Comparison the Course Books Used in Teaching Turkish and English as a Foreign Language in Terms of Culture Transmission

Foreign language teaching is not only the teaching of the grammar and vocabulary and the acquisition of basic language skills of the target language, but it is also the teaching of the culture of the target language. Because foreign language always brings it with a foreign culture. It is extremely important that individuals learn the cultural characteristics of the country when they are learning its language for a better understanding of language. It is an undeniable fact that language and culture cannot be separated and culture must also be learnt when learning a language. Because of the perfect relation between language and culture, teaching a language also means teaching of the culture. In today’s foreign language teaching, it is observed that the transmission of the culture is very important. Foreign language course books reflect the characteristics of the society that speaks the language in question, and that acts as the carrier of the culture. The role and importance of the course books used in teaching Turkish and English as foreign languages were questioned in this study, and the Gazi Turkish Teaching Set for Foreigners for A1-A2, B1-B2 levels and the New Headway Beginner, Elementary, Pre-Intermediate, Intermediate course books were analyzed and evaluated according to certain criteria. As a result of the analyses and evaluations, it was observed that Gazi Turkish Teaching Set course books included more elements of the Turkish culture, and New Headway course books included mostly universal cultural elements. In conclusion, it is possible to claim that there is not a balanced distribution between the local cultural elements and universal cultural elements in the course books prepared by the Turkish and English authors; and for this reason, these course books have missing points in the acquisition process of the cultural awareness by students.