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Representing societies in language teaching textbooks

Localized ideologies in language learning materials

ORCiD logo with link | Shanghai International Studies University
ORCiD logo with link | Shanghai International Studies University
ORCiD logo with link | Carleton University
Published online: 26 February 2026
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.26037.mac
Abstract
This introductory article to the special issue on representing societies in language teaching textbooks lays out how to analytically approach the data using multimodal critical discourse analysis. Foremost, it explains that we must place the texts into the socio-political context of the societies where they are produced. Doing such critical multimodal analysis is not about the texts per se, but is concerned rather with their role in the social and political functioning of a particular society at a particular time. This is a form of text analysis which is deeply informed by knowledge of those societies and the political and economic situations where texts are being created and deployed. To illustrate this point, the introduction reviews the classic as well as the contemporary studies of textbooks. It ends by laying out how multimodal critical discourse analysis can be used to understand the operation of textbooks within socio-political processes.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Critical Studies of education and the textbook
  • 3.Critical approaches to language teaching books
  • 4.Textbooks and multimodal critical discourse analysis
  • 5.Outline of the special issue
  • References
References (86)
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