Abstract :
Local Culture in Pictures Contained in English Textbooks: An Analysis of Illustrations in English Textbooks for Primary School Understanding the nature of the relationship between language and culture is essential to the process of learning another language. Since textbooks and pictures are considered as effective teaching and learning aids, the present study is aimed at finding out how local culture is represented in the pictures contained in English textbooks for primary school. The study uses descriptive analysis which is qualitative in nature. Employing visual grammar framework as proposed by Kress and van Leeuwen (2006) and the concept of Culture in Four Dimensions proposed by Adaskou, Britten, and Fahsi (1990), the study analyzes pictures contained in five English textbooks intended for fourth grade of primary school. The study found that the sociological sense of culture is dominating the distinctive occurrences of local culture represented in the pictures. Local culture is represented through family values (e.g. the role of family members, names, leisure activities, clothes, etc). The study also found that the proportion of local culture representation is less than the representation of non-local culture.