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Representation of social class in Korean ELT materials

A visual analysis

ORCiD logo with link | Carleton University
ORCiD logo with link | Nanyang Technological University
Published online: 4 March 2026
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.26033.smi
Abstract
Within English language textbook (ELT) research, studies across national contexts show that neoliberal ideology pervades the textual and visual content of textbooks. However, little attention has been paid specifically to social class and how its representations fit within the neoliberal discourses of ELT textbooks. In this paper, drawing on multimodal critical discourse analysis, we consider how ELT textbooks in Korea represent social class in their visual content. Contrary to earlier research that highlighted the aspirational worlds depicted in ELT textbooks as uniformly middle-class, we show that both white- and blue-collar occupations are represented, but in way that entirely decontextualize them from labor, social relations, and the broader class structures in which they are embedded. We explain this pattern in the context of English language learning in Korea, its huge success as part of neoliberal reforms, and in the current labor-market.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Neoliberalism and its impact on English language education in Korea
  • 3.Social class and language textbooks
  • 4.Methods
    • 4.1Textbook data
  • 5.Findings
    • 5.1Denotation: Class-based differences in the visual content of images
    • 5.2Connotation: Visual homogenization of social class differences
    • 5.3Decontextualization
    • 5.4Framing
  • 6.Discussion
  • 7.Conclusion
  • References
References (30)
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