VISUAL SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS OF CULTURAL IDENTITY REPRESENTATION OF THAILAND AND INDONESIAN ENGLISH TEXTBOOK FOR SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

Pebriana, Irma Rafika (2025) VISUAL SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS OF CULTURAL IDENTITY REPRESENTATION OF THAILAND AND INDONESIAN ENGLISH TEXTBOOK FOR SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL. Undergraduate thesis, Universitas Islam Negeri Kiai Haji Achmad Siddiq Jember.

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Abstract

English textbooks play an important role in language education. They support language learning and shape students’ views of global cultures. These textbooks often act as cultural mirrors, showing cultural knowledge through text and s, either intentionally or unintentionally. Previous research has mostly examined the language content or written cultural representations within English textbooks. There has been little focus on how visual elements help shape students’ cultural identity, especially in English textbooks published in Southeast Asia.
This study aims to find out the cultural categories represented in the Thailand and Indonesia English textbooks. Beside that, to describe the ways how cultural representation was portrayed in Thailand and Indonesia English textbooks viewed from Pierce’s triadic model of signs. These research objectives were take from researh questions, including: 1) What cultural representation are found in the Thailand and Indonesia English textbooks? ; 2) How is each cultural representation portrayed in the Thailand and Indonesia English Textbook?
The study adopts a qualitative descriptive approach, employing visual semiotic analysis grounded in Charles Sanders Peirce’s triadic model (representmant, object, interpretant) and Cortazzi and Jin’s cultural categories: source, target, and international cultures. The data consist of figures and symbols from selected chapters that reflect cultural themes. Each visual element was analyzed and classified into cultural categories, followed by a semiotic interpretation by Pierce to uncover deeper cultural meanings.
This study finds that English textbooks from Thailand and Indonesia mostly show their own culture through visual elements. The English textbooks focus on cultural landmarks, festivals, traditional food, and famous people from their countries, making the source culture very clear to learners. However, there is very little content about the target culture (English-speaking countries) and international cultures. This means students do not get enough chance to learn about different cultures outside their own. In conclusion, the results show a strong focus on students’ own culture while the representation of other cultures is limited. Future English textbooks should present a balanced mix of cultural representations to foster students’ intercultural communicative competence (ICC). This ensures students not only learn the language effectively but also gain insights into diverse cultural perspectives in a globalized context.

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