The ELT coursebook as cultural artefact: how teachers censor and adapt

This article takes as its starting point a small survey of teachers' attitudes to aspects of cultural content in ELT reading materials. The aim of this exploratory study was to elicit some of the salient issues in teachers' thinking about coursebook cultural content, and to suggest a possible direction for further investigation. The results of the survey identify a number of areas where cultural content is often reshaped (or censored) by teachers. The article concludes by advocating the need to recognize the coursebook's status as cultural artefact, and suggests that critical engagement with cultural content makes both cross-cultural and educational sense.