The Construction of New Political Identities through the Internationally Distributed English Learning Textbooks

Varzande, Mohsen

doi:10.5539/elt.v8n2p101

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 6 publications

(1 reference statement)

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“…Indeed, the more the learners try to master English, the more they become alienated from their own culture leading these "learners" loss of identity". (Varzande, 2015) There is no doubt that learning a language in schools has been recognized as a long tradition and it is closely linked with moral objectives and cultural transmission. Bigger and Brown, (1999) acknowledge that it is significant for learners to master a language as it is considered a mean of discipline (p.101).…”

Section: Learning English As a Socio-cultural Activitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning English in the 21st Century: For Globalization or Westernization?

Souad¹,

Ramdane²

2019

IJHSS

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This Conceptual paper aims at analyzing the role of the English literary texts in transmitting values to students. It also aims to explain the hegemony of English as a global language and the role usually this language plays in spreading Western values in a globalized-Westernized world. A Literature review was conducted via a reflective analysis in which ideas grouping were made and recommendations were deducted. The findings have revealed that the usage of English is expanding in the four corners of the world at the expense of other local languages. Another important finding is that the English language is used as a vessel to spread Western cultural dominance under the pretext of globalization, as it is impossible to strip any language of its cultural context. Another undeniable fact observed in many countries in which English is taught as a second langue-especially ex British colonies-confirms that the usage of English in schools either as a second language or a medium of instruction is a new form of colonization, not less damaging than the conventional political and military invasions. It is believed that the findings of this study will contribute to knowledge in general. It can also be a starting point for academic practitioners, teachers, parents and students to understand the cultural and social dilemmas usually students face while learning English. And to realize how important to design English textbooks which take students' cultural and social background into consideration to evade any elements of confusion and alienation.

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Section: Learning English As a Socio-cultural Activitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning English in the 21st Century: For Globalization or Westernization?

Souad¹,

Ramdane²

2019

IJHSS

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“…This can be attributed to the experience Oman has undergone for the past five decades or so of importing ready-made materials from big publishers to teach English and hiring consultants from the inner circle countries to establish academic programs at HE institutions (Al-Issa, 2006;Karmani, 2010), which has perpetuated cultural dependency of the Sultanate over the English native speaking countries. Many of these imported commercially written textbooks have come under critical scrutiny by several researchers and found culturally biased, inappropriate, and discriminatory and entail hidden curriculum representing the West (Karim & Haq, 2014;Varzande, 2015) and views of language learning (Karim & Haq, 2014). While such textbooks promote the American and British cultures with an aim to maintain their cultural hegemony, spread their values, and format non-native English speaking learners' identities (Varzabde, 2015), they marginalize multicultural aspects as a means of enhancing learners' awareness of cultural diversity in English language learning and teaching (Nomnian, 2013).…”

Section: 45mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While such textbooks promote the American and British cultures with an aim to maintain their cultural hegemony, spread their values, and format non-native English speaking learners' identities (Varzabde, 2015), they marginalize multicultural aspects as a means of enhancing learners' awareness of cultural diversity in English language learning and teaching (Nomnian, 2013). English within these textbooks is a means of suppression and oppression, mind colonization, and social and linguistic discrimination (Varzande, 2015). Hence, teachers at the ELCs need to be aware of this hidden agenda and work towards modifying, selecting, and developing methodologies and materials that meet their students' preferences and ELT education goals in the era of globalization (Nomnian, 2013).…”

Section: 45mentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating TESOL Teachers' Awareness of Critical Pedagogy at Higher Education Institutions in Oman: Implications for Critical Professional Development

Riyami¹,

Issa

2018

KJHSS

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Critical Pedagogy (CP) has been proposed as an alternative pedagogy capable of meeting the complex demands of teaching English within a particular sociopolitical context. Despite the fact that CP has been present in education since the 1960s, much of the research on CP has been conducted recently in Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) contexts. There is a growing but as yet small amount of research that addresses the usage of CP in TESOL contexts, to which this study hopes to make a useful contribution. Therefore, this study investigates the extent to which TESOL teachers from four higher education institutions in the Sultanate of Oman are aware of CP. In order to achieve this, a questionnaire is administered to 178 English Language Teachers. The main findings reveal a widespread lack of awareness of the concept of CP among TESOL teachers. Nonetheless, minorities of teachers are aware of CP and implement it in a limited fashion in their classes. On the other hand, there are teachers who, whilst being aware of CP, do not implement it. The implications of these findings are discussed.

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“…It is because these foreign ideologies put a great impact on the minds of the learners. They bring a significant change in the world view of the learners (Yaqoob 2011) and construct a new political identity (Varzande 2015;Waseem 2009). Under the influence of the dominant ideologies and culture, the learners develop "an irresistible attraction" towards them.…”

Section: Theoretical Perspectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

ELT Syllabus: Hegemonic Sabotaging of Pakistan’s Ideology at HSSC level

Mirza

Hussain

Shah

2018

GLR

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English Language Teaching has become a compulsory subject in the curricula of many developing countries. There has been an increase in the trend of skeptic viewing of the credibility of this subject for teaching only a language and not its ideology and culture. Studies show that under the impact of ELT learners develop a positive attitude to English culture and depreciation of the indigenous one. Same is the case in Pakistan. English ideologies and cultural representation were uncovered through the application of CDA. The main ideologies found in these books were superiority of “Us/Self” and the inferiority of “Them/Other”. The paper present the source and target culture in their true perspective making the source culture part of esteem instead of the foreign culture.

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The Construction of New Political Identities through the Internationally Distributed English Learning Textbooks

Cited by 4 publications

References 6 publications

Learning English in the 21st Century: For Globalization or Westernization?

Learning English in the 21st Century: For Globalization or Westernization?

Investigating TESOL Teachers' Awareness of Critical Pedagogy at Higher Education Institutions in Oman: Implications for Critical Professional Development

ELT Syllabus: Hegemonic Sabotaging of Pakistan’s Ideology at HSSC level

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