Comparative Study of Socio-Ideological Practices in English Textbooks in Pakistani Context

Abstract

The present study is an effort to examine and compare the way socio-ideological practices are projected in the Oxford English Textbook Grade 5 and the English Textbook 5 published by the Punjab (Pakistan) Textbook Board (PTB) prescribed for the government, semi-government and private schools of the Punjab province. The content analysis was employed to find out the percentages of categories and subcategories of reading passages and exercises of the prescribed English textbooks. Socio-Ideological statements were analyzed through the representation of patriotic values and gender roles in the context of local and foreign EFL textbooks. The research findings and results make it visible from the current instructional materials or prescribed English textbooks that the Oxford English textbook is superficial and shallow with respect to its treatment of the target (Pakistani) culture. The textbook is therefore inadequate to the task of teaching and transmitting socio-ideological practices in the deeper sense. Contrary to it, the PTB English textbook offers a limited ground for learning English at length.