Unit 12: Analysed Activity

This is the final unit in the book and students are expected to have made the following progress: Grammatically, they should be able to communicate in the present, past and future; they should be able to make predictions and use obligation and permission in the present. The lexis focuses on problems and solutions. On completion of Module 12, and indeed the completed textbook, students should be able to use past modal verbs, talk hypothetically about the past, and talk hypothetically about the past and present together.

The activity is a reading and discussion o f five entries on an Internet problem page called 'shareyourdilemmas.com/ Examples o f titles are 'Love online?' 'Can we leave my Mother?' and 'M y mother-in-law has taken over our lives.' There are five hand-drawn images in the activity, each denoting a different part o f life. For example, a house to denote 'Family,' a love heart to denote 'Relationships,' tw o girls talking to denote 'Friendships,' a pile of coins to denote 'Money' and a mortar board to denote 'Careers.'

The cultural context should not be too problematic for most nationalities, and as an introduction to the kinds of letters the students can expect to read in various magazines and Internet forums the activity serves its purpose well. The nature o f the letters may create substantial opportunities fo r debate among students from different cultures. Overall, the letters suggest emotional problems centring on family members or partners. For example, letter 2 features a girl involved with a boy who refuses to let her meet his family due to his strict religious upbringing. Subjects like this may provide an excellent basis for conversation due to different religious beliefs and different cultural expectations

concerning dating practices. This letter leaves the cultural questions quite open to interpretation by not specifying the religion or the background of the couple involved, perhaps leaving the way open fo r considerable cultural debate. In particular, Taiwanese students may find the boy's behavfour understandable, but fo r reasons related to Confucian ethics rather than religion. A situation regarding personal relationships did occur during a classroom observation o f an activity titled, 'Sophie's Dilemma.' See Chapter 5: The Safety o f the Family and Relationship Discussion Inhibitions.

The drawings in the module that are intended to denote Family, Relationships, Friendships, Money, and Careers are quite revealing in their choice o f symbolism. This fits quite closely with the Taiwanese students' need 'Cultural symbols students can relate to;' see Chapter 1: Introduction, and with Kress and van Leeuwen's 'symbolic processes' (2006, p. 105). Family is usually denoted by a detached house. This is somewhat culturally specific, as many Europeans and US people do indeed base their status on their home - the detached property perhaps being the ideal symbol of this status - yet this is not necessarily the case in Taiwan, where the concept of family is based more on its constituent members than on external symbols. However, the textbook, catering to global needs, is depicting a standard culture, and as an indicator of status in Britain this tells the student a good deal about the culture.

'Money', represented by three piles of coins (p. 129), is particularly relevant to the Taiwanese students in that it is a powerful indicator of status. 'Careers', denoted by a university mortar board (p. 129), would be highly indicative o f Taiwanese students' needs to achieve high academic status, as confirmed by Hung and Marjoribanks (2005). All o f these cultural representations are effectively giving students positive impressions about culture in Britain, particularly when it accords with their own. The reason Taiwanese

students may see such representations in a positive way is because they are consistent with students' own cultural values. It could be argued that the textbook is using universal values in order to appeal to as many students as possible, however the virtues of wealth, and the benefits of high-status education are not uniform across all cultures. For example, the accumulation of wealth fo r its own sake is viewed with disdain in some cultures, however, the fact that wealth and education are such key aspects o f all cultures, whether in a positive or a negative way, confirms their importance as discussion topics in the multinational classroom. Looking at the images from the perspective o f metafunctions, the ideational is served well as each object portrayed is representative o f 'aspects o f the world' (Kress and van Leeuwen, 2006, p. 42) that will be familiar to all students, however the nature o f the representation will be defined by several factors, but principally by the students' culture and education. As symbolic representations, the 'meaning and identity' (p. 106) will be apparent, but the depth o f engagement with the symbols may vary.

4.3.4. Summary

In assessing the effectiveness o f this textbook in terms of the specific needs and context of the Taiwanese students, the two analysed units demonstrate a strong sense of community among the textbook characters, portrayed by groups o f people o f all ages and nationalities engaging in positive pursuits in a friendly manner; invariably, being very helpful to one another. This sense o f community may allow students to compare cultures through genuine conversations consistent with those heard in Britain. The textbook also used cultural symbols that students may be able to relate to in their everyday lives in the South-East in order to understand more about culture in Britain. For example, a detached house to denote successful married life, and a block of flats to denote living alone, yet the depth o f understanding the cultural symbols represent may vary across cultures.

The practice of comparing the dialogues in the textbook with "real-life" conversations may, as noted by Dat (2003), be a way fo r the students to compare the validity of the textbook dialogues to conversations practiced outside the classroom. This fits with the Taiwanese students' need for genuine conversations detailed in Chapter 1: Initial Study.