Content area
Abstract
The integration of language and culture has been one of the most noticeable concerns of teaching English as a second language during the past few years. This concern has become more important with the spread of English and the role of English as a global language or international language. Therefore, it is a must to integrate the English-speaking countries’ culture in English coursebooks in order to be able to contribute to the education of an intercultural student. Following this, the current study argues for the need to integrate more cultural elements and culture from English-speaking countries in English coursebooks. The aim of this study is to look at the relationship between culture and language in depth and to analyze the English coursebook of the first secondary year in Saudi Arabia according to cultural elements. The students’ age is around 15 years old and their level of English should be intermediate (B2). The study found that the coursebook depends only on the focal culture in Saudi Arabia. Such lack of cultural elements and culture from English-speaking countries dues not contribute to develop the student's intercultural communicative competence and, in fact, it creates difficulties or barriers for students’ intercultural learning.
