culture

Culture, intercultural interaction, and language have often been described as indivisible and the relation between them is quite intricate. This study was conducted to evaluate Iranian and Afghan secondary English textbooks. Two aspects, representation of culture and intercultural interaction, were focused on in the conversation parts of Iranian and Afghan secondary English textbooks. First, 172 conversations in Iranian textbooks and 160 conversations in Afghan textbooks were analyzed based on Byram’s (1994) framework to investigate the frequency of representation of culture. Second, all the conversations were analyzed based on Song’s (2013) model to investigate the frequency of intercultural interactions. Results revealed that Social Interaction was the most frequent category for the representation of culture and Superficial Interaction was the most frequent category for intercultural interactions. In the same vein, National History was largely ignored in the representation of culture within these 12 books while Critical Reflection was the category that was not paid due and sufficient attention to throughout the books regarding the intercultural interaction. The study implies that teachers, materials developers, and coursebook designers might be able to make more informed and proper decisions regarding the way and the extent cultural elements are to be incorporated in English textbooks.

Textbook evaluation is of paramount importance in ensuring that textbooks are of high quality and aligned with educational goals. This study evaluated two common English language textbooks in Iran (i.e., American English File [private schools] and Vision series [state schools]) based on the brainling (brain+ language) model, heeding EFL learners’ cognition, senses, emotions, and culture. To this end, a brainling-based scale was validated based on “cogling”, “emoling”, “sensoling”, and “cultuling” components of the brainling model and distributed among Iranian teachers (N=218) and EFL learners (N=236). It was found that there were significant differences in the brainling components present in English textbooks used in state and private schools. Moreover, the independent samples t-tests revealed that there were significant differences in mean scores for brainling components between the two types of textbooks for students. However, it is worth noting that such differences were not observed among teachers’ ratings of these components.  The results could assist content developers in incorporating brainling as a worthwhile scale for evaluating English language textbooks.

The existence of differences in the interpretive opinions of Muslims is undeniable, and one of the serious issues in exegetical discussions is to find the root of the differences in the opinions of commentators of the Holy Qur’an (especially in presenting traditional or modern interpretations). Commentators have different preconceptions and views on various issues, especially about some verses related to women. Some commentators have a traditional view and some have a modern view. This essay examines culture and gender and their role in providing traditional and modern interpretation. The method of collecting materials is desk study and the method of processing them is descriptive-analytical. After the investigations, it was found that different presuppositions and cultures play a role in presenting different interpretations and an example of traditional commentary about women can be seen in the commentary of Banu Amin and an example of modern interpretation can be seen in the opinions of Amina Wadud, and their opinions also had problems that were pointed out. The factors causing modern interpretations are: 1- The flourishing of human reasons; 2- Journeys; 3- meeting special people, 4- Cultural and social conditions.