Managing Character (Homo)Sexuality in English Language Teaching Textbooks: An Ethnographic Discourse Analysis of the Production of a Local Series in Uruguay

This study is an attempt to explore the frequency of pragmatic content occurrence represented as three speech acts of requesting, refusing, and apologizing in global and local English Language Teaching (ELT) textbooks. Three global elementary ELT textbooks, namely Interchange, Top Notch, and American English File along with the local elementary textbooks of Iran Language Institute (ILI) Series, were examined for their pragmatic content. To analyze the pragmatic content of these textbooks, the researchers used three different frameworks. The results indicated that while both global and local ELT textbooks shared a sufficient number of speech acts of request and refusal, they failed to pay enough attention to the speech act of apology regarding its frequency and the strategies through which it is performed. To sum, the findings of this study highlight the differences in the frequency of different speech acts and the strategies used to perform them in global and local elementary ELT textbooks, which bear some implications for ELT textbook developers and language instructors.

This sociolinguistic study sets out to critically examine the way modals in prescribed English language teaching (ELT) textbooks in the English and French sub-systems of education in Cameroon convey conviction that potentially influences the attitudes of learners towards nature protection and degradation. More specifically, it looks into the opaque ways through which modals exude conviction in environment texts in Cameroonian ELT textbooks, and how this conviction affects communication regarding the protection of the natural world in diverse contexts. The work was corpus-based and was undertaken within the theoretical framework of Ecolinguistics propounded by Stibbe (2015). A mixed-methods approach was used in this research endeavour for the analysis of the collected data. The analysis reveals concerning trends. The results show that the modals deployed significantly exude low conviction in the environment texts, with the modal “can” dominating with 52.8%. Comparing newly prescribed and previously prescribed ELT textbooks in Cameroon, it clearly stands out that conviction levels remain stagnant, or decline, in the newer ELT textbooks. The findings hint that environment texts in ELT textbooks in Cameroon do not sufficiently achieve their purpose as recommended by the Competency-based Approach which anchors the country’s educational systems, and which requires connecting learners to their daily realities through classroom knowledge, and equipping them with contextual knowledge that aims at permitting them to resolve real-life situations. The prevalence of low conviction modals suggests that ELT textbooks in Cameroon may inadvertently hinder environmental conscientisation, thereby emphasising the need for linguistically informed textbook designers to promote effective environmental education.

Textbooks are considered a crucial pedagogical component in foreign language teaching and learning contexts. However, analyses of the representation of prototypical patterns in the vocabulary input contained in English language teaching (ELT) textbooks have been scarce since, to the best of our knowledge, no prototypical word lists have yet been produced. This study is primarily intended to reveal whether word prototypicality is represented in two EFL learners’ ELT textbooks differing in age and course level, focusing on the 50 most frequent content words and then elaborating preliminary prototypical word lists based on the classification used in the semantic approaches proposed by Dixon (2005) and Viberg (1984). The findings revealed evidence of prototypicality in both textbooks despite the differences in their intended ages and course levels. The results also showed that, according to the type of content words found in each ELT material, there were differences and similarities related to the prototypical terms between the two books. Moreover, prototypical content words referring to concrete and abstract nouns and perception verbs were more common than other types of content words. Furthermore, the findings also indicated that verbs were the most prototypical content words found in both ELT textbooks. This research has two main significant educational implications. The first involves studying semantic prototypes in the EFL learners’ ELT textbooks, which would bring novel and more specific insights into the role prototypical words might play in vocabulary learning in formal contexts. The second refers to how word prototypicality in the vocabulary input of ELT textbooks might be analysed with the use of prototypical content word lists.

Cultural imbalance in English Language Teaching (ELT) textbooks remains a major concern in Indonesia’s EFL contexts. Many government-endorsed ELT textbooks often emphasize local culture while neglecting global perspectives, which can hinder the development of students' Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC). To address this issue, this study examines the representation of multicultural values in Pathway to English for tenth-graders, a non-government-endorsed ELT textbook. Using Moran's (2001) five cultural dimensions and Fairclough’s (1995) Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) framework, the findings reveal that the textbook reflects three values: appreciating other people’s cultural products (AOPCP), respecting other people’s communities (ROPC), and appreciating other people’s practices (AOPP). However, the textbook lacks representations of cultural perspectives and figures. While it introduces international cultures, the content focuses heavily on cultural products, limiting opportunities to fully develop students' ICC. These results suggest that more balanced and comprehensive cultural content is essential in ELT textbooks to support the holistic development of students' ICC in a globalized world.

This study examines the representation of healthy food discourse in English Language Teaching (ELT) textbooks, addressing the intersection of language education and nutritional awareness. As ELT materials play a crucial role in shaping learners’ linguistic and cultural knowledge, understanding how they present health-related content is vital. The research aims to analyze the explicit and implicit messages about healthy eating in ELT textbooks, evaluate the integration of nutritional information with language learning objectives, and explore potential cultural biases in food representation. Employing a qualitative approach, this study utilizes critical discourse analysis to examine ELT textbooks Bahasa Inggris: Work in Progress untuk SMA/SMK/MA Kelas X published in 2022 by Indonesian ministry of education. The methodology involves systematic content identification and multi-layered discourse analysis. The findings reveal varied approaches to healthy food representation, cultural disparities in nutritional content, and the extent of alignment between food-related discourse and current health guidelines. The implications of this research could inform future ELT material development, enhancing the integration of health literacy within language education. This study contributes to the growing field of content-based language instruction and provides insights into the broader sociocultural impacts of ELT materials on learners’ health awareness. In the end, an activity is proposed for students to experience a vibrant sample of ELT materials on food and health that are discussed throughout the article.

The confluence of the creativity components in the ELT textbooks of inner, outer, and expanding circle countries: An investment theory of creativity

The aims of this study is to investigate the experiences of 12 Makassar University lecturers lecturers in planning and writing their English language teaching (ELT) textbooks. The results of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) revealed that, despite a number of pedagogical issues and challenges, these lecturers had a positive attitude toward writing their ELT textbooks, as revealed by an in-depth semi-structured individual interview (IDI) and a focus group discussion (FGD). They believed that creating teaching resources for their classes would not only help them meet their students' linguistic demands, but would also improve their lecturing experience. This article argues that writing a textbook for classroom use is a form of pedagogical reflective practice for lecturers that allows them to provide their students with appropriate activities and lessons for effective language teaching and learning, drawing on Tomlinson's notion of the importance of personalizing and localizing ELT textbooks to maximize students' learning. The findings' ramifications are addressed, and recommendations are made.

The use of internationally and locally published English Language Teaching (ELT) textbooks is crucial to aiding in teaching and learning. However, choosing the right textbook or developing one has been known to be a challenging task. Various frameworks have, therefore, been proposed by different researchers to outline the criteria that should be taken into consideration in the process of developing, selecting, and evaluating ELT textbooks. These criteria would be the main focus of this study to improve language programmes in Malaysia. This study aims to determine the criteria that make a good ELT textbook based on the perception of seven ESL secondary school teachers in Malaysia. Face-to-face interviews have been administered to collect data, which are analysed through thematic analysis. The findings of this study have revealed eleven criteria that are deemed crucial for a good ELT textbook, which include Culture and Cultural Introduction. These eleven criteria should be taken into consideration for the selection and evaluation of ELT textbooks, as well as to develop or to supplement the existing frameworks, primarily in the teaching of English as a second language in Malaysia.

Many countries in the global south, including Malaysia, have turned to neoliberalism to support their economic growth. Malaysia’s neoliberal policies have led to rapid economic growth and rising income, increasing the society’s tendencies towards consumerism. The limited number of studies on neoliberalism in the content of English language teaching (ELT) textbooks all seem to agree that neoliberalism is a foreign ideology imported into non-western learning contexts through textbooks. Taking into consideration the adoption of capitalist policies and its impact on society, and inspired by critical pedagogy, the current chapter will present an investigation of traces of consumerism in locally developed Malaysian secondary school ELT textbooks. While Malaysia strives to achieve sustainable growth, it attempts to ensure fair and equitable distribution across income groups. To achieve this, the aspiration of the Ministry of Education is to align the beliefs of Malaysia’s future citizens with the concept of fairness and equitable distribution through education. The promotion of consumerism might put this at risk, as consumerism adds to social inequality, among other negative impacts on society. The result of the study can be used to make suggestions for a critical review of the ELT textbooks used in Malaysia, a global south country that has been under the influence of neoliberalism.KeywordsNeoliberalismConsumerismELT textbooksCritical pedagogyDiscourse analysisMalaysian context

As in many countries, English textbooks are key elements in language teaching in Turkish schools. Because Türkiye does not have an English-speaking environment, English can only be learned in the classroom using English Language Teaching (ELT) textbooks and their accompanying materials. Therefore, a systematic and rigorous approach is needed when analyzing ELT textbooks in order to help students learn the language effectively. This study critically analyzes a local ELT textbook, widely utilized in Turkish schools, to identify its effectiveness and assess its alignment with pedagogical principles and national curriculum standards. Using a descriptive qualitative research design, a representative chapter of the textbook was analyzed for task design, cognitive engagement, interaction types, and content variety. The findings reveal a structured approach to language instruction, emphasizing written tasks and non-fictional content, but with significant limitations in fostering oral communication, learner autonomy, and high-level critical thinking skills. Recommendations for improvement include integrating useful content and increasing collaborative tasks to improve language learning. This study provides insights for enhancing ELT materials in Türkiye.

Character education (CE) is essential in developing students' personalities. In character development, English Language Teaching (ELT) textbooks have a vital role in supporting character education. However, ELT textbooks published in Indonesia and abroad underrepresent the characters that fulfill the curriculum goals of CE. Based on previous research that had been conducted in Indonesia, English textbooks in the 2013 curriculum were not representative of Indonesian culture and showed character gaps in the textbooks. Therefore, this research investigated CE in the English textbook based on the emancipated curriculum. This study analyzed the ELT textbook for the seventh-grade junior high school in the current curriculum called “English for Nusantara” by utilizing the Pancasila Student Profile to analyze CE. Content analysis by Ary et al. (2010) was selected as an analysis method for analyzing CE through visual materials. The results show that there are character gaps presented in ELT textbooks. The characters of having Faith fear of the Almighty God and noble character are more dominant in the textbook. This provides an opportunity for future researchers to examine CE by investigating diverse research objects so that CE can be conveyed relevantly.

The plurality of the use, users, and forms of English has prompted Global Englishes scholars to advocate the need for English language curricula to more accurately reflect the current sociolinguistic landscape of English and the intercultural nature of contemporary communicative exchanges. However, the scarcity of teaching materials has been identified as one of the key barriers to achieving meaningful change, leading to observations that the impact of Global Englishes on English language teaching (ELT) textbook design has been minimal. This paper challenges this perception via presentation of preliminary findings of a qualitative research project investigating a Cambodian secondary school ELT textbook. Analyses of textbook features reveal concrete instances of efforts undertaken by the textbook editors to steer the book away from privileging native speakers' lingua‐cultural norms. Findings reveal a non‐deficit portrayal of a diverse range of English speakers, exposure to more than a single variety of the English accent, minimal involvement of inner circle English speakers in the interactions between textbook characters, and a reduced reliance on Anglo‐centric cultural references. The voices of the editors are amplified in this study to further help justify the rationale behind the inclusions as well as exclusions, which are often missing in ELT textbook research.

Neoliberal ideologies, evidenced in locally developed and internationally published imported English Language Teaching (ELT) textbooks, are compared in the context of Malaysia, an outer circle country. Historically, locally developed ELT textbooks have been used to teach English but recently imported books have been prescribed following the adoption of the Common European Framework Reference (CEFR). This move has met with criticisms from many who are concerned with the culture and ideologies reproduced in imported texts. The current study addresses this concern through the thematic content analysis of locally developed and imported textbooks used in Malaysian classrooms. It is found that the neoliberal values demonstrated in imported textbooks outweigh those in locally published ones. This necessitates a critical reading of imported ELT textbooks by local educational authorities before they are prescribed for use. This is particularly important in outer- and expanding-circle countries where local cultural values and beliefs may be different from the Western, neoliberal values reproduced in imported materials.

The early Sino-Western contact was through the way in which religion and language interact to produce language contact. However, research on this contact is relatively limited to date, particularly in the realm of English language materials. In fact, there is a paucity of research on Western religions in English Language Teaching (ELT) textbooks. By applying corpus linguistics as a tool and the Critical Discourse Analysis as the theoretical framework, this manuscript critically investigates the significant semantic domains in ten English language textbook series that are officially approved and are widely used in Chinese universities. The findings suggest that various Western religious beliefs, which are the highly unusual topics in previous Chinese ELT textbooks, are represented in the textbook corpus. The results also show that when presenting the views and attitudes toward Western religious beliefs, these textbooks have adopted an eclectic approach to the material selection. Surprisingly, positive semantic prosody surrounding the concept of religion is evident and no consistent negative authorial stance toward religion is captured. Atheism has been assumed to be in the center of Chinese intellectual traditions and the essence of the Constitution of the Chinese Communist Party. Interestingly, the findings from this study provide a new understanding of Chinese foreign language textbooks in the new era, and its addition to the literature on the study of ELT textbooks, as well as its development worldwide.

This paper, from the perspective of language learning as a meaning-making process, presents a critical review of the existing research on how pre-use, in-use, and post-use evaluation has investigated the relationship between English language teaching textbooks’ content and learners’ academic literacy development. The paper shows that previous research on these three types of evaluation examined English language teaching textbooks’ effect on English learners’ academic literacy development in an unprincipled and macro way. The research gap identified in these previous studies calls for an improved textbook evaluation framework that integrates a principled learning theory while simultaneously emphasizing macro-constructs (e.g., context) and micro-linguistic features needed for academic literacy development. To this end, this paper proposes a framework informed by Systemic Functional Linguistics-related constructs (e.g., genre, register, meta-meanings, and lexico-grammar system) to optimize the evaluation of English language teaching textbook content.