How Contemporary History is Presented in Chilean Middle School Textbooks

Abstract

This article provides a textual analysis of the pedagogical discourse of history textbooks used in the education of Chilean students. In particular, I focus on how the impact of Salvador Allende's socialist government (1970-1973) and the military coup that led to the Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship (1973-1990) are constructed by and displayed in these texts. As a method of analysis, I apply the Systemic Functional Grammar theory to history textbooks used in the sixth and eighth grades. Two of the metafunctions proposed by Halliday - textual and interpersonal - are particularly relevant when combined with an appraisal analysis fundamentally based on the work of Martin because they provide a useful tool for interpreting and explaining the text from an ideological standpoint. The analysis reveals that the textbooks' authors strive to sound objective, but instead offer a large number of explicit and implicit judgements throughout the text. They purport to present two antithetical political positions - that of Allende's supporters and that of the supporters of the military coup - however, the texts do not actually offer two clear positions nor do they provide clear reasons for the events. Instead, the authors obscure content through grammatical and lexical choices - such as the use of `and' as an expression of reason or cause; embedded mental and verbal projection (sixth grade only); the absence of logico-semantic relationship of elaboration; and modal adjuncts that signal judgement but not explanation. Appraisal analysis in conjunction with a more discrete grammatical analysis is useful for revealing the explicit, subjective choices made in constructing these supposedly objective texts.

La Selección terminológica referida al golpe y dictadura militar en textos escolares de historia durante el período 2002-2014

“…Esta inclusión curricular significó un "consenso básico" con el propósito de entregar un discurso reconciliador entre la dictadura y la transición democrática. En este proceso, el estado de Chile fue-y sigue siendo-el actor principal en la construcción del currículum (Oteíza, 2003; y en la distribución del mismo.…”

The construction of ideal reader in German and Finnish text-books for literacy education

“…Textbook reading is usually situated in classroom contexts where it is a platform for different beliefs and conceptions of knowledge, feelings, attitudes and dimensions of control, presented in the texts and by the teacher and pupils in this specific setting . Textbooks are usually treated as institutional and authoritative sources of information and learning practices for students (Oteiza, 2003). However, the textbook genre is heterogeneous.…”

“…All texts communicate ideologies (e.g. Fairclough, 1989;Oteiza, 2003), and textbooks communicate ideologies concerning teaching and learning in particular, including representations of the identities of students and pupils as learners and actors in the surrounding communities of practice (Eckert & McConnel-Ginet, 1992).…”

Evaluative patterns in the official discourse of human rights in Chile: giving value to the past and building historical memories in society

“…(Oteíza 2003;Oteíza & Pinto 2008). 2. Political and historical context for the Chilean National Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report (1991) I would like to provide a brief historical background to situate the analysis of the Report of the Chilean National Commission on Truth and Reconciliation of 1991.…”

“…From a CDA perspective, little research has been done regarding a detailed lexicogrammatical analysis, since the studies have been mainly focused on macro-discursive strategies or argumentative patterns (Martin & Wodak 2003), although several researches in the last years have made valuable research in CDA with a detailed lexicogrammatical analysis (Achugar 2004(Achugar , 2008Butt, Lukin& Matthiessen 2004;Montecino 2008;Oteíza 2003Oteíza , 2006Oteíza & Pinto 2008, among others). Consequently, this study seeks a better understanding of the functioning of subjective meanings in the discourse, and I intend to offer a solid analysis that contributes to our comprehension of how certain explanations about the past are built in the discourse as well as the mechanisms of perpetuation, generalization and simplification (Benke & Wodak 2003) that help to create an ideological solidarity between writers and readers resulting in a discourse of consensus in the social imaginary.…”