Antagonism between western and Islamic cultures in Iranian English textbooks

Porta Linguarum 37, January 2022 63-88 63 Antagonism between western and Islamic cultures in Iranian English textbooks Dara tafazoLi Kieran egan University of Newcastle, Australia Received: 18 May 2021 / Accepted: 28 January 2022 DOI: https://doi.org/10.30827/portalin.vi37.21243 ISSN paper edition: 1697-7467, ISSN digital edition: 2695-8244 ABSTRACT: Due to its worldwide usage, the necessity of teaching the English language is undeniable even in Islamic and religious countries like Iran. However, in order to avoid ‘cultural invasion’, the Iranian government decided to ban teaching English in the official curriculum of primary schools and asked a team of experts chosen by the Organization for Educational Research and Planning to design localized English textbooks for students in K12. Thus, in response to curriculum changes and the vital role of textbooks in language education, a plethora of Iranian scholars quantitively investigated the locally designed textbooks in language education focusing on objectives, content, culture, gender representation, and improvement of students’ language skills. However, the previous literature does not consider the role of visual content in transmitting the target language culture. Thus, in this study, we investigated the cultural references and cultural dimensions of visual content representation in two series of English language textbooks called ‘English for Schools’ (Prospect 1-3 and Vision 1-3). Due to the nature of the study, we applied qualitative visual content analysis for grouping and categorizing data. The analysis of the visual content of the textbooks revealed that the utmost portion of all six books has been devoted to the source culture of Iran, and the focus on aesthetic dimension had been exaggerated. Also, great attention has been paid to the semantic dimension, especially the Islamic ideology. The findings revealed the hegemony of Islamic cultures and ideology in English textbooks which is opposed to the vital role of teaching culture as the fifth language skill in language education. Key words: Western culture, Islamic ideology, Islamic culture, Iranian English textbook, culture representation. Antagonismo entre las culturas occidental e islámicas en libros de texto de inglés iraníes RESUMEN: Debido a su uso en todo el mundo, la necesidad de enseñar la lengua inglesa es innegable incluso en países islámicos y religiosos como Irán. Sin embargo, para evitar la “invasión cultural”, el gobierno iraní decidió prohibir la enseñanza del inglés en el plan de estudios oficial de las escuelas primarias y pidió a un equipo de expertos elegidos por la Organización para la Investigación y la Planificación Educativa que diseñara libros de texto de inglés localizados para los alumnos de K12. Así, en respuesta a los cambios en el plan de estudios y al papel vital de los libros de texto en la enseñanza de idiomas, una gran cantidad de estudiosos iraníes investigaron cuantitativamente los libros de texto diseñados localmente en la enseñanza de idiomas, centrándose en los objetivos, el contenido, la cultura, la representación de género y Porta Linguarum Nº 37, January 2022 64 la mejora de las habilidades lingüísticas de los estudiantes. Sin embargo, la literatura anterior no tiene en cuenta el papel del contenido visual en la transmisión de la cultura de la lengua meta. Por lo tanto, en este estudio, investigamos las referencias culturales y las dimensiones culturales de la representación del contenido visual en dos series de libros de texto en inglés llamados “Inglés para escuelas” (Prospect 1-3 y Vision 1-3). Debido a la naturaleza del estudio, aplicamos un análisis de contenido visual cualitativo para agrupar y categorizar los datos. El análisis del contenido visual de los libros de texto reveló que la mayor parte de los seis libros se ha dedicado a la cultura de origen de Irán, y se había exagerado el enfoque en la dimensión estética. Además, se ha prestado gran atención a la dimensión semántica, especialmente a la ideología islámica.Los resultados revelaron la hegemonía de las culturas y la ideología islámicas en los libros de texto de inglés, lo que se opone al papel vital de la enseñanza de la cultura como quinta competencia lingüística en la enseñanza de idiomas. Palabras clave Cultura occidental, ideología islámica, cultura islámica, libro de texto iraní en inglés, representación de la cultura. 1. INTRodUCTIoN: ENglISh AS A FoREIgN lANgUAgE IN IRAN Iran (formerly known as Persia), with an almost 83 million population in 2020, is a multiethnic, multicultural, and multilingual country located in Western Asia (also called the Middle East). English (as an International language) and Arabic (the language of the Quran) are the two compulsory foreign languages in the Iranian education system. Political attitudes and foreign affairs issues such as having no official diplomatic relations with the US, English language being referred to as an ‘enemy language’ have resulted in the Ministry of Education officially banning teaching English in the official curriculum of government and non-government primary schools as of 2018 (Strauss, 2018). Furthermore, educational policymakers planned to promote other foreign languages like Russian, Chinese, German, Spanish, and French in preference over English. This new law was based on Iran’s Supreme Leader’s, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, concerns over speaking English that leads to ‘cultural invasion’ due to early exposure to the English language. Meanwhile, the Supreme Leader believes that this new law is not against foreign language learning, but it is against developing a ‘foreign culture.’ Despite the recent governmental decision about foreign language education, English still is the most popular foreign language in Iran. Many middle- and upper-middle-class families enroll their children from an earlier age in extra-curricular English courses in private language schools with more fashionable policies and pedagogies to language learning to provide a better professional and academic future for their children. However, the situation is quite different in public schools. The K-12 education is supervised by the Ministry of Education and included in the first mandatory six years (primary school from ages 7-12) and second six years (high school from 13-18). The literacy rate in Iran is 97% for both girls and boys, which is the highest rate of literacy in the Middle East. In order to get admission to higher education, each student should attend a national entrance examination called ‘Konkoor’ after high school. English and Arabic are among the key modules for all fields of study (e.g., medical and engineering) in ‘Konkoor.’ Among five Dara Tafazoli, Kieran egan Antagonism between western and islamic cultures in iranian... 65 ‘Konkoors’ in Iran, one of them is called ‘Specialized Language Konkoor’, which deals with those students who want to continue their studies in one of the foreign language university programs in English (focused on literature, translation studies, and language teaching), German, French, Russian, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, and Italian (focused on target language literature). The medium of instruction in the mentioned programs is the target language. In Iranian public schools, formal English education has been conducted through two locally written series of textbooks titled ‘English Book 1-4’, ‘Graded English’ and ‘Right Path to English’ which have been used to teach for more than 27 years since the Islamic revolution in 1979. A newly designed and revised English textbook attempts to prevent the potential damages of Western cultures to Iranian national identity and Islamic ideology. However, this series of English textbooks failed to promote a universal understanding of the English language, and also failed to act as a medium to familiarize students with English spoken/written arts, science, and literature, and develop students’ oral skills (Farrokhi & Saadi, 2013; Rahimi & Hassani, 2012; Yarmohammadi, 2002). Moreover, many scholars argued that these textbooks did not cover the cultural aspects of language education (Aliakbari, 2004; Khajavy & Abbasian, 2011; Yarmohammadi, 2002), and are not based on the common core features of the EFL/ESL textbooks (Ansary & Babaii, 2002; Jahangard, 2007). This failure made the Ministry of Education shift the national EFL curriculum from traditional approaches to communicative one. One of the main changes in this regard was to design and develop new English language textbooks. In 2013-2014, the Iranian Ministry of Education, in cooperation with the Organization of Educational Research and Planning, introduced a series of English language textbooks called ‘English for Schools’ (Prospect 1-3 and Vision 1-3). The Prospect is designed for year 7 to 9 students (published in 2014-2015), and the Vision is for year 10 to 12 students (published between 2016 to 2018). After around 40 years since the emergence of the communicative approach in the 1970s, English for Schools is compiled by a group of Iranian language experts that aimed to develop Iranian English students’ communicative competence. The series starts with the English alphabet, and lessons are developed in a way to engages students’ all four skills (listening, speaking, reading comprehension, and writing) and integrate themes and functions in each unit. Although in the Introduction section of the series, the authors claimed that the localized English textbooks tried to improve students’ communicative skills, this appears to conflict with the evaluation criteria of ‘Konkoor’ which is based on vocabulary, grammar, and reading comprehension, and on a format which inherently restricts teachers’ ability to teach through Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). Further investigation reveals that this series follows traditional teacher-centered approaches (Audio-Lingual Method (ALM) and Grammar-Translation Method (GTM)) to language education, focusing on memorization of vocabularies and grammar. 2. TEAChINg CUlTURE IN lANgUAgE EdUCATIoN ThRoUgh TExTBookS Although providing a specific definition of ‘culture’ would be an arduous task, culture can be defined in people’s language, literature, religion, foods, values, opinions, morals, attitudes, beliefs, social behaviors and norms, arts, and worldview, to name a few, which Porta Linguarum Nº 37, January 2022 66 make that people and country ‘unique.’ Language is considered as an axiom in defining a culture which is not a culture by itself, but it echoes cultural patterns. Thus, the relationship between language and culture has become a trend from the early scholars’ investigations (Quine, 1980; Sapir, 1962; Wittgenstein, 1980) to recent ones (Garcia et al., 2017; Grosjean, 2019; Kroon & Swanenberg, 2019; Nieto, 2018; Silverstein, 2016). Many scholars (See Brown, 1994; Jiang, 2000) believe that language and culture are intricately interwoven and separating them is impossible. Wei (2005) also stated that language acts as a carrier of culture. In this vein and with a focus on language education, many researchers affirmed that language teaching is culture teaching (Gao, 2006) and language teachers are culture teachers (Wang, 2008). The necessity of teaching culture is more emphasized more acutely through the paradigm shift from linguistic competence to communicative competence in language education. Rajabi and Ketabi (2012) believed that teaching culture should be at the heart of language education which stimulates communicative competence that leads to successful language learning. Apart from extreme attitudes in the communicative period of language education which focused on acculturation and exaggerated the role of the native speaker as the mere elements of success (Bex, 1994), many scholars pinpointed intercultural competence as a requirement for English as a worldwide lingua franca and an International Language (Aleptkin, 2002; Kachru, 1986; McKay, 2004). Also, in English language education, due to the international position of the English language and the status of a globalized world, Tomalin (2008) highlighted culture as the fifth language skill, in addition to listening, speaking, reading comprehension, and writing. He also added that language education should include teaching target language a) cultural knowledge, b) cultural values, c) cultural behaviour, and d) cultural skills, which emphasizes the significant role of culture in language education. The fifth language skill makes the learner competent in the target language society to cope with people’s beliefs, values, and norms (Abbasian & Biria, 2017). Thus, in order to function successfully in socio-cultural contexts (Halliday, 1975) and real-life situations, learners should utilize social rules of language use which need awareness of the target language social context. However, the fundamental issues in teaching culture in language education are “how should culture be taught?” (Fleet, 2006. p. 5), how can culture be incorporated “into foreign language classrooms in terms of fostering learners’ cultural awareness and communicating insights into the target language?” (Wang, 2008, p. 3), and what kinds of content should be included in teaching materials? As one of the primary sources of knowledge, the textbook plays a key role in language education. Thus, one of the leading research areas in teaching material evaluation is investigating the place of culture in instructional materials (e.g., textbooks). One fundamental way to make a sound decision about the effectiveness of the materials is through textbook evaluation (Masuhara et al., 2008). Also, as no textbook can be perfect, textbook evaluation can be a help in specifying the suitability of the textbooks. A mounting body of research has been conducted worldwide to understand the role of culture in language textbooks (Jalalian Daghigh & Rahim, 2020; Keles & Yazan, 2020; Lee & Li, 2019; Nguyen et al., 2019; Rashidi & Meihami, 2016; Song, 2019; Tajeddin & Pakzadian, 2020; Toledo-Sandoval, 2020). The textbooks can act as the authentic source of cultural elements in addition to linguistic and topical contents and are assumed as significant mediators in conveying intercultural information to target language learners (Shin et al., 2011). Thus, it can be said that one of Dara Tafazoli, Kieran egan Antagonism between western and islamic cultures in iranian... 67 the primary purposes of English language textbooks is to enable English language learners to function well in English communities in both linguistic and cultural acts. One of the enablers of effective communication in the target language is familiarity with the sociopragmatic aspect of language (Abbasian & Biria, 2017). Therefore, it would be important for these teaching materials to meet language learners’ needs by providing them with suitable textual, audio, and visual content based on national and international cultural elements that prevent communication misunderstandings. However, one of the main controversies of including or excluding culture is about incorporating target, local, or international cultural materials in the textbooks. Moreover, many non-English speaking countries (e.g., Iran) tried to design and develop their own local textbooks to fulfill the local cultural and pedagogical needs. A plethora of Iranian scholars investigated the current locally designed textbooks in language education focusing on objectives (Malahi & Afraz, 2019; Rahpeyma & Khoshnood, 2015), content (Alimorad, 2015; Khanshir & Mahammadifard, 2015), task types (Papi, 2015), gender representation (Dahmardeh & Kim, 2020), students and teachers’ attitudes and perspectives (Aghazadeh, 2015; Ahmadi & Derakhshan, 2015; Arabloo, 2015), and on improving students’ language skills (Asakereh et al., 2019; Malahi & Afraz, 2019). Focusing on culture, Abbasian and Biria’s (2017) content analysis of the Prospect 1-3 textual content showed that the series is aimed to familiarize language learners with their own culture through artificial and manipulated context. Also, little attention has been paid to international culture, and no attention to target culture in the textual content. In line with these findings, Khajavi and Abbasian’s (2011) attempt to investigate cultural patterns of the Iranian English textbooks revealed the incompatibility of textual content to get students familiar with national and international cultural points. In another study, Gholami Pasand and Ghasemi (2018) explored the representation of the cultural points in Prospects 1-3 and tried to find out the role of textbooks in developing Iranian learners’ intercultural competence through content analysis. This study’s results revealed the narrow range of cultural representation in terms of topics and very limited role of intercultural elements in the textual contents. In a recent quantitative study, Gheitasi et al. (2020) investigated the most frequent cultural references and cultural sense represented in the Vision series. The findings of this study on textual context indicated that Persian (L1) culture is considered as the source culture. Furthermore, regarding the represented cultural sense, the aesthetic sense of culture is the most frequent sense followed by semantic, sociological, and sociopragmatic senses, respectively. We observed that the cultural evaluation of the EFL textbooks to see to what extent they fulfill the learners’ expectations and needs is a must, especially in contexts like Iran where due to lack of social interactions with English speakers and having no exposure to target language cultural and social life, textbooks act as the sole source of knowledge. Moreover, we assume that due to some restrictions (e.g., politics and ideology), many controversial topics are avoided by scholars who evaluated the Iranian English textbooks. In other words, designing textbooks is a challenge for each country as textbooks are “sociocultural materials, institutionally sanctioned and ideologically embedded” due to the “politics of identity” (Curdt-Christiansen & Weninger, 2015, p.1), which might affect the trustworthiness of previous evaluations. Another critical issue that encourages us to do this evaluation is the lack of qualitative cultural assessment of visual elements of Iranian English textbooks since their publication. Thus, in this study, we aimed to investigate the representation of English Porta Linguarum Nº 37, January 2022 68 language culture in two series of Iranian locally written English language textbooks through photos. We have formulated the following research questions: RQ1: What cultures (source/target/international) are represented in the visual content of the Iranian English textbooks, and to what extent? RQ2: How is cultural dimension portrayed visual contexts in the Iranian English textbooks? Aesthetic, sociological, semantic, or sociolinguistic (pragmatic)? To meet the end of the study, we applied two frameworks of Adaskou et al. (1990) and Cortazzi and Jin (1999). Adaskou and his colleagues (1990) categorized culture in four categories of aesthetic (e.g., literature, cinema, media, and music), sociological (e.g., family, home life, customs, and interpersonal relations), semantic (e.g., time, colors, and emotional states), and sociolinguistic (pragmatic) (e.g., social and paralinguistic skills, politeness, and obligations) senses. According to Cortazzi and Jin (1999), the representation of target language culture in EFL textbooks can be categorized into a) ‘Target cultural materials’ which are mostly hinged on the United States and/or the United Kingdom and they are criticized “for their cultural monopolization and profitability” (Abbasian & Biria, 2017, p. 53). b) ‘Local cultural materials’, which is a specific-country textbook focused on language learner’s culture aimed to introduce national culture and identity instead of equipping language learners to be sociopragmatically competent. c) ‘International cultural materials’ which follow worldwide cultures rooted in both English and non-English speaking countries. 3. METhod 3.1. Qualitative Visual Content Analysis To meet the end of the study, we have applied a qualitative visual content analysis, the steps of which are shown in Figure 1. The visual content, all images in the corpus, was assumed as the source of data in this study due to its richness in providing cultural information. Recently, the importance of visual content and its interpretation has been identified in research methodology (Bohnsack, 2008; Gotschi et al., 2008; Hao et al., 2016; Taylor, 2002). Banks (2007) believed that it would be easy to access visual contents, and “they might reveal some insight that was not accessible by any other means” (p. 4); therefore, the writers use visual contents in their books. Hao et al. (2016) highlighted the role of studies on visual culture as a controversial and fashionable interdisciplinary domain. They also point out the connection between content analysis and the interpretation of visual content. Content analysis alludes to putting a valid and replicable interpretation on meaningful content (Krippendorff, 2004), which is not necessarily should be textual content and can appear in the forms of visual, digital, or physical content (Altheide, 1996; Merriam, 2009). Moreover, due to the nature of the study and to have clear instructions for grouping and categorizing data (Cohen et al., 2018), we decided to use content analysis to analyze cultural representation through images. The qualitative visual content analysis as a means helps us to interpret the meanings hidden in images. The qualitative content analysis goes beyond quantitative content analysis, which focuses only on quantifiable data and fails to Dara Tafazoli, Kieran egan Antagonism between western and islamic cultures in iranian... 69 reveal implicit information (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005). Rose (2001) confirmed visual content classification into certain groups based on the same specified features. In order to group and categorize data and provide descriptions of visual images incorporated in the corpus, the coding categories were based on “local information and cultural expression” (Hao et al., 2016, p.205), the first author who has taught English in Iran for more than eight years invited another teacher in Iran who is MA holder in English Language Teaching and has seven years of experience as an English teacher in the Ministry of Education categorizing images based on a manual matrix of cultural aesthetic, sociological, semantic, and sociolinguistic (pragmatic) senses (Adaskou et al., 1990) and target, local, and international cultural materials (Cortazzi & Jin, 1999). At this stage, we followed Rose’s (2001) suggestions on having a ‘critical pedagogy’ of interpreting visual contents through a) taking images seriously, b) considering the social conditions, and c) considering how to look at the images. After categorizing the data based on the mentioned principles and in order to maintain consistency and validity, the first author discussed the findings with the second author, who is rooted in the target culture in order to employ multiple coding and interrater checking. In the end, the coded data was compared to obtain consistency and interrater reliability. 7 Figure 1. The Qualitative Visual Content Analysis Method Cycle 3.2. The Corpus The corpus of this study included all visual contents of Prospect 1-3 and Vision 1-3 textbook series that is the source of English language at the Iranian public junior (Prospect series) and senior high school (Vision series) system. All the investigated books are the latest edition published in the 2020-2021 academic year. Prospect 1 (8th edition) includes 88 pages, eight lessons, four review sections, and a photo dictionary at the end of the book. Prospect 2 (7th edition) consists of 96 pages, seven lessons, three review sections, and a photo dictionary at the end of the book. Prospect 3 (6th edition) includes 136 pages, six lessons, three review sections, and a photo dictionary at the end of the book. Vision 1 (5th edition) consists of 128 pages, Vision 2 (4th edition) includes 112 pages, and Vision 3 (3rd edition) consists of 104 pages, and all of the books in this series consist of three lessons and a review section at the end of each lesson. 4. RESULTS The study's first aim is to find out the represented cultures (source/target/international) in the Iranian English textbooks. The analysis of the visual content of the textbooks revealed that the utmost portion of all six books has been devoted to the source culture of Iran (i.e., Persian or Iranian). In contrast, the international culture has obtained scant attention, and the target culture has almost received no attention in the visual content of these Iranian English textbooks. Finding the gap Formulating the RQs Choosing the method Choosing the corpus Developing the protocol Extracting data Data coding and categorizing Analyzing findings Figure 1. The Qualitative Visual Content Analysis Method Cycle Porta Linguarum Nº 37, January 2022 70 3.2. The Corpus The corpus of this study included all visual contents of Prospect 1-3 and Vision 1-3 textbook series that is the source of English language at the Iranian public junior (Prospect series) and senior high school (Vision series) system. All the investigated books are the latest edition published in the 2020-2021 academic year. Prospect 1 (8th edition) includes 88 pages, eight lessons, four review sections, and a photo dictionary at the end of the book. Prospect 2 (7th edition) consists of 96 pages, seven lessons, three review sections, and a photo dictionary at the end of the book. Prospect 3 (6th edition) includes 136 pages, six lessons, three review sections, and a photo dictionary at the end of the book. Vision 1 (5th edition) consists of 128 pages, Vision 2 (4th edition) includes 112 pages, and Vision 3 (3rd edition) consists of 104 pages, and all of the books in this series consist of three lessons and a review section at the end of each lesson. 4. FINdINgS The study’s first aim is to find out the represented cultures (source/target/international) in the Iranian English textbooks. The analysis of the visual content of the textbooks revealed that the utmost portion of all six books has been devoted to the source culture of Iran (i.e., Persian or Iranian). In contrast, the international culture has obtained scant attention, and the target culture has almost received no attention in the visual content of these Iranian English textbooks. During the course of investigating how cultural dimension is portrayed in visual contexts in the Iranian English textbooks (i.e., aesthetic, sociological, semantic, or sociolinguistic (pragmatic)), the visual content analysis showed that the focus on aesthetic dimension had been exaggerated. Also, great attention has been paid to the semantic dimension, especially the Islamic ideology. However, the absence of sociological and sociolinguistic dimensions is remarkable in the visual content of the Iranian English textbooks. 4.1. Prospect Series (Books 1-3) In the Prospect series, the aesthetic dimension received the highest level of attention in reference to the source, the target, and the international cultures. Concerning the source cultural content, in the Prospect series, as presented in Tables 1-3 (Appendix), the aesthetic sense or dimension appeared in the forms of Iranian nationality (e.g., the flag of Iran and Persian language), Iranian art (e.g., local clothes and crafts), Iranian poets (Hafez’s book), Iranian scientists (e.g., Ibn Sina (Avicenna) and Dr. Majid Samii), Iranian athletes (e.g., Siamand Rahman and Noshad Alamian), Iranian festivals (e.g., Fajir International Film Festival and Roshd Art & Culture International Festival for Educational Film), Iranian food (e.g., kebab and Sangak bread), tourist places (Eram Garden in Shiraz, Milad Tower in Tehran, Chehel Sotoun Palace in Isfahan, Damavand Mountain, and Persepolis in Marvdasht,), geography (e.g., map of Iran), sports (Iran men’s national football team, Iran women’s national futsal team, and Azadi Sport Complex), and media (e.g., images referring to IRIB – Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting and a war movie). Dara Tafazoli, Kieran egan Antagonism between western and islamic cultures in iranian... 71 Moreover, from the international culture perspective, the aesthetic dimension is represented through international scientists (e.g., Dr. Louis Pasteur), sports (e.g., football, basketball, and track and field), geography (e.g., map of the world, Asia, Europe, Africa, and many countries around the world), tourism (e.g., a mosque in Turkey, and the Great Wall of China), and sports (Bayern Munich Football Club jersey). Surprisingly, a rare representation of aesthetic sense has appeared through geography (e.g., maps of North America and Australia), nationality (e.g., the flag of Australia and Ireland), and tourism (e.g., London double-decker bus). From the semantic sense point of view, Islamic ideology grabs the primary attention. The Islamic ideology is vastly represented in the forms of the Quran, Ayatollah Khomeini and Khamenei’s photos, hijab, mosque, and Imam Reza Holy Shrine in Mashhad. However, some symbols like chafieh (a special scarf of the Basij Resistance Force) and helmet (a symbol of martyrs) show the presence of the Islamic doctrine in Iranian English textbooks. In this vein, the images of some special ceremonies such as the anniversary protest for the Islamic Revolution (22nd of Bahman) and the commemoration day of the 13th of Aban (Pupil Day) support the significance of the Islamic ideology by the material developers of this series. The non-Islamic aspects of semantic sense in source culture have also appeared in the forms of national identity (e.g., Haft-Seen, Yalda Night, and national anthem), Iranian calendar, and public law enforcement (e.g., police). However, notably the semantic sense in international culture is presented in images of a calendar and church, and in target culture through the images of an American soldier in the US-Iraq war and the US police officer. As mentioned above, in this series, little attention has paid to sociological and sociolinguistic (pragmatic) senses (Tables 1-3 in Appendix). Social values (e.g., interpersonal relations and family), ethical values (e.g., donation, charity, helping others, caring of parents and elderly people, respecting other people, and voluntary works), and situations (e.g., classroom, library, school, airport, and office) are the only representations of sociological sense. In the international culture, several situations of a hotel, bank, library, metro, restaurant, zoo, tennis court, train station, money exchange, and drug store are presented. Also, the material condition is represented in the form of unknown foreign notes and currency in international culture, and ‘Lego’ and the US Dollar (currency) for the target culture. Also, the rare presence of sociolinguistic (pragmatic) sense is represented in greetings (e.g., shaking hands) and politeness (e.g., getting permission before speaking). Surprisingly, no evidence of this sense is presented in either international or target cultures in this series. 4.2. Vision Series (Books 1-3) Similar to the Prospect series, the attention of Vision series’ material developers was on the aesthetic dimension more than other dimensions, especially in reference to the source culture. However, the international culture has received a little more attention in this series (see Tables 4-6 in Appendix). 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The representation of cultural references and dimensions in Prospect 1 Aesthetic sense Sociological sense Semantic sense Sociolinguistic (pragmatic) sense Source culture Iranian nationality: Flag of Iran; Persian language Iranian art: Local clothes (folklore) Food: Kebab; Sangak bread Tourism: Eram Garden in Shiraz; Milad Tower in Tehran Geography: Map of Iran Sports: Iran men’s national football team Social values: Interpersonal relations; Family Situation: Classroom; Library; School; Office Islamic ideology: Ayatollah Khomeini’s photo; Ayatollah Khomeini’s photo; Quran; Hijab; Mosque; Chafieh; Imam Reza holly shrine in Mashhad Public law enforcement: Police Iranian calendar Greetings: Shaking hand Politeness: Getting permission before speaking International culture Sports: Football; Basketball Situation: Hotel; Bank Calendar Target culture Material conditions: Lego Dara Tafazoli, Kieran egan Antagonism between western and islamic cultures in iranian... 81 Table 2. The representation of cultural references and dimensions in Prospect 2 Aesthetic sense Sociological sense Semantic sense Sociolinguistic (pragmatic) sense Source culture Iranian scientists: Ibn Sina (Avicenna); Dr. Mohammad Gharib; Dr. Majid Samii Iranian athlete: Siamand Rahman; Noshad Alamian Iranian nationality: Flag of Iran; Persian language Iranian arts: Museum Tourism: Chehel Sotoun Palace in Isfahan; Damavand Mountain; Persepolis in Marvdasht; Gonbad-e Qabus; Old bazaar; Village Geography: Map of Iran Sports: Iran women’s national futsal team; Azadi Sport Complex Social values: Interpersonal relations Situations: Classroom; School; Airport Islamic ideology: Ayatollah Khomeini’s photo; Quran; Hijab; Mosque; A photo of a rohani; Imam Reza holly shrine in Mashhad Porta Linguarum Nº 37, January 2022 82 International culture Scientists: Dr. Louis Pasteur Geography: Map of world, Asia, Europe, Africa, China, South America, Italy, Iraq, India, Egypt, Japan, and Indonesia Sports: Basketball; Jogging; Football; Riding bicycle; Horse riding; Ping-pong; Tennis; Chess; Badminton Situations: Library; Metro; Restaurant; Zoo; Bank; Tennis court; Train station; Drug store Non-Islamic ideology: Church Target culture Geography: Map of North America and Australia Dara Tafazoli, Kieran egan Antagonism between western and islamic cultures in iranian... 83 Table 3. The representation of cultural references and dimensions in Prospect 3 Aesthetic sense Sociological sense Semantic sense Sociolinguistic (pragmatic) sense Source culture Iranian poets: Hafez’s book Iranian nationality: Flag of Iran; Persian language Iranian arts: Crafts; Local clothes (folklore) Iranian festivals: Fajir International Film Festival; Roshd Art & Culture International Festival for Educational Films Iranian food: Sangak bread Tourism: - Shiraz Geography: - Map of Iran Sports: - Iran men’s national football team Media: Referring to a war movie; Referring to IRIB (Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting) Social values: Interpersonal relations; Family Ethical values: Donation; Charity; Helping others; Caring of parents and elderly people; Respecting other people; Voluntary works Situations: Classroom; School; Lab; Airport; Bank; Bus station; Bakery; Cinema Islamic ideology: Ayatollah Khomeini’s photo; Quran; Ayatollah Khamenei’s photo; Hijab; Mosque; Protest for regime; Martyr’s symbol; Pupil day (Aban 13) protest; Islamic revolution anniversary protest; Imam Reza holly shrine in Mashhad National identity: Haft seen; Yalda Night; Nature Day; National anthem Public law enforcement: Police Porta Linguarum Nº 37, January 2022 84 International culture Nationality: Flag of Japan, Germany, Spain, Brazil, Syria, Turkey, Finland, Sweden, Korea, Argentina, Belgium, Portugal, Russia, France, Switzerland, Norway, Croatia, and few unknow flags Tourism: A mosque in Turkey; The Great Wall of China Sports: Bayern Munich Football Club jersey Material conditions: Unknow foreign notes (currency) Situation: Money exchange Target culture Nationality: Flag of Australia and Ireland Tourism: London doubledecker bus Material conditions: The US Dollar (currency) Public law enforcement and war: An American soldier in Iraq war; The US police officer Dara Tafazoli, Kieran egan Antagonism between western and islamic cultures in iranian... 85 Table 4. The representation of cultural references and dimensions in Vision 1 Aesthetic sense Sociological sense Semantic sense Sociolinguistic (pragmatic) sense Source culture Iranian scientists: Ibn Sina (Avicenna); Razi - Khaje Nasir al-Din Tusi Iranian wildlife: Iranian cheetah; Persian leopards; Persian zebra Iranian poets: Parvin Etesami’s Divan Iranian nationality: Iranian passport; Persian language Tourism: Eram Garden in Shiraz; Damavand Mountain; Milad Tower in Tehran; Gahar Lake in Doroud; Azadi Tower in Tehran; Persepolis in Marvdasht; Si-o-se Pol in Isfahan; Shah Cheragh Mosque in Shiraz; Ancient wind towers in Yazd Geography: Map of Iran Situations: Classroom; Park Islamic ideology: Ayatollah Khomeini’s photo; Allah symbol; Hijab; Mosque; Pilgrims; Nuclear energy martyrs; Kaaba in Mecca, KSA; Imam Reza holly shrine in Mashhad Iranian calendar Porta Linguarum Nº 37, January 2022 86 International culture Tourism: Taj Mahal in India; Iguazu Falls in South America; The Nile River in Africa; A castle in Japan; The Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy; The Colosseum in Rome; Eiffel Tower in Paris; The Egyptian Pyramids; Mosque- Cathedral of Cordoba in Spain Ceremonies: Bullfighting in Spain Geography: Map of Africa and world Ethical values: Helping the injured animals; Saving the tress Signs: No swimming sign Target culture Ethical values: Helping the injured animals (Australia bushfires) Dara Tafazoli, Kieran egan Antagonism between western and islamic cultures in iranian... 87 Table 5. The representation of cultural references and dimensions in Vision 2 Aesthetic sense Sociological sense Semantic sense Sociolinguistic (pragmatic) sense Source culture Iranian arts: Museum; Calligraphy; Carpet; Pottery; Tilework; Crafts; Rug; Painting; Craftsman and craftswoman with local clothes Iranian festivals: Fajr Film Festival ticket Tourism: Mountain climber sculpture in Darband; Old bazaar Sports: Iran men’s national volleyball team Daily life: Food store Social values: Interpersonal relations; Friendship Situations: Classroom; School Islamic ideology: Ayatollah Khomeini’s photo; Allah symbol; Hijab International culture Geography: Map of Asia and world Signs: Traffic signs; No fishing; No smoking; No parking; Turn off your mobile phone sign; Keep off the grass sign; Parking sign Languages: Sign language Target culture