Using FREPA to encourage critical intercultural reflections: a case study of intercultural competence in EFL textbooks for grades ۳ and ۴ in central Portugal.

Intercultural competence, as the ability to explore cultural diversity and alterity, to reflect on them and to gain from that reflective experience (Beacco et al., ۲۰۱۶), has been deemed increasingly important in today's language classrooms. Yet, when it comes to teaching and learning resources, it has been said that the cultural content presented in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) textbooks is often very superficial and mostly fact-based, aiming at the knowledge level only and not adopting a reflective approach, contrary to what recent language education guidelines state. Therefore, this study utilizes the Framework of Reference for Pluralistic Approaches to Languages and Cultures (FREPA - Council of Europe, ۲۰۱۳) and its cultural descriptors to investigate how intercultural competence is addressed and promoted in EFL textbooks for grades ۳ and ۴ in central Portugal through a content analysis method. Each cultural section of the textbooks was examined utilizing the cultural attitudes and skills descriptors from FREPA so as to verify the textbooks’ content potential to generate critical reflections and discussions on otherness. The results indicate that the majority of the content analyzed is unlikely to promote deep critical reflections on interculturality due to its fact-sharing-based approach. Therefore, it is argued that policy makers, textbook authors and publishers would benefit from more training on critical cultural awareness and intercultural competence so as to become more able to incorporate a reflective and critical slant into the cultural content of EFL resources.

Keywords:

Intercultural Competence , textbook , English as a foreign language , FREPA