Indonesian EFL Journal
Vol. 12 No. 3 (2026)

THE INFLUENCE OF CULTURAL CONTENT IN TEXT AND IMAGE OF ENGLISH TEXTBOOKS ON STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES

Susi Ekalestari (Universitas Islam Sumatera Utara, Medan, Indonesia)
Jumino Suhadi (Universitas Islam Sumatera Utara, Medan, Indonesia)
Rahmah Fithriani (Universitas Islam Negeri Sumatera Utara, Medan, Indonesia)
Manugeren (Universitas Islam Sumatera Utara, Medan, Indonesia)
Rahmadsyah Rangkuti (Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan, Indonesia)
Devi Pratiwy (Universitas Islam Sumatera Utara, Medan, Indonesia)
Nuzwaty (Universitas Islam Sumatera Utara, Medan, Indonesia)



Article Info

Publish Date
13 Oct 2026

Abstract

This research aims at revealing the influence of cultural contents in English textbooks on the attitude of elementary school students. Cultural content refers to symbolic meaning, artistic dimension and cultural values that originate from or express cultural identities that are inserted into teaching materials in textbooks. Text and image are two kinds of English textbook material containing cultural contents. Which one has a higher influence on the students’ attitude? A phenomenological approach is adopted to describe the participant’s experience related to the students’ attitude as the result of absorbing cultural values found in an English textbook’s cultural contents. The data is collected by sharing questionnaires to the respondents. There were thirty respondents to this research. They are English teachers at elementary school. The collected data is analyzed using the Pearson Correlation Coefficient to measure the influence of cultural content on the textbook on the students’ attitude. Finally, it is found that the cultural contents in the textbook have changes to the students’ attitude, which change the students’ attitude in terms of hard work, diversity, fighting spirit, mutual assistance, independence, honesty, discipline, beauty, equality, and care. The positive correlation is represented by the significant correlation (r), which is < 0.05. Definitely, the significant correlation value (r) is 0.41 for cultural content represented in images (weak correlation) and 0.35 for cultural content represented in texts (moderate correlation). Research on cultural value in textbook content is crucial because it may lead to a broader understanding of how to use appropriate teaching and learning resources to help students develop their cultural competency in a multicultural setting, which could improve their attitudes for they have gained knowledge about cultural variety. 

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Journal Info

Abbrev

pub

Publisher

Subject

Languange, Linguistic, Communication & Media

Description

The scopes of the journal include critical issues of educational practices in primary, secondary and tertiary education as well as in university level surrounding: English Language Pedagogy Language Acquisition Bilingualism and Multilingualism English language Literacy English for Specific Purposes ...