<p>This paper examines how aesthetic and anthropologic culture is represented in a few selected textbooks for English and to what degree these representations correspond to the aims of the English course syllabi. Regarding aesthetic culture, the emphasis in the syllabi is on the students using literature as means to an end, mainly to develop certain skills such as an understanding of the English language, or learning about anthropologic culture through aesthetic culture. The aesthetic values of literature as an art form are not promoted or encouraged at all. The selected textbooks correspond to the syllabi on this matter. Concerning anthropologic culture, the emphasis in the syllabi is on ‘difference’. Other cultures are presented as strange and distant from us, and this is something that also can be seen in the selected textbooks. Moreover, in one of the textbooks the students are addressed as future tourists, potentially causing them to view other cultures and places as sights to see and sites to visit, instead of as having intrinsic value.</p>

This paper examines how aesthetic and anthropologic culture is represented in a few selected textbooks for English and to what degree these representations correspond to the aims of the English course syllabi. Regarding aesthetic culture, the emphasis in the syllabi is on the students using literature as means to an end, mainly to develop certain skills such as an understanding of the English language, or learning about anthropologic culture through aesthetic culture. The aesthetic values of literature as an art form are not promoted or encouraged at all. The selected textbooks correspond to the syllabi on this matter. Concerning anthropologic culture, the emphasis in the syllabi is on ‘difference’. Other cultures are presented as strange and distant from us, and this is something that also can be seen in the selected textbooks. Moreover, in one of the textbooks the students are addressed as future tourists, potentially causing them to view other cultures and places as sights to see and sites to visit, instead of as having intrinsic value.