Shallow Environmentalism: A Preliminary Eco-Critical Discourse Analysis of Secondary School English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Texts in China

Abstract

The school textbooks have been a useful site for inquiry into ways environmentalism is communicated. Rooted in the dominant social value of exploiting nature to satisfy human desire, shallow environmentalism treats environmental and ecological destruction by addressing immediate physical symptoms but refuses to reflect critically on the underlying cultural, political, and ideological matters. This study presents an eco-critical discourse analysis of five series of state-sanctioned English as foreign language textbooks currently used in China to discover whether and how shallow environmentalism is represented in these materials. Shallow environmentalism was analyzed as taking three forms: the first, obscuring human agency in environmental destruction; the second, overusing linear problem-solution discourse patterns; and the third, positively portraying the Chinese government's role in environmental protection. A document study of these materials found that their purpose in exploring environmental topics mainly functioned to raise awareness of environmental issues rather than encourage real active participation and transformational practice.