Abstract:
The present study is a critical discourse analysis of ideological contents related to culture
in Pakistan English language textbooks. It critically examines the following books:
Punjab Textbook Board (henceforth PTB) English textbooks and Oxford University Press
(henceforth OUP) English textbooks. These textbooks are taught in three different types
of schools in the country. The PTB English textbooks are taught in the government Urdu-
medium schools and private non-elite English-medium schools at the secondary level (i.e.
9th and 10th classes/grades), whereas the latter are taught at the same level (i.e. O level) in
some of the elite English-medium schools in Pakistan. The research aims at finding out
the cultural ideologies embedded within the textbooks. The research employs
Fairclough’s (2003) analytical framework of Critical Discourse Analysis (henceforth)
CDA) to explore cultural themes. The analytical categories adapted for analysis of certain
textual issues in this model are: ‘Social Events’, ‘Difference’, ‘Intertexuality’,
‘Assumptions’, ‘Representations of Social Events’ and ‘Styles’. Further analytical
devices
include
Comparison,
Presupposition/Assumption/Implicature,
Contrast,
Foregrounding,
Implication,
Inclusion,
Metaphor,
Identity,
Representation, Attribution, Backgrounding,
Exclusion,
Difference,
Prominence/Reinforcement,
Dialogicality, and Universalization. The purpose of critically analyzing the discourse of
English textbooks is, in fact, threefold:
(a) To find out the implicit as well as explicit ideological messages related to culture,
(b) To see if these ideologies are different in the textbooks of different schools; and
(c) To see how far these ideologies impact upon the learners’ worldviews.
The analysis shows that both the PTB and OUP English textbooks are replete with
cultural ideologies. Moreover, they represent different cultural ideologies which are,
therefore, likely to impart different worldviews to their young readers. In order to
determine this aspect statistically, I constructed a questionnaire related to the major
themes such as gender, jihad etc. The results show that the government and non-elite
schools students (who read PTB textbooks) hold almost identical worldview; whereas
their counterparts from the elite school (who read OUP books) hold different worldview
regarding most of the themes mentioned above. The former ones are more religious,
nationalistic, anti-Hindu, anti-Christians, anti-Israel, and closer to indigenous culture as
compared to the latter ones. As compared to elite school students, they like male
characters more than the females ones. However, so far as the desire for learning English
is concerned, difference is little – mostly the students of all schools disagree with the
abolition of English in the country. The findings of the present study can be useful in a
number of ways. They can be useful in developing new curricula and teaching materials
including textbooks with less nationalistic, religious and gender biases. They can also
help the policy makers, textbook authors and ELT practitioners to realize the politics of
language textbooks, and, thus, seek to establish an egalitarian and symmetrical
educational system.