CULTURAL REPRESENTATION IN AN INDONESIAN SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH TEXTBOOK: APPRAISAL EVIDENCE

BUKTI APPRAISAL

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22460/eltin.v14i2.p489-501

Keywords:

Appraisal Theory, Cultural Elements, Cultural Representation, EFL Textbook, Indonesian English Education

Abstract

English textbooks not only organize linguistic input but also select, value, and circulate cultural meanings. This study examines how cultural representation is constructed through cultural elements, appraisal resources, and cultural sources in three reading-related units of Pathway to English 1 for SMA/MA Grade X (K-Merdeka Revisi): Amazing Athletes, Healthy Foods, and Open the World Through Stories. Using qualitative content analysis supported by descriptive statistics and chi-square goodness-of-fit tests, the study integrates three analytical layers: cultural elements, appraisal aspects, and cultural sources. The corpus consists of 343 cultural-element codes, 226 appraisal codes, and 380 cultural-source codes. The findings show that Cultural Artefacts are the most visible element (34.11%), Appreciation is the dominant appraisal resource (48.23%), and International Culture (41.58%) slightly exceeds Source Culture (38.16%), while Target Culture is less visible (20.26%). These distributions indicate that the textbook constructs culture through visible products, positive valuation, and a local–global orientation. The study contributes a visibility–valuation–positioning model for textbook analysis and suggests that teachers should connect artefacts with practices, values, histories, and critical comparison.

Author Biography

Elih Sutisna Yanto, Universitas Singaperbangsa Karawang

Elih Sutisna Yanto is a board member of the Exploratory Practice Indonesian Community (EPiC) and faculty member of teacher training and education at Universitas Singaperbangsa Karawang, Indonesia. His research interests are language teacher professional development, Systemic Functional Linguistics in language education, and qualitative research in ELT.

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Published

2026-09-02

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Vol. 14 No. 2 (2026): VOLUME 14, ISSUE 2, OCTOBER 2026

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