A Textbook Analysis
LANG 202 – Textbook evaluation activity
Choose a beginning or intermediate language textbook for your target language. I recommend that you use the book you taught from in the fall or the one you are using this quarter, but you are not required to use one of those.
Name of textbook: Deutsch: Na klar!
Level 102
1. First look for the presence of the target culture in the textbook...
a. Does the textbook present mostly “Culture” or mostly “culture” or a good balance of both? Give examples.
As far as I noticed the textbook presents more Culture than culture. This might be justified by the fact that it is easier for students with a limited knowledge of a language to understand complex issues or cultural information within a broader background. On the other hand, culture is taught for example in Chapter 1 to explain students in which situations to address someone with “Sie” or “Du”. In Chapter 3 the book presents how to behave in a restaurant for example how to get the server’s attention in formal and informal situations, or that in Germany you do not have to add a tip to the restaurant bill as intercultural “soft skills” and the facts about regional specialties in Germany as well which is more information about German “Culture”. “culture” in terms of popular culture is not being taught, maybe because it changes all the time means it is a not static definition, but as a T.A. I feel like this is more my job to teach the students if they are interested in pop culture in Germany.
b. Does the textbook use the “facts only” approach to culture? Give an example or counter-example.
The textbook used the facts only approach to culture in every culture unit. For example, in chapter two the Euro as the European currency is introduced. I huge parts in the unit are pictures of the Euro bills and a short introduction. The main part of this section is a “short” history of the Euro from 1999 until its implementation in
Choose a beginning or intermediate language textbook for your target language. I recommend that you use the book you taught from in the fall or the one you are using this quarter, but you are not required to use one of those.
Name of textbook: Deutsch: Na klar!
Level 102
1. First look for the presence of the target culture in the textbook...
a. Does the textbook present mostly “Culture” or mostly “culture” or a good balance of both? Give examples.
As far as I noticed the textbook presents more Culture than culture. This might be justified by the fact that it is easier for students with a limited knowledge of a language to understand complex issues or cultural information within a broader background. On the other hand, culture is taught for example in Chapter 1 to explain students in which situations to address someone with “Sie” or “Du”. In Chapter 3 the book presents how to behave in a restaurant for example how to get the server’s attention in formal and informal situations, or that in Germany you do not have to add a tip to the restaurant bill as intercultural “soft skills” and the facts about regional specialties in Germany as well which is more information about German “Culture”. “culture” in terms of popular culture is not being taught, maybe because it changes all the time means it is a not static definition, but as a T.A. I feel like this is more my job to teach the students if they are interested in pop culture in Germany.
b. Does the textbook use the “facts only” approach to culture? Give an example or counter-example.
The textbook used the facts only approach to culture in every culture unit. For example, in chapter two the Euro as the European currency is introduced. I huge parts in the unit are pictures of the Euro bills and a short introduction. The main part of this section is a “short” history of the Euro from 1999 until its implementation in