The development of intercultural communicative competence through cultural learning in textbooks

Nowadays we live in an intercultural society and this should imply a revision of the language learning approach. Since a good level of linguistic competence does not guarantee successful communication, many scholars have turned to intercultural communicative competence (ICC), a trend reinforced by the Common European Framework of References for Languages (2001). Textbooks are the most important tool for the foreign language teacher (Sercu, 2000). Thus, it should be analyzed whether books are effective for cultural learning as part of ICC development. Following Paige (1999) and Lee (2009), we have designed an itemized three-category model (Culture in general, "big C" culture" and "small c" culture) to analyze three B2-level English textbooks. Using this model, we have recorded a number of incidences per item and per category in each book, differentiating between productive and receptive skills (speaking, writing, listening and reading). At the end of this paper, the results will be discussed regarding the different textbooks, categories and skills, highlighting the most relevant information in each case.