A recent surge in textbooks studies has revealed a closer link with neoliberalism and the way they construct neoliberal subjects. This paper uses Foucauldian governmentality as the conceptual lens to analyze the neoliberal discourses in EFL textbooks used in English Access Microscholarship (EAM)—one of the US‐aided global ELT programs in Pakistan. English language learners' views on course outcomes and textbooks were also examined. The study shows that among others, English as a neoliberal life skill, celebrity culture, consumerism, entrepreneurship, and individual and corporate social responsibility dominate textbooks. It is thus found that textbooks play an important role in neoliberalizing learners. Moreover, English language learners perceive English as a key to economic success. They also value consumerism, branding, and personal responsibility. In light of the study findings, we suggest a decolonial option, reflective activism, and post‐method pedagogy as possible alternatives at the micro‐, meso‐, and macro‐levels to resist the discourses of neoliberalism and colonial power patterns entrenched in a postcolonial society like Pakistan.

Images are in the form of pictures are often used to make books more attractive or more reader-friendly. Images are iconic signs that also convey some meaning. Unlike texts, the messages conveyed by images are less direct and affect human consciousness. This study offers critical analysis of images used in language textbooks from grade 1 to 5 used in government schools of Sindh, Pakistan. The aim of the study is to analyze what and how power relations are maintained and propagated through iconic signs, and how socioeconomic division and nationalist ideology is reproduced by the state through images. The analysis of images shows the portraying of reality in textbooks that legitimizes power relations. Based on Barthe’s image theory, the theoretical framework is adapted from Fitsumbirhan (2006) for the critical analysis of the images.

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