Hidden curriculum: An analysis of cultural content of the ELT textbooks in inner, outer, and expanding circle countries

Despite the great body of work examining the cultural content of the international and local ELT textbooks, the cultural content and elements of the ELT textbooks in the inner, outer, and expanding circle countries have seldom been reported. That said, the purpose of this study was twofold: first, it was aimed to investigate the cultural content of the ELT textbooks of the inner, outer, and expanding circle countries; and, second, to examine the cultural elements of these ELT textbooks. To that end, three ELT textbook series from inner, outer, and expanding circle countries were selected and analyzed. The results of this study showed that there were differences among the ELT textbooks of different concentric circles. While the ELT textbooks of the inner circle contained more L1 and L2 cultural content, the ELT textbooks of the expanding circle contained more L1 and international cultural content. Moreover, the ELT textbooks of the outer circle showed tendency to contain L1, L2, and international cultural content. With respect to the cultural elements, the inner and outer circle contained more L2 esthetic cultural elements, whereas the expanding circle ELT textbooks tended to represent their cultural elements through L1 esthetic and sociolinguistic cultural senses.