Hidden Curriculum in Schools: A Comparison of Religious Otherness in Pakistani ELT Textbooks

Abstract

The emphasis of this research was religious otherness depiction in high school English textbooks issued by four State controlled Pakistani textbook boards of i.e., BTB Quetta, STB Jamshoro, KTB Peshawar and PTB Lahore. It besets a broad contrast among the religious otherness descriptions as depicted in provincial ELT textbooks and the otherness related notions of their corresponding students. To achieve the goals, the study was alienated in 2 phases: In phase 1, the textbooks of government textbook publishing boards were investigated and in the second phase their corresponding readers’ religious otherness ideas were obtained and evaluated. The research devised a modified model of analysis by blending Van Dijk (1998) and Fairclough (2001) CDA model for interpretation and explanation of religious otherness in representative text extracted from textbooks’ discourse. The study discovered the prevalence of religious otherness- related themes in all ELT textbooks. It was also found that STB discourse had improved religious otherness images and students’ otherness ideas than other provincial textbook boards and their respective readers. The study also revealed that Muslim male and female students had peculiar otherness notions about minority religious communities. The readers’ responses to questionnaire items in phase 2 of research suggested that textbooks had a significant part in molding otherness related notions of young readers. The study recommended an otherness-based investigation of the textbooks prior to publication at federal government level to ensure citizenship equality as envisioned by founder of the nation.