Expanding and outer circle cultural content in English coursebooks commonly used in Serbia

Abstract

The three core culture areas commonly covered by modern coursebooks are Inner Circle cultures (culture of countries where English is the first or dominant language), Outer Circle cultures (post-colonial countries where English plays a major role) and Expanding Circle cultures (other countries where it is spoken as a foreign language), as defined by Kachru (1985). The aim of this paper is to analyze how Expanding and Outer Circle cultural content is represented in English coursebooks commonly used in Serbia. The coursebooks used for this analysis were published by eminent British publishers and are widely available throughout Europe and on other continents. In order to establish cultural elements found in these coursebooks, the authors examined texts, tapescripts and other activities and tasks utilizing the Expanding and Outer Circle cultures. The authors opted for cultural elements that could be easily identified as such and used in a minimal context which can be clearly associated with a particular culture. The authors conclude that all coursebooks represent other cultures from an Inner Circle viewpoint, while the representation of other cultures ranges from their absence to equality, although the Expanding Circle cultures are typically restricted to those found in the Western world.

Keywords

• Inner Circle
• Outer Circle
• Expanding Circle
• cultural content
• English coursebooks.