Innovation in Language Learning

Today the concept of competence in foreign language has gone far beyond grammatical and even communicative competence, and what has assumed importance is preparing foreign language learners for intercultural interactions and negotiations. Therefore, in order for EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners to be able to communicate with other speakers from around the world and develop empathy and openness to other cultures, they need to become interculturally competent. One of the important ways of providing students with intercultural awareness, especially in a foreign language situation, is choosing the right material because textbooks, as one of the main educational tools, are deemed to address such a task. There are some models that have been proposed to help analyze textbooks from this point of view. Drawing on Byram’s model, the present study aimed to analyze Top Notch series, as one of the textbooks employed in Iranian English language schools and some universities, to show whether these series include enough intercultural information to help students develop intercultural competence or not. A content analysis was carried out through Yuen’s (2011) content analysis framework. The findings revealed that Top Notch series have the potentiality to help students garner some competence to communicate interculturally.

Key Words: Intercultural Communicative Competence, Textbook, Top Notch series, EFL