以跨文化角度分析台灣英語學習雜誌 - 政大學術集成

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(1)國立政治大學英國語文學系碩士班碩士論文. 指導教授：黃怡萍博士 Advisor: Dr. Yi-Ping Huang. 以跨文化角度分析台灣英語學習雜誌. 政治大立Intercultural Perspectives. Content Analysis of the English Learning Magazines for Taiwanese Learners from. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 研究生：林瑜芳撰 Name: Yu-Fang Lin 中華民國一○八年三月 March, 2019. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(2) Content Analysis of the English Learning Magazines for Taiwanese Learners from Intercultural Perspectives. Presented to Department of English. 學. ‧ 國. 立. 政治大 A Master Thesis. ‧. National Chengchi University. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirement for the Degree of Master of Arts By Yu-Fang Lin March, 2019. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(3) Acknowledgement My greatest appreciation goes to the following people who made the thesis possible. First of all, I would like to express the deepest and the most sincere gratitude to my advisor, Dr. Yi-ping Huang for her guidance, insightful suggestions, detailed. 政治大 the two committee members, Professor Rainbow Chen and Professor Chieh-yue Yeh, 立 feedback, and encouragement throughout my research process. Then my thanks go to. who gave me profound and professional suggestions to help me improve my thesis. I. ‧ 國. 學. am also indebted to the peer rater of the present study, who spared her personal time. ‧. to analyze the data and patiently discussed the discrepancies with me. I am also. sit. y. Nat. thankful for my classmates at TESOL program, who reviewed my drafts of thesis,. io. er. examined my analysis protocols, inspired my ideas of writing, and encouraged me when I encountered difficulties in thesis writing. Finally, I would like to show my. al. n. v i n heart-felt thanks to my beloved C parents and friends. Their h e n g c h i U support and encouragement gave me confidence and courage to conquer all the obstacles encountered in thesis writing.. iii. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(4) TABLE OF CONTENTS. Acknowledgement……………………………………………………………………iii Chinese Abstract……………………………………...…………………................... vi English Abstract………………………………………………………………......... viii Chapter 1: Introduction................................................................................................ 1 Chapter 2: Literature Review…………………………………………………........... 5 Intercultural Communicative Competence………………………………........... 5 Presentation of Cultural Elements in EFL Teaching Materials………………… 6. 政治大 Supplemental Materials………………………………………………..………. 10 立 Presentation of Cultural Elements in Local Teaching Materials……………...... 9. ‧ 國. 學. Chapter 3: Methodology…………………………………………………………….. 13 The Magazines Under Investigation……………………………...……………. 13 Magazine A………..………………………………………………………. 14. ‧. Magazine B………………………….……………………………….......... 15. y. Nat. Magazine C……………………………………………………………....... 15. io. sit. Analytical Frameworks………………………………………………………… 16. er. The Five Dimensions of Culture………………………………….............. 16. al. n. v i n Ch Content Analysis………………………………………………………….......... 19 engchi U The Main Categories of Culture………………………………………....... 17. Data Analysis………………………………………………………………....... 20. Trustworthiness………………………………………………………………… 22 Chapter 4: Result and Discussion…………………………………………………… 25 Research Question 1…………………...………………………………………. 25 Cultural Perspectives in Reading Texts………………...…………………. 26 Cultural Products and Practices in Reading Texts………..………………. 27 Cultural Communities and Persons in Reading Texts……………….......... 27 Comparison and Contrast of the Three Magazines…………………..…… 28 Cultural Products in Pictures…………………………………………..…. 31 Cultural Communities and Persons in Pictures………………………….... 32 Cultural Practices and Perspectives in Pictures…………...…………….. ..32 iv. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(5) Comparison and Contrast of the Three Magazines……………………… 33 Summary………………………………………………………………… 38 Research Question 2………………………………………………….............. 39 UC and TC in Reading Texts……………………………………………. 39 IC in Reading Texts…………………………………………………....... 40 ICI in Reading Texts…………………………………………….............. 41 SC in Reading Texts……………………………………………………... 42 Comparison and Contrast of the Three Magazines…………………........ 45 UC in Pictures………………………………………………………........ 47 IC and TC in Pictures………………………………………………..….. 50 Comparison and Contrast of IC and TC in Reading Text and Pictures…..51. 政治大 ICI in Pictures………………………………………………………….... 53 立 Comparison and Contrast of Cultural Categories in the Three Magazines.54 SC in Reading Text and Pictures…………………………………………52. ‧ 國. 學. Summary……………………………………………………………….... 56 Research Question 3………………………………………………………….. 57. ‧. Summary……………………………………………………………….... 61 Chapter 5: Implication and Conclusion…………………………………………… 63. y. Nat. sit. Overview……………………………………………………………………... 63. er. io. Implication………………………………………………………………….... 65. al. Suggestions for Material Design……………………………………………... 67. n. v i n Limitation of the Study………………………………………………………. 68 Ch U i e h n gc Direction for Future Research………………………………………………... 69 Appendices.……………………………………………………………………….. 71 A. The Five Dimension of Culture Framework…………………………….. 71 B. The Main Categories of Culture Framework……………………………. 72 References………………………………………………………………………… 73. v. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(6) 國立政治大學英國語文學系碩士班碩士論文提要. 論文名稱：以跨文化角度分析台灣英語學習雜誌指導教授：黃怡萍博士研究生：林瑜芳. 論文提要內容：. 立. 政治大. 在眾多語言學習情境下，教科書是學生接觸文化內容的主要來源。過去以. ‧ 國. 學. 跨文化角度評估在台灣所選用的教科書之相關研究顯示，若使用多元的教材，. ‧. 將能幫助台灣學生有更多的機會接觸多樣的跨文化內容。事實上，近年在台灣很多的高中學校也有將英語學習雜誌納入課程的趨勢。然而，只有少數的研究. y. Nat. io. sit. 深入探討這些英語學習雜誌的文化內容。本研究旨在以跨文化角度分析三本較. n. al. er. 常在台灣高中學校使用的英語學習雜誌。這三本雜誌都主張文化的重要性，並. Ch. i n U. v. 把文化內容融入在月刊中。本研究使用 Moran (2001) 的「五個文化層面」以及. engchi. Chao (2011) 的「主要文化類別」這兩個架構來分析這三個系列雜誌的正文、問題討論以及圖片部分。本研究分析範疇為三個系列雜誌於 2017 年出的全部共 36 本月刊。分析結果顯示，三個系列雜誌都在正文中包含了文化的各個層面（物品： 58.35%，行為：41.14%，觀點：62.82%，群體：32.19%，人：30.81%），在圖片部分則都只能夠呈現代表特定文化的物品（48.71%）以及人物（35.80%）。另外，三個系列雜誌的正文都涵蓋了多種的文化類別（英美文化：39.76%，國際文化：38.90%，文化溝通：30.18%），但是台灣在地文化依舊很少在雜誌中. vi. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(7) 被提及，只佔了 11.02%。而圖片大多呈現的則是不屬於特定文化的內容（37.69%）。儘管如此，這三個系列的英語學習雜誌依舊成功將不同層面的文化融到月刊中，進而激發學習者的文化意識。分析結果亦顯示三個系列雜誌都含有一個共同的潛在課程：西方國家或是英美文化比其他文化優越。所以當學習者在使用這三個系列雜誌時，他們可能會讚揚英美文化而看低其他文化。而在其中一系列雜誌還發現，被選用的國際新聞可能在潛移默化之下，強化學生對某些國家的刻板印象。另外，這本雜誌提供的不是開放式問題或是意思上的交涉練習，而是提供回答例句，這樣可能. 政治大以協助學生回答問題，但也可能讓學生認為在跨文化溝通時需要遵循某些規立. 會讓學生認為在跨文化溝通時需要遵循特定回答方式。這樣的呈現模式可能可. 則。以上這些不同的潛在課程都有可能影響學生對於不同文化的態度。. ‧ 國. 學. 基於上述發現，本研究建議老師在選用英語學習雜誌時應考量每一系列雜. ‧. 誌的特點並且因應學生的需求增減內容。本研究也建議雜誌的設計者，圖片的. y. Nat. 選用應與文章所提及之文化內容相呼應，並且考量涵蓋不同類別的文化內容，. er. io. sit. 而不偏重任何特定文化，而文化比較與反思的練習也可以融合到正文或圖片之中，讓學生有更多學習的機會。. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. vii. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(8) Abstract. In many foreign language contexts, textbook is the major source of exposure to cultural contents. Prior research evaluated textbooks selected and used in Taiwan from intercultural perspectives and proposed the idea that by using diverse teaching. 政治大 In fact, there is a trend of using 立 English learning magazines in English classes among. materials, learners would have more opportunities to engage in intercultural contents.. ‧ 國. 學. high schools in Taiwan. Yet, few studies have done thorough analysis of the cultural contents on the English learning magazines. The current study intended to examine. ‧. three popular English learning magazines used among high schools in Taiwan from. sit. y. Nat. intercultural perspectives. These three magazines all claimed to have integrated. n. al. er. io. cultural elements in the articles. The scope of the analysis included texts, discussion. i n U. v. questions, and pictures in 36 volumes collected from the year of 2017. The cultural. Ch. engchi. contents were analyzed based on two coding schemes: Moran’s the Five Dimensions of Culture (2001) and Chao’s the Main Categories of Culture (2011). The results disclosed that while cultural dimensions were found to strike a balance in the reading texts in the three magazines (products: 58.35%, practices: 41.14%, perspectives: 62.82%, communities: 32.19%, and persons: 30.81%), most of the pictures in the magazines portrayed cultural creations (48.71%) and people (35.80%). As for cultural categories, the reading texts in all the magazines contained a variety of cultures (target culture: 39.76%, international culture: 38.90%, intercultural interaction: 30.81%) but local culture still stayed as minority (11.02%) and that most. viii. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(9) of the pictures were related to culture-general knowledge (37.69%). Nevertheless, the attempt to incorporate different cultural dimensions and cultural categories to arouse learners’ cultural awareness had been successfully made among all the magazines. Drawn upon the findings, it was found that all the three English learning magazines conveyed one common hidden curriculum, which was western countries or target cultures were superior to other cultures. Therefore, when using the three magazines learners might praise target culture and look down upon other cultures. It was also found in one of the magazines that the selection of international news might. 政治大 addition, rather than open-ended questions or meaning negotiation activities, this 立. unconsciously perpetuate stereotypes toward particular countries among learners. In. series of magazine provided learners with sample sentences that might lead learners to. ‧ 國. 學. think that they were expected to answer in certain ways during intercultural. ‧. interaction. These hidden messages might implicitly or explicitly affect learners’. y. Nat. attitude toward different cultures.. er. io. sit. Based on above findings, it is suggested that teachers’ selection of the magazines should concern the strengths and weaknesses of each magazine and that teachers. al. n. v i n C h needs. It is also should adapt the contents to fit learners’ suggested that magazine engchi U designers should pay attention to the selection of pictures, so that the pictures are correlated with the reading text. Designers could also consider the balanced distribution of different cultures and the combination of intercultural interactions in reading texts or pictures, so that learners would have more learning opportunities.. ix. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(10) 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. x. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(11) CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION. In many educational contexts, the curriculum and classroom practice are designed based on the conventional communicative competence framework (Alptekin, 2002). Communicative competence commonly entails four competencies, which are grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence, and strategic competence (Canale & Swain, 1980). The first and foremost is grammatical or formal competence, which refers to the native speaker’s knowledge of the language. 政治大 accuracy in performance. Yet, the notion of the communicative competence based on 立 forms. It provides the linguistic basis for the rules of usage which normally result in. ‧ 國. 學. native speaker standard might not be able to reflect English as a world language (He & Zhang, 2010; Samimy & Kobayashi, 2004). The intercultural communicative. ‧. competence framework instead recognizes the importance of different intercultural. sit. y. Nat. insights and knowledge (Alptekin, 2002). In order to develop intercultural. io. er. communicative competence among learners, instructional materials and activities. al. v i n communicate effectively andC also become aware of cultural differences (Ndura, h eto n gchi U n. should provide them with cultural appropriate content that can enable them to. 2004; Shin, Eslami, & Chen, 2011). Recently, studies in different teaching contexts have been conducted on textbooks, which are the major source of exposure to cultural contents (e.g. AwayedBishara, 2015; Juan, 2010; Sándorová, 2016; Skopinskaja, 2003). Among the studies, textbooks were found to be dominated by inner circle (English speaking countries) culture (e.g. Pashmforoosh, & Babaii, 2015; Shin, Eslami, & Chen, 2011; Song, 2013). This seems to indicate that inner circle cultures are more highly valued than those in the outer and expanding circles. Yet, nowadays the majority of English users. 1. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(12) employ English in international contexts (Crystal, 2008). The impact of textbooks that focus on native speaker culture might discourage learners’ ability to effectively engage in international communication (Boriboon, 2004; Ilieva, 2000). It is then suggested by McKay (2003) that every country where English as an international language is taught must select applicable content and methodology for the local context. In Taiwanese context, research has also revealed the cultural content in textbooks tend to be in favor of American culture (Chao, 2011; Su, 2016). That is, there has been. 政治大 Ke (2012) discovered that the contents and values hidden in Taiwan's high school 立. less interest in the presentation of local and Eastern cultures in the textbooks. Though. English textbooks gradually shifted from that of native speaker to that of an. ‧ 國. 學. intercultural view, cultural lessons still remain uncommon in Taiwan's high-school. ‧. EFL textbooks. The author then suggested that the lack of diverse culture input and. sit. y. Nat. the promotion of western culture would possibly make local English learners to think. io. er. English speaking cultures are better and that their own culture is inferior to western cultures. Researchers (Ke, 2012; Phillipson, 1992) further pointed out the major. al. n. v i n C hthe standard couldUbe attributed to the reasons that American cultures became engchi. materials used by teachers. That is, it is important for teachers to select materials that contain diverse cultural content and provide learners with multiple ways to practice intercultural interaction. In addition, Luk (2012) proposed that by using a combination of tactile materials, teachers are also likely to succeed in addressing the different interests and needs of students. To have a comprehensive picture of the target culture from different angles, teachers need to supplement students with materials other than textbooks, such as newspapers or magazines from the learners’ own culture. These English materials were found to be effective sources of cross-cultural encounters (as cited in Luk, 2012). 2. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(13) In Taiwan EFL context, amid diverse teaching supplements, there is a trend of using English learning magazines among high schools. In addition, according to the 12-year curriculum guideline established by MOE (2016), to create rich learning environment involves incorporating a variety of teaching materials and media. Those resources include newspaper, maps, magazine…etc. That being said, English learning magazines might be able to expose learners to more cultural content and fit their needs as well as interests. Though English learning magazines also have a place for fostering secondary learners’ intercultural competence, most studies were done on different. 政治大 magazines for Taiwanese learners in arousing their cultural awareness. 立. levels of textbooks. Little study has been done to discover the role of English learning. The current study aims to conduct a content analysis of the local English learning. ‧ 國. 學. magazines from cultural perspectives to determine whether the magazines contain. ‧. diverse cultural contents that help learners’ intercultural competence. The result might. sit. y. Nat. shed some light on developing students’ cultural awareness through magazines and the. io. er. hidden curriculum conveyed by the popular English learning magazines. The results derived from the analysis might give insight to the following research questions:. al. n. v i n C h magazines present Do the three English learning cultural products, practices, engchi U. 1.. perspectives, communities, and persons? How are the cultural dimensions presented in the three English learning magazines? How are the three English learning magazines different? 2.. Do the three English learning magazines present source culture, target culture,. international culture, intercultural interaction, and universality across culture? How are the cultural categories presented in the three English learning magazines? How are the three English learning magazines different? 3.. What might be the hidden curriculum behind the use of these three English. learning magazines? 3. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(14) 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 4. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(15) CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW. This chapter presents the relevant literature concerning the present study in the following sections: (1) Intercultural Communicative Competence, (2) presentation of cultural elements in EFL teaching materials, (3) presentation of cultural elements in local teaching materials, (4) supplemental material.. 政治大 With the extensive use of English worldwide by interlocutors with different 立 Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC). cultural background (Crystal, 2008), it is necessary to construct a conception of. ‧ 國. 學. English that represents plurality of Englishes and an understanding that English is not. ‧. the property of one culture or community (Baker, 2009). This urge for learners to. sit. y. Nat. understand different cultural contexts to successfully communicate across diverse. io. er. cultures gives rise to the new notion of Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC). It is proposed as a more relevant concept for the dynamic contexts of English. al. n. v i n C h of different cultures use that recognizes the importance (Alptekin, 2002). engchi U. Much progress has been made in this area of research over time; yet, research has. shown that there was disagreement about how to define ICC and the components included in ICC framework. It was reasoned by Deardorff (2006) that the disagreement arose from the fact that administrators and scholars tend to incorporate different components under ICC, which can lead to the difficulty in the assessment of ICC. For administrators, they perceived Byram’s (1997) work on intercultural competence as the most applicable in institutions. The work contains knowledge of others and knowledge of self; skills to interpret and relate; skills to discover and to interact; valuing others’ values, beliefs, and behaviors; and relativizing one’s self. For 5. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(16) scholars, the top-rated definition was one which intercultural competence was defined as “the ability to communicate effectively and appropriately in intercultural situations based on one’s intercultural knowledge, skills, and attitudes” (Deardorff, 2004, p.194). Both definitions are too general and provide disjointed lists of attributes. This lack of specificity on the part of the intercultural elements might due presumably to the difficulty of identifying the specific components of this complex concept. Still, there is an increasing agreement about the fundamental dimensions of ICC. In general, ICC framework is assumed to include three dimensions: affective,. 政治大 These three dimensions are fundamental toward developing intercultural competence 立. cognitive, and behavioral (e.g. Byram, 1997; Chen and Starosta, 1996; Fantini, 2000).. and they could also be seen in the two definitions selected by administrators and. ‧ 國. 學. scholars in the previous mentioned study by Deardorff (2006). The three dimensions. ‧. were further elaborated by Byram, Gribkova, and Starkey (2002) that learners need. sit. y. Nat. some knowledge to understand one’s own and others’ culture. Learners also need the. io. er. skills and attitudes that are involved in understanding intercultural relationships. As a consequence, an intercultural speaker explores relationships between different. al. n. v i n C habout 'otherness', and cultures, acquires interest and curiosity tries to see from other engchi U people's perspectives.. Presentation of Cultural Elements in EFL Teaching Materials Given that contemporary students are expected to acquire ICC, the EFL teaching materials, which are considered to be fundamental didactic tools in foreign language education, might determine the culture that are being exposed to learners (Sándorová, 2016). According to prior studies, textbooks represent the core of EFL education among various teaching materials (Ndura, 2004; Shin, Eslami, & Chen, 2011). That is, textbooks might have a great impact on what cultural perspectives are taught. 6. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(17) Furthermore, the intercultural contents in the textbooks would affect learners’ attitudes toward their own culture and other people’s culture (Ndura, 2004). This implies that learners’ ICC development depends greatly on the cultural content presented in the textbooks they use. Previous studies in EFL contexts have been conducted on textbooks and have found that there is a tendency to mirror a single culture only (e.g. Shin, Eslami, & Chen, 2011; Skopinskaja, 2003; Song, 2013; Yuen, 2011). In Yuen’s study (2011), for example, he conducted a content analysis of two series of secondary English language. 政治大 products, practices, perspectives, and persons were recorded. The origins were 立. textbooks in Hong Kong. Among the textbooks, the origin and the number of the. categorized into Asian countries, African countries, and Western countries. It was. ‧ 國. 學. discovered that the amount of coverage on English-speaking countries was much. ‧. greater than that of other cultures. Yuen indicated that this could lead to learners’ bias,. y. Nat. and believed that increasing the amount of diverse cultures in textbooks is desirable as. er. io. sit. it helps to develop students’ appreciation of a much wider range of foreign cultures, especially when English is taught as an international language for intercultural. al. n. v i n Ctohcommunicate withUpeople from the English-speaking encounters rather than merely engchi. societies. In another study of Shin, Eslami, and Chen (2011), researchers examined the content of the textbooks from two viewpoints: Kachru’s (1985) ‘aspects of cultures’ and Murayama’s (2000) ‘levels of cultural presentation’. Looking into seven series of internationally distributed EFL textbooks that are designed for ESL/EFL contexts and are used in several Asian countries, the result showed there was the domination of inner circle cultural content in all textbooks examined. This might indicate that inner circle cultures are more highly valued than those in the outer and expanding circles. Researchers then suggest that the presenting of the target culture no longer meet the needs of students learning an international language and that every country where 7. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(18) English is taught must be an agent of the language in order to select applicable content for the local context. While it is promoted that appropriate cultural content should be incorporated for local context, recent studies have shown that textbooks in some countries pay excessive attention to local culture and lead to a gap between what is taught and real world practices among learners. For example, by using Kachru and Nelson’s model (1996) of English uses, it was found in Yamada’s study (2010) that the home culture was most commonly represented in Japan’s junior high schools’ English language. 政治大 underpin a sense of cultural solidarity as well as maintain its own interest of learning 立 textbooks. The inclusion of Japan might show that the nation strongly intended to. about other cultures. This finding resembles Matsuda’s study in 2002. In this research,. ‧ 國. 學. most Japanese beginning English lessons were situated in Japanese (local) contexts;. ‧. the majority of main characters were Japanese and people from inner-circle countries.. sit. y. Nat. These works suggest that Japanese English textbooks favor a local culture context.. io. er. However, the domination of local culture in textbooks is likely to cause gap between what is taught and the real world for learners. Take the research conducted by. al. n. v i n C h the linguistic U Majdzadeh (2002) as example. He explored language and the structure engchi. of the reading articles in the Iranian ELT textbooks and discovered that there was an exclusive focus on Iranian culture and religion. The author implied that the lack of other cultural perspectives created a barrier for students who are seeking to improve their intercultural competence and target-language skills. It was then recommended that textbooks need to be localized, but should also include global culture to facilitate learners' intercultural competence in the cross-cultural settings. The above studies on EFL teaching materials from different countries elicit the norm that emphasizes the importance of a balanced distribution of cultural information in the teaching materials. That is, paying attention only to the target culture might 8. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(19) hinder learners’ ability to effectively engage in international communication; yet, using extensive local references is inclined to interfere with the need to reflect both on others’ culture and one’s own culture. The norm serves as a criterion for determining whether the cultural content being presented could help learners to acquire ICC. The norm also sets the fundamental basis for the current study to explore the presentation of cultural contents in local teaching materials.. Presentation of Cultural Element in Local Teaching Materials. 政治大 that can be used in EFL textbooks: (1) source or local culture, (2) target culture 立. In Cortazzi and Jin’s (1999) framework, there are four types of cultural features. (American or British culture), (3) international cultures, and (4) cultural awareness. ‧ 國. 學. and competence. However, the research on the cultural elements in EFL textbooks. ‧. used in Taiwan entails that there is a tendency of incorporating narrow scope of. y. Nat. cultural content, which cannot satisfy the current needs. Corresponding to the previous. er. io. sit. studies on other countries’ textbooks, Taiwan EFL textbooks were also found to contain mostly type (2), which is depicting the target culture (Chao, 2011; Su, 2016).. al. n. v i n C h the cultural content A study by Chao (2011) examined and the hidden curriculum of engchi U. an elementary level textbook by investigating the main dimensions and categories of culture. The results indicated that there was bias in favor of target culture throughout the textbook especially in reading and listening texts. It was pointed out that young students might unconsciously believe people from English-speaking countries or western countries are who they should learn from. In fact, not only the local primary level textbook, but also the local high school textbook was found to have a narrow presentation of cultural content. In a study conducted by Su (2016), a content analysis was implemented on a set of local high school textbook. The results demonstrated that the textbooks generally promoted the American English and British English as the 9. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(20) only varieties or standard forms of the language. In addition, most of the texts also are limited to specific aspects of influential cultural issues. It was then suggested that besides providing only textbooks for cultural learning, learners need more opportunities (resources or activities) to understand their own culture and see the world through diverse ways, which might help them in the process of intercultural communication. The rationale of conducting this study derives from this need for including other teaching materials that involve more intercultural components which would help. 政治大 culture, learners would unconsciously receive values and attitudes that could further 立 learners broaden their horizon. With textbooks involving narrow perspective of. influence their behaviors and feelings toward other cultures. In such circumstance, it is. ‧ 國. 學. important to select and combine other materials that contain diverse cultural content to. y. sit. Nat. Supplemental Material. ‧. help learners engage in intercultural interaction more effectively.. io. er. In many EFL contexts, supplemental materials are utilized to suit different learning style and provide learners with diverse cultural viewpoints due to the narrow. al. n. v i n C h(2012) study, it wasUfound that by using a scope of culture in textbooks. In Luk’s engchi combination of tactile materials, teachers are likely to succeed in addressing the. different interests and needs of students. In addition, English language supplementary materials from the learners’ own culture such as newspapers or magazines were discovered to be effective sources for a variety of topics that could connect the classroom with the outside world (Thomas, 2014). Thus, presenting information other than those displayed in the textbooks can expose learners to language that serves a useful purpose. Studies on supplementary materials in different contexts have been conducted and found the positive effects of using materials that are locally relevant like 10. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(21) newspaper and magazine articles for English learning. One positive effect is increasing learners’ critical thinking. Park (2012) in her study examined how critical literacy in an EFL setting could be supported by engaging students in reading and responding to articles from newspaper and magazine. The result of this study showed that newspaper and magazine articles can be important pedagogical tools for promoting critical thinking in the EFL reading classroom. Another positive effect is that learners’ learning motivation might be reinforced through the use of magazines. A study done by Cheng and Lin (2010) investigated Taiwan students’ perceptions of. 政治大 meaningful interaction, use the target language for interpersonal exchange, and use 立 reading monthly magazines. Students were expected to be able to engage in. them in real-life communication after extensively reading the articles. The result then. ‧ 國. 學. disclosed that most participants think magazines contain a wide variety of useful and. ‧. interesting topics and they were more self-motivated. Still another positive effect is. sit. y. Nat. that using magazines in EFL context could help learners’ speaking skills. In a study by. io. er. Hsieh, Dong, and Wang (2013), whether using text from a monthly magazine can promote learners’ English intonation acquisition was explored. The texts were all. al. n. v i n chosen from the Magazine BC for the level is adequate h e n g c h i U for intermediate level students. The result revealed significant improvement in intonation, fluency, word. pronunciation, and overall pronunciation for the group that used the technique. Rao (2002) on the other hand, looked into the relationship between different types of EFL material and learners’ communicative competence. The study discovered the importance of combining different kinds of materials in the English classroom for communicative activities. That is, lack of diverse materials prevents students in EFL situations from getting exposed to the real world English usage. The study further pointed out that among the materials available, articles from both local English. 11. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(22) language periodicals and international newspapers and magazines could be effective in offering students more insight into other countries, people and cultures. Previous research seems to suggest the various topics covered by the magazines are positive in terms of arousing learners’ motivation and that by using the texts or content extracted from the magazine could supplement other language skills. However, unlike different levels of textbooks have been investigated, little study has been done to discover the role of English learning magazine for Taiwanese learners in raising their cultural awareness. The current study thus attempts to add to the existing. 政治大 analyzing different English learning magazines for Taiwanese learners used at 立. literature on the presentation of intercultural elements in EFL teaching materials by. secondary level.. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 12. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(23) CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY. This chapter will present the design of the study. In the following sections, the magazines analyzed will first be introduced and then the approach and scope of analyzing the magazines will be explained. The chapter also includes the procedures of data analysis as well as the way to increase reliability of the findings.. 政治大 According to the advertising yearbook of Taiwan (2017), there were four 立 The Magazines under Investigation. bestsellers of English learning magazines in Taiwan. These four all directed toward. ‧ 國. 學. intermediate level. Only Magazine A, Magazine B, and Magazine C were selected to. ‧. be investigated since they targeted toward raising learners’ cross-culture awareness.. sit. y. Nat. The study investigated the cultural content in the magazines and the similarities and. io. er. differences among the three English learning magazines. Thus, 12 consecutive volumes from January to December of each series were examined to obtain a. al. n. v i n comprehensive picture of theCrole of cultural content. h e n g c h i U In addition, since the 12-year. curriculum guideline for English subject was established in 2016, the 12 volumes from the year 2017 were selected. Detailed information of each magazine is discussed below.. 13. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(24) Table 1. The Elements of Each Article in the Three Magazines. Elements. Magazine A. Magazine B. Magazine C. Main Text. Main Text. Main Text. Pictures. Pictures. Pictures. Discussion Questions. Discussion Questions. Discussion Questions. Vocabulary. Word Bank. Vocabulary. Additional words. More Information. Additional words. Notes. Word Bank Focus. Info Box. Phrasebook. Usage Tip. Language Notes. Short Cut. Key Points. Give It a Try. Grammar Workshop Give It a Shot. 立. 1. Magazine A. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. The magazine is designed based on GEPT standards at the intermediate level.. ‧. GEPT and TOEIC projects were designed and included in the volumes to give learners broad ideas about different examination styles. The contents and subject matter of this. y. Nat. io. sit. magazine maintain elements of both the East and the West. By doing so, the publisher. n. al. er. attempts to develop students’ abilities to explain and express opinions on the topics of. Ch. home culture and other Eastern cultures in English.. engchi. i n U. v. Each volume had different text types, and each article had different sections. The common text types were “Informative/descriptive text,” “Story,” “Dialogue with illustrations,” “Cloze,” and “News.” Each article had about 10 sections, including reading text, picture, discussion question, vocabulary, grammar, notes: the explanation of particular sentences used in the reading text, phrasebook: the phrases shown in text that are frequently used at high-school level, short cut: the introduction of special phrasal usage in the texts, additional words: the words used in the texts but rarely seen in exams, and give it a shot: grammar exercises for the grammar taught (see Table 1.). 14. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(25) 2. Magazine B The magazine and accompanying radio and TV programs have won numerous awards over the years. The chief editor, the managing editor, and 80% of the editorial staff are native speaker of English. It is known for its coverage of cultural content which might encourage learners to reflect upon the differences and similarities between other culture and one’s own culture. In this series of magazine, the common text types were “Informative/descriptive text,” “Fable,” “Comparison and contrast dialogue,” and “News.” Each article also had 10 sections including reading text, picture, discussion question, vocabulary,. 政治大. grammar, usage tip: the explanation of a particular usage in the reading and the. 立. practice on this usage, more information: the advanced-level words or proper nouns,. ‧ 國. 學. word bank focus: the word family of a particular word shown in the text, and key points: word usage exercises or explanation of technical terms.. ‧ sit. y. Nat. 3. Magazine C. n. al. er. io. The magazine aims for students at GEPT intermediate level and it provides GEPT. i n U. v. mock test in each volume. This magazine is also known for its digital interactive. Ch. engchi. learning material that has won many awards. The publisher puts much effort into providing contents that simulate the real world situations. They think that rote learning is not the way learners should learn English and that by presenting simulated situation that relate with learners’ real world experience could learners truly learn. In Magazine C, the text types are similar to that of Magazine A, which were “Informative/descriptive text,” “Story,” “Dialogue with pictures,” “Cloze,” and “News.” There were about 8 sections in each articles, which were reading text, picture, discussion question, vocabulary, grammar, info box: the explanation of special grammar or word usages seen in the text, additional words: these words are not the. 15. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(26) focus of the article but they are important words that learners need to know for exams, and give it a try: exercises for word and grammar from the article such as cloze test or crosswords puzzle.. Analytical Frameworks In the current study, two frameworks were adopted: (1) the five dimensions of culture (Moran, 2001) and (2) the main categories of culture (Chao, 2011). These frameworks were used as the evaluation guides to examine the presentation of the. 政治大 (See Table 2 for the elements of the analytical frameworks adopted for this study). 立. cultural dimensions and the cultural categories in local English learning magazines. ‧ 國. 學. Table 2.. Elements of the Analytical Frameworks Moran (2001). Chao (2011). Nat. Communities Persons. sit. Source culture (SC). al. er. Target culture (TC). International culture (IC). n. Perspectives. io. Practices. y. The main categories of culture. Products. Elements. ‧. The five dimensions of culture. Ch. i n U. v. Universality across culture (UC). e nIntercultural g c h i interaction (ICI). 1. The Five Dimensions of Culture The first framework, the five dimensions of culture, was developed by Moran (2001). There are five elements in Moran’s model: (1) products: the creations of members of the culture that range from tangible objects to more elaborate but perceptible constructions, (2) practices: the full range of actions and interactions that members of the culture carry out, individually or with others, (3) perspectives: a culture’s view of the world that underlie the products and guide the practices of the 16. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(27) culture, (4) communities: the specific social contexts, circumstances, and groups in which members carry out cultural practices, and (5) persons: the individual members who embody the culture and its communities in unique ways. The rationale of using the five dimensions of culture framework proposed by Moran (2001) is that it distinguishes from the standards for culture that was established by teaching profession in the United States (1996). The standards for culture only put stress on products, practices, and perspectives. Yet, as Moran mentioned, the concept ignored the dynamic nature of culture. Moran believed that culture is “the evolving. 政治大 with a shared set of products, based upon a shared set of perspectives on the world, 立 way of life of a group of persons, consisting of a shared set of practices associated. and set within specific social contexts” (p.24). That is, the products, practices, and. ‧ 國. 學. perspectives of a culture exist along with the people of the culture. It is the individuals. sit. y. Nat. actively.. ‧. of the culture who create cultural products, practices, perspectives, and communities. io. er. The current study will use the framework to understand the cultural dimensions displayed in the magazines. The details of the dimensions of cultures are included in. n. al. Appendix A for reference.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 2. The Main Categories of Culture The second framework, the Main Categories of Culture, was mainly adapted from Chao’s study (2011). The original framework was used to evaluate one popular internationally published ELT textbook of its cultural content and hidden curriculum. According to Chao, the framework included source culture, target culture, international culture, intercultural interaction, and universality across culture. While source culture refers to Pan-Chinese culture that includes China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, target culture consists of English-speaking countries, such as the U.S., UK, and 17. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(28) Australia. International culture on the other hand, excluding Pan-Chinese culture and English-speaking countries, involves all other countries around the world. These three categories are based on Cortazzi and Jin’s idea in 1999. Intercultural interaction and universality across culture were developed by Chao and her colleagues. These two groups of culture are covered so as to evaluate the culture-general knowledge and content that is not specific to any particular culture as well as the activities that could arouse comparison and contrast between source and the target or international culture, which might widely exist in the materials.. 政治大 (2011) is that it represents the plurality of Englishes. Understanding that different 立. The rationale of using the main categories of culture framework compiled by Chao. forms of English exists in the global village is the key component toward cultivating. ‧ 國. 學. learners’ ICC (Baker, 2012). The framework also recognizes the shared knowledge. ‧. among different culture in the fluid practices of English. Kachru’s concentric circles. sit. y. Nat. (1985) also presents the role of English as world Englishes; yet, the model divides. io. er. English speakers into Inner, Outer and Expanding circles which labels learners into the dichotomy between native and nonnative speakers (Rajadurai, 2005). That is,. al. n. v i n Cthe native speakers culture is regarded as and that only one form of English is h enorm ngchi U considered as rightful. However, English is no longer the property of one culture or community, instead, the English use on a global scale nowadays involves complex global flows of English across cultures. The current study rearranged some elements in Chao’s (2011) framework to suit the English learning magazines that were under analysis. That is, originally, source culture included China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Yet, the magazines under investigation targeted toward Taiwanese high school students and are written mainly from Taiwan’s perspective when talking about source culture. Therefore, China and Hong Kong were excluded from source culture and classified as international culture. 18. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(29) This framework was used to understand the cultural types displayed in the magazines. The details of the categories of cultures are included in Appendix B for reference.. Content Analysis In order to understand how the intercultural elements are displayed and exposed to learners through using the magazines, the study conducted a content analysis on the articles, which were the source of analysis. For each article, the main text, pictures, and discussion questions were included in the analysis and coding to make inferences. 政治大 meaning making and interactive communication as well as where learners are exposed 立 about the messages within each article. These parts are where leaners engage in. to intercultural contents that could arouse their cultural awareness.. ‧ 國. 學. The basic unit of analysis for coding the cultural elements was at article level. As. ‧. Graneheim and Lundman (2004) suggested that the most suitable unit of analysis. sit. y. Nat. should be large enough to be considered as a whole like the whole interview or text. io. er. and small enough to be regarded as a context during the analysis process. Thus, in the current study, since aspects of cultures were presented through the description in each. al. n. v i n C has a whole to understand article, the article was examined the role of culture in English engchi U learning magazines. The details of the scope of analysis are listed in Table 3 for reference.. 19. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(30) Table 3. Scope of Analysis Magazine A. Magazine B. Magazine C. Volumes. 12. 12. 12. Articles. 204. 189. 188. Sections. Main text. under. Illustrations. analysis. Discussion questions. Data Analysis This research first used the framework of the five dimensions of culture and. 政治大. the framework of main categories of culture to collect quantitative data and to describe. 立. the presentation of different cultural dimensions and cultural categories in the selected. ‧ 國. 學. volumes. Then the cultural content found in articles, including main text, exercises,. ‧. and illustrations would be qualitatively analyzed to understand how attitudes and views of culture were embedded and how they were implicitly conveyed in the three. y. Nat. io. sit. series of magazines. In the course of analyzing the chosen magazines, the researcher. n. al. er. and a rater were responsible for coding the content. The rater was chosen for she is. Ch. i n U. v. familiar with the local English learning magazines and how Taiwanese learners might. engchi. react toward the content. The two analytical frameworks were clarified among the raters before coding. A pilot coding was also implemented before the analysis of all the volumes to reach a consensus amid the raters. In order to make the result of data analysis reliable, the raters first worked independently and the discrepancies were later discussed for agreement on the results.. 20. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(31) Pilot content analysis Clarify the analytical frameworks. Independent coding Discussion on the discrepancies Figure 1. Procedures for data analysis. Throughout the magazines, cultural contents exposed to learners were examined. 政治大 background information of Austria (Apr., p. 20) as an example. The text is comprised 立 based on the five dimensions of culture model. Take one article that presents. ‧ 國. 學. of cultural products from Austria, namely information of landmark and national dish. One article illustrating the Jaisalmer Desert Festival (Feb., p. 22) presents how people. ‧. in India celebrate the festival. Additionally, the Indian people in Jaisalmer represent a. sit. y. Nat. cultural group under a specific context. Therefore, this article was both coded under. io. er. practices and communities dimension. In another article about cheesecakes around the. al. world (Aug., p. 14), the meaning behind having such dessert in the ancient Greek is. n. v i n Ccultural demonstrated. This shows the of such product. In many volumes h e nperspectives gchi U we could also encounter the life story of particular celebrities. For example, one article introduces us to the story of Tom Hiddleston, a famous British actor. This article demonstrated the persons dimension since this particular individual embodies the culture he belonged. The main text, the illustrations, and the discussion questions of each article were analyzed to understand the distribution of cultural categories based on the main categories of culture model. For example, some articles related to Hollywood (e.g. Jan., p.16) were coded under target culture since Hollywood is a representative. 21. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(32) symbol of movie in the U.S. Culture-general knowledge that does not specify a distinct culture, like one article talking about tips for going camping (Might., p. 10) belonged to the category of universality across culture. Content that is connected to cultures in others’ world was coded under international culture, such as the international latest news in some volumes. One article that introduces Taiwan’s nature beauty (Jan., p. 24) is labeled as source culture. Intercultural interaction was found only in the discussion questions. In other words, the main text and illustrations did not further engage learners in intercultural interaction. The discussion questions in the. 政治大 cultures. For example, in one article about football, learners were asked whether 立. articles that were categorized under ICI encourage learners to reflect upon different. two model are included in Appendix B for reference.. sit. y. ‧. Nat. Trustworthiness. 學. ‧ 國. football is popular in their own country (Sep., p.18). The details and examples of the. io. er. In order to report the degree of agreement among multiple raters and to increase the inter-rater reliability of the findings, the study utilized the percent agreement. al. n. v i n statistics. To obtain the measure of C percent agreement, a matrix h e n g c h i U was created in which the two columns represented the different raters, and the 193 rows represented. different articles in the volumes. A benefit of this tool is that it permits the researcher to discover if errors are random, or if a particular data collector frequently records values different from the other data collectors (McHugh, 2012). Another benefit of this technique is that it allows the researcher to identify variables that might need further discussion. To obtain percent agreement, the answers of two raters on 1/3 of all the volumes (12 volumes) were first compared. Next, the numbers of agreement were added up and then divided by the number of raters to reach the mean. At the end, the percent 22. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(33) agreement was calculated by adding all the mean up and dividing it by the number of articles. In the current study, the percent agreement among the two raters was 89%. This meant that about 11% of the content analysis by the two raters did not match. Nevertheless, the discrepancies were further discussed between the raters, and agreements were reached on each discrepancies.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 23. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(34) 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 24. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(35) CHAPTER 4 RESULTS & DISCUSSION. In this chapter, the results from the analysis and comparison of the three English learning magazines will be provided by answering the three research questions. The first research question aims to understand the cultural contents incorporated in the three magazines by employing Moran’s (2001) model of five dimensions of culture. The second research question intends to explore the cultures presented in the three. 政治大 research question directs toward the hidden curriculum behind the use of three 立. magazines by adapting Chao’s (2011) model of main categories of culture. The third. magazines from cultural aspects. The contents were analyzed of the hidden attitude,. ‧ 國. 學. value, or expectation from cultural perspectives. So the following sections will present. al. Research Question 1. er. io. sit. y. Nat. the reading texts, discussion questions, and pictures.. ‧. the cultural dimensions, the cultural categories, and the hidden curriculum involved in. n. v i n C h magazines present Do the three English learning cultural products, practices, engchi U. perspectives, communities, and persons? How are the cultural dimensions presented in the three English learning magazines? How are the three English learning magazines different? The first research question concerns the kinds of cultural dimensions displayed in the three English learning magazines and how the cultural dimensions were distributed in the magazines. To discover the answer to this question, the magazines were under examination with Moran’s (2001) model of five dimensions of culture. Then, the percentages and numbers of different cultural dimensions within the reading texts, discussion questions, and pictures in each magazine were examined and discussed. 25. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(36) 1.. Cultural Perspectives in Reading Texts Table 4 reveals the numbers and percentages of cultural dimensions in the three. magazines within reading texts. The result showed that the three English learning magazines covered all the dimensions of culture. Among all, the presentations of explicit or implicit cultural perspectives of different topics had the highest percentage, with a total of 62.82%. The high percentage of cultural perspectives in the three magazines might be because cultural perspectives were often delivered through the use of cultural products and cultural practices. This corresponded with Moran’s (2001,. 政治大 and guide persons and communities in the practices of the culture.” In addition, the 立. p.25) definition of cultural perspectives that “beliefs and values underlie the products. results were also similar to Chao’s study (2011) that cultural perspectives stood a large. ‧ 國. 學. proportion among all the cultural dimensions in the textbook. The abundant inputs of. ‧. cultural perspectives might help learners to understand different cultural perceptions. n. al. er. io. Table 4.. sit. y. Nat. and arouse positive attitudes toward other cultures.. Ch. i n U. v. The Percentages of Cultural Dimensions in Reading Texts from the Three Magazines Magazine A Magazine B Magazine C Total. i e n g c hCommunities. Products. Practices. Perspectives. Persons. 59%. 43%. 67%. 37%. 33%. (121/204). (88/204). (137/204). (75/204). (67/204). 57%. 43%. 62%. 32%. 34%. (107/189). (81/189). (118/189). (61/189). (64/189). 59%. 37%. 59%. 27%. 26%. (111/188). (70/188). (110/188). (51/188). (48/188). 58.35%. 41.14%. 62.82%. 32.19%. 30.81%. (339/581). (239/581). (365/581). (187/581). (179/581). 26. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(37) 2.. Cultural Products and Practices in Reading Texts Then, if we look at the percentages of cultural products and cultural practices,. they had the second and third highest percentages. Cultural products occupied a total of 58.35% in the three series of magazines which were mostly the cultural artifacts, places and institutions. Cultural practices accounted for about 41.14% of all the content and were found to concentrate on the presentations of customs during festivals and operation of the cultural products. The wide distribution of the previous three dimensions matched the triangular concepts about culture that regarded products,. 政治大 Standards in Foreign Language Education Project, 1996). Additionally, the results 立 practices, and perspectives as the three fundamental aspects of culture (National. resembled Hsiao’s study (2010) that many articles in the magazines were related to. ‧ 國. 學. Big C. That is, the visible forms of culture including festivals, customs, art forms,. ‧. food, etc., were widely exposed to learners. The widely distributed cultural products. sit er. io. Cultural Communities and Persons in Reading Texts. al. v i n C hwere found in cultural The two lowest percentages communities (32.19%) and engchi U n. 3.. y. Nat. and practices in the magazines might arouse learners’ cultural awareness.. persons (30.81%) that embodied the culture they belong. The percentages might be the least among all the dimensions when we looked at them separately. If we see cultural communities and persons as a whole, since both referred to people that represent the culture, they actually stood a big proportion among the dimensions. The percentages of cultural communities and cultural persons could correspond to Moran’s idea of cultural groups and individuals as important elements since other cultural dimensions were carried out by the people of the culture. The results were also similar to that of Su’s (2016) which some textbook chapters discussed the lives of significant people. Yet, while the textbook focused on cultural persons, the magazines had more balanced 27. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(38) distribution of cultural groups and individuals. This could imply that the cultural contents in textbooks and English learning magazines had different focus. Using supplementary materials like magazines might expose learners to different cultural aspects from the textbooks.. 4.. Comparison and Contrast of the Three Magazines A closer look into the three series, Magazine A and Magazine B had a more. balanced coverage of almost every cultural dimension (Magazine A-products: 59%,. 政治大 B-products: 57%, practices: 43%, perspective: 62%, communities: 32%, and persons: 立 practices: 43%, perspectives: 67%, communities: 37%, and persons: 33%; Magazine. 34%). In addition, the percentage of each dimension of Magazine A were all higher. ‧ 國. 學. than the total percentages (products: 59% > 58.35%, practices: 43% > 41.14%,. ‧. perspectives: 67% > 62.82%, communities: 37% > 32.19%, and persons: 33% >. sit. y. Nat. 30.81%). This could imply that Magazine A might contain richer inputs of cultural. io. er. dimensions than the other two magazines. Thus, by using this series of magazine, learners could receive more diverse cultural knowledge. Take an article from. al. n. v i n C h 2) as an example.UFirst, the cultural practices Magazine A about Holi event (see Figure engchi of wearing white shirt and filling colored powder in the air were introduced. Second, people all over India were the specific cultural communities in this article. Then, the cultural perspective of celebrating spring was explained. Additionally, the legend about Lord Krishna and his love in the article was a cultural product of the culture. By including multiple dimensions, the articles in this magazine had plentiful inputs of cultural dimensions.. 28. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(39) 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. ‧. Figure 2. A reading text from Magazine A that presented multiple examples of cultural dimensions. y. Nat. io. sit. The percentages of the cultural dimensions in Magazine B, though a bit lower, were. n. al. er. about the same as that of Magazine A (products: 57% <59%, practices: 43% = 43%,. i n U. v. perspectives: 62% < 67%, communities: 32% < 37%, and persons: 34% > 33%).. Ch. engchi. Therefore, this series of magazine also provided learners with diverse inputs of cultural dimensions. Take an article from Magazine B about Naghol Ritual (see Figure 3) as an example. The young men in South Pacific, the wooden tower built on a steep hill, and the ancient tradition of land diving to ensure a good harvest. These inclusion of multiple dimensions demonstrated how the articles in this magazine had rich inputs of cultural contents.. 29. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(40) 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. ‧. Figure 3. A reading text from Magazine B that presented multiple cultural dimensions. y. Nat. io. sit. Compared with Magazine A and Magazine B, in Magazine C, learners would. n. al. er. encounter articles that depict the usage of the target language rather than the cultural. i n U. v. knowledge. As can be seen in Figure 4, this kind of articles usually did not incorporate. Ch. engchi. knowledge of a particular culture. Though this article, like others, did mention the name of a specific cultural place, the input might not be able to help learners to acquire deeper cultural meaning.. 30. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(41) 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學 sit. y. Nat. n. al. er. Cultural Products in Pictures. io. 5.. ‧. Figure 4. A reading text from Magazine C that presented content related to cultural products. i n U. v. According to Table 5, the numbers and percentages of cultural dimensions in the. Ch. engchi. pictures of the three magazines revealed that the pictures mainly covered cultural products, practices, communities and persons. The presentation of artifacts, places, institutions, and the art forms of the culture accounted for the highest percentage, which was about 48.88%. The high percentage of this dimension might be because creations of a particular culture were usually tangible so that they could easily be captured and displayed in pictures.. 31. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(42) Table 5 The Percentages of Cultural Dimensions in Pictures from the Three Magazines Products. Practices. Perspectives. Communities. Persons. Magazine. 60%. 21%. 5%. 19%. 21%. A. (123/204). (42/204). (10/204). (39/204). (42/204). Magazine. 44%. 13%. 1%. 21%. 19%. B. (84/189). (24/189). (2/189). (39/189). (36/189). Magazine. 40%. 10%. 1%. 9%. 19%. C. (76/188). (18/188). (2/188). (17/188). (35/188). Total. 48.71%. 14.46%. 2.41%. 16.35%. 19.45%. (283/581). (84/581). (14/581). (95/581). (113/581). 6.. 政治大. Cultural Communities and Persons in Pictures. 立. For cultural groups (16.35%) and individuals (19.45%), since both referred to. ‧ 國. 學. people that embodied the culture, these two dimensions together stood second to cultural products with 35.80%. Similar to places and art forms, celebrities and. ‧. politicians were also tangible that they could be portrayed in pictures and easily be. y. Nat. io. sit. recognized by learners. In fact, this finding met with that of Hsiao’s study (2010). n. al. er. which picture was one of the most common forms used in magazines to show culture-. i n U. v. related contents. Specifically, the pictures were mostly related to celebrities, historic. Ch. engchi. heroes, food, cultural groups, and famous sites.. 7.. Cultural Practices and Perspectives in Pictures As for cultural practices, the percentage (14.46%) was much lower than that of. cultural products (48.71%), communities (16.35%), and persons (19.45%). That is, only about one out of six articles had pictures that demonstrated this dimension. It’s probably because the customs of a culture were more abstract and could not be captured by a single picture comparing to tangible objects. Then among all the dimensions, cultural perspectives occupied the least percentage (2.41%) with only two 32. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(43) articles in both Magazine B and Magazine C, and ten articles in Magazine A presented pictures related to culture views. This could be because cultural values were intangible. Like in Hsiao’s study (2010), most of the pictures were related to cultural products, practices, and cultural communities and persons. Thus, cultural contents such as the meaning behind taboos and lifestyles might not be able to be appreciated directly through pictures. Take one article about tipping tradition of different countries from Magazine C (see Figure 5) as an example. The cultural dimensions in the reading texts mentioned both the places and the customs. Yet, the pictures only showed the. 政治大 learners would have fewer opportunities to encounter distinct cultural beliefs through 立 places and the people but not the practices or the meaning behind the actions. So,. pictures.. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Figure 5. An example of pictures demonstrating cultural products and people but not cultural practices and perspectives from Magazine C. 8.. Comparison and Contrast of the Three Magazines Looking at each series, Magazine A was found not only to having the highest. coverage of all cultural dimensions in reading texts (59%) but also in pictures (reading texts: products: 59%, practices: 44%, perspectives: 68%, communities: 38% and persons: 33%; pictures: products: 60%, practices: 21%, perspectives: 5%, 33. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(44) communities: 19%, and persons: 21%). Such results might suggest that by using this series of magazine, learners could also be exposed to cultural contents through pictures.. Table 6. The Percentages of Cultural Dimensions in Text and Picture from the Three Magazines Products. Practices. Perspectives. Text. Picture. Text. Picture. Magazine. 59%. 60%. 43%. 21%. 67%. 5%. A. (121/204). (123/204). (88/204). (42/204). (137/204). Magazine. 57%. 44%. 43%. 13%. (107/189). (84/189). (81/189). 40%. Text. Text. Picture. 37%. 19%. 33%. 21%. (10/204). (75/204). (39/204). (67/204). (42/204). 62%. 1%. 32%. 21%. 34%. 19%. (24/189). (118/189). (2/189). (61/189). (39/189). (64/189). (36/189). 37%. 10%. 59%. 1%. 27%. 9%. 26%. 19%. 政治大. 學. ‧ 國. B. Picture. Persons. Picture. 立. Text. Communities. 59%. C. (111/188). (76/188). (70/188). (18/188). (110/188). (2/188). (51/188). (17/188). (48/188). (35/188). Total. 58.35%. 48.71%. 41.14%. 14.36%. 62.82%. 2.41%. 32.19%. 16.35%. 30.81%. 19.45%. (339/581). (283/581). (239/581). (84/581). (365/581). (14/581). (187/581). (95/581). (179/581). (113/581). Nat. sit. y. ‧. Magazine. n. al. er. io. It was further noticed that the percentage of pictures related to cultural. i n U. v. perspectives (5%) in Magazine A was relatively high comparing to the other two. Ch. engchi. magazines (1% in both Magazine B and Magazine C). It might be because the pictures related to cultural views in Magazine A were presented with clear captions for learners to pick up the cultural values. Figures 6 and 7 were extracted from Magazine A as an example of how this series of magazine exposed learners to different cultural dimensions through pictures within an article about culture-general knowledge. The main reading texts in Figure 6 first described different smiles that were commonly seen and the meanings behind them.. 34. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(45) 政治大. 立. ‧ 國. 學. Figure 6. A reading text related to cultural perspectives from Magazine A. ‧. As the main texts mentioned particular smiles that had special meanings in other. sit. y. Nat. countries, the picture in Figure 7 gave learners vivid ideas about the cultural practice. n. al. er. io. of smiling. Additionally, the picture explained more in detail the attitude of the actions. i n U. v. through captions. Take dampened smile as an example. The picture might help. Ch. engchi. learners to have a clearer idea of how this smile looked like and the cultural view of repressing emotions in Japan.. 35. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.

(46) 政治大 Figure 7. An example of picture with clear explanations for cultural perspectives 立 from Magazine A. ‧ 國. 學. As for Magazine C, many pictures had clear captions. However, rather than explaining. ‧. the cultural meanings, the captions could only describe the image displayed. For. y. Nat. io. sit. example, in Figure 8, the captions of the two pictures only illustrated what was. n. al. er. depicted in the picture and at what time people could see these scenarios. In this way,. i n U. v. pictures in this magazine might not help learners to have clearer idea of the cultural perspectives.. Ch. engchi. 36. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ENG.006.2019.A09.