Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
2025 AELTE FOURTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE, Kahramanmaraş, Türkiye, 10 - 11 Ekim 2025, ss.58, (Özet Bildiri)
VISUALS
MATTER: CULTURAL ELEMENTS IN A2 EFL
TEXTBOOK BOOK COVERS THROUGH VISUAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS
Textbooks
are said to be a cornerstone of teaching culture. This study aims to
investigate how cultural elements in the A2-level English textbooks approved by
the Turkish Ministry of National Education (MoNE) for the 2024-2025 School Year
textbooks are presented through visual discourse. Besides, this study discusses
to what extent the types of culture and cultural elements in the Turkish
(source) culture and the British (target) culture are reflected by visuals in
textbooks. In this study, three A2-level English textbooks have been selected.
The book covers of these three books have been analysed according to Kress and
van Leeuwen’s (2006) Visual Grammar and Yuen’s (2011) Framework for the
Representation of Foreign Cultures. The results show that the seventh-grade book
covers have a lot in common, including vibrant colours, dynamic layouts, and numerous
human figures that frequently symbolize both Turkish and British cultural
elements. These elements are designed to attract students and spark their
curiosity about other cultures. The eighth-grade book cover, on the other hand,
uses a more formal visual language, characterized by a greater reliance on
abstract or universal cultural symbols, fewer interactive components, and a
less direct gaze. Therefore, there seems differences between the textbook
covers of the two grades. It is suggested
that textbook writers should give importance to the textbook cover
visuals in order to help learners’ comprehension skills of cultural elements of
the languages they are exposed to.