Understanding Multimodal Discourses in English Language Teaching Textbooks: Implications for Students and Practitioners

Textbooks are essential components of English Language Teaching (ELT), but they are often not reflective of the concerns of teachers and students. This book provides a critical discourse perspective for evaluating ELT textbooks, offering practical guidance for teachers to select and adapt materials based on a systematic analysis of their multimodal discourse. The triangulated approach, demonstrated through vignettes featuring Korean university students and native-English-speaking instructors, can inform textbook choice, initiate change, and inspire lesson re-contextualization to best suit the needs of primary consumers.

Format: Hardback
Length: 248 pages
Publication date: 08 September 2022
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Textbooks play a vital role in English Language Teaching (ELT), serving as essential components and, in some cases, the cornerstone of the teaching mission. However, it is important to note that these textbooks are artifacts of a pedagogical culture that often fail to resonate with the concerns of their primary users: teachers and students. This book aims to provide a valuable framework for evaluating ELT textbooks from a critical discourse perspective, grounded in robust current research but also offering practical guidance to educators.

Building upon a solid foundation of ELT textbooks, the author presents a systematic approach to critically analyze their multimodal discourse, examine the negotiations between teachers and students in the classroom, and assess how these consumers privately value the lessons. The book equips teachers with the necessary tools to select and adapt materials based on a rigorous analysis of critical multimodal discourse, encompassing not only the text but also images, websites, audio, and visual elements. This comprehensive process allows for the revelation of underlying ideologies, assumptions, omissions, and reifications, shedding light on the potential biases and limitations of textbooks.

The book adopts a triangulated approach, showcased through a series of vignettes featuring Korean university students and native-English-speaking instructors. This approach demonstrates how textbooks can be evaluated, how changes can be initiated, and how lessons can be re-contextualized to best meet the needs of their primary consumers. By adopting a critical discourse perspective, educators can gain a deeper understanding of the texts they use, identify areas for improvement, and create more inclusive and effective learning environments for their students.

In conclusion, textbooks are indispensable components of ELT, but they often fail to reflect the concerns and needs of teachers and students. This book offers a valuable framework for evaluating ELT textbooks from a critical discourse perspective, providing practical guidance and tools for educators to select and adapt materials that promote inclusive and effective learning. By adopting a triangulated approach and critically analyzing multimodal discourse, educators can inspire change, re-contextualize lessons, and create more engaging and effective teaching environments for their students.

Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781350256958