The Cross- Cultural Aspects of TEFL: A Case Study of English for Palestine New Series

This study aimed at investigating the frequency of the cultural aspects in “English for Palestine” textbooks the new series and the extent to which culture is presented in these textbooks through content analysis. The study attempted to answer the following five questions: 1. What are the teachers’ perspectives regarding teaching culture in the EFL classroom? 2. What are the teachers’ perspectives regarding culture appreciation? 3. Are there significant differences in the means of teachers' perspectives regarding culture teaching and appreciation in the EFL classroom due to their gender, teaching classes, training courses, and academic qualification? 4. How are the cultural aspects stated, distributed, and balanced in English for Palestine for sixth, seventh and eighth grades? 5. What are the teachers’ opinions of English for Palestine in terms of teaching culture to the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades students in the Nablus District? The research population consisted of (273) English teachers, while the research sample included (181) English teachers (89 females and 92 males) with various academic qualifications. All teachers use “English for Palestine” for teaching English in heterogeneous sixth, seventh, and eighth grade classes in Nablus District. In addition, the researcher conducted a content analysis of the three textbooks sixth, seventh, and eighth classes to find out the cultural aspects in these textbooks. The study employed both quantitative and qualitative approaches. A 5-point Likert scale questionnaire was adopted from Al-Ja’bari (2010) and Shatnawi (2005) was used to collect data regarding teachers’ perspectives of “English for Palestine”. The questionnaire consisted of two domains each one comprises (15) items. The research was also supported by qualitative data that were collected through interviews with (20) teachers from the research population, in addition to the data of the content analysis of the three textbooks. The study results revealed that the respondents somehow agreed that the content of “English for Palestine” that it emphasizes the different types of cultural aspects but it doesn’t highlight the religious and the political ones. The results of the hypotheses were: - There are significant differences at (α=0.05) between the means of the teachers' perspectives related to the two domains and the total score of the questionnaire due to their gender in favor of male teachers. - There are no significant differences at (α= 0.05) between the means of the teachers' perspectives related to the domain of teaching culture in the EFL classroom due to the variable of classes teachers teach, while there are significant differences in teachers' perspectives regarding culture appreciation and the total score of the questionnaire due to the variable of classes teachers teach - There are no significant differences at (α=0.05) between the means of the teachers' perspectives related to the two domains and the total score of the questionnaire due to the variable of training courses teachers attended. - There are no significant differences at (α= 0.05) between the means of the teachers' perspectives related to the domains of teaching culture and culture appreciation and the total score of the questionnaire due to the variable of academic qualification. In addition to this, this series included varied cultural activities that meant to help students get a better understanding of their own culture and the others’ cultures and to increase their cultural awareness. In light of these results, the researcher submitted several recommendations to the Ministry of Education, the teachers of English and for the researchers. The researcher also proposed suggestions for additional research and analysis in the area of “English for Palestine” textbooks which will be adopted in the future.