Content uploaded by Guangwei Hu
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Guangwei Hu on May 20, 2022
Content may be subject to copyright.
Chapter 1
Researching Cultural Knowledge
and Values in English Language
Teaching Textbooks: Representation,
Multimodality, and Stakeholders
Tao Xiong, Dezheng Feng, and Guangwei Hu
Abstract This introductory chapter maps out the field of research on cultural knowl-
edge and values by focusing on three main themes, i.e., representation, multimodality,
and stakeholders. It first overviews the relevant research literature on the represen-
tation of cultural content in English language teaching (ELT) materials with regard
to theoretical rationales, main issues, and methodological orientations. It is argued
that this field is an interdisciplinary project that draws on a number of theoretical and
thematic perspectives such as critical curriculum studies, critical applied linguistics,
cultural politics of English, political economy of textbooks, multilingualism, among
others. Two general methodological orientations are identified, i.e., positivist and
constructivist approaches. The chapter then sketches out the main ideas of chap-
ters in this volume as well as how they relate to each other. It ends by calling for
more innovative and integrative approaches, both conceptual and methodological, to
researching cultural knowledge and values in language teaching materials.
Keywords Cultural knowledge ·ELT textbooks ·Multimodality ·
Representation ·Stakeholders ·Values
T. Xiong (B
)
Center for Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies,
Guangzhou, China
e-mail: txiong@gdufs.edu.cn
D. Feng
Department of English and Communication, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong,
China
G. Hu
Department of English and Communication, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong,
China
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022
T. Xiong et al. (eds.), Cultural Knowledge and Values in English Language
Teaching Materials,https://doi.org/10.1007/978- 981-19- 1935-0_1
1
2 T. Xiong et al.
1 An Overview of Research on Cultural Knowledge
and Values in ELT Textbooks
Language teaching materials in this edited volume refer broadly to anything which
can be used to facilitate the teaching and learning of a language. They come in various
modes such as linguistic, visual, auditory, or kinesthetic and can be presented in print,
electronic, and online forms (Tomlinson, 2013). While the two terms “materials”
and “textbooks” are often used interchangeably, the latter term has been typically
used to refer to the more conventional printed, ready-made, commercial or officially
sanctioned textbooks that constitute a major source of target language and culture
input.
Language textbooks are windows onto the world (Risager, 2021). The cultural
content included in a language textbook is of great importance to learners’ mastery
of the target language, acquisition of cross-cultural communication skills, and devel-
opment of understanding of related cultural knowledge and values. For most bilingual
learners, the language content is the primary vehicle through which they are exposed
to diverse target language and cultural input. Because of the inseparable relationship
between language and culture, the language input inevitably contains various local
and international cultural knowledge about the target language communities and the
learners’ own culture as well. These language and cultural contents, on the one hand,
convey specific knowledge about culture and intercultural communication and, on
the other, also communicate globally and locally relevant cultural values.
Researchers of culture and language textbooks often base their research explic-
itly or implicitly on three basic theoretical rationales: First, as carriers of the school
curriculum, school textbooks, particularly official textbooks, constitute ideological
apparatus that serves to reproduce the ruling class’s dominant culture and knowl-
edge (Apple & Christian-Smith, 1991; Luke, 2015). Second, language textbooks
are sensitive barometers of the prevailing social, cultural, economic, and political
developments of the region in which the textbooks are produced. As curriculum
artifacts, they “register changes in pressure exerted by the prevailing socio-political
climate” (Adamson, 2004, p. 4). Third, informed by the Sapir–Whorfian hypothesis of
linguistic relativism on the subtle relationship between language and culture, culture
learning is seen as an integral part of language learning (Gray, 2010a; Kramsch,
1998; Risager & Chapelle, 2013). The selection of the cultural content in teaching
materials, their modes of presentation, as well as the quality of the design of cultural
teaching have a potential impact on learners’ development of thinking patterns and
value orientations.
Researchers in this field are interested in the cultural, ideological, and moral
aspects of language teaching materials as cultural artifacts, meanings, and processes
that reflect and mediate preferred social and cultural values, norms, and ideologies
(e.g., Beyer & Apple, 1988; Curdt-Christiansen & Weninger, 2015; Dendrinos, 1992;
Gray, 2010a,2010b;Lee&Li,2020; Widodo et al., 2018; Xiong & Yuan, 2018). Seen
from this perspective, English language education is value-laden because ithas rami-
fications for moral and value education (Johnson, 2003) and shapes learners’ cultural
1 Researching Cultural Knowledge and Values … 3
identity (Norton, 2010). These researchers are convinced that social and cultural
knowledge and values in ELT textbooks deserve careful investigation because they
are of great significance for promoting critical cultural awareness, global citizenship,
and ultimately learner emancipation.
Although studies on cultural knowledge and values in ELT textbooks may vary
according to different national and educational contexts and conceptual perspec-
tives, the majority are concerned with tensions between cultural dominance and
cultural diversity. English language learning, on the one hand, affords learners with
cultural capital and investment, and thus gives them power and agency; on the other
hand, the dominant status of the English language has profound cultural, political,
and economic consequences (Canagarajah, 1999; Pennycook, 1994,2001) because
English is the de facto lingua franca for international exchange and has become
a “Trojan horse” of globalization (Birch & Liyanage, 2004) that poses threats for
learners to subsume their ethnolinguistic and ethnocultural identities.
From methodological and epistemological perspectives, it is possible to distin-
guish between a positivist and a constructivist approach to culture in language text-
books, which echoes Risager and Chapelle’s (2013) distinction between modern and
postmodern perspectives on culture in language textbooks. The positivist approach
perceives culture in terms of predetermined cultural facts, categories, and structures
to be discovered and described. Adopting empirical research methods such as quan-
titative content/thematic analysis, this approach is widely used in studies of cultural
representation in language textbooks. This strand of research usually starts with
pre-given theoretical frameworks and categories about culture and relies heavily on
descriptive and quantitative statistics for identifying trends and patterns in textbooks.
This paradigm generally emphasizes methodological transparency and reliability. A
recent case in point has been Lee and Li’s (2020) comparative study of cultural
representations in ELT textbooks of Hong Kong and mainland China. They coded
the textbook data using conceptual frameworks based on Kachru’s (1992) three-
circle model of Englishes and Moran’s (2001) conception of culture, arguing that
the advantage of content analysis would be that “the textual and visual data from the
textbooks selected are permanent, verifiable and replicable” (Lee & Li, 2020, p. 11).
The constructivist approach emphasizes the multiplicity and complexity of culture
as symbolic and discursive processes. It draws heavily on critical social and cultural
theories and/or discourse analytical methods, often takes an interpretative and critical
stance, and addresses issues of cultural reproduction and cultural change. Culture is
seen as a “‘floating signifier’ whose enigma lies less in itself than in the discursive
uses of it to mark social processes where differentiation and condensation seems to
happen almost synchronically” (Bhabha, 1996, p. 55). For example, Gray (2010b),
by taking the critical theoretical view that ELT textbooks are “cultural artifacts” in
which English is made to mean in highly selective ways, investigated how contem-
porary “neo-capitalist” or neoliberal values have been embodied in UK-produced
ELT textbooks. He found a prominent presence of neoliberal ethos such as self-
programmable labor and zero drag that presumably interpolated the readers into the
subject position of white-collar workers and constructed English as a marketable
commodity.
4 T. Xiong et al.
Besides the distinction between positivist and constructivist approaches, another
distinction worthy of attention concerns conceptualizing the language textbook as
a product or a process, or in Weninger’s (2021) terms, textbook as representation
versus textbook as interaction. While most research on the representation of culture
views the textbook as a social and cultural product, an equally important perspec-
tive focuses on the interactive and procedural aspect of textbooks (Canale, 2021;
Harwood, 2010; Weninger, 2021). In this regard, social semiotics can offer valuable
theoretical insights into the interactive aspect of cultural meaning-making in language
textbooks (e.g., Weninger & Kiss, 2013), especially when enriched by more ethno-
graphically oriented methods (Canale, this volume; Harwood, 2014; Smith, 2021b)
that can offer evidence of how teachers and students as key stakeholders negotiate
textbook cultural content and values. We will return to this topic in more detail in
Sect. 4. Section 5sketches out the main content of chapters in this volume as well
as how they relate to each other.
2 Representation of Culture and Values in Language
Teaching Materials
Representation is an essential dimension of studies on culture and language text-
books (Canale, 2021; Weninger, 2021). Concerns in this dimension include ques-
tions such as: What different types of cultural knowledge and values are portrayed
in the textbook? To what degree are certain groups of people, places, communi-
ties, and perspectives represented or underrepresented? What ideological conse-
quences do these representations produce? Researchers who are engaged in this line
of study tend to adopt a broad understanding of culture as generally consisting of a
society’s knowledge and heritage that can take either material or intellectual forms.
For example, a source often cited by these studies is Moran’s (2001) conceptualiza-
tion of culture as consisting of five dimensions: products (e.g., tools, food, clothes),
practices (e.g., verbal and nonverbal language, actions and interactions, taboos),
perspectives (values, beliefs), communities (race, gender, religion, etc.), and persons
(individuals). This classification generally builds on the following definition (p. 24):
Culture is the evolving way of life of a group of persons, consisting of a shared set of practices
associated with a shared set of products, based upon a shared set of perspectives on the world,
and set within specific social contexts.
Representation in language textbooks can be approached from a number of
different perspectives including national studies, citizenship education studies,
cultural studies, postcolonial studies, and transnational studies (Risager, 2021).
Arguably, key to all these theoretical and intellectual strands are issues of cultural
identities and power relations that concern questions such as whether ELT textbooks
give balanced representations to different cultural groups and whether the social
and cultural realities of English, as well as other aspects of the world, have been
adequately represented. Researching these issues gives clues about whether textbook
1 Researching Cultural Knowledge and Values … 5
representations are appropriate for learners’ social, cultural identity construction and
empowerment.
It is possible to distinguish three general thematic and theoretical strands which are
rooted in sociolinguistics, political economy, and citizenship education, respectively.
The first strand pivots on sociolinguistic notions about the status of English, such as
world Englishes (WE) and their three associated “circles” (the Inner Circle, the Outer
Circle, and the Expanded Circle) (Kachru, 1992), English as an international language
(EIL) (Hu & McKay, 2014), and English as a lingua franca (ELF) (Jenkins, 2006).
Through quantitative and qualitative analyses of the cultural content, researchers
have been able to identify patterns of cultural representation in ELT textbooks on the
basis of these conceptual frameworks. Quantitatively, a conclusion which is generally
agreed upon is that a large number of ELT textbooks emphasize the target language
and culture, that is, the Inner Circle represented by Anglo-American culture, with a
limited representation of the use of English and its associated users in other parts of
the world. From a qualitative perspective, various discourse patterns and strategies in
ELT textbooks have been found to consolidate and reproduce cultural stereotypes or
prejudices. In alignment with the perspectives of EIL and ELF, researchers have often
pointed out that cultural presentation in ELT textbooks should be more consistent
with the realities of English language use globally that can be described as being
increasingly multifaceted, translingual, and transcultural. For example, in their study
of the multiculturalism in a Chinese ELT textbook, Hu and McKay (2014) found a
stark imbalance in its representation of cultures. On the one hand, Western contexts,
characters, events, and places predominate; on the other hand, little opportunity is
provided to encourage students to reflect on their own cultural experiences. They
called for a more reflective and dialogic cross-cultural awareness in ELT textbooks.
Such awareness can be strengthened via Kramsch’s (1993) notion of a sphere of
interculturality in which students examine a foreign culture as a way of critically
reflecting on their own culture.
Apart from sociolinguistic perspectives stressing the changing realities of English
and its associated cultural power relations, a second theoretical strand, which is
recently gaining much attention, has been informed by thoughts of political economy
and critique of neoliberalism (Block et al., 2012) that are especially interested in the
form and function of neoliberal discourses and values in ELT textbooks. Neoliber-
alism is a theory of political and economic practices positing that human well-being
can best be advanced by liberating individual entrepreneurship in conditions of strong
private property rights and free markets (Harvey, 2005). This strand is mainly repre-
sented by Gray’s (2010a) critical cultural research on neoliberalism in contemporary
international English textbooks that focuses on traits of new capitalism and its bear-
ings on marketized discourse, promotional culture, brand culture, and so forth. For
example, based on English as a foreign language (EFL) contexts, Bori (2021) found
neoliberal discourse on market competition and individualism in Serbian English
textbooks inappropriate; Xiong and Yuan (2018) also found evidence of neoliberal
discourse in Chinese middle school English textbooks characterized by commodifi-
cation and individualization of ELT as well as the construction of English speakers
as a homogeneous discourse community; Daghigh and Rahim’s (2021) compara-
tive study of local and global ELT textbooks identified similar neoliberal values
6 T. Xiong et al.
such as the advocacy of marketization, free competition, personal enterprising spirit,
consumerism and other lifestyles, though the local textbooks also exhibited some
traits of local culture.
The third strand of research on culture and language in ELT textbooks addresses
issues of global concern and falls broadly into what Risager (2021) referred to as
citizenship education studies. Two themes have attracted sustained scholarly interest:
gender issues and environmental issues. For example, Lee’s (2014) analysis of
Japanese EFL textbooks at the senior high school level revealed common use of
gender-neutral vocabulary and terms of address as well as female invisibility, male
firstness, and stereotypical images. In a recent follow-up study, Lee (2018) exam-
ined the ratio of female-to-male occurrences and gender-sensitive linguistic markers
in Japan’s high school EFL textbooks and found that, in spite of some evidence of
gender equity, the male-first phenomenon is still prevalent. Xiong et al.’s (2017)
study found a similar tendency toward male prevalence in both visual and linguistic
representations. From a conceptual perspective, Sunderland (2010) proposed that
linguistic variations in gender representation be viewed as “tendencies” rather than
“differences” to avoid absolutist stances, which has important implications for future
studies of gender in language textbooks. Researchers generally agree that, in spite
of progress being made, gender representation in language textbooks still deserves
long-term and concerted research efforts for better awareness and improvement of
textbooks.
On the representation of environmental issues in ELT textbooks, Jacobs and
Goatly’s (2000) study of seventeen ELT textbooks in Southeast Asia found a very
low presence of environmental topics. In addition, they noted that student participa-
tion was not found in the majority of environmental content and called for measures
to include more environmentally significant topics as well as to encourage active
participation in environmental protection. Stibbe’s (2004) analysis of Japanese EFL
textbooks identified shallow environmentalism, which was evidenced by a reluctance
to criticize environmentally destructive acts and a preference for offering superficial
solutions. Similarly, Xiong’s (2014) study of environmental discourse in Chinese
EFL textbooks found problems such as obscuring human agency and a reluctance to
encourage readers to take proactive steps for the environment.
While the bulk of research into cultural representation in textbooks focuses on
verbal texts, there has been a growing interest in how the ensemble of different
signs or semiotic modes contributes to more effective communication of cultural
knowledge and meaning. In the next section we will focus on multimodality.
3 Multimodal Analysis of ELT Textbooks
Multimodality is concerned with “the use of several semiotic modes in the design
of a semiotic product or event” (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2001, p. 20). The funda-
mental assumption of multimodal analysis is that “meanings are made, distributed,
received, interpreted and remade in interpretation through many representational and
1 Researching Cultural Knowledge and Values … 7
communicative modes—not just through language—whether as speech or as writ-
ing” (Jewitt, 2009, p. 14). As textbooks and other teaching materials in contem-
porary education are characterized by the prevalence of multimodal resources,
such as cartoons, photographs, and tables, they have been a key research object
in multimodality during the past two decades (e.g., Bezemer & Kress, 2010; Kress,
2003; Unsworth, 2001). Weninger (2021) distinguished between two types of multi-
modal textbook analysis, namely, analyzing how textbooks’ textual visual content
encodes and communicates ideas about the world (i.e., meaning as representation)
and analyzing how multimodal elements in textbooks foster interpersonal relations
between text producers and readers (i.e., meaning as interaction). Different from
Weninger (2021), we categorize the relevant studies into two broad categories: (1)
studies on the multimodal construction of pedagogical knowledge (i.e., textbooks as
a carrier of pedagogical knowledge) and (2) studies on the multimodal representation
of gender, culture, moral values, etc. (i.e., textbooks as value-laden cultural artifacts).
In the following part of this section, we will introduce the main studies in these two
branches.
The first batch of studies was concerned with understanding the role of nonlin-
guistic resources, especially visual images in constructing pedagogical knowledge
and supporting effective learning. An early study by Clarks and Lyons (2004)showed
that visual images can engage students’ attention, reduce cognitive load, and moti-
vate students’ learning. Elmiana (2019) considered visual images as “universal
stimuli that offer a starting point for language-sharing in EFL classroom activities”
(p. 614). Multimodal discourse analysts do not just consider images as “illustrating”
or supporting the text, but as part of the overall meaning ensemble and needing to be
analyzed in themselves. Royce (2007), in analyzing English as a second language
(ESL) textbooks in Japan, suggested that “activities could be organized which involve
the students asking questions of the visuals, and then using their answers to assist
in their reading development” (p. 379). To guide students’ analysis of images in
their textbooks, Heberle (2010) proposed a set of questions based on Kress and van
Leeuwen’s (2006) visual grammar, including: (1) Who are the participants involved,
what are the activities, and what are the settings (representational meaning)? (2)
What is the relationship between the viewer and images as constructed by angle
and distance of representation (interactive meaning)? (3) How are different visual
elements arranged in the visual space (compositional meaning)? (See also Salbego
et al., 2015.) Guo and Feng (2015) conducted a systematic analysis of visual meaning-
making in ELT textbooks in Hong Kong. Also drawing on Kress and van Leeuwen’s
(2006) visual grammar, they investigated the ontogenetic change of the representa-
tional meaning of visual images in textbooks from earlier to later grades, finding
that textbook images change from narrative to conceptual representations in terms
of process, from specific to generic in terms of participant, and from local to global
in terms of settings. They argued that such an ontogenetic change contributes to the
change of knowledge domain from the concrete and commonsensical in the early
years of schooling, to the abstract and counterintuitive in later years of schooling.
Chen (2010a) was concerned with interactive meaning and investigated how multi-
modal resources in EFL textbooks were deployed to enable dialogic engagement
8 T. Xiong et al.
with readers. She identified a range of resources in the textbooks, including illus-
trations, dialogue balloons, incomplete jointly constructed texts, and highlighting,
which enable textbook writers to negotiate meaning with character voice and reader
voice.
The second batch of studies, which are more relevant to this volume, consider
textbooks as cultural artifacts and examine the multimodal construction of various
values such as gender and racial stereotypes, culture, and moral values. This batch of
studies can be further classified into three groups. The first group investigated how
textbooks represent gender stereotypes using linguistic and visual resources (e.g.,
Benattabou, 2021; Lee & Collins, 2010). Lee and Collins (2010) compared recently
published ELT books with those published in the late 1980s and early 1990s in Hong
Kong and found that women were still under-represented in the visual illustrations.
Their analysis also showed that women continued to be represented as weaker than
men and as operating primarily within domestic rather than social domains. Some
studies are explicitly concerned with the visual representation of gender identities.
For example, Mustapha (2015) investigated gender positioning through visual images
in ELT textbooks in Nigeria. His findings suggested that males are represented as
superior in professional contexts, social activities, and handling conflicts, whereas
females are positioned as superior in domestic activities but inferior in the other areas.
Benattabou (2021) analyzed the visual depiction of women and men in EFL textbooks
in Morocco, and found that female characters are associated with submissiveness,
absent-mindedness, socio-psychological vulnerability, and menial jobs. Along this
line of research, Song and Xiong (Chap. 5in this volume) investigated the visual
representation of gender roles in Chinese EFL textbooks.
The second group of studies were concerned with the multimodal representation
of culture in textbooks. Weninger and Kiss (2013) proposed a semiotic approach
which emphasized the “understanding of how culture figures in teaching materials
and of the processes through which learners engage with those materials” through
an explicit analysis of texts and images (p. 694). The multimodal studies of culture
in ELT textbooks can be grouped into those that analyzed the representation of local
and indigenous cultures, and those that focused on the representation of foreign
cultures. For local/indigenous cultures, Brown and Habegger-Conti (2017) examined
the visual representation of indigenous cultures in ELT textbooks in Norwegian
lower secondary schools. Their findings suggested that the textbooks “show a strong
trend to focus on traditional aspects of indigenous people, a tendency to represent
indigenous people in a lower position of power than the viewer, and to distance the
viewer” (p. 16). In terms of the representation of foreign cultures, many studies have
found the dominance of Anglo-American cultures in EFL textbooks. For example,
Yuen (2011) conducted a content analysis of all the texts and images in ELT textbooks
in Hong Kong and found that “the representation favored the cultures of English-
speaking countries, while the cultures of Africa were underrepresented” (p. 458).
Smith’s (2021b) critical multimodal analysis of popular, globally published EFL
textbooks also revealed Inner-Circle favoritism including the dominance of Inner-
Circle perspectives and the silencing and othering of non-Anglo-American cultures.
1 Researching Cultural Knowledge and Values … 9
The third group of studies focused on the multimodal construction of values
and attitudes in textbooks. Chen (2010b) investigated the multimodal enactment of
emotion and attitude education in EFL textbooks in China. She observed a logoge-
netic change from the dominance of positive emotions such as happiness, interest,
and confidence toward English learning, society, and culture in primary school years,
to an institutionalized evaluation of behaviors, social events, and cultural phenomena
by the end of secondary school. Teo and Zhu (2018) analyzed the verbal and visual
resources in EFL textbooks in China and found that they were used to foster posi-
tive emotions and attitudes toward English language learning, China, and foreign
cultures. Feng (2019) developed a social semiotic framework to model what values
are selected and how the values are constructed with multimodal resources in ELT
textbooks in Hong Kong. His analysis showed that the social values changed from
the personal domain (e.g., good hygiene and healthy lifestyle), through the interper-
sonal domain (e.g., politeness and respect), to the altruistic concern for all mankind
from primary to secondary school years. Along this line of research, Xu and Feng
(Chap. 2in this volume) investigate the values infused in business English textbooks
in China.
While research on multimodality has successfully attracted much scholarly atten-
tion in applied linguistics and education mainly due to its theoretical nourishment
from social semiotics and systemic functional linguistics, admittedly, there are bottle-
necks and challenges to overcome. Common critiques are that the majority of multi-
modality papers are limited to only two modes, that is, text and images, and that texts
and images are often treated as separate entities. Our position is that multimodality
needs to be understood in a broad sense as a kind of phenomenon rather than a
specific theory or method. For language teaching materials, the reality is that verbal
language is still the predominant means to construct cultural knowledge and values,
which means content analysis of texts is a prerequisite before embarking on a more
extended analysis of visual semiotics and inter-semiotic relations.
4 Stakeholders
By stakeholders we mean those who have a role to play in the production and
consumption of textbooks. They can be visible or invisible entities or persons such as
publishing houses and their editors, material writers, teachers, and students. In regard
to language textbook publishers and writers, Harwood (2010, p. 18) underscored “the
need for TESOL practitioners and researchers to understand the conditions in which
materials and textbooks are produced.” Teachers and students are also key stake-
holders, and it is recognized that one should not only investigate textbooks as they
are, but also examine textbooks in action or in use (Canale, 2021; Harwood, 2014;
Smith, 2021a; Tomlinson, 2013). Researchers inquiring into stakeholders’ views and
actions in regard to cultural values in language textbooks mainly draw on qualitative
methods such as ethnography (Canale, 2021; Harwood, 2010) and pay close atten-
tion to the process of negotiating cultural values, meanings, and ideologies, which
are important aspects of textbook production and consumption.
10 T. Xiong et al.
In his study of the cooperative textbook compiling project between a major
Chinese education publisher and a team of foreign material writers in the late
1980s and early 1990s, Adamson (2004) revealed extensive negotiations between
the publishers and writers over the pedagogical design of the textbooks. While the
material writers strongly advocated adopting the communicative approach, theyeven-
tually compromised and agreed to an integrated approach that emphasized linguistic
structures and gave attention to only limited communicative-functional features, in
view of the predominant educational culture of rote learning and test preparation.
Liu (2020), a lead editor with the above-mentioned Chinese publisher in this interna-
tional textbook project, characterized the negotiations as reflecting the principle of
using Western methods to serve the practical needs of China. Elsewhere, in his inves-
tigation of the production process of global ELT textbooks in the UK, Gray (2010a)
commented that textbook writing was almost entirely directed by the mandates and
checklists of the publishers. The latter would not hesitate to modify the textbook
content to meet their expectations of political correctness. The role of the publishing
editors can be so strong that it is not exaggerating to say they are the real authors
behind the scenes. The role of the publishers can be even more significant in some
high-context cultures such as China, where the names of textbook authors are some-
times absent from the title page of state-sanctioned ELT textbooks. Authors of these
textbooks, if named, are usually listed on the second or third page of the front matter
as a team led by a few renowned, authoritative figures in the field.
Besides publishers and writers of language textbooks, teachers and students have
also attracted scholarly attention regarding how they engage with the cultural content
and cultural aspects of pedagogy in ELT textbooks. An influential study of students’
and teachers’ responses to textbooks is Canagarajah (1999), who examined how
students reacted to imported ELT textbooks in Bangladesh. He analyzed the glosses
made by Tamil students on the margins of their textbooks and found that, while
the textbook discourses made the students feel alien and incompetent, their own
discourses provided them with confidence and power in their own social and cultural
contexts. This led him to argue that language learning concerns issues of ideological
domination and social conflict and that “teachers should therefore attempt to critically
interrogate the hidden curricula of their courses” (Canagarajah, 1999, p. 14). Else-
where in his eloquently written monograph, Canagarajah (1999, p. 189) presented
observations of how a Tamil university teacher had devised ways of appropriating
or subverting imported ELT textbooks to better suit the learning culture of the local
students. He commented that, while the textbook presented communicative situa-
tions and rules of Anglo-American communities as the model for foreign students,
these values and practices may be irrelevant intheir own culture, which spurred some
teachers to use the situations in the textbook as a springboard for encouraging critical
cultural reflections among the students.
Besides general English programs, researchers have also conducted research in
English for academic purposes (EAP) courses in immigration contexts to explore
similar issues of cultural identity and empowerment of ESL learners. Drawing on
an ethnographic classroom case study, Chun (2016) illustrated how a critical peda-
gogy approach to racialized discourse in EAP materials can provide teachers and
1 Researching Cultural Knowledge and Values … 11
students with opportunities to engage in more active and critical reading “against”
the text instead of reading “with” it. Chun’s call for critical pedagogy approaches
to the unquestioned values in language textbooks has been echoed by Bori’s (2021)
ethnography on how students and teachers reacted to neoliberal discourse in global
ELT textbooks for adults in Serbia. Arguing that global textbooks have become a tool
that neoliberalism uses to reproduce itself, Bori proposed to use critical pedagogy to
enable and enact more contextualized and empowering ELT. In another recent study,
Smith (2021b) demonstrated how two EFL teachers in different Korean universities
negotiated the discourse of global EFL textbook content with their students during
class, arguing that such textbook reflexivity in situ amounts to a kind of rhetorical
accomplishment for more cultural empowerment and less marginalization. It can well
be seen from these studies that a more process-oriented and ethnographic approach
to cultural content in ELT textbooks can offer more in-depth descriptions of the
production and consumption of textbook content.
5 A Summary of Chapters in This Volume
This chapter sketches a general picture of extant research on culture knowledge and
values in ELT materials with special foci on representation, multimodality, and stake-
holders. Chapters 2through 9exhibit several features. First, they share a focus on
multimodality. In this book, multimodality is understood not so much as a specific
theory or method but more of a general phenomenon approachable from different
methodological orientations. Some of the chapters have focused on visual images
either exclusively (Song and Xiong) or on the combination of both images and texts
(Canale and Fernandez; Shi and Lim; Xu and Feng; Xiong and Hu). Such a growing
interest in multimodality can offer a rich perspective on the affordances provided
by textual-visual ensembles, which are characteristic of contemporary ELT text-
books in regard to the teaching of cultural knowledge and values. Methodologically,
these studies have been carried out either by means of (multimodal) content/thematic
analysis based on the quantitative/positive paradigm (Song and Xiong; Shi and Lim)
or discursive/semiotic analysis based on the critical/interpretive paradigm (Xu and
Feng; Xiong and Hu). Second, in a related way, contributors to this volume are paying
more attention to the use of textbook materials by treating them not merely as end
products but as springboards for analyzing the more interactive meaning-making
processes of signification and negotiation. Among the various stakeholders in text-
book production and consumption, several groups of stakeholders receive special
attention in this collection: textbook writers (Canale and Fernandez; Xu and Liu),
teachers (Peng and Xiong), and students (Canale and Fernandez). These studies have
illustrated the complexities of textbook production and consumption and are very
revealing and informative for teachers, researchers, and textbook developers. Third,
although most of the chapters examine English textbooks for general purposes, some
focus on more specialized ELT textbooks, such as business English textbooks (Peng
and Xiong; Xu and Feng). Finally, content/text analysis remains an indispensable
12 T. Xiong et al.
method in textbook research on culture knowledge and values, as exemplified by
Dong and Adamson’s chapter.
Xu and Feng’s multimodal analysis of business English textbooks used in Chinese
universities finds that these textbooks infuse three different types of values—business
values, cultural values, and social values—among which entrepreneurship is the most
often advocated value. Drawing on appraisal theory and social semiotics, they offer
a systematic framework for investigating how values are realized by language and
images. They conclude that the textbooks aim to prepare the students for becoming
future business practitioners with cross-cultural competence and social responsibility.
Xiong and Hu’s chapter, combining theoretical perspectives on evaluation
(Hunston, 2011; Thompson & Hunston, 2001) and multimodal critical discourse anal-
ysis (Ledin & Machin, 2018), proposes a social semiotic approach to values in ELT
textbooks. It highlights the importance of the Problem–Solution pattern as an essen-
tial mediator of values in the EFL textbook. This study also finds that the language of
evaluative lexis and semantic prosodies, as well as facial expressions, contribute to
the evaluative significance of verbally communicated values. The authors argue for
the transformation of the conventional model of “pictures for exercises” to “pictures
for values.”
Shi and Lim’s analysis of English teaching materials focuses on the presentation
of the English language and its speakers as well as the associated cultural values and
ideologies. Using multimodal content analysis to investigate English massive open
online courses (MOOCs) and supporting materials for Chinese college students,
the authors reveal disproportionate distributions of English varieties in the mate-
rials, indicative of privileged and native-speaker norms in regard to the English
language and its speakers. The authors call for more attention to learner identity and
competence.
Song and Xiong explore the visual representation of gender and the underlying
values in a local EFL textbook series and a global series. They find in both textbook
series a moderately smaller proportion of women than men and women’s lower
visibility in the workplace. In general, men in both sets of textbooks account for a
higher proportion, and in many occupations they outnumber women as well. Gender
representation in textbooks is obviously not a new topic, but this study shows that we
still have a long way to go in the pursuit of gender equality for greater social justice.
Adamson and Dong’s chapter investigates cultural representation in two sets of
university English textbooks in China by means of content/textual analysis. They
show that the way cultural values are presented in the textbooks prioritizes national
policy priorities such as advancement of science and technology and economic and
social development. The analysis lends support to Adamson’s (2004) claim that
Chinese foreign language education has been walking a tightrope between pursuing
modernization and maintaining traditional values.
Peng and Xiong report on a multi-case qualitative study conducted to answer the
questions of how teachers engage with cultural knowledge and values in the business
English textbooks examined and what considerations are behind the treatment. They
identify three orientations in engagement with textbooks, that is, language orienta-
tion, issue orientation, and ideology orientation. Their study reveals that teachers’
1 Researching Cultural Knowledge and Values … 13
beliefs and visions of the business English curriculum, the coverage and design
of topics and related activities influence their agency in the enactment and design
of cultural teaching in the classroom. They argue for proactive engagement with
teaching materials.
Xu and Liu’s chapter presents the process and rationale of constructing ELT
materials that are pedagogically, morally, culturally, and ideologically meaningful
for the intended learners from the perspective of the writers of a tertiary EFL text-
book series published in China. This study reveals the writing team’s external and
internal constraints and struggles as well as their authorial intentions and attempts.
The analysis of the writing process presents an exemplary case for how tertiary
English textbooks are domestically written in an Asian country and sheds light on
the complexity of incorporating of values in ELT materials.
Canale and Fernández’s chapter integrates multimodal and ethnographic methods
to present two cases in the ELT context of Uruguay regarding the production process
of English textbooks and their use in the classroom. In view of how textbook writers,
teachers, and learners negotiate heterogeneous visual representations of gender in
textbooks, the authors call for methodological innovations combining social semiotic
and ethnographic methods.
6 Conclusions and Recommendations
In this chapter, we have presented a review of relevant studies of cultural knowledge
and values in ELT language textbooks with specific foci on representation, multi-
modality, and stakeholders. Textual representation has been the main research focus
in the field and has recently been greatly enriched by the multimodal approach;
moreover, growing attention has been paid to stakeholders in the production and
consumption of ELT textbooks.
We first pointed out several basic theoretical rationales shared by researchers
in this field; second, we argued that relevant studies in the field have revolved
around the tension between the centripetal global dominance of English and the
centrifugal need for ELT learners to maintain their indigenous cultural identities. It
was also pointed out that this broad project of research on culture and ELT text-
books is intended to enhance social justice and make textbooks play a greater role in
facilitating language learners’ construction of cultural identities and empowerment.
Third, we distinguished between two methodological and epistemological paradigms
grounded in positivism and constructivism respectively, and then classified cultural
representations into three categories based on sociolinguistics, political economy,
and citizenship education.
Above all, a crucial goal of ELT is to engage language learners in the critical exam-
ination of unquestioned values and ideologies about English and its sociolinguistic
status as well as the neutrality of language (Risager & Chapelle, 2013). The purpose
of language learning is not only to acquire language knowledge and skills, but also to
gain the ability to express and construct social and cultural identities by cultivating
14 T. Xiong et al.
critical cultural consciousness and global citizenship. Besides textbooks and learning
materials as vehicles of cultural knowledge and values, this field can benefit from
extended and sustained efforts to explore products and processes revolving around
syllabuses, teacher guidebooks, in-service materials and guidelines, classroom inter-
actions, and assessments and evaluations that are directly or indirectly related to the
selection, production, consumption, and interpretation of cultural and ideological
content, and, as a result, matter a great deal in this era of globalization (Luke, 2015).
Future studies on this theme can continue to focus on the interaction of tech-
nology in ELT and multimodality. Online courses such as MOOCs and SPOOCs
(self-paced open online courses) and similar digital resources deserve further investi-
gation, especially against the backdrop of Covid-19, which has made online teaching
increasingly routine with new and creative affordances enabled by the ensembles of
different semiotic modes. It is of theoretical and practical significance to inquire
into what new strategies, patterns, and characteristics of teaching have emerged and
what implications can be drawn regarding cultural teaching and value education in
addition to language education. Another possible extension of this line of research
could lie in investigating students’ role as consumers of materials, an area that has
been under-researched. Methodologically, content analysis can be strengthened by
corpora and other technologies and tools that can produce more sizable data and
more statistically robust findings at levels of lexis, grammar, semantic prosody, and
collocation.
Furthermore, the notion of culture needs to be broadened and reconceptualized
as a scalar construct (Hu, 2019) that comprises both “generalizable ideologies and
practices shared by groups and the meaning-making processes through which indi-
viduals interpret their environmental contexts by drawing upon the shared ideologies
available to them as members of groups” (Mistry et al., 2016, p. 1016). As Hu (2019)
argues, such a reconceptualization addresses the various criticisms leveled at the
received view of cultures as “geographically (and quite often nationally) distinct enti-
ties, as relatively unchanging and homogeneous, and as all-encompassing systems
of rules or norms that substantially determine personal behavior” (Atkinson, 1999,
p. 626).
We would also encourage colleagues and students in the field to pursue the multi-
modality project by underscoring the importance of textbooks as semiotic ensembles.
Multimodal resources in language textbooks are yet to be more adequately exploited
by scrutinizing the interplay between different modes as well as its pedagogical impli-
cations. It is also advisable to extend research to textbooks of other major languages,
such as Chinese as a second/foreign language (e.g., Hua et al., in press; Xiong &
Peng, 2021). Future research may be extended to social and cultural topics in text-
books in non-language disciplines such as social sciences (Yu et al., 2020). There
is a growing body of research on the school textbook as both discourse and process
in the field of general education (e.g., Wang, 2019; Zhang, 2019), and the current
project could undoubtedly benefit from dialoguing with this emerging trend.
Funding This study is supported by the Chinese Ministry of Education Research Funding for
Humanities and Social Science (No. 20YJA740050).
1 Researching Cultural Knowledge and Values … 15
References
Adamson, B. (2004). China’s English: A history of English in Chinese education. Hong Kong
University Press.
Apple, M., & Christian-Smith, L. K. (Eds.). (1991). The politics of the textbook. Routledge.
Atkinson, D. (1999). TESOL and culture. TESOL Quarterly, 33, 625–654.
Benattabou, B. (2021). The visual ‘masculinization’ of Moroccan EFL textbooks: A social semiotic
analysis. Feminist Research, 5(1), 1–19.
Beyer, L. E., & Apple, M. W. (1988). Values and politics in the curriculum. In L. E. Beyer & M.
W. Apple (Eds.), The curriculum: Problems, politics, possibilities (pp. 3–16). State University of
New York Press.
Bezemer, J., & Kress, G. (2010). Changing text: A social semiotic analysis of textbooks. Designs
for Learning, 3(1–2), 10–29.
Bhabha, H. K. (1996). Culture’s in-between. In S. Hall & P. D. Gay (Eds.), Questions of cultural
identity (pp. 53–60). Sage.
Birch, G., & Liyanage, I. (2004). TESOL: Trojan horse of globalization. In B. Barlett, F. Bryer, &
D. Roebuck (Eds.), Educating: Weaving research into practice (pp. 93–102). Griffith University.
Block, D., Gray, J., & Holborow, M. (Eds.). (2012). Neoliberalism and applied linguistics.
Routledge.
Bori, P. (2021). Neoliberalism and global textbooks: A critical ethnography of English language
classrooms in Serbia. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 34(2), 183–198. https://doi.org/10.
1080/07908318.2020.1797082
Brown, C. W., & Habegger-Conti, J. (2017). Visual representations of indigenous cultures in
Norwegian EFL textbooks. Nordic Journal of Modern Language Methodology, 5(1), 16–34.
Canale, G. (2021). The language textbook: Representation, interaction and learning. Language,
Culture and Curriculum, 34(2), 113–118. https://doi.org/10.1080/07908318.2020.1797080
Canagarajah, A. S. (1999). Resisting linguistic imperialism in English teaching. Oxford University
Press.
Chen, Y. (2010a). Exploring dialogic engagement with readers in multimodal EFL textbooks in
China. Visual Communication, 9(4), 485–506.
Chen, Y. (2010b). The semiotic construal of attitudinal curriculum goals: Evidence from EFL
textbooks in China. Linguistics and Education, 21, 60–74.
Chun, C. W. (2016). Addressing racialized multicultural discourses in an EAP textbook: Working
toward a critical pedagogies approach. TESOL Quarterly, 50(1), 109–131. https://doi.org/10.
1002/tesq.216
Clark, R. C., & Lyons, C. (2004). Graphics for learning: Proven guidelines for planning, designing,
and evaluating visuals in training materials. Pfieffer.
Curdt-Christiansen, X. L., & Weninger, C. (Eds.). (2015). Language, ideology and education: The
politics of textbooks in education. Routledge.
Daghigh, A., & Rahim, H. (2021). Neoliberalism in ELT textbooks: An analysis of locally developed
and imported textbooks used in Malaysia. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 29(3), 493–512. https://
doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2020.1755888
Dendrinos, B. (1992). The EFL textbook and ideology. Grivas Publications.
Elmiana, D. S. (2019). Pedagogical representation of visual images in EFL textbooks: A multimodal
perspective. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 27, 613–628.
Feng, D. (2019). Infusing moral education into English language teaching: An ontogenetic analysis
of social values in EFL textbooks in Hong Kong. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of
Education, 40, 458–473.
Gray, J. (2010a). The construction of English: Culture, consumerism and promotion in the ELT
global coursebook. Palgrave Macmillan.
Gray, J. (2010b). The branding of English and the culture of the new capitalism: Representations
of the world of work in English language textbooks. Applied Linguistics, 31(5), 714–733.
16 T. Xiong et al.
Guo, S. N., & Feng, D. (2015). Infusing multiliteracies into English language curriculum: The visual
construction of knowledge in English textbooks from an ontogenetic perspective. Linguistics and
Education, 31, 115–129.
Harvey, D. (2005). Spaces of neoliberalism: Towards a theory of an uneven geographical
development. Franz Steiner Verlag.
Harwood, N. (Ed.). (2010). English language teaching materials: Theory and practice. Cambridge
University Press.
Harwood, N. (2014). Content, consumption, and production: Three levels of textbook research.
In N. Harwood (Ed.), English language teaching textbooks: Content, consumption, production
(pp. 1–41). Palgrave Macmillan.
Heberle, V. (2010). Multimodal literacy for teenage EFL students. Cadernos de Letras, 27, 101–116.
Hu, G. (2019). Culture and peer feedback. In K. Hyland & F. Hyland (Eds.), Feedback in second
language writing (2nd ed., pp. 45–63). Cambridge University Press.
Hu, G., & Mckay, S. L. (2014). Multilingualism as portrayed in a Chinese English textbook. In
J. Conteh & G. Meier (Eds.), The multilingual turn in languages education: Opportunities and
challenges (pp. 64–88). Multilingual Matters.
Hua, X., Hu, G., & Liu, F. (in press). The cultural representation of Chinese-speaking groups in
US-produced Chinese as a foreign language textbooks. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 1–18.
https://doi.org/10.1080/02188791.2021.1889971
Hunston, S. (2011). Corpus approaches to evaluation: Phraseology and evaluative language.
Routledge.
Jacobs, G. M., & Goatly, A. (2000). The treatment of ecological issues in ELT coursebooks. ELT
Journal, 54(3), 256–264.
Jenkins, J. (2006). Current perspectives on teaching World Englishes and English as a lingua franca.
TESOL Quarterly, 40, 157–181.
Jewitt, C. (2009). An introduction to multimodality. In C. Jewitt (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of
multimodal analysis (pp. 14–27). Routledge.
Johnson, B. (2003). Values in English language teaching. Lawrence Erlbaum.
Kachru, B. B. (1992). The second diaspora of English. In T. W. Machan & C. T. Scott (Eds.), English
in its social contexts: Essays in historical sociolinguistics (pp. 230–252). Oxford University Press.
Kramsch, C. (1993). Context and culture in language teaching. Oxford University Press.
Kramsch, C. (1998). Language and culture. Oxford University Press.
Kress, G. (2003). Literacy in the new media age. Routledge.
Kress, G., & Van Leeuwen, T. (2001). Multimodal discourse:The modes and media of contemporary
communication. Arnold.
Kress, G., & Van Leeuwen, T. (2006). Reading images: The grammar of visual design (2nd ed.).
Routledge.
Ledin, P., & Machin, D. (2018). Multi-modal critical discourse analysis. In J. Flowerdew & J. E.
Richardson (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of critical discourse analysis (pp. 60–76). Routledge.
Lee, J. F. K. (2014). A hidden curriculum in Japanese EFL textbooks: Gender representation.
Linguistics and Education, 7, 39–53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.linged.2014.07.002
Lee, J. F. K. (2018). Gender representation in Japanese EFL textbooks—A corpus study. Gender
and Education, 30(3), 379–395. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2016.1214690
Lee, J. F. K., & Collins, P. (2010). Construction of gender: A comparison of Australian and Hong
Kong English language textbooks. Journal of Gender Studies, 19, 121–137.
Lee, J. F. K., & Li, X. (2020). Cultural representation in English language textbooks: A comparison
of textbooks used in mainland China and Hong Kong. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 28, 605–623.
Liu, D. Y. (2020). 论影响英语教材建设的重要因素[On important influences on the development
of foreign language textbooks]. Curriculum, Textbooks and Pedagogy, 40(2), 64–71.
Luke, A. (2015). Cultural content matters: A critical sociology of language and literacy curriculum.
In X. L. Curdt-Christiansen & C. Weninger (Eds.), Language, ideology and education: The
politics of textbooks in language education (pp. 207–220). Routledge.
1 Researching Cultural Knowledge and Values … 17
Mistry, J., Li, J., Yoshikawa, H., Tseng, V., Tirrell, J., Kiang, L., Mistry, R., & Wang, Y. (2016).
An integrated conceptual framework for the development of Asian American children and youth.
Child Development, 87, 1014–1032.
Mustapha, A. S. (2015). Gender positioning through visual images in English-language textbooks
in Nigeria. In S. Mills & A. S. Mustapha (Eds.), Gender representation in learning materials:
International perspectives (pp. 150–163). Routledge.
Moran, P. R. (2001). Teaching culture: Perspectives in practice. Heinle & Heinle.
Norton, B. (2010). Identity, literacy, and English-language teaching. TESL Canada Journal, 28(1),
1–13.
Pennycook, A. (1994). The cultural politics of English as an international language. Longman.
Pennycook, A. (2001). Critical applied linguistics: A critical introduction. Laurence Erlbaum.
Risager, K. (2021). Language textbooks: Windows to the world. Language, Culture & Curriculum,
34(2), 119–132. https://doi.org/10.1080/07908318.2020.1797767
Risager, K., & Chapelle, C. A. (2013). Culture in textbook analysis and evaluation. In C. A. Chapelle
(Ed.), The encyclopedia of applied linguistics (pp. 1620–1625). Blackwell/Wiley.
Royce, T. D. (2007). Multimodal communicative competence in second language contexts. In T.
D. Royce & W. L. Bowcher (Eds.), New directions in the analysis of multimodal discourse
(pp. 361–403). Lawrence Erlbaum.
Salbego, N., Heberle, V. M., da Silva, S., & Balen, M. G. (2015). A visual analysis of English
textbooks: Multimodal scaffolded learning. Calidoscópio, 13(1), 5–13.
Smith, C. (2021a). Deconstructing innercirclism: A critical exploration of multimodal discourse
in an English as a foreign language textbook. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of
Education, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2021.1963212
Smith, C. (2021b). Mapping reflexivity in situ: A multimodal exploration of negotiated textbook
discourses in Korean university EFL classrooms. Language Teaching Research, 1–23. https://doi.
org/10.1177/13621688211024932
Stibbe, A. (2004). Environmental education across cultures: Beyond the discourse of shallow
environmentalism. Language & Intercultural Communication, 4(4), 242–260. https://doi.org/
10.1080/14708470408668875
Sunderland, J. (2010). Theorizing gender perspectives in foreign and second language learning.
In R. M. J. Catalán (Ed.), Gender perspectives on vocabulary in foreign and second languages
(pp. 1–19). Palgrave Macmillan.
Teo, P., & Zhu, J. (2018). A multimodal analysis of affect and attitude education in China’s English
textbooks. Multimodal Communication, 7(1), 20170014.
Thompson, G., & Hunston, S. (2001). Evaluation: An introduction. In S. Hunston & G. Thompson
(Eds.), Evaluation in text: Authorial stance and the construction of discourses (pp. 1–27). Oxford
University Press.
Tomlinson, B. (2013). Introduction: Are materials developing? In B. Tomlinson (Ed.), Developing
materials for language teaching (pp. 1–18). Bloomsbury.
Unsworth, L. (2001). Teaching multiliteracies across the curriculum: Changing contexts of text and
image in classroom practice. Open University Press.
Wang, P. F. (2019).
教科书研究方法论
[Research methodology on textbooks]. Guangdong
Education Press.
Weninger, C. (2021). Multimodality in critical language textbook analysis. Language, Culture &
Curriculum, 34(2), 133–146.
Weninger, C., & Kiss, T. (2013). Culture in English as a foreign language (EFL) textbooks: A
semiotic approach. TESOL Quarterly, 47, 694–716.
Widodo, H. P., Perfecto, M. R., Van Canh, L., & Buripakdi, A. (Eds.). (2018). Situating moral and
cultural values in ELT materials: The Southeast Asian context. Springer.
Xiong, T. (2014). Shallow environmentalism: A preliminary eco-critical discourse analysis
of secondary school English as a foreign language (EFL) texts in China. The Journal of
Environmental Education, 45(4), 232–242. https://doi.org/10.1080/00958964.2014.943686
18 T. Xiong et al.
Xiong, T., He, J., & Li, L. (2017). The representation of gender in a popular primary school EFL
textbook series in China. International Journal of Education and Practice, 5(5), 79–87. https://
doi.org/10.18488/journal.61.2017.55.79.87
Xiong, T., & Peng, Y. (2021). Representing culture in Chinese as a second language textbooks: A
critical social semiotic approach. Language, Culture & Curriculum, 34, 163–182. https://doi.org/
10.1080/07908318.2020.1797079
Xiong, T., & Yuan, Z. M. (2018). “It was because I could speak English that I got the job”: Neoliberal
discourse in a Chinese English textbook series. Journal of Language Identity and Education, 17,
103–117. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2017.1407655
Yu, M. H. M., Feng, D., & Unsworth, L. (2020). Infusing pro-environmental values in science
education: A multimodal analysis of ecology animations for children. In L. Unsworth (Ed.),
Learning from animations in science education: Innovating in semiotic and educational research
(pp. 55–74). Springer.
Yuen, M. K. (2011). The representation of foreign cultures in English textbooks. ELT Journal, 65,
458–466.
Zhang, Y. H. (2019).
教科书语言学
[Textbooks linguistics]. Guangdong Education Press.
Tao Xi o n g (Ph.D., Kyushu University) is Professor of Discourse Studies at the National Key
Research Center for Linguistics and Applied Linguistics at Guangdong University of Foreign
Studies. His research interest includes critical discourse studies, language teaching materials,
language pedagogy, teacher professional development, and bilingual education. He has been Chief
Investigator of two research projects on discourse studies funded by the Chinese Ministry of
Education. He has published in journals such as International Journal of Bilingual Education and
Bilingualism, Journal of Language, Identity and Education, Asia Pacific Education Researcher,
and Discourse—Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education.
Dezheng Feng (Ph.D., National University of Singapore) is Associate Professor and Associate
Director of the Research Centre for Professional Communication in English at the Department of
English, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. His research focuses on the critical and multi-
modal discourse analysis of various media and communication practices. His recent publica-
tions appeared in journals such as Journal of Pragmatics, Discourse and Communication, Visual
Communication, Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, and Linguistics and
Education.
Guangwei Hu (Ph.D., Nanyang Technological University) is Professor of Language and Literacy
Education in the Department of English and a member of the Research Center for Profes-
sional Communication in English, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. His research inter-
ests include academic literacy/discourse, biliteracy development, English for academic/specific
purposes, English medium instruction, language assessment, language policy, second language
acquisition, and second language writing. He has published extensively on these and other areas
in refereed journals and edited volumes. He is co-editor of Journal of English for Academic
Purposes.
