A Review of Intercultural Language Teaching from the Perspectives of ELT Teaching Material Evaluation and Application

Abstract

Review on the evaluation of English Language Teaching (ELT) materials has been carried out by many researchers. Focusing on the cultural aspect, the review covers the three important participants in a classroom setting - coursebook, instructors and students. The review aims to reveal the evaluation of the culture content on ELT materials, to explore and students’ attitude towards source culture and international culture teaching in English as Foreign Language (EFL) class as well summarize some strategies adopted by teachers in their teaching process to give inspirations to current EFL teaching. After analyzing the objects, methods and findings of Several empirical researches in a bottom-up method, this review found: 1) there is an imbalance of cultural representation in ELT textbooks between target culture, home culture and international culture; 2) students show a positive attitude towards home culture and international culture learning in the learning process; 3) teachers notice the importance to cultivate students’ awareness of their own culture and culture relativism consciously and take measures accordingly in their class.