Cultural Information in The English Textbook “When English Rings the Bell” for The Seventh Graders of SMP/MTs

ABSTRAK English is one of international languages which is very important for education in Indonesia because many references or sources are written in English, for example journals and textbooks. English textbooks become the learning sourve for learners which includes cultural information which reflects with the background of the author. This research is a descriptive content analysis to answer: 1) to know whether English textbook “When English Rings the Bell” for the seventh graders of SMP/MTs cover cultural information and 2) how cultural information is covered on English textbook “When English Rings the Bell” for the seventh graders of SMP/MTs which use questions rubric about the content of the textbook which was related to cultural information. The instrument is adapted from Kilickaya’s article which was entitled “Guidelines to Evaluate Cultural Content in Textbooks.” The data is collected through document analysis. This research shows that English textbook “When English Rings the Bell” for the seventh graders of SMP/MTs covers native culture more than foreign culture, which are shown from the pictures and the dialogues in the textbooks because the learners are still on learning process of early level so it is expected that the learners know native culture closer before learning foreign culture. The materials which are explained on textbooks cover things around the learners so the learners feel familiar with the topics given. The topics which are given do not contain bad or good comment because it could make bias. It is found that: 1) English textbook “When English Rings the Bell” for the seventh graders of SMP/MTs covers the cultural information and, 2) the ways the English textbook “When English Rings the Bell” presents the cultural information for the seventh graders of SMP/MTs covers are by the content of the textbook, from the activities on the book, for example, the pictures which are shown and the exercises, such as crossword and projects. It is suggested that the teacher is expected to be aware of cultural information in the textbook. The teacher is also expected to discover and complement the foreign cultural information for the learners. The developer of the textbook is expected to be discreet on including the materials which are related to foreign culture. Future researchers are expected to conduct other studies on cultural information more deeply in topics which are related to this study because there are plenty of textbooks which are not researched yet