Structural Patterns of Conversational Discourse: Ethiopian EFL Textbooks in Focus

This paper discusses nonsexist guidelines that have been established by publishing houses and some preliminary research on sexism in educational materials. Research (the data are 20 studies conducted between 1975 a.nd 1984) on sexism in foreign language (FL) textbooks is then reviewed and critically compared. It is argued that the relatively sparse and dissimilar body of research identifying and assessing gender role portrayal in FL textbooks underscores the need for more analyses. The unsystematic nature of the research on sexual bias demonstrates the need for a standardized evaluative instrument, so that a data base of similarly analyzed FL textbooks can thus be generated.

ABSTRACTTextbooks are curriculum artefacts that embody particular ideologies and legitimise specific types of knowledge [Apple, M. W. (1982). Education and power. Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul; Apple, M. W., & Christian-Smith, L. K. (1991). The politics of the textbook. In M. W. Apple & L. K. Christian-Smith (Eds.), The politics of the textbook (pp. 1–21). London, NY: Routledge]. As the general public tends to associate them with truth rather than opinion [Meyer, C. J., & Rosenblatt, P. C. (1987). Feminist analysis of family textbooks. Journal of Family Issues, 8(2), 247–252. Retrieved from: http://jfi.sagepub.com/], textbooks can contribute to the circulation of particular representations and stereotypes. In the past decades, there has been an increasing interest in analysing the ways in which textbooks (re)produce representations of history, ethnic groups, minorities and gender differences, to name a few. Foreign language research has focused on the representation of foreign and native culture(s), given that this term has been central in debates in the areas of second and foreign language theories [Weninger, C., & Kiss, T. (2013). Culture in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) textbooks: A semiotic approach. TESOL Quarterly, 47(4), 694–716. Retrieved from http://www.tesol.org/read-and-publish/journals/tesol-quarterly]. Using a qualitative synthesis research approach, this paper analyses a pool of studies on the representation of culture in foreign language textbooks to answer a main question: How do language textbooks represent foreign culture? Findings will contribute to understanding how textbook discourse favours some representations of culture and why it does so. In turn, they may also inform teaching and learning practices, such as the actual use of language textbooks in the classroom, in which teachers’ and students’ agency is undeniable.

This paper analyses the presence of interamerican cultural relations in reading and listening text obtained from a sample of international English as a foreign language (EFL) textbooks and from a sample of international French as a foreign language (FFL) textbooks which are available on American markets. It does so by looking into the frequencies of the texts that contain any of three types of interamerican cultural relations per country, by identifying the pairs that compose each type of relation, by comparing the frequencies of the texts that reflect cultural relations of American countries with American places and with non-American ones and by searching for the instances in which the English language and the French language are instruments that contribute to developing interamerican cultural relations themselves and in connection with the rest of the world. This research arrives at very similar conclusions concerning the data collected from either textbook sample and argues for the need to analyse the amount and types of interamerican cultural content in international EFL and FFL textbooks when choosing to use these textbooks in EFL and FFL programmes for American learners in the American continent and set in American contexts.

The article generalizes and gives critical analysis of the problems of a modern Russian as foreign language (RFL) textbook. Its essential characteristics and functions are revealed. A textbook on Russian as a foreign language reflects the features of Russian language teaching at a certain stage of science development. The important characteristic of all RFL textbooks is the ability to simulate pedagogical process, simplified and at the same time idealized, and to ensure the interaction between the teacher and students. A textbook on Russian as a foreign language structures foreign language material presentation, organizes gradual formation of speech skills and abilities. The textbook realizes the informational function as well. The motivating function of the textbook can be realized in the unity of its external and internal structure. The interrelation of “visual appeal” (paper, font, colourful illustrations, etc.) and clearly structured material presentation with the necessarily generalized and systematized information is presented in a textbook. Practical (communicative) orientation is the essential characteristic of RFL textbook. RFL textbooks realizes a differentiated approach to control and training, i.e. performs the controlling function. A brief description of different generations of textbooks is given. The analysis of scientific and educational literature allows to confirm methodological necessity of creating an encyclopedia for the authors of RFL textbooks. The encyclopedia could sum up fundamental research in teaching foreign languages and Russian as a foreign language.

Foreign language textbooks not only aid language learners in developing their linguistic skills and knowledge but also reshape their cultural identities. Drawing on theories of critical curriculum studies, this paper examines cultural representation in two sets of US-produced Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) textbooks for American college learners at elementary and intermediate proficiency levels. Verbal and visual data comprising text and images were discursively examined with content analysis focusing on the distribution of cultural representations, the selection of cultural content, and the editorial strategies of inclusion and exclusion. Findings indicate that the textbooks skilfully employ eclectic approaches to addressing culturally controversial matters among various Chinese-speaking groups, such as Mainland Han Chinese, Taiwanese and ethnic minorities in China, in line with an overarching pan-Chinese cultural ideology. Implications are derived from the findings for CFL educators and teachers of other culturally contested foreign languages.

This article problematizes current, quantitative approaches to the analysis of culture in foreign language textbooks as objectifying culture, and offers an alternative, semiotic framework that examines texts, images, and tasks as merely engendering particular meanings in the act of semiosis. The authors take as a point of departure developments within the social sciences that have questioned monolithic conceptualizations of culture as well as recent arguments that stress intercultural citizenship and global cultural consciousness as key goals of (foreign) language learning. The authors argue that such transformative pedagogic agendas require a more dynamic understanding of how culture figures in teaching materials and of the processes through which learners engage with those materials. Through excerpts from two English as a foreign language textbooks written by and for Hungarians, the authors illustrate a semiotic analytic approach that underscores two key insights: (1) that learners' meaning making in the classroom tends to be heavily guided and (2) that images and texts, even those with supposed cultural meaning or focus, seem to foster mainly linguistic competence. The article makes the case that images and texts should be harnessed more explicitly to develop a critical and reflexive understanding of culture, self, and other.

This paper revisits the treatment of the expression of futurity in Spanish foreign language (FL) textbooks. We analyzed twenty college-level Spanish FL textbooks to determine and quantify how futurity is represented. Variationist research has shown the periphrastic future (PF) to be the most frequent variant of futurity followed by the simple present (SP) and the morphological future (MF). Our findings reveal that, despite over two decades of communicative language teaching, Spanish FL textbooks still do not completely present the reality of the expression of futurity. Introductory texts present all three variants of futurity. However, there is a dramatic difference in the formal representation of these three variants in intermediate texts. The PF is formally presented in only four of the ten intermediate texts analyzed. Interestingly, all ten intermediate textbooks include a formal section on the MF. From a formal treatment perspective and unlike native speaker usage, the MF continues to be the futurity variant most often presented to learners, followed by the PF, and the SP, respectively.

Growing attention has recently been devoted to gender equality and inclusivity in foreign language education, as emphasized by international guidelines. While many studies have addressed gender stereotyping and male firstness in textbooks, the impact of gender-biased language use, particularly in non-English target languages, remains underexplored. This chapter presents a frequency-based analysis of gender-sensitive language in two Italian as a Foreign Language (IFL) textbook series at A1 and A2 levels, examining strategies such as neutralization, splitting, and regendering across different textbook sections and CEFR levels. Results indicate that gender-sensitive language use is generally limited and inconsistent, with neutralization strategies most frequently employed and greater inclusivity observed in more recent textbooks. These findings lay the foundation for future research on the employment of gender-sensitive strategies in foreign language textbooks with the broader aim of identifying best practices to promote gender equality in future educational materials.

This study addresses the concept of the tradition of foreign language teaching and learning in an attempt to consider the role of the Brazilian Portuguese as a Foreign Language (BPFL) textbook within this tradition. Therefore, based on Bornheim (1987), but also resorting to Titone (1968), Kelly (1969), Leffa (2012), and Dickey (2012), we present our concept of the tradition of foreign language teaching and learning. Thereafter, according to Foucault (1971), we analyze a BPFL textbook published in 1966 and another in 2011, focusing on activities proposed by the textbooks. Lastly, our reflection suggests that both textbooks, as an element of this tradition, turn teachers and students into domesticated subjects of the foreign language pedagogy discourse, and they do not favor language teaching practices, but rather the mechanical repetition of grammatical exercises.

From a critical feminist perspective, women are not fairly represented in English as a foreign language (EFL) textbooks. The unequal representation of women in EFL textbooks potentially affects students’ negative perceptions and misconceptions about gender identity (re)construction. The findings of previous studies on gender issues in language textbooks mostly indicate that they depict gender biases and stereotypes, but some studies reported positive images of women. To continue a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of EFL textbooks from a feminist perspective, the present study looks at visual and textual discourses representing images of women in EFL textbooks in the Indonesian secondary school context. The findings reveal that some gendered discourses expressed by female characters and social actors in the analyzed textbooks support the continuation of gender biases and stereotypes, but some emerging discourses represent constructive images of women. This textual study suggests that as English plays an increasingly important role in a transcultural and post-feminist world, authors of English textbooks must pay attention to the issue of gender in language education.

Based on foreign language textbooks, including Russian, this article discusses the contrasting cognitive attitudes of the authors (the tendency to ethnocentricity and multiculturalism) which determine strategies used to select and structure the textbook content. The article determines, defines, explains and exemplifies the strategies of monoculturalism, biculturalism and multiculturalism typical of languages textbooks which they use to present linguistic, linguocultural and country study information to foreign learners. Monoculturalism strategy is understood as the attempt of text-book authors to depict only the worldview of the country whose language is being studied and to describe the facts and realia belonging to this linguoculture without their comparison with those from other language worldviews; biculturalism strategy is a certain selection and structuring of learning materials when two interrelated cultures, native and foreign, are compared; multiculturalism strategy is based on the comparison of different conceptual and language worldviews and on the attempt of authors to depict relations between different languages and cultures. The article underlines the efficiency of the cognitive strategy of multiculturalism in the development of intercultural communicative competence, which is the target in language learning.
 Keywords: foreign language textbook, textbook in Russian as a foreign language, Russian as a foreign language, monoculturalism, biculturalism, multiculturalism, ethnocentricity

This article presents findings from a study that (a) established a series of criteria for assessing the equity of gender representation in foreign language (FL) textbooks, (b) applied the criteria to a number of Russian-language textbooks in order to compare them on this basis as a case study, and (c) considered the criteria as a basis for the examination of gender representation in FL textbooks in general. The study hypothesized that (a) a series of sound criteria would yield information concerning the equity of gender representation of textbooks examined and demonstrate that recent textbooks were more equitable than textbooks published 10 or 20 years ago, and that (b) textbooks written by women or by a team of authors including at least one woman would be more equitable in terms of gender representation than textbooks written only by men. The analysis identifies areas of greatest inequity in gender representation by examining the data for each criterion across all the textbooks examined.

The content and structure of a foreign language textbook in a high school are characterized in the article. The language textbooks are defined as a tool to develop studentsr communicative learning needs of other countries and people, not only for communication but also for solving certain problems of their own lives. The foreign language textbook enables the teacher to concentrate as much as possible on the quality of teaching material without spending time for searching or creating the necessary teaching materials and handouts.n The article describes the importance of leading scientific approaches to the use of foreign language textbooks of foreign editions. Sociocultural approach, personally oriented approach, communicative approach, competence and integrative approaches are explained and defined. Accordingly, foreign language textbooks focus on communicative units motivated by real situations and needs, prompting a desire to communicate without fear of making a mistake. The communicative orientation of the content of teaching a foreign language in the study of particular topics is reflected through the socio-psychological portrait of the native speakers, and a culture comparison with their own country is shown. The articles explains a foreign language textbook can fully function only if all units are used, forming a system of knowledge, skills, norms and values of a personality adapted to the educational process. It is a mean of modeling relations between student and teacher in the educational process; and a major factor in the intellectual, social and psychological development of the individuality. It contributes, through its methodological basis, to the implementation of the sociocultural approach of content material; adherence to a person-oriented and communicative and competence approach in learning a foreign language; promotes cross-curricular coordination and integration of foreign language knowledge in different socio-cultural fields.

Relating visual images to textual messages may have great potential in facilitating students’ reading comprehension. The inevitable and important presence of visuals in textbooks obliges language teachers to exploit all semiotic resources to deepen students’ understanding. However, analysis of how images interact with text in textbooks has been rare, and among the efforts it has generally been found that visuals and text often fail to achieve coherence. This study investigateswhetherandhowtext and image complement each other ideationally (i.e., the “what”) by six sense relations (e.g., synonymy and hyponymy) and interpersonally (i.e., reader engagement) by the Mood system in ninth-grade English as a Foreign Language (EFL) textbooks to reach intersemiotic complementarity (IC). The results revealed that ideational rather than interpersonal IC is more frequent, where many more Participants (i.e., the nominal groups) than Processes (i.e., the verbal groups) in the texts find their visual complements. Ideational IC is particularly high in Information Reports while Recounts generally mark higher percentages of interpersonal IC. To accomplish ideational IC, repetition is most frequent, followed by hyponymy (i.e., general-specific relation) and collocation (i.e., relations that naturally co-occur). Distinct IC patterns also characterize the different editions of textbooks investigated, which may suggest their different potentials in catering to students of varying proficiencies.

This article introduces a new analytical approach to the study of identity options offered in foreign and second language textbooks. This approach, grounded in poststructuralist theory and critical discourse analysis, is applied to 2 popular beginning Russian textbooks. Two sets of identity options are examined in the study: imagined learners (targeted implicitly by the texts) and imagined interlocutors (invoked explicitly). It is argued that, while one text, Russian Stage 1, offers a richer variety of identity options for the students, neither book fully reflects the diversity of contemporary Russian society. The biases and oversimplifications identified in the texts represent lost opportunities for cross-cultural reflection; they may also negatively affect the students and deprive them of important means of self-representation and at times even self-defense. The discussion suggests some directions for future research inquiry, as well as for material writing and classroom practice that would promote intercultural competence and critical language awareness. Key words: identity, critical pedagogy, foreign language textbooks, Russian