International Journal of English Linguistics; Vol. 12, No. 1; 2022 ISSN 1923-869X E-ISSN 1923-8703 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education 154 Raising Students’ Cultural Awareness and Developing Their Intercultural Communicative Competence: The Case of the Greek State Primary School EFL Textbooks Zoumi Iakovina 1 & Ioannis D. Karras 2&3 1 English language and Literature, M.Ed. in TEIL/TEFL, Kostos-Paros, 84400 Greece 2 Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics & Intercultural Communication, Dept. of Foreign Languages, Translation and Interpreting, Ionian University, Greece 3 Deputy Director, Module Coordinator & Tutor on the TEIL/TEFL Master’s Programme, Hellenic Open University, Asklipios Building (1st Floor) Corfu. 49100, Greece Correspondence: Zoumi Iakovina, English language and Literature, M.Ed. in TEIL/TEFL, Kostos-Paros, 84400 Greece. E-mail: ziakovina@yahoo.gr Received: September 23, 2021 Accepted: November 23, 2021 Online Published: December 21, 2021 doi:10.5539/ijel.v12n1p154 URL: https://doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v12n1p154 Abstract The present study focuses on the critical evaluation of the cultural content incorporated in the 5th and 6th grade English textbooks, which are taught in the Greek state primary school. Given that we are living in the era of increasing globalization, it is deemed essential that aspects of diverse cultures should be reflected in the English textbooks, thus enabling contemporary EFL learners to master the ability to use the English language efficiently in their intercultural interactions regardless of their socio-cultural background. The research findings succinctly reveal that the vast majority of state EFL teachers in Greece are fervent proponents of an intercultural approach in their teaching practices. However, they are not reliant on the prescribed textbooks under scrutiny for promoting the intercultural dimension in their educational methodology, since their cultural input is assessed as deficient and inadequate for dynamic intercultural instruction. Keywords: language and culture, intercultural awareness, intercultural communicative competence, intercultural education, intercultural values, textbook evaluation 1. Introduction It is an established reality that the modern world is regarded as a ‘global village’ (Kramsch, 1987) composed of increasingly heterogeneous societies with members featuring diverse cultural attributes, lifestyles, beliefs, values, attitudes and behavioral conventions. More specifically, the ongoing merging of cultures has radically altered the homogeneous, monolingual and monocultural societal profile into a multilingual and multicultural one, which is ascribed to the advent of globalization and the massive influx/inflow of immigrants and refugees (Gogonas, 2010). In Greece, this situation is presently mirrored in the school population, as students of diverse linguistic and national or ethnic background co-exist carrying different cultural ‘baggage’ that, in essence, reflects their cultural identity traits (Lytra, 2008). In light of these developments, a shift towards an intercultural stance is discernible in the Greek EFL educational context as a derivative of the dramatic societal changes and the impact of multiculturalism delineated. In effect, the last two versions of the Greek National EFL Curriculum, namely the CTCF (Note 1) (2003-2015) and the IFLC (Note 2) (2016), ratify an intercultural outlook in ELT (Anastasiadou, 2015) and they emphatically stress the significance of raising the young learners’ awareness of cultural and linguistic pluralism. In this sense, they both advocate a transnational perspective that breeds a spirit of embracement of multicultural identity and promotes global citizenship (Karras, 2021; Penderi, 2018). Accordingly, this research seeks to establish the position of ‘culture teaching’ as implemented through the English language medium in the fifth and sixth grade of a six-grade system in a Greek primary school context. It is expected that light will be shed on the teachers’ intercultural philosophy when it comes to creating the students’ cultural awareness (CA) and cultivating their intercultural communicative competence (ICC) skills. Most