ABSTRACT
This chapter examines a series of new English textbooks that have been developed for use in Vietnamese schools in the context of the NFLP 2020 aiming at renovating teaching practices and cultivating students’ abilities to communicate effectively in intercultural situations. The aim of the study is to identify the extent to which the new textbook series enables teachers to achieve the aim of developing competent intercultural speakers. The findings indicate that despite an attempt to globalise their cultural contents, the books do not provide students with opportunities to critically engage with the materials for deep-level intercultural learning. The books also tend to present a static view of culture, which may lead to generalisations and stereotypical assumptions, thus unhelpful in fostering critical cultural awareness and respect for diversity. We argue that in order to use the books effectively to facilitate students’ intercultural skills, teachers should be guided in how to evaluate and customise the books to reflect current thinking in ELT and intercultural language teaching, and to suit their teaching contexts. To this end, greater autonomy should be given to them in terms of textbook modification and adaptation.
