Culture，TextbooksandtheDevelopmentofInterculturalCommunicativeCompetence

YUANYuan

Byram （1993，p.13） argues that language and culture learning should be integrated with each other as language is a way of interacting with others. However，when the target language is English which is now the worlds lingua franca in the global village （Graddol，2006），the scope of target culture is becoming more complicated. With regard to the relationship between culture and English which is now used globally，the use of it is no longer simply related to the culture of Britain or America where English is the primary language. Therefore the new status of English in the world today poses more challenges and changes to the traditional pedagogies in English teaching. The goal of English learning in English language teaching （ELT） has been changed to the development of intercultural communicative competence （ICC） which refers to a persons ability to communicate with people appropriately in intercultural situations （Byram ，1999）.

With the new goal of developing intercultural communicative competence in ELT，the question of how to promote ICC of learners is faced by all the teachers all around the world. Cunningsworth （2002，p. 7） argues that teaching materials can influence considerably what teachers teach and how they teach it. As the main means of materials，textbooks represent certain cultural values，attitudes and beliefs which may be imposed on teachers and students （Kumaravadivelu，2003）.

Based on my own overseas learning experience，I realized that the goal of English learning for my students who are now in the international department is much higher than those students who just need pass CEE because they will have more chances to communicate with people in intercultural situations Therefore，I am interested in evaluating textbooks to explore the effects of textbooks to the development of learners intercommunicative competence. So “New Senior English for China” series English textbooks which are published by “Peoples Education Press” were selected for my evaluation since they are currently used by my students. This series of English textbook are designated by the local educational administration，therefore all the high schools in Hunan Province are adopting this book as EFL materials.

From the evaluation of these two textbooks，it is concluded that the culture of English-speaking countries，China other countries are presented. The culture of Great Britain，Canada and America are dominated in these textbooks and there is no culture content about Australia，with short presentation of the culture of China and other countries. Textbooks should be localized and also include target and global culture to facilitate learners intercultural communicative competence （Sercu，2011）. However，textbooks construct culture in an essentialist way and actual information seems to be foregrounded. They view culture as static rather than a dynamic process，thus it is not good to enable learners to access and analyse other cultural practices and meanings they encounter in society.

Therefore，it is recommended that textbook writers and educators consider how to create an intercultural space within the classroom to help learners develop their intercultural communicative competence and allow effective communication between people of diverse backgrounds. More importantly，teachers should consider how to use materials in EFL classroom. And the responsibility of teachers is not only teach students linguistic knowledge and specific culture knowledge，but also the skills to communicative with others effectively and appropriately in intercultural perspective. Therefore teacher training projects should take teachers new roles and responsibilities into consideration. According to Byram （1999），teachers need to rethink their own new professional identity and improve their own cultural awareness to adjust themselves to being a teacher of intercultural communicative competence.

References：

[1]Byram，M.（1993） Language and culture learning：The need for integration.

[2]Byram，M.& Risager，K.（1999） Language Teachers，Politics and Cultures.Clevedon，England：Multilingual Matters.

[3]Cunningsworth，A.（1995）Choosing Your Coursebook.Oxford：Heinemann.

[4]Kumaravadivelu，B.（2003） Beyond Methods：Macrostrategies for Language Teaching.New Haven：Yale University Press.

[5]Sercu，L.（2011） The Foreign Language and Intercultural Competence teacher.