Khalisah. 2022. A Visual Semiotic Analysis of an Indonesian English Textbook
on Multicultural Values. Thesis. English Education Department, Faculty of
Tarbiyah and Teacher Training, Antasari State Islamic University.
Advisors: (I) Dr. Hj. Nida Mufidah, M. Pd (II) Siti Muflichah, M. Ag., M.
Ed., Ph. D.
Keywords: Visual Semiotic, Visual Artifacts, Cultural Categories, EFL Textbook
This study was aimed to analyze types of cultural categories and cultural
meaning based on visual semiotic of an EFL textbook entitled “Bahasa Inggris
Think Globally Act Locally for Grade Nine (English for Junior High
School/Islamic Junior High School) published by the Ministry of Education and
Culture of the Republic Indonesia.
This study was aimed to analyze types of cultural categories and cultural
meaning based on visual semiotic based on categorization proposed Cortazzi and
Jin (1999) to determine the types of cultural categories, and while to reveal the
cultural meaning, the researcher used visual semiotic theory of Roland Barthes
(1977) that has two layers in visual semiotic: denotation and connotation, this
study used both layer to analyzed the multicultural values represented in Junior
High School through visual artifacts in the textbook. This study used qualitative
research especially content analysis and this study got main data from library
research.
The result of this study showed that 15 out of 52 images provided in
Bahasa Inggris Think Globally Act Locally represent multicultural values in
visual semiotic analysis. Those multicultural values are ROPT (respecting other
people’s traditions), AOPP (appreciating other people’s perspectives), AOPCP
(appreciating other people’s cultural products), and AWER (appreciating
women’s equal rights). Bahasa Inggris Think Globally Act Locally dominantly
presented through Source culture compared to Target culture, International
Culture and Neutral culture and most represented in form of folktales from
Indonesia (Sangkuriang), cloth (Ulos), tools (Angklung, Noken, Payung Geulis)
and in form of Indonesian names of Place (Batak, Sumatera, Jepara and Bali, etc).
These insights gave students opportunities to enhance their intercultural
communication competence (ICC) by appreciating cultural diversity and respect
different culture around them.