A critical analysis of Vietnam-produced English textbooks for high school students: intercultural and multicultural perspectives

ABSTRACT In the twenty-first century, language users’ communicative competence needs to include a new dimension –intercultural and multicultural literacy – necessary for communication in multilingual and multicultural settings. This article aims to present a study answering the central research question ‘How are interculturalism and multiculturalism reflected in a series of Vietnam-produced English textbooks for high school students?’ In order to answer this question, a cultural content analysis was conducted with the foci on cultural knowledge and skills in intercultural communicative competence. The study found that interculturalism (inclusion of source cultures, international cultures, and target language cultures and of comparisons and contrasts among them) and multiculturalism (ethnic diversity, globalization, mutual understanding, and non-ethnocentrism and non-Western-centrism) are reflected in the textbooks, albeit with certain limitations. The study provides a sample cultural analysis framework and suggestions for English language teaching writers in the Expanding Circle in an era of interculturalism and multiculturalism.