook which was designed for Open Education Faculty in Turkey. In the study design the descriptive content analysis was employed in order to explore which aspects of intercultural communicative competence were addressed. The findings pointed out that the major part of many activities focused on cultural aspects. The study also put forward some practical recommendations on what content should be delivered through a textbook in order to develop intercultural communicative competence. Keywords: textbook, intercultural communicative competence, culture teaching 1. Introduction Learning a language does not necessarily mean receiving the linguistic structures and practicing them through listening, reading, speaking and writing. As language is a social element through which human beings interact with each other, the language learning process should be extended outside the basic four skills. That is, culture is placed at the very center of language learning if language is seen as social practice (Kramsch, 1993). Thus, in foreign language teaching, just like teaching forms and functions of a language, culture should be taught for achieving a successful language learning because it is the primary ingredient of the language and they cannot be separated from each other. Culture is a broader concept and being an intercultural learner goes further than just simply receiving cultural information of any culture: foreign or home culture. Intercultural language learning and teaching process entail willingness to learn about other cultures, which may lead learners to be involved in exploration and interaction. When the learners get the chance of experiencing any culture, they could be more tolerant and they could handle that culture in a non-judgmental way. In case of differing interpretations between cultures such as home and foreign culture, the learners could act as a mediator by avoiding humiliation or stereotyping. However, it is clear that being an intercultural learner does not mean merely leaving the home culture and placing any other culture in a superior state. Being informed and knowledgeable about foreign cultures, the learners could realize their home culture practices, make comparisons and reflections so they might also get an awareness towards their own home culture as well. Intercultural communicative competence could be facilitated and improved with the help of textbooks of foreign language education. However, in some cases textbooks may fail to mailto:sezenarslan@gmail.com International Online Journal of Education and Teaching (IOJET) 2018, 5(1), 150-167. 151 incorporate intercultural elements in their contents. For example, Open Education Faculty at Anadolu University started to offer face to face English classes in the fall semester of 2017- 2018 academic year for the students studying Economics and Business Administration (Öğrenme Ortamları, n.d) but the learners still have limited opportunities to have face to face education because the courses are offered in certain centers and they are not for all departments. These learners have not enough chance to practice the target language with a language teacher. They are mostly dependent on textbooks. That’s why, providing a rich cultural content would be of utmost importance for them. This study is intended to find out the intercultural components of a self-study textbook which was developed for the students of Open Education Faculty. 1.1. English as a Global Language Globalization is defined as ‘the intensification of worldwide social relations’ (Giddens,1990) due to the fact that globalization decreases distances and makes the national borders of the countries transparent. It enables a speedy migration of the local information and causes an increase in human network by creating a bridge between the global and the local. In other words, local developments seem to have a capability to affect two spots in the world which are far away from each other. As a consequence of globalization, nations of the world live in a ‘single interconnected global system’ (Lo, Liddicoat & Crozet,1999). This calls for a good communication and interaction across nations, which could be practicable through a common language, English! English is the language of communication in the world because of the fact that English is widely used in technology and business (Graddol, 1997). Additionally, English is spoken and used universally by not only native speakers but also non-native speakers. It is estimated that 1.5 billion people speak English and 375 million of them are native speakers (The most spoken languages worldwide, n.d). This statistical data clearly points out that English is not a commodity of native speakers merely as non-native speakers outnumber native speakers of English. This eminent status of English has led to its being a global language. Crystal (2003) suggests that a language is global if it has a ‘special role that is recognized in every country’ and ‘to achieve such a status, a language has to be taken up by other countries around the world’. To put it another way, global language does not belong to any specific and certain country or nation but it is the commodity of the world. It may well be argued that English has a high impact on communication around the world and the fact that English is being used globally calls for educators to incorporate culture with international and multicultural focus (Nault, 2006) because English is a lingua franca and it would be problematic if it is associated with any specific culture (Baker, 2012). In view of this, it is necessary to make English a medium for cross-national settings where the intelligibility can be accomplished for non-native speakers. 1.2 Culture and Foreign Language Teaching Globalization has speeded up migration (La Croix, Mason & Shigeyuki, 2002), for that reason, people have become more mobile and language settings have become more diversified. This diversity calls for human contact and fast exchange of information (Kubota, 2002). In order for people to interact with each other, they are required to have a good command on a foreign language. However, this does not simply mean learning a language’s mechanics but it is also a central premise to be equipped with the social knowledge of that language because a language is not independent from its social use and language might be varied considering the individuals, events or contexts. People who belong to a culture may define the language through their experiences and perceptions of life. Similarly, Davis (2006) Arslan 152 claims: “Our culture is the lens through which we view the world.” Culture and language cannot be thought apart from one another; culture is the very part of the language and they go hand in hand. This might substantiate the claim to teach culture in foreign language classrooms. In point of fact, culture’s role in foreign language teaching has been fiercely discussed for several decades. Between 1950s and 1990s, culture was considered as a subject to teach and it was about target culture exclusively (Weninger & Kiss, 2013). After this period run its course, in 1990’s, the focus has shifted towards intercultural, cross cultural and transcultural issues (Byram, as cited in Weninger & Kiss, 2013) and in 2000s, ‘cultural complexity and hybridity’ has been emphasized (Risager, 2011, as cited in Weninger & Kiss, 2013). That is to say, culture teaching has set out from ‘local’ and headed to ‘global’. Moving towards the global requires intercultural interaction which is defined by Lo et al. (1999) as ‘finding a third place’ between home culture and target culture. Language learners do not necessarily need to be stuck within neither the borders of their national culture nor target culture. Byram (1997) claims: “Foreign language teaching has a central aim of enabling learners to use that language to interact with people for whom it is their preferred and natural medium of experience, those we call ‘native speakers’ as well as in lingua franca situations where it is an estranging and sometimes disturbing means of coping with the world for all concerned.” Language encompasses to be used in social contexts where both native speakers and speakers of other languages do exist. Understood in this sense, teaching simply home or target culture would not be sufficient in order to facilitate a deep-seated interaction while using a foreign language. Going further, Byram (1997) proposes a model for Intercultural Communicative Competence which has 5 factors: Knowledge (saviors), Skills of interpreting and relating (savoir comprendre), ‘Skills of discovery and interaction’ (savoir apprendre/faire),‘Critical cultural awareness/Political education’ (savoir s’engager), and ‘Attitudes’ (savoir être). To start with knowledge, it refers to the knowledge of social groups, social products and cultural practices of one’s own culture and foreign culture. Skills of relating and interpreting constitute the skills for making an interpretation and explanation of a document or event from another culture and for relating this document or event to the one in one’s own culture. The skills of discovery and interaction present the ability to receive new knowledge and cultural practices and the ability to use knowledge, skills and attitudes within the constraints of real- time interaction. Critical cultural awareness/Political education is the ability to make an evaluation of products, practices and perspectives critically in one’s own culture and other cultures. Finally, attitudes refer to curiosity, openness to ‘suspend disbelief about other cultures and belief about one’s own’ (Byram, 1997, p.50-53). It is evident that Byram lists the knowledge, skills and attitudes one should have for attaining a successful communication with people from different cultures. Byram’s model of ICC appears to be multi-faceted in that it has a cognitive domain (knowledge), affective domain (attitudes) and skills domain (Lange, 2011). This model seems to address the aspects of cognition, affection and skills and it does not focus on cognitive processes only. In addition, Byram could be recognized in the description of competences of Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) (Boye, 2016). CEFR which is a framework presenting knowledge and skills learners have to attain in order to use any language communicatively lists the general competences language learners should develop. They are ‘knowledge’, ‘skills’, ‘existential competence’ and ‘ability to learn’. ‘Knowledge’ within the general competences refers to what all human communication is based on and it could be derived from either experiences or formal learning. Knowledge might be dependent on the culture or individuals so it might be important for the intercultural communication to obtain the knowledge of beliefs, values or other social practices of certain social groups. International Online Journal of Education and Teaching (IOJET) 2018, 5(1), 150-167. 153 ‘Skills and know how’ generally refer to the ability to act in a way that foreigners or outsiders could find appropriate. Also, it includes intercultural skills through which language learners mediate between cultures and establish contact with people from different cultures. As for ‘existential competence’, it regards language learners’ attitudes and personal characteristics such as openness, willingness, motivation, beliefs and so forth. ‘Ability to learn’ points out the ability to learn and discover ‘otherness’ (Council of Europe, 2001). The objectives for each competence which Byram includes in his model appear to present content similarities with the CEFR’s general competences. 1.3 Textbooks and Culture Teaching Textbooks are an integral part of teaching languages in that they have ready-made contents which may teachers use in language classrooms. They have an important role in language classrooms because they are the instruments that teachers extensively use for organizing their activities. In addition, textbooks may enable standardization as it includes an embedded curriculum which could be used for testing as well. Considering such a big power of textbooks for teachers, one can assert that they are expected to include a variety of instructions, activities and strategies regarding not also reading, listening, writing and speaking but also culture. Adopting the view of Kramsch (1993) who claims that culture is the 5th skill, textbooks should give a place for presenting cultural information. Having made a clear summary about the interrelation between language and culture earlier, it may be stated that language and culture are simply two sides of the same coin. For this reason, it may not seem possible to understand a language without knowing cultural information. It is noteworthy to indicate that a rich cultural content should be delivered in textbooks, that is, it is not sufficient to provide native culture and/or target culture. Cultural diversity can be emphasized through including various cultures around the world. However, some studies (Ajideh & Panahi, 2016; Kailola, 2016; Chao, 2011; Xiao, 2010; Aliakbari, 2004) report that that textbooks’ focus on intercultural content is limited. To be truly educative, it is of utmost importance for textbooks to integrate intercultural components in order to promote an understanding of both one’s own culture and other cultures so that learners will have an ability to show tolerance and empathy towards different cultures. In addition, interculturality may prevent stereotyping and offer a chance to view other cultures through objective lenses. 2. Methodology 2.1 Purpose of the Study The aim of this study is to investigate the cultural content of the EFL textbook, ‘Touchstone Self-Study Edition 2 (McCarthy, McCarten & Sandiford, 2012), which was prepared for teaching English to the students at Anadolu University Open Education Faculty in Turkey. With special references to that particular textbook, this study seeks to address the following research questions: RQ 1: What is the frequency of activities which include any competence of ICC model? RQ 2: Which competence(s) of ICC model are addressed in the activities? 2.2 Instruments In Turkey, Open Education Faculty at Anadolu University offers a chance for students who do not have access to campus-based education and provides textbooks, online materials, TV programs, face-to-face classes in order to enable learning and teaching (Open Education System, n.d). Arslan 154 The textbook analyzed in this study is ‘Touchstone Self Edition 2’ (McCarthy, McCarten & Sandiford, 2012) is one of the textbooks within the Touchstone Self-Edition series published by Cambridge University Press and prepared in cooperation with Anadolu University for open education faculty students in Turkey (İngilizce A1 Düzeyi, n.d). Touchstone Self-Study Edition 2 contains a student book and a student’s guide. The student book includes 12 units and it is provided with audio CDs which consist of videos, audio recordings, flash films, interactional activities enabling self-recording, digital vocabulary notebook, quizzes and progress checks. The units in student’s book are divided into lessons which include grammar, vocabulary studies, speaking strategies, listening, reading and writing skills. As for the self-guide, it acts as a supporting material for the students because it includes self-study strategies, scripts of listening activities and videos in the study book, summaries with some instructions in Turkish about how to use the textbook. 2.3 Data Collection and Analysis An approach of qualitative content analysis was used for investigating the activities containing any competence of ICC model and figuring out which competence (knowledge, skills of discovery and interpretation, skills of interpreting and relating, critical cultural awareness/political education and attitude) is used in the activities. When the activities are counted, ‘Before you begin’ part which is in the beginning of each unit, ‘On your own’ part which is placed at the end of units and the activities within all of the lessons which are categorized as Lesson A, Lesson B, Lesson C and Lesson D in student’s book are considered. Furthermore, as the student’s book is offered with audio CDs, video episodes, interactional activities, quizzes and progress checks in CDs are also scrutinized and included. Online material is excluded in the investigation of the activities. In analyzing the ICC content of the activities, Byram’s model of ICC (1997) was adopted. The content of activities is analyzed by considering the 5 competences Byram used in his model: Knowledge (Savoir), Skills of discovery and interaction (savoir apprendre/faire), Skills of interpreting and relating (savoir comprendre), Critical cultural awareness/Political education (savoir s’engager) and Attitude (savoir être). In order to find out which competences are addressed in the activities, the following questions are designed by the researcher considering the objectives specific to each competence which is mentioned in Byram’s ICC Model (p. 57-64) and checked by three experts. Only one objective is omitted because it is about the adaptation to a foreign culture and interaction with that culture ‘during a period of residence’ and it is not within the scope of a textbook analysis. To be classified as including any aspect(s), the activity needs to provide at least one answer to one of the questions under each competence: a) Knowledge (savoirs) 1. Does the activity include knowledge historical and contemporary relationships between one’s own and one’s interlocutor’s countries? 2. Does the activity include any knowledge about the means of achieving contact with interlocutors from another country (at a distance of in proximity), of travel to and from, and the institutions which facilitate contact or help resolve problems? 3. Does the activity include knowledge about any types of cause and process of misunderstanding between interlocutors of different cultural origins? International Online Journal of Education and Teaching (IOJET) 2018, 5(1), 150-167. 155 4. Does the activity include any knowledge about the national memory of one’s own country and how its events are related to and seen from the perspective of other countries? 5. Does the activity include any knowledge about the national memory of one’s interlocutor’s country and the perspective on them from one’s own country? 6. Does the activity include any knowledge about the national definitions of geographical space in one’s own country and how these are perceived from the perspective of other countries? 7. Does the activity include any knowledge about the national definitions of geographical space in one’s interlocutor country and the perspective on them from one’s own? 8. Does the activity include any knowledge about the processes and institutions of socialisation in one’s own and one’s interlocutor’s country? 9. Does the activity include any knowledge about social distinctions and their principal markers in one’s own country and one’s interlocutors? 10. Does the activity include any knowledge about institutions, and perceptions of them, which impinge on daily life within one’s own and one’s interlocutor’s country and which conduct and influence relationships between them? 11. Does the activity include any knowledge about the processes of social interaction in one’s interlocutor’s country? b) Skills of discovery and interaction (savoir apprendre/faire) 1. Does the activity invite students to elicit from an interlocutor the concepts and values of documents or events and develop an explanatory system susceptible of application to other phenomena? 2. Does the activity invite students to identify significant references within and across cultures and elicit their significance and connotations? 3. Does the activity invite students to identify similar and dissimilar processes of interaction, verbal and non-verbal, and negotiate an appropriate use of them in specific circumstances? 4. Does the activity invite students to use in real-time an appropriate combination of knowledge, skills and attitudes to interact with interlocutors from a different country and culture, taking into consideration the degree of one’s existing familiarity with the country and culture and language and the extent of difference between one’s own and the other? 5. Does the activity invite students to identify contemporary and past relationships between one’s own and the other culture and society? 6. Does the activity invite students to identify and make use of public and private institutions which facilitate contact with other countries and cultures? 7. Does the activity invite students to use in real-time knowledge, skills and attitudes for mediation between interlocutors of one’s own and a foreign culture? c) Skills of interpreting and relating (savoir comprendre) 1. Does the activity invite students to identify ethnocentric perspectives in a document or event and explain their origins? Arslan 156 2. Does the activity invite students to identify areas of misunderstanding and dysfunction in an interaction and explain them in terms of each of the cultural systems present? 3. Does the activity invite students to mediate between conflicting interpretations of phenomena? d) Critical cultural awareness (savoir s’engager) 1. Does the activity invite students to identify and interpret explicit or implicit values in documents and events in one’s own and other cultures? 2. Does the activity invite students to make an evaluative analysis of the documents and events which refers to an explicit perspective and criteria? 3. Does the activity invite students to interact and mediate in intercultural exchanges in accordance with explicit criteria, negotiating where necessary a degree of acceptance of those exchanges by drawing upon one’s knowledge, skills and attitudes? e) Attitude (savoir être) 1. Does the activity create willingness to seek out or take up opportunities to engage with otherness in a relationship of equality, distinct from seeking out exotic or the profitable? 2. Does the activity create any interest in discovering other perspectives on interpretation of familiar and unfamiliar phenomena both in one’s own and in other cultures and cultural practices? 3. Does the activity create any willingness to question the values and presuppositions in cultural practices and products in one’s own environment? 4. Does the activity encourage students to engage with conventions and rites of verbal and non-verbal communication and interaction? 3. Findings In this section, the results of the content analysis conducted will be presented: Firstly, frequencies of activities which include aspects of ICC will be provided and secondly, it will be pointed out that which activity addresses which competence. In other words, the activities will be grouped according to competences of ICC model (knowledge, skills of discovery and interaction, skills of interpreting and relating, and critical cultural awareness and attitude). R.Q 1: What is the frequency of activities which include any competence of ICC model? In order to make an investigation into the frequency of activities, the activities which are in the student’s book and audio CD’s are counted. Therefore, the reading passages, listening texts, video episodes, grammar videos, speaking videos, interactive activities, progress checks and quizzes which are in student’s book and audio CDs are investigated while counting the activities. The interactive activities in Audio CDs are divided into three groups: a) Listen, b) Practice, c) Play a role. Under each group, there are 3 activities which are consisted of a conversation. As the conversation is recurring in other activities in parts of Listen, Practice and Play a role, one entire conversation (in Listening-Parts 1&2) is counted while investigating activities including any competence of ICC model. Although the same conversations are used in three sections, they are all counted while figuring out the total number of the activities because they address different activities such as practicing the conversation, playing the lines of speakers and hiding and playing the conversation. To add, some activities fall into two different categories. For instance, one activity can include both aspects of ‘knowledge’ and ‘skills of discovery and interaction’ at the same International Online Journal of Education and Teaching (IOJET) 2018, 5(1), 150-167. 157 time. Therefore, this activity is counted twice as it has two aspects separately while figuring out the activities including ICC content. Table 1 presents the information regarding the activities with ICC aspects. Table 1. The frequency of activities which include any competence of ICC model Frequency (f) Total number of the activities 893 Activities including any aspect of ICC 104 As the table shows, there are 893 activities throughout the book, and 104 activities out of the total number include any competence of ICC model and they are investigated considering the listed questions which have been mentioned in the ‘Data collection and analysis’ part (List of the activities containing any competence of ICC model could be found in Appendix 1). That is to say, nearly 12% of the activities have ICC content. Those activities seem to be found over the student’s book and audio CDs, which means they do not pile up in certain parts; they could be rather encountered in all kinds of activities regarding reading, listening, speaking or writing. There is not a special section which is allocated for cultural studies. R.Q.2: Which competence (s) of ICC model are addressed in the activities? The questions in ‘Data collection and analysis’ part are used in order to investigate which aspects of ICC are addressed in the activities throughout the textbook. Figure 1 presents the information regarding the frequency of ICC aspects. Figure 1. Frequency of aspects of ICC components As can be seen in the Figure 1, there are 98 activities which include the competence of ‘knowledge’ (savoir) and the big portion of ICC content is formed by ‘knowledge’. There are 6 activities that address ‘skills of discovery and interaction’. As for the other competence, it appears that no activity is comprised of ‘Attitude’, ‘Skills of interpreting and relating’ and ‘Critical cultural awareness’. It is clear that ‘knowledge’ (savoir) is mostly given place throughout the textbook and those activities offer some information about food, music, special days, festivals, spoken languages, interesting places, travelling, home habits, hairstyles through decades, fashion and so forth. Also, there are activities which include 98 0 0 6 0 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 Knowledge Attitude Skills of interpreting and relating Skills of discovery and interaction Critical cultural awareness Arslan 158 ‘knowledge’ about means of achieving contact with people such as forms of e- communication, instant messaging, e-emails, video conferencing and postcards. Though fewer in number, some activities could also be found in presenting some knowledge about politeness and formality. Nevertheless, activities involving information about movie names, music bands and celebrities are not assumed to be holding the competence of ‘knowledge’ because it is estimated by the researcher that these items are not representative of what makes a national memory or national identity. Concerning activities with ‘skills of interaction and discovery’, they focus on writing conversations about special days, events, trips and identifying special events and celebrations through visuals. 4. Discussions and Conclusions Regarding the first research question -finding out the frequency of activities including any competence of ICC Model-Touchstone Self-Study Edition 2 was analyzed in terms of intercultural communicative communicative competence (ICC) model developed by Byram (1997) through analyzing student’s book, student’s guide and audio CDs. It is evident that this self-study edition constitutes 893 activities, which means that it is full of activities for developing language skills. It covers a great deal of content for students and offers a comprehensive language study with reading, speaking, writing, vocabulary, listening and grammar activities with both textbook and audio CDs. Out of 893 activities, which could be assumed as a huge number, there are 104 activities found to be comprised of any competence of ICC model. In sum, roughly 12% of the total activities include ICC content. As for the second research question which aims to find out which competences of the ICC model are addressed in the activities, it is clear that ‘knowledge’ is the most used one. There are 98 activities which includes ‘knowledge’. Presenting information about any culture may act as a knowledge source and it may enable learners to become informed about the cultures, ponder upon them and (re)evaluate the cultural practices. Therefore, the learners can explain the cultural procedures better and they can make cultural comparisons appropriately. Also, providing knowledge about any culture may prevent mono-cultural perspective because learners can have an understanding and awareness regarding to that culture, consequently, misunderstandings and stereotypes could be eliminated. Contrary to the aspect of ‘knowledge’, there are 6 activities which include the competence of ‘skills of discovery and interaction. The other competences- attitude, skills of interpreting and relating, critical cultural awareness are not included at all in the activities. These findings are actually in line with the study of Äijälä’s (2009). She conducted a study with three course books and found out that majority of the activities aimed at increasing ‘knowledge’ of the learners. Furthermore, in the study which was carried out by Guzmân Arias (2015), it was pointed out that the activities in the course book included ‘knowledge’, ‘skills of interpreting and relating’ and ‘proficiency’ (‘savoir communiquer’ which was indicated as a savoir by Sercu et al. 2005). That is to say, parallel with the findings of these two studies, it could be claimed that activities including ICC content are not dealt in a balanced way throughout the course books. Touchstone Self-Study Edition 2 which has been investigated in this study mostly offers activities presenting the ‘knowledge’. This is surely influential for developing intercultural awareness as this textbook is designed for open education faculty learners and learning is mostly dependent on it, which means that this could be the only reference source for cultural information for most of the learners. Moreover, it appears that this textbook is not for advanced level although its exact level is not indicated in the cover. Therefore, competences International Online Journal of Education and Teaching (IOJET) 2018, 5(1), 150-167. 159 of ICC Model may not be involved in the activities. It would be challenging and difficult for learners at low/intermediate levels to identify perspectives, recognize cultural markers on documents, interpret the documents or make an evaluative analysis in terms of cultural aspects. This may bear a relationship with Bloom et al.’s taxonomy (1956) which has categories such as ‘knowledge’, ‘comprehension’, ‘application’, ‘analysis’, ‘synthesis’ and ‘evaluation’. This taxonomy hinges on the steps that proceed from the simple to the complex. In this study’s context, it may mean that presenting activities including ‘knowledge’ may come at first place and this may be followed by other competences (skills and attitude) when the learners have attained a certain language proficiency. Apart from activities with ‘knowledge’, there are also 6 activities including the competences of ‘skills of discovery and interaction’. The reason why these kind of activities are lesser might be because this is a self-study text book which will probably not be used in a real classroom environment, so learners may not find a good chance to make interactive practices with other learners. All things considered, the textbook in investigation incorporates activities including competences of ‘knowledge’ and ‘skills of discovery and interaction’. Giving place to activities which incorporate ‘knowledge’ about foreign culture or one’s own culture could be beneficial for learners unquestionably because learners can get familiar with different cultures’ behavior, attitudes, traditions, foods, dressings and so forth. This could help learners recognize cultural practices of one’s own culture or foreign cultures. However, presenting purely knowledge may not be sufficient in developing cultural awareness; therefore, textbooks should have more interactive practices which help learners transfer language usage to the real life. Apart from activities aiming to enhancing learners’ knowledge and the ones which are interactive, it may be well required to include activities through which learners mediate in conflicting cultural events, solving out misunderstandings and interpret or question a cultural product or situation from different point of views. 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Prince of Songkla University, Songkhla, Thailand. http://www.diss.fu-berlin.de/docs/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/FUDOCS_derivate_000000001804/Perspectives_on_Intercultural_Competence.pdf http://www.diss.fu-berlin.de/docs/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/FUDOCS_derivate_000000001804/Perspectives_on_Intercultural_Competence.pdf https://www.anadolu.edu.tr/en/open-education/openeducationsystem/open-education-system https://www.anadolu.edu.tr/en/open-education/openeducationsystem/open-education-system https://www.anadolu.edu.tr/acikogretim/ogrenme-ortamlari/yuzyuze-ogretim-hizmetleri https://www.statista.com/statistics/266808/the-most-spoken-languages-worldwide/ Arslan 162 APPENDIX 1 Activities including the competence of ‘knowledge’ in the textbook Unit 1 Page 9, Activity 3: Completing the conversation (It includes an implication about pizza’s being an Italian food). Unit 2 Page 24, Activity 1A: Listening and identifying the type of music. Page 26, Activity 1A: Looking at pictures and identifying the correct type of music. Unit 3 Page 52, Activity 1A: Reading an article about Yoga and answering questions. Page 52, Activity 1B: Reading an article about Yoga and answering questions. Checkpoint (Units 1-3) Page 62, Activity 5: Completing the conversation (It includes an implication about the instruments of jazz music) Unit 4 Page 67, Activity 4: Completing a happy birthday card. Page 68, Activity 1A: Looking at pictures and writing special events. Page 68, Activity 1B: Writing a conversation with a friend about the special days or events. Page 70, Activity 1: Looking at pictures and writing the special events. Page 72, Activity 1B: Listening a dialogue about fiesta. Page 73, Activity 2: Writing a conversation about a festival or holiday. Page 73, Activity 3: Listening activity about two festivals in Sweden and Britain. Page 74, Activity 1: Completing the conversations (It includes information about Rodeo Days festival). Page 75, Activity 3: Ordering a scrambled conversation about Chinese Festival. Page 76, Activity 1A: Making a list of words related to certain celebrations. Page 76, Activity 1B: Reading an article about different celebrations in different countries. Page 77, Activity 1C: Reading an article about different celebrations in different countries and answering questions. Page 77, Activity 1D: Writing answers to the questions regarding celebrations that you celebrate. Page 77, Activity 2B: Inviting a friend to a special event by writing an invitation (considering formality/informality). Page 78, Activity 1A: Reading an article about Mother’s Day in different countries. Page 78, Activity 1B: Reading an article about Mother’s Day and answering questions. Page 79, Activity 2A: Completing notes and invitations considering formality and informality. International Online Journal of Education and Teaching (IOJET) 2018, 5(1), 150-167. 163 Page 79, Activity 2B: Writing to certain people about a special celebration (considering formality/informality). Page 80, Activity 1: Completing the calendar about special days and events. Page 80, Activity 2: Making your own calendar by writing important dates and plans. Page 80, Activity ‘On your own’: Buying a calendar, circling important dates and writing the things you are going to do in English. Unit 5 Page 82, Activity 1A: Listening to and reading a conversation about Ling (It includes some implications about spoken languages in China, Brazil and Seattle). Page 95, Activity 2: Listening activity about being a teenager in England. Unit 6 Page 112, Activity 1A: Making a list of interesting places to walk around in your city. Page 112, Activity 1B: Reading the walking-tour guide about Chinatown. Page 113, Activity 1C: Reading the walking tour guide and writing answers to the questions. Page 113, Activity 2: Writing about your city. (giving information about a fun place, a cheap place, and/or museum, so forth.) Page 113, Activity 3: Write a guide for a walking tour for an area in your town or city. Page 114, Activity 1B: Reading an article about the desert town of Cooper Pedy in Australia. Page 114, Activity 1C: Reading an article about the desert town of Cooper Pedy in Australia and matching. Page 115, Activity 2B: Writing directions about touristic attractions in your town or city. Episode 2, Act 1 Page 118, Activity A: Checking the topics that David, Liz, Yoko and Alex talk about (about Cassata-a traditional Italian cake). Episode, 2 Act 2 Page 120, Activity A: Watching an episode of a happy birthday celebration and matching the sentences with the pictures (in the script of episode, there are some Italian words expressing surprise and greeting). Page 120, Activity B: Listening to an episode of a happy birthday celebration and crossing out the word in lists. Checkpoint (Units 4-6) Page 124, Activity 3A: Completing a chart (about events you are going to celebrate, important dates for you, places in town you go to often and subjects you are never going to study) Page 124, Activity 3B: Writing about your family and friends using the words from the charts mentioned in activity 3A, Page 124. Unit 7 Page 127, Activity 2D: Writing your own conversation about getting ready for a trip. Arslan 164 Page 128, Activity 1A: Matching the sentences (It includes the inference about people’s speaking Spanish in Ecuador). Page 128, Activity 1B: Writing one sentence for each pair of sentences mentioned in 1A, Page 128. (It includes the inference about people’s speaking Spanish in Ecuador.) Page 129, Activity 3: Completing questions and writing answers about getting information about a trip for your town or city. Page 131, Activity 3C: Writing suggestions for ‘backpacking in Australia’, ‘a language course in Canada’, ‘a trip to Paris, and ‘a hiking trip in the Andes’. Page 133, Activity 3: Looking at brochures and writing suggestions for a white-water rafting, Hiking in Alaska and Visiting Bangkok. Page 134, Activity C: Practicing the conversation. (It includes an implication that Louvre is in Paris and French is spoken in Paris) Page 139, Activity 2B: Reading the advice about staying at different hotels (It includes the information about Cappadocia in Turkey). Page 140, Activity 1A: Reading Joel’s Web journal and circling a certain information in the text (A trip from Kenya is told.) Page 140, Activity 1B: Reading Joel’s Web journal and writing sentences about what Joel did in some places in Kenya. Page 141, Activity 2A: Reading Annie’s postcard about her trip in Ireland. Page 141, Activity 2B: Writing a postcard to a friend about an imaginary visit to another place. Unit 8 Page 151, Activity 2: Looking at pictures and completing questions with one or ones (There is a picture of Thai sofa and Italian sofa). Page 151, Activity 3: Writing words in the correct order (The visual includes a Japanese end table). Page 156, Activity 1B: Reading an article about home habits of Americans. Checking the statement that is true for you. Page 156, Activity 1C: Reading the article in Activity 1B on page 156 and completing questions. Page 158, Activity 1A: Reading an article about a cat charity in Amsterdam. Page 158, Activity 1B: Reading the article in Activity 1A on page 158 and answering questions. Episode 3, Act 2 Page 182, Activity A: Watching an episode about a trip to Japan. Unit 10 Page 187, Activity ‘before you begin’: Looking at visuals of communication forms, writing their names. Page 188, Activity 1A: A listening activity about ‘keeping in touch with people’. Page 188, Activity 1B: Listen to the Activity 1A on page 188 and answer true/false questions. International Online Journal of Education and Teaching (IOJET) 2018, 5(1), 150-167. 165 Page 189, Activity 3C: Listening to some questions about keeping in touch with people and answering them. Page 197, Activity 2: Adding ‘just’ to some places in some phone conversations (In Strategy Plus part, it is firstly explained that ‘just’ is used for saying things softer) Page 200, Activity 1A: Matching text messages with their meanings. Page 200, Activity 1B: Reading an article about text messaging. Page 200, Activity 1C: Reading the article in Activity 1B on page 200 and answering the questions related to the article. Page 201, Activity 2: A listening activity about text messaging. Page 201, Activity 3A: Making a list of advantages and disadvantages of a way of communicating that you choose. Page 201, Activity 3B: Writing a short article about pros and cons of a way of communicating that you choose. Page 202, Activity 1A: Reading an article about Blogging. Page 202, Activity 1B: Reading the article in Activity 1A on page 202 and answering the questions related to the article. Page 203, Activity 2A: Reading the article in Activity 1A on page 202 and matching each sections to the correct paragraph. Page 203, Activity 2B: Writing a short article on a form of e-communication. Unit 11 Page 218, Activity 1B: Reading an article about hairstyles through decades. Page 218, Activity 1C: Reading the article in Activity 1B on page 218 and answering true/False questions Page 219, Activity 3A: Answering some questions about the clothes, hairstyles, jewelry, make up today. Page 219, Activity 3B: Writing an article about describing the current look (presenting information about formality/informality). Unit 12 Page 238, Activity 1A: Reading an article about travel planning. Page 238, Activity 1B: Reading the article about travel planning in Activity 1A on page 238 and writing four ways how Internet will affect travel planning. Episode 4, Act 1 Page 241, Activity A: Labelling the pictures of communication forms. Page 242, Activity A: The video shows a means of communication which is instant messaging and some forms of text messaging. Checkpoint (Units 10-12) Page 247, Activity 2A: Completing a chart about describing faces, describing hairstyles, ways of communication and jobs. Arslan 166 Page 247, Activity 2B: Writing some sentences with the words and expressions in Activity 2A on page 247. Activities including the competence of ‘skills of discovery and interaction’ in student’s book Unit 2 Page 26, Activity 1A: Looking at pictures and identifying the correct type of music. Unit 4 Page 68, Activity 1B: Writing a conversation with a friend about the special days or events. Page 70, Activity 1: Looking at pictures and writing the special events. Page 80, Activity 1: Completing the calendar about special days and events. Unit 7 Page 127, Activity 2D: Writing your own conversation about getting ready for a trip. Page 129, Activity 3: Completing questions and writing answers about getting information about a trip for your town or city. Activities including the competence of ‘knowledge’ in Quizzes in Audio CDs Quiz 2 Activity F: Choosing the best answer to sound friendly. Quiz 4 Activity D: Matching special days with the activities. Activity G. Reading an e-mail about winter festival in Quebec. Quiz 7 Activity A: Listening to a visit in Denmark. Activity F: Reading a postcard about the trip in Kenya. Quiz 8 Activity E: Circling the polite response. Quiz 11 Activity F: Completing the conversation (The conversation includes elements about fashion in the past). Activities including the competence of ‘knowledge’ in Progress Checks in Audio CDs Progress Check I Activity M: Choosing the best answer to sound friendly and encourage the people to continue talking. Progress Check II Activity P: Reading an article about slow travelling. Activities including the competence of ‘knowledge’ in Interactive Exercises in Audio CDs Unit 4 Listen: Parts 1&2: Ray and Tina are talking about a festival. International Online Journal of Education and Teaching (IOJET) 2018, 5(1), 150-167. 167 Unit 9 Listen: Parts 1&2: Matt and Emily are talking in Matt’s kitchen (Sweet rice cake which is a Korean food is mentioned). Unit 10 Listen: Parts 1&2: Listening Lucy and Maria’s conversation which is about a trip to Mexico.