Multicultural Values Analysis of Vocational High School Efl Textbook

Abstract

This study examined what multicultural values are represented in vocational high school English textbook for Grade 10th published by the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia by using visual semiotics of Roland Barthes. The study was expected to give enlightenment towards the discussion of multicultural values needed in English teaching and learning process for the students, the teachers, and the next researchers in the future. The study analysed visual images that provide information about multicultural values in vocational high school EFL textbooks by using visual semiotics of Roland Barthes that has two layers in visual semiotics’ layering of meaning: denotation and connotation. This study used both layer to analyze the multicultural values represented in the images provided in the EFL textbook used in vocational high school, in order to reveal what and how the image represents the ideas and values in it. The main reason for analysing the multicultural values in the textbook is because images tend to provide rich and accurate information about the cultural values. The findings show that there are four categories of multicultural values represented in the EFL textbook through 15 images out of 81 images. Those multicultural values are appreciating other people’s cultural products (AOPCP), appreciating women’s equal rights (AWER), appreciating other people’s perspectives (AOPP), and respecting other people’s traditions (ROPT). Apart from the representation of multicultural values, the images provided in the EFL textbook also portrays socio-cultural phenomena in Indonesia and interpret real-life conditions of school communities in Indonesia that based on population’s heterogeneity. In which gives a chance for the students to enhance their Intercultural Communication Competence (ICC) by starting to appreciate cultural diversity and to accept racial and religious tolerance around them. Other than that, the active role from English teachers to provide various additional activities related to the pictures given in the textbook, such as role-play, case studies, and problem solving are important in enhancing students multicultural awareness and improving their ICC.