1

Chapter One
Introduction
1.1 Introduction
The first chapter deals with the background and context of the study, description
of purpose statement, objectives of the research, research questions, significance of
the study, delimitations of the study, list of acronyms and organisation of the study.
1.2 Background and Context of the Current Research
In the recent times, linguistics has emerged as a distinct area of academic
investigation in Pakistan. Being an emerging field of investigation, positive paradigm
was used by early linguists to explore the linguistic features of language which are
phonology, grammar, and syntax. The tradition of linguistic features of language
shifted in the last few decades and now language came to be regarded as social fact as
noted by Saussure (1960). Now language is being studied with an interdisciplinary
approach which relates it to other branches of knowledge like psychology, sociology,
philosophy, politics, gender studies, cultural theory, and others. This approach of
linguistic inquiry has widened the scope of language and many other issues related to
it. The current study is also an outcome of interdisciplinary approach.
Islamic Republic of Pakistan was founded on the basis of Islamic ideology.
Pakistan is our national, religious and cultural identity. Educational system is the main
source for building aforesaid identities and textbooks play a vital role in the
construction of our national, religious and cultural identities. Textbooks of different
subjects like Social Studies, Pakistan Studies, Islamic Studies, Urdu and English
taught at different levels play their part in the construction of ideologies. Apart from
other subjects, English language is a part of our curriculum as a compulsory subject
which plays a pivotal role in the construction of ideologies (Rahman, 2002).
Government and private sectors are playing their roles in imparting education in
the country. Majority of the private sector schools follow the curriculum provided by
Oxford University Press in the shape of English textbooks. These textbooks are
desired to enhance the English language competence of the students. However, there
are certain ideologies embedded in these textbooks. English textbooks taught in
government schools are desired to represent our sociolinguistic background and
construct our religious, political, societal, cultural and national identity (Government
of Pakistan, 2006). Lessons plans and textbooks are the main tools used for the
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implementation of the official curriculum of English language. Westbury (1990)

considers that the curriculum of English language primarily focuses on the
formulation of the fundamentals of traditional knowledge and cultural legacy for
pedagogical practice at schools. Textbooks encompass official knowledge and
worldviews, and they stress on certain values that the government desires to impart to
the students.
Pakistan has been former British colony and even after independence from
British rule Pakistani institution especially the educational system is influenced by it
to a great deal. Macaulay’s minutes on Indian Education Act 1835 paved the way for
an alternate educational set up in India and it has a great influence on our educational
system till today. Our educational system is mainly divided into two parts, one is
government sector and the other is private sector. The government sector educational
system employs official English curriculum passed by the government after many
considerations and revisions. This curriculum purely focuses on our sociolinguistic
background and our religious, cultural and national identities. It also emphasises on
the worldviews and certain values system. On the other hand, private sector English
curriculum which is taught in the schools of Punjab particularly published by Oxford
University Press represents the amalgam of indigenous and western culture,
ideologies, and sociolinguistic backgrounds. Difference in the curriculum not only
affects the quality of education but also contributes to the construction of different
ideologies. English textbooks taught at middle level in these two different set up
inspired the researcher to investigate embedded ideologies in these textbooks and
compare that how certain ideologies are constructed in these textbooks.
Course books are the guiding forces in the schools that manipulate the minds of
the students. Among certain factors influencing the students in their routine life,
textbook contributes a great deal especially in the countries like Pakistan where
students greatly rely on textbooks and consider them a source of authentic knowledge.
Students consider that these textbooks provide them accurate information that cannot
be challenged at any cost.
At their middle level, students consider the information provided in the
textbooks as accurate and they are not capable enough to challenge the legitimacy of
the knowledge provided in the textbook. Generally, textbooks are treated as one of the
teaching resources in Pakistani schools and these textbooks are supposed to be a
source of providing wisdom to the students and positively affect their process of
 3

mental and spiritual growth. In fact, students have to expand a great deal of time on
these textbooks in attempting different exercises and variety of activities. In the end of
the academic session, students are evaluated from these textbooks (Shah & Pathan,
2016). Thus, there is a great relationship between students and textbooks. Textbooks
construct learner’s ideologies, worldviews, and their perception of the world
(Rahman, 2002). Textbooks are capable to construct and transform the society
(Mohammed, 2015). Despite being from diverse cultural backgrounds, learners are
bound to be influenced by the textbooks at greater degree. Mohammed (2015)
argues that the EFL textbooks designers concentrate on certain ideological views and
cultural plans while writing the books.
The level of influence varies from student to student and that level is gauged
with reference to this stuff which is taught in various schools in Punjab. English
textbooks produced locally and internationally present certain ideological values.
Internationally produced EFL textbooks present certain discourses which is similar to
western culture whereas locally produced EFL textbooks present local culture (Taki,
2008). It is almost similar in all parts of the colonized world. Many scholars
agree to the notion that textbooks are embedded with various ideologies, manner of
perceiving the world; both in national and international context, and contain
particular political and cultural agenda (Apple, 1993; Rahman, 2002).

Unification of people from different identities into one nation emerged as one of
the greatest challenges for Pakistan since its rise on the globe on 14th August, 1947. It
was a testing task for the citizens from different identities; Bengali, Punjabi, Sindhi,
Baluchistan, and Pathan, having dissimilar languages, diverse traditions, and unlike
cultures. In order to merge these ethnic groups into one nation, the state used the tool
of education to inculcate national and religious identity into the minds of the young
generation. Sharif Commission Report (1959) is a proof on education which was
geared up a year after the enforcement of military rule lead by General Ayub Khan.
Apart from that, General Ayub Khan in 1962 declared that Pakistan was made in the
name of Islam and that forbids racial or ethnic differences. Despite being a member
of a distinct ethnic group; Bengali, Punjabi, Sindhi, Balochi, and Pathan, Islam unites
Muslims into the bond of brotherhood and it discourages the differences of colour,
race, and language, etc. (Pakistan Publications, 1962). Thus religious nationalism was
the main concern in the regime of General Ayub Khan and also emphasised on
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technical and modern education. However, there was an issue with the medium of
communication; Urdu was declared as national language of the country whereas
English was the official language or language of the powerful domains like military,
bureaucracy, judiciary, and education etc. Therefore, focus on religious and national
identity not synchronized with academic disciplines, like science and technology, and
modern language was a paradox.
It is pertinent to mention here that during the military rule of General Ayub
and when the political rule of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto replaced the previous rule, the
nationalist and religious ideologies depicted in the curriculum avoided the portrayal of
aggressive appearance. Pakistani textbooks presented a respectable image of minority
religions; Buddha, Ram, Christ, Jesus, Gandhi, and several others (Saigol, 2004).
However, two major events; 1965 war and Fall of Dhaka in 1971, convinced the
curriculum designers to eliminate the other self and induct the revised ideological
messages in the textbooks based on violent attitude towards religion, nationalism,
militarism, war / jihad, us and them, etc. Pakistan is an Islamic state with a majority of
population being Muslims and ultimately Muslim ideologies dominate the curriculum
and textbooks. However, ideological interests of the state, not the needs of the
Muslim majority, are given due consideration in the curriculum design and the
development of the textbooks (Yaqoob, 2011).
In 1977, the internal state of the affairs of the country and the Russian invasion
in Afghanistan paved the way for the military rule lead by General Zia-ul- Haq.
Winning the nation’s favour in the name of Islam and producing Islamic mujahideen
to fight against Russia in Afghanistan at the cost of the massive monetary benefits
from USA and KSA were the main reason behind the military coup (Rahman, 2002).
Military rule, not being a representative of the public, was the right tool for the
government officials to construct new ideologies through textbooks and for the first
time in the national curriculum, the concepts of jihad and martyrdom were included in
the textbooks (Sustainable Development Policy Institute [SDPI], 2002-03)
carrying the themes of nationalism, patriotism, and militarism constructing a new
image of the country after the fall of Dhaka (Ali, 2005). The military rule declared
that revised face of Pakistan as Islamic Republic has helped to maintain
homogenization and control (Saigol, 2004).
The governments, after the military dictatorship of General Zia, promoted the
motto of Islam and the stuff produced in the textbooks vigorously proved their efforts.
 5

The content of the textbooks contained themes connecting Pakistan with Islam,
militarism with jihad, military with mujahedeen, and the Pakistanis with the Muslims
(Nayyar, 2003) and thus, religious minorities in Pakistan were dealt as ‘others’
lacking appropriate ideological representation in the textbooks and the deprivation of
acceptance as citizens of Pakistan (Engineer, 2000).
This indoctrination resulted into the fostering of religious biasness and sectarian
intolerance as pointed out by the latest military dictator General Pervez Musharraf.
While delivering his speech as a head of the state on the Independence Day of
Pakistan on 14th August 2002, General Pervez Musharraf said that he was not
satisfied with the standard of the textbooks of the precedent governments. During his
regime, all the textbooks (including English textbooks) were revised and updated on
the modern standards (SDPI, 2002-03).
As a matter of fact, these textbooks are quite similar to the earlier version due to
the presentation of similar of the ideological messages in the stuff produced in both
the versions (SDPI: 2002-03) and the PTB English textbooks still contained religious
and nationalist lesson. However, these textbooks were different from the previous
ones on the account of secular ideologies insisting on the observation of human rights,
promoting friendship with the non-Muslims, and showing sympathy and fondness to
the citizens having other religious identity. While wrapping up the discussion, it is
rightly stated that the inclusion of ideological stuff in the textbooks with an aim to
propagate the desired ideological messages is an old phenomenon still in practice.
1.3 Purpose of the Study
English language textbooks taught at the middle level in Punjab are embedded
with diverse constructed ideologies. The education system of Pakistan is administered
by the government and private sectors. Both of them have their own curriculum to
implement in schools. Majority of private sector schools follow Oxford curriculum
whereas the government sector schools are bound to follow national curriculum
designed by ministry of education. Textbooks of subjects like Pakistan Studies,
Islamic studies, Urdu and English are the main source of construction of ideologies.
The purpose of this research is to find out how the English textbooks of Oxford
curriculum and national curriculum implemented at the middle level play its part
in the construction of ideologies. It will also compare the Oxford curriculum and
national curriculum for teaching English language implemented at the middle level in
terms of constructed ideologies.
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1.4 Significance of the Study

The current study aims to critically analyze the English textbooks taught at
middle level in government and private institutes in Punjab. It highlights the
ideological constructs embedded in these textbooks. The English textbooks taught in
government schools, published by Punjab Government, create a national character
that in turn stems from Islam building profound passion of love and sacrifice for
country. On the other hand, OUP English textbooks taught in private schools are
supposed to construct amalgamation of indigenous and Western ideologies. Being a
comparative study, it highlights different ideologies constructed in English textbooks
taught at the middle level. The current study provides an insight how the ideologies
are constructed and how being one nation we are having diverse ideologies due to the
impact of two different curriculums implemented in the country. Apart from that, the
study will also provide broader implications for textbook designers and policy
decision makers (government officials and administrators of private schools sector) in
helping to inform a careful process of editing and production of textbooks while
keeping in view the impact of ideological constructs. The findings of the study will
present a number of perceptions into the debate that authors build and form the
societies in order to communicate and endorse certain ideologies as desired by the
government and Oxford University Press.
1.5 Delimitation of the Study
Textbooks taught at different academic level in Punjab play vital role in the
construction of ideologies. There are different varieties of textbooks prescribed for the
students of same level studying in private and government sector schools. Textbooks
of different subjects like Islamic studies social studies, Pakistan studies, English and
Urdu have their impact on the students in moulding their ideologies. The current
study is delimited to English textbooks taught to class VII in government sector
schools and Oxford Progressive English textbook published by OUP textbooks taught
to class VII in private sector schools.
1.6 List of Acronyms
CDA: Critical Discourse Analysis
OUP: Oxford University Press
PTB: Punjab Textbook Board
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SDPI: Sustainable Development Policy Institute

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1.7 Organization of Study

The current study is built on five chapters. The first chapter provides the
background and deals with context of the study. It describes purpose statement of the
research and highlights significance of the study. It also provides the delimitations of
the study and furnishes the list of acronyms and organization of the study.
The second chapter covers detailed literature review providing understanding of
critical discourse analysis and its implication in education. It also provides the detailed
information to understand the construction of ideologies and relationship between
language and ideologies. It also outlines the studies conducted on the construction of
ideologies through textbooks in Pakistan.
The third chapter introduces the research methodology and incorporates
objectives of the research. It covers research questions and the research paradigm used
for the current study. The chapter also provides rationale for employment of critical
discourse analysis, data selected for the present study and its sources. In the end, it
explains the research model for the study.
The fourth chapter deals with data analysis and its discussion. It provides an
overview of Punjab Textbook Board English textbooks (Level 7) and analyses the
selected lessons from the Punjab Textbook Board English Textbooks (Level 7). It also
gives an overview of Overview of OUP textbooks and provides the analysis of the
selected lessons from Oxford Progressive English (Level 7) textbook. Apart from that,
similar and differences between PTB and OUP textbooks are also covered at the end of
the chapter.
The final chapter provides the research findings and points out the ideologies
embedded in PTB and OUP English textbooks. It also provides a comprehensive
account of similarities and differences between PTB and OUP English textbooks.
Moreover, implication of the study and limitation of the research are also provided in
this chapter. At the end of last chapter, the researcher has outlined the recommendation
for further research and provided his personal reflections.
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Chapter Two
Literature Review
2.1 Introduction
This section encompasses the theoretical grounds of the present study by
furnishing the appraisal of pertinent literature concerning over-all perspective on
Critical Discourse Analysis and specific view pint pertaining to the construction of
ideologies. The literature review investigates the appreciation of key words of critical
discourse analysis and also conceptualizes ideology with different viewpoint. It
provides comprehensive account of the claims made about construction of ideologies
thorough textbooks and it also investigates the academic inquiries on ideological
constructs embedded in textbooks taught Pakistan. In the end, it highlights the gaps in
the existing literature.
2.2 Understanding Critical Discourse Analysis
Language plays a significant role in cultural and societal developments and it
attracts the researchers to investigate it with different perspectives. Critical Discourse
Analysis (CDA), one of the significant areas of the linguistic enquiry, is set upon the
theoretical and philosophical foundations of Fairclough (1992), van Dijk, (1993) and
Wodak (2001). CDA is, time and again, regarded as the appropriate method to
investigate the discourse and its impact on the development of certain social and
cultural practices in various societal domains (Jorgensen & Phillips, 2002).
Diverse opinions on the main task of CDA establish certain dimensions of
CDA enquiry (Fairclough, 1992; Van Dijk 1993, 2001; Wodak; 2001)
Fairclough (1992) propounds that Critical Discourse Analysis investigates the
discourse to highlight the construction of the dominant and unequal relations in the
text. The establishment of a socio-cognitive framework by van Dijk (1993, 2001)
gives another dimension to CDA by theorizing that social systems have association
with social cognition. Wodak’s (2001) discursive-historical approach produced
another viewpoint based on tracing the issues of political nature, e.g., racial conflict.
He further proposes that every chunk of obtainable background information on the
particular issue is incorporated to explore and decipher the certain dimensions of the
given text.
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Having noticed the different perceptions of CDA, the researcher is at ease to

select the approach and methods for the study while keeping in view the research
questions that he seeks to answer and the objectives that he desires to achieve (Mayr,
2008).
In Fairclough’s (1992) opinion CDA implies that discourse is based on the
production of language through speaking and writing and thus understanding the
discourse is taken as a social practice. To elaborate his point of view, he proposes that
every instance of language use (discourse) is based on the production of language in
spoken or written form and that discourse establishes the contact between people
involved in the text production and interpretation. Therefore, it is an instance of a
social practice. Based on this perspective, Fairclough (1992) furnished three
dimensions of the discourse which are explicitly elaborated in the subsequent chapter
of the current study.
The current study investigates the content of the textbooks of English language
taught as a compulsory subject at middle level in government and private sector
schools of Punjab and thus Critical Discourse Analysis is proposed to be the key
method for the qualitative inquiry in the present study. According to Fairclough
(2001), although texts and interactions are explored in CDA, however, these are not
investigated straightaway. The investigation starts from the exploration of social
problems and issues. Fairclough (2001) further elaborates the social problems as the
problems encountered by people in their social lives and issues that are dealt within
the domains of sociology, political science and /or cultural studies. Aforementioned
textbooks are expected to be embedded with such concealed issues and thus paved the
way for the researcher to consider CDA an approach suitable for the discovery of
these issues through three-dimensional model proposed by Fairclough (2003).
In connection to that, Batstone (1995) also supports Fairclough’s point of view
by maintaining that the primary goal of CDA is to identify production of the text in
order to carefully express the specific viewpoint in an implicit way and being covert
that perspective is intangible of direct challenge. The one dimension of the analysis
covers the investigation of its grammatical structures of the text and the other
dimension of the analysis deals with further probing into the text to investigate its
ideological interpretations. Thus, CDA goes past the other practices and procedures of
discourse analysis by concentrating on the power factors at micro and macro level
functioning in a particular discursive situation (Corson, 2000). The researcher further
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probed into the key words of Critical Discourse Analysis i.e., critical, discourse, and
analysis, in order to gain further insights of the qualitative inquiry.
2.2.1 Defining the Key Term: ‘Critical’
According to Fairclough (1989), the term ‘Critical’ is applied in the particular
context to demonstrate the associations between language, power, and ideology
usually hidden from people. By virtue of its application, the term ‘Critical’
discriminates CDA from other kinds of discourse analysis. In short, ‘Critical’ means
highlighting the causes and connections which are not clear; it also means the
interference, e.g., supplying the means for the persons who might be deprived of the
privileges in the process of change (Fairclough, 1992). It is quite noteworthy, on the
basis of these statements that uncovering the covert information available in the
English language textbooks in order to highlight the potent messages of cultural and
political messages creates awareness among the key players i.e., the students,
teachers, and policy makers.
There is another perspective on the term ‘Critical’ offered by Reisigl and
Wodak (2001) dealing with the investigation of power relations between people
where things are not considered authentic and valid. The analyst who focuses hidden
power relations between a piece of discourse and the entire society can accomplish
the inquiry within this perspective and attempts to uncover the instances of the
inequality, injustice, discrimination, sexism, and racism embedded in a given
discourse and therefore gives due consideration to the symbolic significance of the
text (Corson, 2000).
Reisigl and Wodak, (2001) rejected the most common connotation of
‘Critical’being negative rather it focuses on the analysis of so-called unequal
encounters and thus it raises questions at validity of the instances of social injustice
and inequality. In this context, Simpson (2010) presents two examples; one is of
communication between doctor and patient and the other is of political interviews.
Language appearing to be impartial at the apparent level turns to encompass the
partial, elite-orientated, and concealed illustrations of reality (Renkema, 2004).
Finally, there is another dimension proposed by O’Regan (2006) and Cameron
(2001) extracted from critical theory which considers ‘Critical’ away of understanding
the construction of the world. In this perspective, forces that are ideologically
concerned mainly construct, form, and shape the social reality (Aghagolzadeh &
Bahrami-Khorshid, 2009; Cameron, 2001) and these ideological agendas are
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accomplished by means of language. The statement of Hyatt (2005) quite relevant to

the present research that the main concern of critical approach to the teaching of
language resides in endeavours to expose the procedure of naturalisation in any
discourse.
2.2.2 Defining the Key Term: ‘Discourse’

While defining ‘Discourse’, Fairclough (1992) propounds that it is the

production of language, through communication or inscription, measured as a form of
social practice. It is the structural pattern of the language articulated by the language
users in a variety of context in everyday circumstances like ‘religious discourse’ and
‘legal discourse’. Bloor & Bloor (2007) consider that language applies an important
invention of civilization as well as key force in (re)shaping social practices for CDA,
both in pessimistic and optimistic directions.
Discourse is a spoken, written, or signed stretch of language hanging together to
make sense to the language user (Gee 1990). It means that a piece of language
producing a particular sense in society may prove to be useless in the other society.
Discourse is an event of language use covering written text, conversational
interaction, paralinguistic features like facial expressions, and images (van Dijk,
1993). Therefore, a discourse can either be a spoken or written text or images, or a
blend of all these e.g., a subtitled film can comprise of spoken, written, and semiotic
elements.
The review of above literature highlights that discourse consists of two
significant modes of communication i.e., spoken words and written words. Apart
from that, it is also assumed that discourse can be extended to deal with a wide
variety of ideas such as the way public behave and believe in different interactive
settings and the approach they may accomplish various relations in diverse cultural
and societal environments. In this regard, there are two types of discourse: ‘discourse’
with a small ‘d’ and Discourse’ with a capital ‘D’. According to Yates (2004),
discourse with small ‘d’ covers the communication that transpires in the reporting of
electronic and print media and production of films and documentaries while thoughts
and information of deeper structure are symbolized by a ‘Discourse’ with a capital
‘D’) However, it is pertinent to mention that there is an intrinsic connection between
the discourse with small ‘d’ and capital ‘D’. Although, the analyst may choose the
one over the other but that preference dose not authenticate them as distinct
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entities (Yates, 2004). Thus, the association between these two modes is
predominantly treated by several researchers investigating discourse. According to
Gee (1999) the discourses with small ‘d’ are the genuine texts and communications
that are noticeable and the discourses with capital ‘D’ are in fact ideologies and
macro- systems of thought – language in use etc.
In academic literature, the concepts of text, discourse, and genre have been
widely discussed. According to Fairclough (2003, p.3), text is the real production
of language in written or spoken form and discourse deals with the overall manner to
express the world. . On the other hand, genre is considered as a way, endorsed
socially, to practice the language in association with a specific type of social action
(Fairclough, 1995, p.14). The basis of the present research is the text that deals with
general discourse pertaining to education and a specific genre relating to ELT.
2.2.3 Defining the Key Term: ‘Analysis’
‘Analysis’ being the last key word in critical discourse analysis primarily
focuses on text analysis. According to Fairclough (1995a) analysis of the text is
accomplished through four major directions. Starting from the analysis of individual
words i.e., vocabulary and their combination into clauses and sentences i.e., grammar,
the analysis further proceeds towards the investigation of the way clauses and
sentences are linked together i.e., cohesion and large scale organisational properties of
texts i.e., text structure. Apart from that, the text analysis is also covered under three
more main headings with three different perspective involving formal features of the
text. Firstly, the text constitutes the ‘force of utterance’ dealing with various sorts of
speech acts like commands, requests, promises, etc. The second perspective covers
the ‘coherence’ of text and the third deals with the ‘intertextual’ features of the texts
(Fairclough, 1995). The last heading is also the main concern of the current research.
The internal properties of the text are dealt under the four headings of micro
analysis (vocabulary, grammar, cohesion, and text structure) covered by the discourse
with small ‘d’. The external properties persuading the texts are connected with the
other three headings (force of utterance, coherence, and intertextuality) covered under
macro analysis of the discourse with capital ‘D’. In connection to aforesaid
assumption, three-dimensional Model proposed by Fairclough (1992) can be rightly
considered appropriate for the current study which is based on a text-based analysis of
the discourse striving to amalgamate the three traditions; comprehensive textual
analysis inside the domain of linguistics; the micro-sociological, interpretive tradition
 15

inside the bounds of sociology where daily life is considered as the outcome of
people’s actions acting upon a set of rules and procedures based on shared ‘common-
sense’; and a macro-sociological analysis of practice.
While elaborating guiding steps for text analysis Fairclough (1989, p 24-26)
emphasises that there are three the levels of discourse. At the first level of discourse
social conditions of production and interpretation are interpreted. The discourse is
analysed in order to deal with involvement of social factors in the initiation of the text
and their impact on the interpretation. The second level of discourse deals with the
procedure involved in the production on the text and its effects on the interpretation.
The last level is the outcome of previous two levels i.e., the text.
On the basis of these three levels of discourse, Fairclough (1989) formulates
three stages of analysis. The initial state deals with the ‘description’ of the text
covering the formal properties of the text. The middle stage of analysis concerns with
‘interpretation’ of text and it deals with the interconnection between the text and
human and social interaction, taking the text as a product of a process of production
and as a resource in the process of interpretation The last stage of the analysis deals
with ‘explanation’ concerning with the relationship between interaction and historical
/ social context, and the social processes of production and interpretation as well as
the social effects of this association (Fairclough, 1989).
2.2.4 Critical Discourse Analysis in Education
According to Norton (1997) the main concern of critical discourse analysis in
education is to examine the way language is implicated in the academic setting. Ilieva
(2000) considered the textbooks as a genre of education explored within the Critical
Discourse Analysis perspective. In connection to that Luke (1996) noted that CDA
mainly deals with literacy, verbal communication, and cultural disparity on migrant
students, local community, and minority groups. In his study, Luke (1996) explored a
handbook designed for the teachers to indicate the tension involving diverse
discourses present in the handbook of teachers and the textbooks used in existing real
classroom situations. The researcher noted that the non-presence of the location of the
grammatical subject (teacher) resulted into the production of imperative sentences and
the study further highlighted that teachers lacked expertise. He recommended that the
teachers should be imparted with professional, policy-led instruction. The researcher
used CDA as a tool to uncover the fact that how “success” and “failure” are
established and preconceived by the classrooms and schools.
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Critical Discourse Analysis is an appropriate method to explore the stuff

provided in the textbooks of English language taught at Government and
private sector schools in Punjab as highlighted in the similar studies already
conducted by Giaschi, (2000), Ilieva (2000), Taki (2008) and Keshavarz & Malek
(2009). CDA facilitates the linguistic analysis of the textbooks of English language
by distinguishing the certain features (grammatical and lexical) incorporated in the
text and associating these features to the discursive and social practices surrounding
them. The uses of language cannot be disconnected from the societal functions
that they serve and where they take place (Halliday, 1973; Brown & Yule, 1983;
Fairclough, 1989, 1995). Therefore, English language textbooks, being parts of an
extensive social practice in line with Fairclough’s (2003) three-dimensional model,
are being analysed in the present study with the CDA’s perspective.
CDA has been widely applied in educational research to explore the stuff
incorporated in the textbooks of English language. In the Iranian context, Taki (2008)
applied CDA approach to investigate the textbook used for English language teaching.
The researcher explored indigenous and international textbooks used for teaching
English language in the country and noted the shaping of dualism due definite
discursive mode. The study highlighted that the ELT books, prepared indigenously,
focussed more on the local values and cultural aspects, whereas the internationally
produced ELT textbooks were determined on the Western economy and
consumerism.
Thus, CDA is considered as an appropriate approach to investigate the change
pertaining to culture and society. In regard to this, Fairclough (1995) rightly opines
that language and social practices are united by CDA and it facilitates the systematic
inquiry of the association between the properties of language texts and the type of
social processes. Van Dijk (2001) also states in the similar way that CDA can be
concerned in macro concepts like power and domination. However, definite study of
these concepts can be facilitated at the discourse at micro level and social practices.
On the other hand, according to Fairclough (1992) CDA provides assistance to the
researcher for both ‘micro’ and ‘macro’ analyses. The macro analysis concerns the
presentation of people as groups on the basis of their culture, religion, and the micro
analysis pertains to the construction and formation of suitable language by people in
certain social practices.
2.3 Understanding Construction of Ideologies
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In order to understand the construction of ideologies, the researcher has

reviewed the literature in order to know about ideology and its cognitive features. The
detailed discussion on these concepts is provided in the subsequent paragraphs.
2.3.1 Conceptualization of Ideology
Ideology is a term frequently used in a wide range of academic disciplines,
from linguistics to social theory, and it is diversely used in these disciplines. In
linguistics, ideology is the main concern of Critical Discourse Analysis. Oxford
English Dictionary defines ideology as a system of ideas and ideals and the roots of
economic or political theory and policy are constructed by this system.
Across the extensive variety of academic disciplines, the explanation of
ideology remains under watchful consideration for the scholars. Van Dijk (1998)
outlines a multidisciplinary model for the conceptualization of ideology. According to
his opinion, ideology is the source used to socially represent a group, delineate its
functions in terms of its social relationships among the groups, and use discourse to
reproduce its inaction. It indicates that ideologies are social beliefs and groups are the
social basis of ideologies and discourse is the medium of enacting ideologies.
While proposing another perspective of ideology, Fairclough (1989) explains
it as a social policy, in part or whole, derived from societal theory in a conscious way.
On the other hand, within the Marxist dimension, ideologies ideas generating from a
particular set of benefits based on material. Both these interpretations of ideology
mark diversified ideological positions themselves. Taking the words as an isolated
entity is not possible so their meaning cannot be understood in the isolation rather to
be viewed in the setting of the ideology behind these words.CDA scholars have
carefully examined the workings of ideology at political and societal level. Yet, social
and cognitive dimensions of ideology have not been extensively investigated.
Canangarajah (1999) noted that the learners can possibly identify and confront the
ideological messages incorporated in the academic content, therefore, paving the way
for the current study to examine the cognitive dimensions of ideology.
Thus, ideologies, in general, are connected with social groups, classes, castes,
or communities like societal, religious, national, and political and these ideologies
represent their basic interests (Fairclough, 1989). In the context of the present study,
the discourse of English language textbooks is charged with ideological messages
reflecting a particular kind of worldview of a nation. The issues pertaining to
ideologies (political, national, societal, and national) are significantly elaborated by
 18

means of textbooks discourse. Therefore, intention of the present study is based on

investigation of ideological information implanted in the textbooks propagating the
students in the desired directions and shaping their mind-sets.
2.3.2 Cognitive Features of Ideology
Cognitively, ideology considers a particular system of social beliefs preserved
in long-term memory share by members of specific social groups, or ideological
communities. The ideology has three cognitive features as interpellation, hegemony
and validity claims. All these features will be discussed in the subsequent paragraphs.
The process of becoming national is conceptualized as interpellation
(Althusser, 1969, 1971). Interpellation denotes all the social and cultural practices that
ingrain certain ideas to arrest our minds in order to enforce a shared identity on us.
(Althusser, 1969) notes the remarkable thing about the concept of interpellation that it
puts its subject in a specific social role so as to operate through consent. One of the
results of interpellation is that it coverts people into its subjects and after being
controlled by ideology, people are bound to act in the interests of ideology (Chandler,
2007). It means that there is a successful operation of ideological constructs in ELT
textbooks which gains its aims effectively as its subjects, teachers and students, both
are not aware of it.
While presenting the concept of hegemony, Gramsci’s (1929-1935/1971)
advocates that hegemony is the process of imposing the sense of reality and truth
upon the subjects by the social and political groups that hold the dominance. It states
that consensus plays significant part to establish power and control. Various
discourses are used to form the attitudes, points of view and opinions to serve peculiar
ideologies. Pennycook (1994) notes that suppression and oppression and oppression is
attained through the English language which carries arrogance (Searle, 1983, quoted
in Pennycook, 1994) and colonizes the mind (Chatterjee, 1993). Therefore,
internationally distributed English learning textbooks significantly contribute in
shaping of new political identities and promote linguistic discrimination in non-native
learners around the world in general and certain countries in particular.
In the context of current research, hegemony demonstrates how high / low
power relationships operate in EFL perspective. Hence it is crucial for English
language teachers to be realistic utopians who are capable of diagnosing and
critiquing forms of hegemony in English language textbooks, finding alternatives to
resist such hegemony, and envisioning social transformations through the lens of
 19

TESOL. English teacher educators, together with in-service teachers at schools, are
potential motors for social transformation in English language education (Hutchinson,
1994).
While proposing the theory of communicative action, Habermas (1981)
introduced the concept of validity claims and considered its existence in the
discourses around the globe. Habermas (1981) considers communication (verbal or
oral) as a source of obtaining understanding or a part of strategy that can be applied to
achieve understanding. Validity claims can be rejected or accepted by the subjects
critically in case of language as a tool of understanding. Textbooks greatly depend
upon validity claims in order to obtain their purpose of interpellation in covert way. It
indicates that ideology operates within a normative thought process, promoting
adherence to ideals, social practices and actions where conformity already exists.
From a critical perspective, the purpose ideology and ideological structures serve is to
maintain disparate hierarchical relations in order to guarantee power remains in the
hands of the dominant group (Habermas, 1981).
In the context of present study, all the cognitive features of textbooks for
English teaching being taught at middle level in Punjab are required to be investigated
in order to probe into the ideological construction embedded in EFL textbooks.
2.4 Language and Ideologies
Language and ideology are interrelated and language is one of the best modes
of propagating ideologies. Blommaert (2005) considers language ideologies as an
arrangement of socially, culturally, and historically conditioned ideas, descriptions,
and insights concerning language and communication. Learning of any language, like
English language, is not only aimed at learning the language rather it is a meant to
construct diverse ideologies. It also brings the values, norms, hegemonic beliefs, and a
certain conception of life. According to Galbraith (1984), the societal conditioning
through education or colleges is quite significant manner of modifying the worldview
whether occupied by business group or by the state. In the background of the current
research, this societal conditioning is obtained through English language teaching and
learning and ideological principles are circulated through English language textbooks.
The researcher reviewed the relevant literature to point out certain aspects of
ideological constructs obtained through textbooks and these aspects are discussed in
the subsequent sub-sections of the chapter.
2.4.1 Ideologies in textbooks
 20

Discourse being a main source of dissemination of ideological messages plays

vital role in the construction of ideologies. There are certain agencies propagating the
ideological beliefs like textbooks, media, newspaper, and religious seminaries
applying the text (written or spoken) to impose the particular perception. In the
context of the current research, it is noteworthy to mention that textbooks contain
variety of text for the researchers to investigate the embedded ideologies. The text of
the textbooks serves as a major tool to manipulate the opinion of the public and
influence the world view of a nation. The discourse of the textbooks covers
effectively the matters related to language, power, and ideology. According to Sajid
(2015), the textbooks taught in schools at different levels serve dual functions. On the
one hand, the prevailing cultural, economic, and social power is sustained through
textbooks and on the other hand they serve as a weapon to impose ideological values
and disseminate the knowledge desired by the people in powerful (Sajid, 2015).
Textbooks are analyzed through qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods.
Survey questionnaires are applied to get the feedback from the students regarding the
textbooks in order to present the qualitative data for further analysis (Rahman, 2004).
Teachers and course book designers are interviewed to get their response on the
textbooks. However, the real time analysis of the textbooks can be achieved only
through the analysis of the textbooks within the CDA perspective and it will be
further elaborated in the next sub section of the chapter pertaining to review of
literature on the construction of ideologies through EFL textbooks
2.4.1 Constructing Ideologies through EFL Textbooks
Power and its issues are interrelated to ideology and textbooks are the
influential tool preserving the ideological constructs. In other words, from the early
school days the process of moulding the students’ insights of reality is initiated
through the textbooks which are code of conduct for the students. English language
textbooks are one of the tools constructing ideologies as during the process of
learning a foreign language, the stuff provided in the textbooks taught at schools
significantly contributes to construct the new identities of the students (Kim, 2011).
According to McGrath (2002), textbooks are practical implementation of the
curriculum representing (implicitly or explicitly) certain specific purposes of
education. Textbooks of English, Urdu, Islamic studies, and social studies taught at
different levels in Pakistan play their part in constructing different ideologies. As a
primary source, textbooks are transmitters of ideologies including gender, beliefs, and
 21

race. The current research focuses on English language textbooks and the literature
pertaining to English language text books has been reviewed and is being discussed in
the subsequent paragraphs of the current section.
It has been noted that the selection of the text being taught in a class of foreign
language is never neutral. Fairclough (1992) noted that text functions ideologically in
order to name the social and natural world. It forms the world in such a way that it
helps to gain particular purposes and facilitates the interests of certain privileged
groups. According to Liu (2008), the construction and transmission of knowledge is a
form of social practice and it is connected to particular and socio cultural contexts. It
is also connected to the ways of producing or contesting existing social relations and
serves certain purposes.
Textbooks, used for teaching foreign language, deliver certain texts and
multimodal resources as examples the language and culture that is being concentrated
furnishing perceptions of the ideologies, values and beliefs. Yuen (2011) notes that
due to lack of actual experience of the target language culture, the users of the
textbooks can assume that the entire culture of target language is presented through
the information provided by the language content. Although the learners can have an
alternate access to understand China apart from the classroom, but the stuff provided
in the textbooks remains altogether an official source of knowledge. Most notably,
reading and learning from the textbooks with the passage of time effect the
construction their target language skills.
The process of obtaining language proficiency is leads to a process of
ideological becoming (Bakhtin, 1981). It means that during the process of gaining
language skills learners are exposed to the discourse containing ideological constructs
and thus passing the learners through the process of identity construction while
learning to speak, think, and behave like native speakers. Apple (2001) gave similar
opinion that identity-shaping discourse is produced by the stuff contained in the
centralized textbooks representing the officially approved knowledge pertaining to the
dominant cultural knowledge and specific constructions of the social world. Thus, the
selection and legitimation of language textbooks is processed at official level in order
to socialize foreign-language learners from other countries. International learners, by
virtue of study the text produced in language textbooks, learn how to identify and
represent the aspects of a specific national identity.
 22

Diverse methods have been applied to investigate ideological messages

embedded in the textbooks used for language teaching (Weninger & Kiss,
2015). There are many studies conducted to gauge the occurrences of referencing in
the texts. Fairclough (1992) noted that nouns have received specific attention as the
producers of the text have a whole range of options at their charge that can support
them in representing the interests and power relations in the text. As Stubbs (1996)
identified that cultural information is encode by fixed expressions and thus the study
of language and ideology mainly focuses on recurrent phrases. For example, In
Japanese context, Yamanaka (2006) gauged the frequencies of referencing and noted
better representation of nouns nationalities of major English-speaking countries in
textbooks for the learners of English language. Furthermore, for Chinese foreign-
language textbooks, a similar method was applied by Hong and He (2015) to point
out the unstable illustrations of the fictitious characters.
Informing the reader about the thinking or feeling of the writer with reference to
something and exposing the ideology of the society shaped by the textbook are the
most apparent task of text analysis (Hunston & Thompson, 2000). Critical Discourse
Analysis (CDA) of the EFL text books was conducted by Hunston and
Thompson (2000) to point out these ideological value systems and noted that specific
ideologies and cultural values were represented by the textbooks imported from the
target language countries, mainly the textbooks published by Oxford University
Press, and the stuff provided in these text books carried ideological implications.
Hegemony of English language and cultural stereotypes were the dominant
ideologies presented in the textbooks used for teaching of English language. This
validated statement of Seargeant (2008) that teaching of English language as a subject
in the world is predominantly ideology-led. It was further validated by
Abdollahzadeh & Banisad (2010) who conducted the content analysis to explore the
ideological prompts available in the imported EFL textbooks and highlighted sexism,
cultural stereotypes, and domination of English as the most prevalent ideologies in the
selected textbooks. For these reasons, in an English language teaching atmosphere,
the stuff produced in the lessons greatly influences both teachers and students (Brosh,
1997).
Textbooks, produced in country or out of the country for teaching of English
language, are supposed to propagate a set of particular ideological values. While
dealing with the question of ideology, Taki (2008) investigated international and
 23

indigenous textbooks used for teaching of English language in Iran. Within the
Critical Discourse Analysis(CDA) perspective, the researcher applied Fairclough’s
(1989) model to investigate the selected textbooks within three dimensions of
meaning (1) the social relations of the characters produced in the textbook (2) their
subject positions, and (3) the content of the produced texts. The study highlighted that
a particular discourse very much in line with Western economy and consumerism
was presented by the textbooks globally produced for teaching of English as a
foreign-language while, the culture of indigenous people was represented by EFL
textbooks produced locally. Textbooks as a source of representation of certain way of
looking at the world have been authenticated by the scholars worldwide who have
questioned the textbooks as disseminating the information legitimatized with a
particular political agenda both in indigenous and international context, (Apple, 2002;
Rahman, 2002). The study guided the researcher to review the similar studies done in
his own context.
In Pakistan, internationally produced textbooks of OUP and locally produced
textbooks of PTB are taught at the private and government sector schools. The
researcher reviewed the similar studies (Taki, 2008) conducted in Pakistan and noted
that there has been no published work dealing with comparative analysis of the
English language textbooks of OUP (international) and PTB (local) taught at middle
level. In order to encode the ideological messages hidden in the textbooks used for
teaching of English at middle level in government and private sector schools in
Punjab the researcher applied critical discourse analysis method. As highlighted
earlier, teaching of language and publication of the textbooks are believed to be
ideologically weighed down and power-driven, consequently, the current study deals
with the analysis of ideologies implanted in English language textbooks taught at
middle level in Punjab. The justification for the application and utilization of CDA
method in educational practices that it deals with stirring back and forward from an
investigation of text to study of social institutions, from micro to macro stage
veracity (Luke, 1996).
2.5 Studies on Construction of Ideologies in Pakistan
According to Rahman (2002), language, power, and ideology are interconnected
to each other and language plays vital part in disseminating various ideologies;
political, religious etc. While investigating the English language textbooks taught at
different schools in Pakistan, Rahman (2004) explored the ideological stuff related to
 24

religion, nationalism, culture, and racism available in the textbooks used for teaching
of English language. The study had a thin data of 300-350 questionnaires for a
population of one-hundred and forty million. The researcher noted the presence of
diverse themes pertaining to aforementioned ideologies in English language textbooks
of government, non-elite, and elite schools having an impact on the attitude of the
students learning English language these textbooks. The response of the research
participant to the questionnaire highlighted that the students from elite schools were
less religious and nationalistic as compared to the students from government and non-
elite schools who were observed as more racist and closer to indigenous languages,
values, and norms. The most significant finding of the study is that the power lies in
the English language and the culture nearer to it or its culture and those retaining it
can easily enter the spheres of power as compared to those (the lower and middle
classes) who do not retain it.
There are a number of studies highlighting the ideologies embedded in
textbooks used for teaching English language in Pakistan (Yaqoob, 2011; Shah et al.,
2013; Sajid, 2015; Shah & Pathan, 2016).
Textbooks used for teaching of English language in Pakistan are embedded
with cultural ideologies. While investigating the impact of implicit and explicit
ideological messages related to culture Yaqoob (2011) explored the textbooks used
for teaching of English language at secondary. The study analysed two different set
of textbooks i.e., Punjab Textbook Board (PTB) published textbooks used in
government and non- elite schools and Oxford University Press (OUP) textbooks
used in elite schools. In order to expose the cultural themes presented in these
textbooks the researcher explored the textbooks within the Critical Discourse
Analysis (CDA) perspective and employed Fairclough’s (2003).The analysis
indicated that the cultural ideologies were embedded in the textbooks, published by
Punjab Textbook Board (PTB) and Oxford University Press (OUP) for teaching of
English at secondary level. Moreover, these textbooks presented different cultural
ideologies influencing their readers with diverse perspectives. The study highlighted
that almost identical perspectives were held by the students studying in government
and non-elite schools. Whereas, students from elite schools studying OUP books were
having different perspectives on most of the above mentioned themes. The
researcher noted that in contrast to OUP textbooks, PTB textbooks were more
religious and nationalistic presenting anti-Hindu, anti- Christians, anti-Israel ideas
 25

and were quite closer to the native culture. The study called for the key players
i.e., government officials involved in policy making, the authors of the textbook and
the practitioners of ELT, to understand the politics of textbooks used for English
language teaching, and, therefore, strive to institute an educational system which
could be impartial and well-formed (Yaqoob, 2011).
Shah et al. (2013) argue that the knowledge provided in textbooks designed for
teaching of the English language at secondary level is constructed socially and the
influential groups constructed the contents of these textbooks in agreement with their
own ideological vision. Their case study conducted in Punjab, highlighted that Islam
is not only presented as a belief system in these textbooks as but also a political
ideology that must be accepted by each member of the society. The study noted that
the non-Muslim citizens received biased treatment in the textbooks. In connection to
that, vocabulary items in these textbooks were pertaining to Hajj, Zakat, and prayers
thus stressing the teachings of Islam. The researcher also noted that the textbooks did
not promote critical thinking and civic participation among the students and the topics
on democratic values of freedom of speech, equality, and respect for cultural and
religious diversity were not given due consideration in the contents of the textbooks
(Shah et al., 2013).
Being one of the dominant tools of propagating diverse ideologies textbooks
ideologically affect the minds of the young generation. The stuff provided in the
textbooks is usually charged with ideological constructs and it mirrors a
particular kind of a perspective a nation (Sajid, 2015). The discourse of the PTB
English textbooks taught at intermediate level powerfully depicted the matters of
power, hegemony, identity, and political ideology as well as pointed out the gender
difference too. Sajid (2015) explored that how these textbooks taught disseminate
certain embedded and overt ideologies and shape the minds of the students
accordingly. The presentation of religious ideologies in the selected PTB textbooks
used for teaching of English language at Intermediate level in Punjab was the main
focus of the study. While exploring the effect of these textbooks on the minds of the
learners, the researcher noted the dual function of the textbooks (i) aiding to
authenticate and preserve the existing cultural, economic, and political power and (ii)
transferring ideological beliefs and information (Sajid, 2015).
Teaching of English in postcolonial period serves a specific plan and that plan
is executed in second language setting through private education system particularly
 26

designed for elite class in Pakistan (Shah & Pathan, 2016). In order to investigate the
cultural messages implanted in the textbooks published by OUP (Oxford University
Press) for teaching of English language at O’ level schools in Sindh, Fairclough’s
(2003) three- dimensional modal of Critical Discourse Analysis was applied by Shah
& Pathan, (2016). It was highlighted in the study that OUP textbooks, designed for
teaching of English language, presented a Western world to the learners and thus
exercising its power to dominate the minds of the learners in taking them from the
indigenous culture to the culture of the target language including their social
practices, values, and religion. It is was further highlighted in the study that there is
an implicit agenda behind these English language textbooks as these textbooks not
only westernize the local students and prepare them to acknowledge western culture
as acceptable standard but also neglect the indigenous culture, religion, and traditions
(Shah & Pathan, 2016).
Not only English language textbooks but also other academic subjects play their
part in the construction of ideologies. The textbooks of social studies, history, and
Pakistan studies contain a number of instances of ideological constructs (Zaidi, 2011;
Afzal, 2015; Muhammad & Brett, 2015; Pandhiani, 2016).
Education in Pakistan is linked with propagation of the perception desired by
the state, and the particular knowledge of history has been disseminated to the
students (Zaidi, 2011).While looking at the progressive advancement of social
studies curricula in Pakistan, Zaidi (2011) maintains that the polarized discourse
presented in the textbooks social studies has shaped the outlook of Pakistani students
in particular perspective and it is expected to extend the social divide, which
the extremist project can utilize by maneuvering the gap of social and opinion
leadership. The study recommends the reforms in the social studies curricula in
Pakistan in order to make it more objective.
While investigating textbooks used for teaching social studies, Pandhiani
(2016) analyzed ideational and conceptual objectives and noted that children in
Pakistan are taught the stuff that is approved by the state to construct their common
identity and that knowledge is likely to guide the students to see the world as the state
desires. Apart from that, constructing nationalism and Islamic identity is the main
focus of the educational system of Pakistan. The study poses the prospect researchers
to conduct a similar work on English textbooks taught at any level in any province of
Pakistan with the application of different framework. The study also recommended
 27

the ‘compare and contrast technique’ of the English textbooks taught in government
and private schools to explore the ideological perspectives (Pandhiani, 2016). The
study inspired the researcher to pursue his research on the comparative analysis of
ideological constructs produced by PTB and OUP textbooks taught at middle level.
The official curriculum of Pakistan has been under great criticism for being
subjective as it produced one-sided narrative account of the historical events of the
history and indoctrinated the negative views toward other religions and countries
(Afzal, 2015). While comparing the Pakistan studies textbooks taught at secondary
level in Pakistan, Afzal (2015) highlights that the attempts to bring reforms in the
curriculum have failed. The researcher compared the issues including other religions,
the United States, India, and terrorism dealt in the Cambridge board Pakistan Studies
textbooks with the official (Matric) board books and noted that the substance and
style of the books taught in ‘O’ level is superior to official (Matric) board books. The
researcher noted that the different curricula construct different ideologies and
highlighted that Cambridge textbooks being objective in nature depicted both sides of
the story and thus engendered critical thinking. Moreover, the researcher also found
that ‘O’ level students were more tolerant toward minorities by having better views on
jihad. The researcher suggested the government switch to Cambridge board Pakistan
Studies textbooks as a viable means to warrant the curriculum reform (Afzal, 2015).
The review of the relevant literature highlights that the textbooks of English,
Pakistan Studies, social students and history play their part in constructing desired
ideologies. It is noteworthy to point out that majority of the previous studies dealt
with the analysis of textbooks taught either at secondary level or at intermediate level.
However, there has been no study published on the comparative analysis of embedded
ideologies in textbooks of teaching English language (PTB and OUP) at middle level
in government and private sector in Punjab.
After gaining insights from the literature reviewed above, the researcher
pursued his study on the analysis of ideological constructions embedded in textbooks
(PTB and OUP) used for teaching of English language at middle level in Punjab. The
current research will attempt to analyze the textbooks of English language being
taught in the schools of Punjab within CDA perspective. The study will try to
highlight that how the textbooks of English language taught at middle level construct
certain ideologies.
2.6 Conclusion
 28

The literature pertaining to critical discourse analysis and implication of critical

discourse analysis in education have been reviewed in this chapter. The review of
literature helped the researcher to clearly understand the construction of ideologies
and the relationship between language and ideologies. Reviewing previous studies
helped the researcher to pursue further in his research.
 29

Chapter Three
Research Methodology
3.1 Introduction
This section of the present study encompasses modalities of the methodology
employed to conduct the research. The detailed account of the research paradigm,
research objectives, and research questions have been provided in the sub-sections of
the current chapter. The chapter also covers the research method used for the current
research and provides a comprehensive rationale behind the selection of research
sample. Apart from that, the data analysis method and the tools employed for the
analysis of data have also been discussed in this chapter.
3.2 Research Paradigm
According to Richards (2003), it is imperative for the researcher to completely
comprehend the theoretical conventions of the research paradigm in order to
minimize the chances of failure of the study. Kuhn (1962) describes research
paradigm as a conceptual structure traditionally established by the research
community which provides the researchers with a detailed insight to conduct their
research. There are various opinions pertaining to the description and nature of
research and their relation to the type of knowledge being developed. In this
connection, research paradigms lead the researchers to making choices in pursuing
their research. There are certain research paradigms setting the diverse criteria for the
researcher to approach the research.
The current research investigates the ideological messages implanted in the
textbooks designed for teaching of English in the private and government sector
schools of Punjab. It also highlights the similarities and differences between PTB and
OUP textbooks in terms of construction of ideologies. In order to comprehensively
encompass this topic, critical theory was adopted as a mode of inquiry.
The main proponent of the critical theory was Habermas (1970) who worked
at Frankfurt School in Germany. He formulated an approach of investigation in the
social sciences named as critical theory. The critical theory described (1) the historical
forces that confined human liberty and (2) it revealed the ideological evidence of
these forces. Habermas (1970) submits that three forms of knowledge are produced
by three kinds of interest. Firstly, empirical and analytical knowledge is generated
 30

through a technical interest by means of controlling the physical environment.

Secondly, hermeneutic and historical knowledge is produced through a practical
interest by means of understanding the meaning of situation. Thirdly, critical
knowledge is established through emancipating interest by means of exposing
conditions of constraints and domination.
In short, for undertaking research work critical theorists suggest two kinds of
research methodologies, namely, ideology critique and action research.
According to Crotty (1998), critical theory as a research paradigm considers
reality as a socially constructed entity which is constantly under the influence of the
powerful forces. It considers that the elements of reality and knowledge are socially
shaped and affected by the relations of power relations from the society and therefore
it is the best one to highlight the ideological constructions. It encourages the use of
qualitative methods for data collection. The main reason for choosing critical
theory as a research paradigm is that being a philosophic partner of Critical Discourse
Analysis it provides a workable solution to proceed in ideological review. Critical
theory provides the parameters, the tools, and the general guide of how to proceed
with Critical Discourse Analysis research.
3.3 Rationale for Employment of Critical Discourse Analysis
Critical Discourse Analysis deals with the investigation of written and spoken
text and explores the issues of language, power and ideology. Being a vast field of
critical language studies, CDA provides the tools to investigate about the construction
of ideologies in the text (Miftah, 2014). Data is provided for the present study in the
form of English textbook taught at the Middle level in the schools of Punjab.
Analytical tools, employed in the deeper reading of texts in terms of construction of
ideologies, have been offered by Critical Discourse Analysis method. Along with the
detailed analysis of an entire text CDA also views the text on word and sentence
level. Discovering the hints of ideological constructs in the text, context acquires the
supreme significance.
Another factor for taking CDA into account as an appropriate framework for
the current research is that it views not only the text but also completely reflects the
perspective of the text. Looking into English textbooks which seem to be a source of
authentic knowledge for the students, its subjectivity, source of inspiration,
construction of ideologies within its interpretive discourse and vice versa become
extremely significant. Further Huckin (1997) adds that CDA investigates genre,
 31

framing, foregrounding/backgrounding, presupposition, omission, register, modality

and other hidden but influential aspects of discourse. However, in the context of the
current research, only those tools have been used which really become relevant for
this study.
3.2 Research Objectives
The main objective of the current research is to bring out the construction of
ideologies in English textbooks taught at the middle level in Punjab. It will be limited
to English language textbooks prepared by Punjab Textbook Board for teaching of
English language at the middle level (class VII) in government sector schools and
English language textbooks prepared by Oxford University Press, Oxford Progressive
English implemented at the middle level (class VII) in private sector schools. It will
also compare and contrast both textbooks in terms of construction of different
ideologies.
3.3 Research Questions
The current study will focus on the following research questions:
(a) What kinds of ideologies are being presented in English textbooks
offered by national curriculum followed at the middle level (class VII) in
Punjab?
(b) What kinds of ideologies are being presented in English textbooks
offered by Oxford University Press followed at the middle level (class VII) in
Punjab?
(c) What are the similarities and differences in terms of construction of
ideologies among the English textbooks offered by Oxford University Press
and Punjab Textbook Board taught at the middle level (class VII)?
3.4 Data and Data Sources
The data for the current research has been taken from two series of English
textbooks taught at Middle level. The age of the students at this level is usually
between 11 to 13 years. Punjab Textbook Board (henceforth PTB) English textbooks
class VII and Oxford University Press (henceforth OUP) Oxford Progressive English
textbooks class VII particularly form the basis of data collection.
(a) Punjab Text Books: Books taught in the government schools at
Middle level have been published in accordance with National Textbook Policy
2006 by the government of Pakistan and selected by government of Punjab
Textbook Board. The current study focuses on Punjab Textbook class VII for
 32

academic year 2018-2019 for all Government schools in Punjab. There are
fourteen units in the selected textbook.
(b) Oxford University Press Text Books: There are different varieties of
books used in the private schools in the province. In the current research, the
Oxford Progressive English book developed by OUP for the students of class
VII for Pakistan has been selected. These books are being used in private
sector schools in Punjab. There are ten units in the selected textbook.
Lessons of both textbooks are sub-divided into essays, poems, narratives,
autobiographies, articles etc. All the lessons are directly or indirectly related to
religion, patriotism, ideologies, gender, integrity, battle, prejudice, the public, science,
education, nature, vigour, and general knowledge. It is pertinent to mention that the
term ‘ideologies’ has been used as an umbrella term further categorised into national,
religious, political and societal ideologies. The current research concentrates only on
content of those lessons which are associated with aforesaid ideologies. These lessons
and contents are then critically analyzed using the selected framework.
3.4.1 Rationale for Selection of Data
The data for the current study has been selected from the books taught at
Middle level in government and private sector schools in Punjab. Students at this
level are at the beginning level of their teen- age which is a critical period of
life of a learner. The mind of the learner being a clean slate starts developing its
ideologies and advances towards mature age. On the other hand, text books are to be
considered as reliable as they, authenticate knowledge and thus play their part in
constructing their ideologies.
English language textbooks are supposed to bring the target language culture
and also affect the indigenous culture. Being a foreign language it is supposed
to leave its impact on the learners in constructing their ideologies. (Miftah, 2014). A
comparative study on the OUP textbooks and PTB textbooks in CDA perspective will
ultimately highlight the ideological contributions of both kinds of textbooks. Through
the purposive sampling, the researcher ensured that the data selected should provide
the text to analyze the ideological constructs and furnish the basis for comparative
analysis.
3.4.2 Data Analysis and Analytical Framework
Textbook promotes a selective view of culture and society. Some perspectives
and practices are promoted and others are discouraged in this process. Textbook
 33

material is an indispensible feature of instruction and no academic experience can

take place effectively in the absence of relevant textbook (Hutchinson & Torres,
1994). Textbook evaluation belongs to the realm of applied linguistics and it is
a valuable tool to measure the worth of instructional material and its influence on the
learners (Tomlinson, 2001).
The current research has employed Fairclough’s (2003) analytical framework
for the critical discourse analysis in order to highlight the embedded ideologies in the
text books. Unfortunately, the young learners in Pakistan are not acquainted with
these underlying ideologies affecting their identities. This model of analysis examines
content, social relations and subject positions and discloses the ideology and power
relations exercised in the texts. The analysis has been carried out at title, content and
sentence level from randomly selected lessons from textbooks as it offered plenty of
text related to the embedded ideologies.
3.5 Research Model
According to Fairclough & Wodak (1997) the basic assumption of CDA is that
discourse is the integral part of the society that shapes it. Therefore, the main concern
of CDA is to deal with significant social matters (Huckin, 1997) and this aspect is
somewhat extracted from the first as the context of the text not only deals with the
existing setting where the production and interpretation of the text takes place but also
covers the greater societal setting consisting of its pertinent cultural, political, social,
and other features. As there are no constraints on the capacity of analysis so the
scholars and theorists of CDA consider that they are at liberty to select the text that
greatly affects the lives of vast majority of people.
Drawing the lines from the poststructuralist philosophies of Michel Foucault,
Mikhail Bakhtin, and others, discourse was interpreted within a social constructionist
perspective by Huckin’s (1997) proposing that people’s communication with others
interfered by the practice of language and other semiotic systems greatly fabricate
their perceptions of reality.
Therefore, the absolute perception of reality is not possible rather it is bound
to change raising its expectations of the change for the better. The analysts of CDA
mainly concentrate on language and other elements of discursive practice. Therefore,
they endeavour to highlight the procedures the powerful forces adopt to build their
desired versions of reality favouring their interests. CDA scholars expose these
 34

practices of dominant forces in order to encourage the victims of such domination and
support them to turn down the influence of influential powers.
While defining discourse, Fairclough (1992) produced three-dimensional model
dealing the analysis of discourse in three analytical stages. Language as a social
practice forms the basic foundation of this model and he calls it discourse. He
mentions that in social situations, people speak their social world which constitutes
and is constituted by the linguistic world. Fairclough (1992) elaborates the discourse
operating in three ways: (1) as text, (2) the procedures involved in text production and
interpretation or the interaction, and (3) the involvement of social conditions or social
context in the text production and interpretation. Critical Discourse Analysis is the
deeper investigation of texts (written or oral) that is expected to be dominant in a
given society at political or cultural level. However, exploring the text in isolation is
not possible and thus while investigation, the analyst has to consider the larger
context of the text in which it is located. It is further elaborated in figure 3-1 (from
Fairclough, 1992)

Figure 3-1 Three-Dimensional Conception of Discourse

The above mentioned schematic diagram presents text as the outcome of
discursive practices, comprising of the production of the text, its distribution, and
interpretation, which themselves are implanted in an intricate variety of social
practices. The interrelationship among texts, processes, and their social conditions are
critically explored by the analyst in this tri-focal approach, (Fairclough, 2001).
At the text level, the description stage involves identifying and labelling the
linguistic features in the text, drawing on the machinery in Fairclough’s framework
(2003). The view is that the linguistic (e.g. vocabulary and grammar) and
 35

paralinguistic (e.g. rising volume and intonation) features are social in the sense that
they are used by people in social settings. As such, they are socially determined and
have social effects. In the current research, linguistic features will be applied to
extract the hidden ideologies in the selected textbooks.
At the level of social interaction, the role of the analyst is to interpret the
participants’ meanings and understandings as they manifest in their linguistic choices
in an interaction. The participants’ discursive choices are seen as responses to the
social constraints which they consider to be operating in the particular situation. In
order to do this, people draw on an array of resources which include language
knowledge and proficiency; understandings, assumptions and beliefs about the natural
and social worlds; values and so on (Fairclough, 1992). These resources
comprise their understandings of the prevailing social order and the linguistic
competence to speak this order.
The third level of analysis, explanation, involves the analyst in re-describing the
linguistic choices made by participants in terms of a particular theoretical orientation
towards issues of ideology and power relations (Fairclough, 1999). This level relates
to the third dimension of discourse and the understanding that the process of
producing and interpreting texts is determined by the social and institutional
structures that contextualise a situation. Of particular interest to the analyst is how
participants’ assumptions about culture, social relationships and social identities are
manifested in texts and work ideologically to either sustain, challenge or change
existing power relations (Fairclough, 2001).It is pertinent to mention here that the
selected textbooks taught at middle level are embedded with certain ideologies
and the current research will analyze the textbooks within the CDA perspective to
uncover these ideologies.
In the current research, Fairclough’s (2003) three-dimensional model was
divided into sub-categories elaborated below and the analysis of the selected text is
based on these sub categories.
(a) Genre
The investigation of genre, within which the text falls, is the leading sub
category of text analysis within CDA perspective. Genre, as defined by Fairclough
(2003), is a means of linguistically acting and interacting. He gives different example
of genres as interview, lecture, and news report in which the process of linguistic
action and interaction is achieved. According to Paltridge (2006) critical analysis of a
 36

discourse starts by the identification of genre in the text and then it explores that genre
to highlight the certain effect on the reader. Determining and interpreting what has
been kept in the text or deleted from the text and why the producer deleted the text
have been achieved by the analyst by virtue of genre knowledge.
Huckin (1997) views genre as the exclusive discoursal feature of ways acting
and interpreting in the course of social events. Finally, several crafty writers know
the ways to manipulate a genre, the procedure to move away from its typical margins
to produce particular effects. For example, news reports are supposed to use neutral,
objective language, but some reporters will insert an occasional loaded word to slant
the report. By virtue of genre knowledge the analyst is enabled to trace and critically
interpret such deviations.
According to Fairclough (2003), while analysing a text, it is to be sorted inside
the chain of particular genre if it is a part of any. A sequence of events may entail
certain interrelated and interconnected texts that can exhibit a sequence of certain
genres. In the current study, same tool has been applied to explore the relevant aspects
in English textbooks taught at Middle level in Punjab. Although, the study is
constructed on discourse of textbook which is descriptive in nature, all the pertinent
inquiries related to genre are discussed in chapter four during analysis of the selected
lessons.
(b) Intertextuality
Intertextuality has a significant role in critical discourse studies which deals
with marking of features of other texts contained within a particular text. While
exploring a particular text, the analyst has to be watchful of the fact that which other
pertinent texts have been integrated in it (Bakhtin, 1981). Similarly, sorting out
whether the authorial voice still carried a dominant place by texturing and
manipulating other voices is the prominent aspect of intertextuality (Fairclough,
1995). The authorial interventions in intertextuality are closely monitored. Exploring
the instances of intertextuality in the textbook used for teaching of English language
would certainly be exciting as the selected texts are likely to have a great deal of
intertextual references. The way intertextual references are amalgamated within the
text may also be important for the researcher. At this point, the matter of
intertextuality is more inclined towards ideological aspects than those of hegemonic
ones as the enquiry of ideological aspects is more suited for the present research and
that has been discussed in chapter four while analyzing the selected lessons.
 37

(c) Foregrounding and Backgrounding

In the text, the authors give textual eminence to some impressions at the cost
of the other and thus foreground certain concepts and background other ideas. Textual
eminence achieved at certain times by using specific genres, as certain genres are
bestowed with prominence. According to McGregor (2003), keywords and headings
are used to highlight certain concepts by providing them textual importance is
foregrounding and if text is there but de-emphasized or minimized is backgrounding.
In the light of critical discourse analysis instances of foregrounding and
backgrounding are analysed in chapter four while analyzing English textbook
published by PTB and OUP.
(d) Presupposition
Presupposition is one of the major tools that writers use to manipulate the
target readers. It is the use of language in a way that appears to take certain ideas for
granted, as if there were no alternative. Occurring at the sentence level in the shape of
persuasive rhetoric presupposition can be utilized to transmit the feeling that the
sayings of a person in power are powerful (McGregor, 2003).For example, if a
politician says, we cannot endure to impose high taxes on the public in Pakistan; he or
she is,in fact, accepting that the taxes that Pakistanis have to pay are high. In public
discourse (political speeches, advertisements, and other forms of persuasive rhetoric)
such presuppositions are quite common. Being infamously manipulative
presuppositions are not easy to challenge. Most of the readers are not ready to
challenge the statements that the writer affirms. Instances of presupposition in English
textbooks published by PTB and OUP are highlighted in the next chapter within the
dimensions of CDA
(e) Topicalization
While typically proceeding through the text sentence by sentence, it can be
noticed that apart from constructing the basic meaning of each sentence, there is a
certain piece of information appearing as grammatical subjects of the sentence and
thus constructing a kind of foregrounding at sentence-level i.e., topicalization. In
simple words, a sentence topic is what the sentence is about. In most of the cases the
topic of former sentence continues as the topic of the next and thus enhances its
significance in the text. McGregor (2003) views about topicalization that, in choosing
what to put in the topic position, writers create a perspective, or slant, that influences
the reader's perception. The instance of topicalization is elaborated in the analysis
 38

extracted from Lesson No 10 “Quaid-i-Azam” taken from English textbook published

by PTB.
“…The Quaid’s motto, ‘work, work and work’ is a call to wake us up. We
must work hard to achieve our goals. Each one of us should try and act upon the
golden principles the Quaid gave to the nation…” (PTB, L.10, p. 114, l. 1-8)
The text provides an insight on topicalization and Quaid’s motto is a topic
phrase that gives the reader an idea about the succeeding lines of the paragraph.
(f) Representation of Social Events
Fairclough (2003) has given a comprehensive detail on the representation of
social events by theorizing that this aspect of his three-dimensional model deals with
the social events or the chain of social events that the text is about. The relationship
of the text with a network of texts is another point considered in this model. In
the context of the present study, the abovementioned features of selected texts of PTB
and OUP textbooks have also been investigated by the researcher and the
connection of the selected texts with a network of texts if they are the part of any
chain was also highlighted.
It deems imperative to understand the concept of ‘social structure’, ‘social
practice’, and ‘social event’. According to Fairclough (2003), languages define
particular potential, various possibilities and reject others in order to construct social
structures. On the other hand, social practices cover the articulations of certain
varieties of social elements closely linked with particular characteristics of social life.
In the present milieu, the occurrences of social practices form various orders of
discourse. Fairclough (2003) considers the texts as instances of social events falling
within the domain of certain social practices pursuing a particular social structure and
this is the most considerable aspect of Fairclough’s three-dimensional model.
Fairclough (2003) gives three dimensions to the meaning performing its
function within clauses i.e., action, representation, and identification. While having
deep look at the representational meaning of the text, clauses are viewed as embedded
with three kinds of distinct features (1) processes, (2) participants, and (3)
circumstances. Verbs in the clauses are the ‘processes’, the subjects and the objects
(direct and indirect) of these verbs are the ‘participants’ and different adverbials used
in the clause are considered as the ‘circumstances’.
While looking into the representation of social events, Van Leeuwen (1993,
1995, and 1996) considers that the researcher mainly focuses on those elements of
 39

represented social events which are added or removed, and which added elements are
most significant. Finding out that abstract or concrete representation of the social
events is another enquiry worth investigation. Both forms of representations, abstract
and concrete, can have diverse connotation and impact. The description of the
processes and their types i.e., material, mental, verbal, relational, and existential,
are also acknowledged.
Critical discourse analysis prefers to investigate the occurrences of grammatical
metaphor in the representation of processes. Apart from that, the representation of
social actors (personal and impersonal, named and classified, and specific and
generic) furnishes further perceptions while appraising the social viewpoint.
While analysing selected lesson from PTB and OUP textbooks to highlight the
representation of social events within the selected texts, some of the abovementioned
aspects may not be applicable to the present study. Therefore, the researcher would
make use of the features significant to this specific part of enquiry, relevant to the
nature of texts.
3.6 Conclusion
The extensive discussion on devices used for CDA helped the researcher to
undertake the task of critical discourse analysis of the selected lessons in the
succeeding chapters of research. Keeping these aspects of Fairclough’s three-
dimensional model into consideration, the subsequent chapter of the study will cover
the analysis of the selected lessons. It is noteworthy to mention here that the range of
the employment of these subcategories of the three-dimensional model can vary in
diverse texts.
 40

Chapter Four

Data Analysis and Discussion

4.1 Introduction
This chapter encompasses a critical discourse analysis of Punjab Textbook
Board (PTB) English Textbooks and Oxford University Press English
Textbooks prescribed for class VIII. It critically examines their discourses related to
ideologies i.e., national, religious, political, and societal ideology coined by
Fairclough (1989). In this way, it finds out the explicit as well as implicit messages
embedded in the discourses related to the abovementioned ideologies. An
investigation into the discourses embedded in the selected lessons will provide the
researcher an insight to point out the ideologies underpinned in these textbooks.
The comparative analysis will provide the basis for judgment to highlight the
differences in these textbooks in terms of their contribution in the construction of
ideologies.
The researcher initiated his data selection by reading the English language
textbooks taught at middle level in the government and private sector schools in
Punjab. The researcher investigated a wide variety of data available in the selected
textbooks of OUP and PTB taught at middle level.
After that, the researcher read and re-read the data in order to narrow it down
and selected more relevant examples from the selected textbooks. While selecting
the specific lessons for analysis, the researcher ensured that only those lessons are
selected from these textbooks which play significant role in the construction of
ideologies and furnish the basis for comparative study. Apart from that, the analysis
has been carried out at the sentence level so that the present study may cover both the
major and minor messages in the discourses. In this chapter, a chronological order of
the themes analyzed is: (a) national ideology (b) religious ideology (c) political
ideology and (d) societal ideology.
In the current study, the researcher will apply the aspects of Fairclough’s
three-dimensional model briefly explained in chapter three such as genre,
intertextuality, framing, foregrounding / backgrounding, presupposition, and
topicalization; hidden but influential aspects of discourse. It is also necessary to
mention that, for a better and convincing discussion about their contrasting
 41

ideologies, sentences regarding each theme have been taken from both the PTB and
OUP textbooks. In short, selected texts from both the textbooks have been
compared in terms of their contribution to the construction of ideologies.
4.2 An Overview of Punjab Textbook Board English Textbooks (Level 7)
Punjab Textbook Board (PTB) English Textbooks prescribed for English class
VII have been published by Punjab Textbook Board. These textbooks are according
to national curriculum 2006 and national textbook and learning policy 2007 and
have been approved by Ministry of Education Curriculum Wing Islamabad. These
textbooks have been written according to the guidelines provided by National
Curriculum for English language teaching (2006). These textbooks aim to develop
language skills through practice in reading, writing, speaking and listening, in a
structured progressive way.
This book has an impressive range of entertaining, vivid and challenging texts
in various genres, from across Pakistan and through a broad time span it offers
students a unique experience of the English language. It focuses on language
analysis, aims to develop interpretive skills, and appreciation of metaphorical
language. It has extensive vocabulary building tasks including derivations and
definitions; simple and clear explanations of grammar, with example and practice
exercises. Its format is student-friendly, attractive and is clear in its presentations. It
is being taught in all the Government sector schools of Punjab. This book consists of
fourteen lessons which represent various genres of discourse from across Pakistan
and it offers students a unique experience of the English language. Within the
dimensions of the current study only those lessons have been selected which
provided the researcher enough material to investigate the embedded ideologies. Due
to the constraints of time, selected lessons were further segregated in terms of
frequency of the material that offered investigation and thus three lessons were
selected. These three lessons, besides helping the learner to develop language skills
through practice in reading, writing, speaking and listening, in a structured
progressive way, also contained various hidden ideologies which greatly affect the
mind and heart of the students. The detailed analysis of the selected chapters of the
PTB textbook is given in the subsequent sections of the chapter.
4.3 Analysis of Punjab Textbook Board English Textbooks (Level 7)
There were total fourteen lessons in the textbook and only three lessons were
selected that contained the elements of embedded ideologies. These lessons are as
 42

under:
(a) Lesson No 3 Eid-ul-Azha
(b) Lesson No 10 Quaid-i-Azam
(c) Lesson No 14 A Terrible Earthquake

4.3.1 Analysis of Lesson No 3 ‘Eid-ul-Azha’

The third lesson is based on description of a religious festival of the Muslims
all over the world i.e. Eid-ul-Azha. The complete text of the lesson is attached as
Appendix “A”. This lesson consists of six paragraphs containing the aspects of
Muslim religious festival and it is presented through religious discourse. Muslims
celebrate Eid-ul-Azha in the memory of Hazrat Ibrahim and Hazrat Ismail on
10th Zil-Hajjah. The celebration of religious festival creates a sense of brotherhood,
selflessness, peace, and sacrifice among the people. Every religion on the earth has
its own festivals and events to celebrate it and Muslims have two festivals known as
Eid- ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Azha which are celebrated with great religious devotion.
In the next paragraphs, the text will be closely looked in; starting with features
associated with the text as a whole and then gradually narrowed down to sentence-
level. All the aspects of the lesson, analyzed within the CDA perspective are
elaborated in the next paragraphs.
(a) Genre
The texts under the study belong to PTB with their own typical descriptive
analytical tone. The entire text is descriptive in nature containing religious discourse
with no evidences of genre mixing. It is the analytical work of the writer who
unleashed the Muslim’s religious festival which is celebrated in the memory of
Hazrat Ibrahim and Hazrat Ismail. The researcher witnessed throughout the text
that the same type of genre has been developed and no other genre was seen merged
within it. All the texts do not form their association with any other genre of
discourse. The entire text of ‘Eid-ul-Azha’ is an interpretive work of the writer who
shares insights from the religious discourse perspective.
Investigating how other voices are merged within the text are some of the key
inquiries of the current work. The researcher explored important instances of
intertextual references within the texts which are discussed in the next paragraph
(b) Intertextuality
Intertextual traces are evident throughout the lesson ‘Eid-ul-Azha’. The
 43

references are directly as well as indirectly quoted in the lesson. The researcher
observed the following instances of intertextuality in the lesson.
(i) ‘When the Rasool (‫ )ﷺ‬reached Madina Munawarah after leaving

Makkah Mukkarramah, people told him that they used to celebrate two
festivals every year.’
This is an instance of indirect intertextuality. While talking about celebration
of the religious festivals, the writer has referred back to the occasion of first
migration in Islam from Makkah to Madina when the Holy Prophet (‫ )ﷺ‬ordered to

celebrate two festivals every year.

(ii) Should I give a better festivals to celebrate every year’…He bade
them to celebrate Eid-ul-Azha.
In this text, there is an indirect and direct instance of intertextuality. The writer
has directly quoted the words of the Last Prophet (‫ )ﷺ‬to stress on the desire for

religious festivals and then indirectly quoted the text by stating the blessing of the
festival of Eid-ul-Azha.
(iii) Allah Almighty told Hazrat Ibrahim in a dream to sacrifice his
son Hazrat Ismail
The writer is referring back to hundred years ago about the dream of Hazrat
Ibrahim, the rationale behind the celebration of Eid-ul-Azha. The writer has applied
intertextuality to enhance the effect of the text as well as convince the reader. The
instances of directly quoted and indirectly quoted references enhance the
believability towards the issue as the quotation is taken from a comment made by
Almighty Allah. In fact, the writer merged different references within the text to
give prominence to the particular voices.
Exploring how the things are overshadowed and overlooked, the researcher
further investigated the instances of foregrounding and backgrounding, another
dimension of Fairclough’s three-dimensional model worth investigating within
critical language study. The researcher also gained insights into this particular
perspective.
(c) Foregrounding and Backgrounding
The aspect of foregrounding and backgrounding is quite noteworthy in CDA
through Fairclough’s three-dimensional model. The researcher closely
investigated the entire lesson and could not find instances of foregrounding and
 44

backgrounding in the lesson.

In order to expose ideological underpinnings ‘presuppositions’ were the
appropriate tools of inquiry. Prominent instances of presupposition traced within the
selected texts are as under.
(d) Presupposition
The closed analysis of the lesson ‘Eid-ul-Azha’ highlights that there was no
instance of presupposition except the title of the lesson contributing significantly to
create presupposition. The reader (student) assumes from the title of the lesson that it
will be about the events like offering prayers, sacrificing animals, and
distributing meat.
Having noticed the other significant features of the text, the researcher
typically proceeded through the text sentence by sentence.
(e) Topicalization
The aspect of topicalization is significant element of qualitative inquiry into
CDA through Fairclough’s three-dimensional model. The researcher closely
investigated the entire lesson and could not find appropriate sentences referring to
the topic worth investigating in CDA.
After investigating the text at the sentence level, the researcher further analysed
the text to investigate the aspects pertaining to ‘social events’ within the lesson, the
third dimension of Fairclough’s three-dimensional model.
(f) Representation of Social Events
While analysing the text, the context of the lesson proved to be the most
significant element providing the basis for the representation of social events. In the
current lesson, the researcher noted the viewpoints of the text significantly
contributing to the representation of religious and social events.
In terms of social representation, the researcher came across the title of the
lesson ‘Eid-ul-Azha’ indicating that the students are going to learn about the religious
festival of Islam which Muslims celebrate in the memory of Hazrat Ibrahim
and Hazrat Ismail on 10th Zil-Hajjah. Pakistan, being Islamic republic, is an
amalgam of religious and societal ideologies based on Islamic principles, and the
lesson depicts these ideologies within the geographical bounds of the country
indicating that Pakistan and Islam are interrelated to each other in all aspects of
identities.
The stuff available for the students in the lesson generates another dimension
 45

of the social representation of events. The researcher noted that the religious
festival of the Muslims disseminates sense of brotherhood, selflessness, and
sacrifice among the people presenting specific dimension of Muslim religious cum
societal ideologies depicting the universal significance of Islam, covering all the
aspects of human life.
Taken from sociolinguistic perspective, there is another social representation
in the lesson depicting the instances of code mixing. The writer borrowed the
word ‘Namaz’ from Urdu language instead of the word ‘prayer’ already available in
the English language exercising the power of indigenous language over foreign
language. The use of such words indicates that the writer seems to consider
Urdu as ‘us’ language having closer affinity with Islam and Pakistan, and English
as ‘their’ language having least affinity with Islam.
Another angle of the social representation in the lesson highlights the national
identity of Pakistan as an Islamic republic. Muslims of the entire world celebrate the
religious festival of Eid-ul-Azha in the similar fashion and thus creating Muslims as
one ethnic group but divided on the basis of geographical boundaries. Muslims of
Pakistan are supported by the government to celebrate the festival with religious
piety and thus translating its name as Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
The investigation of social representation of events at the clause level, a
significant element of qualitative inquiry in CDA, paved the way for the researcher
to explore the ‘Processes’ (usually realized as verbs), ‘Participants’ (subjects,
objects, etc.), and ‘Circumstances’(commonly realized as adverbs) involved within
the text.
While investigating the ‘Processes’, the researcher noted that most of the
‘Processes’ involved within text were ‘verbal’ and ‘existential’. Following
Processes of various sorts were merged within the entire text under study:
Create, leaving, boring, celebrated, reached, told, used, asked, give, replied,
bade, celebrated, told, became, sent, sacrificed, arranged, divided, distributed,
etc.
All the Processes involved are indicative of the religious festival and
ideological references attached with them within the social context.
The researcher also found various ‘Participants’ serving as subjects and objects
in the social representation performing various ‘forms of activity’:
 46

Festival, people, Muslims, Eid-ul-Fitr, Eid-ul-Azha, Rasool(‫)ﷺ‬, Madina

Munawarah, Makkah Mukkarramah, Zil-Hajjah, Hazrat Ibrahim(AS), Hazrat

Ismail(AS), Allah Almighty, Son, ram, Muslims, Namaz, goats, sheep, lambs,
cows, camels, butcher, meat, neighbour, and animals etc.
All the ‘Participants’ taken from the lesson ‘Eid-ul-Azha’ therefore; refer to
various religious and ideological dimensions associated with them within their
particular context.
After noticing the contribution of the ‘Participants’ in the text; the researcher
explored the ‘Circumstances’ mentioned in the lesson ‘Eid-ul-Azha’. Prominent
‘Circumstances’ mentioned within the text under study are as under:
A fine description of Muslim religious festival, Jointly sacrifice of a cow,
Distribution of meat among the relatives, Neighbour and needy people etc.
The ‘Circumstances’ worked as adverbials and added more meanings to
various ‘forms of activity’ already merged within the text and are, therefore,
indicative of celebration of Muslim religious festival and ideological dimensions
linked with them.
4.3.2 Analysis of Lesson No 10 ‘Quaid-i-Azam’
Quaid-i-Azam is a founder of Pakistan and the short glimpse of his struggle in
the making of Pakistan has been depicted in the lesson number ten named as ‘Quaid-
i- Azam’. The entire text of the lesson is an interpretive work of the writer who
shares insights from Quaid’s political discourse and his struggle to form a separate
Muslim land ‘Pakistan’. The writer also gives a comprehensive note on the idea of a
separate homeland presented by Dr. Allama Muhammad Iqbal. The complete text
of this lesson is attached as Appendix “B”. The text consists of seven paragraphs
containing the aspects of political discourse which represents the political genre
throughout the lesson. Researcher further analysed the text which highlight the
hidden ideologies.
In the preceding parts of the current section, the researcher closely analysed
the text within the CDA perspective and discussed the features of CDA and
gradually narrowed down the analysis to sentence-level features.
(a) Genre
The entire text of the lesson has its own peculiar and descriptive analytical
tone. The complete text is descriptive in nature containing political discourse with no
 47

traces of evident genre mixing. It is the analytical work of the writer whose aim is to
unleash the Quaid’s struggle to form a separate state of Muslims of the sub-
continent. The researcher witnessed throughout the text that same type of genre has
been developed and no other genre was seen merged within it. All the texts do
not form their association with any other genre of discourse. The entire lesson is an
interpretive work which shares insights from Quaid’s political discourse and his
struggle to form a separate Muslim state ‘Pakistan’.
While analysing text within the CDA perspective foregrounding and
backgrounding is another aspect of CDA. The researcher also gained insights into
this particular perspective.
(b) Foregrounding and Backgrounding
The lesson was closely investigated to explore the instances of foregrounding
and backgrounding. The lesson, as the title suggests, describes notable glimpses of
the entire life of the Quaid. However, the writer has foregrounded his political
struggles in making of Pakistan and backgrounded his personal life to create great
impression on the minds of the readers.
The writer’s commitment to the topic and the text contained in the topic is
noteworthy as the lesson is confined to the title and foregrounding is in
synchronization with the title, Quaid-i-Azam, not Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Had it
been about Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the writer would have given equal preference to
all the aspects of his life. The most part of the lesson is about his political struggles
and very less about his personal life.
While probing further into the text, it has been noted that the writer has
depicted the role of Dr Allama Muhammad Iqbal in making of Pakistan. The
description of his role in the lesson is backgrounded by the writer, ensuring
the writers commitment to the title of the lesson.
In order to expose ideological underpinnings ‘presuppositions’ were the
appropriate tools of inquiry. Prominent instances of presupposition traced within the
texts are as under.
(c) Presupposition
Presupposition is a kind of background assumption against which an action,
theory, expression or utterance makes sense or is rational. To illustrate how
presupposition works in the text, the researcher deeply scrutinized the entire text
of the lesson. From the title of the lesson ‘Quaid-i-Azam’ the reader assumes that
 48

the text will be about the founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
During the in-depth analysis of the text, it has been noted that there are some
instances of the text carrying presupposition. For example, ‘The Congress and the
British government ultimately agreed to the partition of India’. It presupposes that
the Congress and the British government were in power at the time of the partition
and greatly influenced the process of partition. At another instance in the lesson, the
writer describes that ‘Quaid-i-Azam took great interest in the formation of and
progress of the Muslim Students Federation.’ It presupposes that the Quaid had
great interest in the role of young generation in the politics. At the time of making of
Pakistan, he was passing from the last years of his life and wanted to transfer his
political skills to the younger generation.
After investigating the substantive aspects of the text within the CDA perspective,
the researcher further explored the text at the sentence level.
(d) Topicalization
Looking more closely at the individual sentences, one can see a pattern of
sentence topics that support the topic. The instance of topicalization is elaborated
in the text extracted from textbook.
 …The idea of Pakistan…….
 Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah……..
 Muslim homeland ……….
 …The Quaid’s motto,
 The golden principles the Quaid gave to the nation………
 … Creation of Pakistan………
 …… formation and progress of the Muslim Student Federation.
 ……. As the first Governor General……..
All the sentences have topics referring either to the Pakistan or to the Quaid-i-
Azam. The text is clearly, therefore, about Quaid’s struggle in making Pakistan.
All the examples quoted above having certain pieces of information appear as
grammatical subjects of the sentence. All the topic sentences cover a particular
perspective, the political efforts of the Quaid, and influenced the perception of
the reader.
The researcher further proceeded to the third dimension of Fairclough’s three-
dimensional model i.e., ‘representation of social events’ in pursuit of social
 49

dimension, a significant aspect of enquiry in CDA.

(e) Representation of Social Events
The first dimension of the representation of social events pertains to the
allocation of the title to the lesson i.e., the Quaid-i-Azam, a metaphor replacing the
name of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. The phrase is specific to
the national ideology of the country as Pakistan and Quaid-i-Azam are
interrelated to each other in all aspects of national identity.
Another aspect of the representation of social events in the lesson is the
narration of the life of the Quaid-i-Azam. The writer has depicted the events in the
lesson that transformed him from a politician to the founder of Pakistan. The
narrative of these events greatly impacts the minds of the learners and thus
significantly contributes to the construction of national ideologies.
Apart from the life of the Quaid-i-Azam, the writer has presented another
social event in the lesson. The contribution of Dr. Allama Muhammad Iqbal in the
making of Pakistan is of historical significance. While learning about the life of the
Quaid, the awareness of the students is further enhanced by referring back to the
idea of a separate homeland for the Muslims as proposed by Dr. Allama Muhammad
Iqbal, the idea that convinced the leader of a great stature to lead the nation towards
the making of Pakistan. The event has strong roots in national ideology of Pakistan.
While viewing the text from another perspective of social representation, the
researcher noticed that the learners are not only taught about the Quaid-i-Azam
but also told a little bit about the role of Dr Allama Iqbal in national ideology. The
text highlights that Dr Iqbal exercised hegemony through consent to convince the
Quaid-i- Azam, admirably the leader of Muslim community in the subcontinent.
The text further highlights that a formation of the new state was the only demand of
all the Muslims.
In the lesson, the writer cites the famously quoted words of the Quaid ‘work,
work, and work’ forming another dimension of the representation of the social
events. These guiding principles have wider implications for the entire nation to
play its part in making Pakistan great and strong as working for the nation is always
needed from the countrymen. In connection to the notion of ‘work’ the writer has
cited another phrase ‘wake up’ indicating that after getting independence from the
British Raj do not get into slumber. This is the most critical time and the nation has
to remain awake and alert to play its part for the betterment of the country. Citing
 50

the phrases from the words of the Quaid, the writer has stamped the authentication to
the text in order to create consent among the masses and significantly contribute to
construction of national ideology.
The researcher has traced plenty of insights in the lesson ‘Quaid-i-Azam’
through the application of Fairclough’s three-dimensional model within the critical
discourse perspective. The text of the entire lesson was investigated to respond the
research inquiries related to construction of ideologies in the text. All the minor
themes were merged within the aforementioned major social representations.
Another dimension of the representation of social events is the investigation of
the text at the clause level, a significant element of qualitative inquiry in CDA. The
researcher explored further into the text to highlight the ‘Processes’ (usually
realized as verbs), ‘Participants’ (subjects, objects, etc.) and ‘Circumstances’
(commonly realized as adverbs) involved within the text and elaborated it in the
subsequent paragraphs.
The in-depth analysis of the text highlights that the writer has merged the
following ‘Processes’ of various sorts within the text under study:
Sent, passed, joined, established, entered, believed, looked, realized, given,
convinced, faced, achieve, agreed, emerged, took, handled, created, advised,
required, deteriorated and died etc.
All the ‘forms of activity’ associated with these ‘Processes’ were extracted
from their particular context rich in cultural, historical and ideological perspectives.
Connected with these processes were the Participants’ serving as subjects and
objects in the social representation performing various ‘forms of activity’. The
researcher witnessed the following ‘Participants’ within the social representation:
Quaid-i-Azam, Karachi, Sindh Madrassaltul-Islam, school, Law, politics,
Muslims, Sub-continent, Pakistan, Dr. Allama Muhammad Iqbal, Muslim
League, Lahore, Congress, British Government, India, Muslim Student
Federation and Governor General etc.
The ‘Participants’ mentioned above are significant within their particular
context reflecting the historical, political, and national ideological perspectives.
After pointing out the contribution of the ‘Processes’ and ‘Participants’ in the
qualitative inquiry into CDA, the researcher further investigated the text to highlight
the prominent ‘Circumstances’ mentioned within the text under study as
mentioned below:
 51

As the Jinnah’s firmly establishing legal profession, the idea of Pakistan by

Dr. Allama Muhammad Iqbal, Congress and British Government ultimately
agreeing to the partitioning of India, Quaid-i-Azam took oath as the first
Governor General, Quaid’s address to the students
In the lesson ‘Quaid-i-Azam’, ‘Circumstances’ performed the role of adverbials
adding significant meanings to different ‘forms of activity’ already merged within
the text and , therefore, contained deeper national, historical and ideological
underpinnings.
4.3.3 Analysis of Lesson No.14 ‘A Terrible Earthquake’
The lesson number fourteen ‘A Terrible Earthquake’ is the last one selected
for the analysis from the PTB English textbook prescribed for class VII. The lesson
is based on the catastrophic event that took place in the Northern region of the
country on October 8, 2005. The writer has given a comprehensive view of the
earthquake affected area and it’s after affects. The complete text of the lesson,
attached as Appendix ‘C,’ consists of eight paragraphs depicting the event of the
deadly earthquake, the participation of the government and the public in rescue and
rehabilitation process after the earthquake. The catastrophic earthquake illustrates the
governmental and societal discourses of Pakistan.
The researcher has deeply investigated the text of the lesson, starting with the
description of features associated with the text as a whole and then gradually
narrowed down to sentence-level. All the aspects of the lesson have been analyzed
through Fairclough’s three-dimensional model within the CDA perspective.
(a) Genre
While investigating the lexical choices applied by the writer in the lesson ‘A
Terrible Earthquake’, the researcher noted that the account of the lesson has been
depicted in a systematic way. The lesson starts from the depiction of a terrible
earthquake, rescue and relief operation, and the training programme of disaster
management. The systematic sequence of the depiction of the event and post-
earthquake actions provides the instances of the selection of various lexical choices
at certain occasion.
The writer has presented the horrible scene of the deadliest earthquake having
magnitude of 7.6 at Richter scale at 90 Km north-northeast of Islamabad affecting
the Northern region of the country. The rescue and recovery started immediately
after the catastrophe and the government and non-government organizations played
 52

their parts in the process. Once the rescue is over, the government started the
rehabilitation program and arrangement of the program for disaster management to
create awareness among the people by imparting regular training on disaster
management.
The writer has presented the entire text in one genre and seems to be creating a
special effect on the minds of the students
(b) Intertextuality
Investigating about authorial interventions and intertextual references, the
researcher witnessed throughout the lesson and found that there has been no
instance of intertextuality in the lesson. The writer confined the lesson into one text
and that is based on catastrophic event of the earthquake illustrating the
governmental and societal discourses of Pakistan.
Foregrounding and backgrounding is another dimension worth investigating
within CDA. The researcher also gained insights into this particular perspective.
(c) Foregrounding and Backgrounding
The writer has stressed the particular viewpoints in the lesson, foregrounding
the catastrophic incident of enormous earthquake and the role of different classes of
people, Government and non-government agencies, and armed forces after the
earthquake. The writer has given enough prominence to the positive and bright
picture of the participating persons and organizations. Such catastrophic events pave
the way for the writers to depict both sides of the picture of the society. However,
the writer has foregrounded the bright picture and did not cover any dark aspect of
the society in the lesson. Foregrounding the positive aspects will definitely have an
encouraging effect on the minds of the students in terms of constructing societal
ideologies. However, one sided picture of the society will shake his ideals when
exposed to the negative aspect of the society.
In order to expose ideological underpinnings ‘presuppositions’ were the
appropriate tools of inquiry.
(d) Presupposition
The title of the lesson ‘A Terrible Earthquake’ is a combination of two content
words ‘terrible’ and ‘earthquake’. The combination of these two words presupposes
that the students are going to learn about a catastrophic event. The researcher did not
find the instances of presupposition in the entire text of the lesson.
After investigating the significant features of the text, the researcher looked
 53

more closely at the individual sentences to see a pattern of sentence topics.

(e) Topicalization
While investigating the text, the researcher continued from lesson to
paragraphs then looked it thoroughly sentence by sentence. At this level, in
addition to constructing the basic meaning of each sentence, the researcher noticed
that certain pieces of information appear as grammatical subjects of the sentence.
The instance of topicalization is elaborated in the text extracted from the lesson.
(i) A natural disaster is a sudden overwhelming and unforeseen events.
(ii) An enormous earthquake struck the northern region.
(iii) It caused widespread destruction in many areas…..
(iv) This was the deadliest earthquake.
(v) It was the great devastation.
(vi) The recent earthquake is not the first devastating incident.
(vii) The largest earthquake to strike Pakistan.
All the above cited sentences have topics referring to the title of the lesson ‘A
Terrible Earthquake’ and these examples contain certain pieces of information
appearing as grammatical subjects of the sentence. Topic sentences of the
lesson cover a particular perspective of earthquake in Pakistan and influence the
perception of the reader.
While analysing the text, the researcher further probed in to the representation
of social events, a significant dimension of Fairclough’s three-dimensional model.
(f) Representation of Social Events
In the current lesson, the researcher noted the viewpoints of the text
significantly contributing to the representation of catastrophic event of the
earthquake.
The title of the lesson, ‘A Terrible Earthquake’ represents specific social
events depicting the natural disaster and it’s after affects. The word ‘terrible’ added
with ‘Earthquake’ defines its catastrophic effect. Appropriate depiction of the
events in the text highlights the justification of the title of the lesson. The
lesson helps learners to enhance their understanding on the catastrophic event of
historical significance.
The knowledge depicted in the lesson produces another aspect of the social
representation of events. The researcher noted that natural disasters in the shape of
volcanoes, earthquake, floods, explosions, and avalanches have unforeseen events
 54

having similarities in human suffering and material loss. Another social

representation is the depiction of the deadliest earthquake in the recent history of the
sub-continent affecting the northern region of Pakistan, taking the lives of seventy
three thousand people, and leaving almost 2.8 million people homeless behind.
Taken from another perspective, there is another social representation in the
lesson depicting the instances of rescue operation started immediately after
earthquake by Government and non-government organizations to help the affected
people. The writer has skilfully presented the response of the public and the
government at the disaster.
Another social representation is that of the rebuilding of the ruined houses,
hospitals, and school in order to bring the life back to normalcy. Added to that, the
writer has stressed on the training to be imparted to the public on disaster
management and that gives another dimension to the representation of social events.
The investigation of social representation of events at the clause level, a
significant element of qualitative inquiry in CDA, paved the way for the researcher
to explore the ‘Processes’(usually realized as verbs), ‘Participants’ (subjects,
objects, etc.) and ‘Circumstances’(commonly realized as adverbs)involved within the
text.
While investigating the ‘Processes’, the researcher noted that most of the
‘Processes’ involved within text were ‘verbal’ and ‘existential’. Following
Processes of various sorts were merged within the entire text under study:
Sudden, bring, caused, measured, deadliest, died, became, affected, buried,
started, damaged, made, provided, worried, reached, saved, occurred, killed,
ruined, returned, handled, prepared, averted etc.
All the ‘Processes’ involved are indicative of the catastrophic earthquake
within the national and social context and attach ideological references with them.
The researcher also found various ‘Participants’ serving as subjects and objects
in the social representation performing various ‘forms of activity’:
Human, natural disaster, life, property, volcanoes, earthquake, floods,
explosions, avalanches, earth, northern region of Pakistan, Saturday, October,
Azad Kashmir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, India, Islamabad, Muzaffarbad, Bagh,
Rawalkot, Balakot, Shinkiari, Batgram, Manshera, Abbotabad, Muree,
Government Agencies, NGO’s, troops, survivors, Pakistan Army, Social
workers, students, Quetta, school, disaster management, police, fire
 55

department etc.
All the ‘Participants’ taken from the lesson ‘A Terrible Earthquake’ therefore;
refer to various incidental and ideological dimensions associated with them
within their particular context.
After noticing the contribution of the ‘Participants’ in the text; the researcher
explored the ‘Circumstances’ mentioned in the lesson. Prominent ‘Circumstances’
mentioned within the text under study are as under:
The rescue work started immediately, but was initially hampered. The houses
in outlying villages were completely wiped,
The ‘Circumstances’ worked as adverbials and added more meanings to
various ‘forms of activity’ already merged within the text and are, therefore,
indicative of catastrophic earthquake and ideological dimensions linked with them.
4.3.4 Discussion on PTB Textbook
The researcher selected three lessons from the PTB English text book of class
VII. The lessons number three, ten, and fourteen contained elements embedded with
ideological constructions. The writer has put all his efforts to construct / preserve the
religious, societal and political ideologies jointly contributing towards national
ideology of Pakistan. The students have been exposed to the particular
religious festivals, specific religious, political personality of great stature and
catastrophic event of national significance and thus guiding them to construct their
ideologies in the required frame.
The government endeavours to preserve the national ideology of Pakistan
which is an amalgam of a specific religious, societal, and political ideology.
Teaching English through these textbooks at middle level is not only aimed to
achieve learning objectives but also educate the students with national ideology. The
textbook specifically covers the sociolinguistic background of the students and also
foregrounds the dominant religious ideology.
The analysis of the selected lessons reveals that the government officials (the
authors of the textbook) have specifically focussed on the ideology of Pakistan.
No text has been found in the textbook clashing with the national ideology. Islam is
the dominant religion of the state and it dominates in the textbook too.
In the lesson number three, the writer has beautifully depicted the religious
festival of the Muslims, a majority of ethnic group in the country. The writer has
briefly explained the rationale behind the celebration of the festival. The knowledge
 56

contained in the lesson is specific to our religious ideology. Within the religious
background of the country, all the endeavours have been made to create consent
through the lesson. The celebration of the festival typically represents a Muslim
society and its norms. Apart from learning a lesson from English textbook,
students also learn about Muslim brotherhood and compassion. This is all that
students observe in their society once in a year.
Lesson number ten is directly related to the national ideology of Pakistan.
Although the lesson is about the Quaid-i-Azam but it covers glimpses of making of
Pakistan. Students not only learn about some of the peculiar aspects of the life of the
Quaid but also enhance their knowledge about making of Pakistan. The lesson urges
upon the learners to act upon the golden principle of the Quaid “work, work and
work”. Apart from learning English, the knowledge of the students regarding the
political history of Pakistan is enhanced.
Lesson number fourteen describes one of the greatest catastrophic events in
the history of Pakistan. The writer has depicted the latest catastrophic event in the
history of Pakistan and highlighted the response of the government and non-
government organization as well as the public. The lesson highlights that the entire
nation was united at the time of calamity and actively participated in the relief and
recovery of the earthquake victims. The text contributes to the construction of
national ideology as students learn that they are one nation and such
calamitous events stamp the unity of entire nation at one cause, save the
countrymen. The text further contributes to the construction of the societal ideologies
in positive perspective. The participation of the personnel from all the walks of
the society depicts the positive aspects indicating the humanitarian attitude of the
masses at the time of disaster. Every society is an amalgam of good and bad people,
however, the researcher noted that the writer has depicted the virtuous response of
the public at all levels. Thus, the text manipulates the students in one direction, as
required by the textbook designers and exposition to the other aspect (dark one) can
shatter the ideals of the students at later stage of life.
In short, the writer has skilfully arranged the lessons in the textbook, giving
due consideration to the indigenous setting and thus kept the students within the
national, religious, and geographical background of the country. In other words, the
textbook designers have put all their efforts to preserve the national ideology and
incorporated the lessons in the text book specific for academic purposes within the
 57

premises of indigenous culture and dominant religion. All the lessons of the textbook
are synchronized with the sociolinguistic and religious background of the students.
Thus, it creates specific national ideology and a nation united on one ideology.
The textbook not only helps to achieve the academic objectives but also helps to
preserve the national ideology.
4.4 An Overview of OUP Textbooks
The researcher selected Oxford Progressive English prescribed for the students
of class VII. It is the English language series from Oxford University Press,
Pakistan. The publisher of the book claims that this book is written according to the
UK and Pakistan national curriculum guidelines. The publisher states that this book
aims to develop language skills through practice in reading, writing, speaking and
listening, in a structured progressive way. This book has an impressive range of
entertaining, vivid and challenging texts in various genres, from across the world and
a broad time span, offering students a unique experience of the English language. It
focuses on language analysis which aims to develop interpretive skills and
appreciation of metaphorical language. It has extensive vocabulary building tasks
including derivations and definitions; simple and clear explanations of grammar,
with example and practice exercises. Its format is student-friendly, attractive and
clear in its presentations. It is being taught in most of the private sector schools of
Punjab. This book consists of ten units which represent various genres, from across
the world offering students a unique experience of the English language. Following
the dimensions of the current research and narrowing down the current study within
the time restriction, only four lessons from different units have been selected.
Besides developing language skills through practice in reading, writing, speaking and
listening, in a structured progressive way, various hidden ideologies were embedded
in the text which greatly impact on the students to construct new ideology.
4.5 Analysis of Oxford Progressive English (Level 7)
As mentioned earlier, the book comprises ten units and each unit contains a
variety of lessons for the students. The lessons from the unit number two, three, and
ten were extracted containing the instances of embedded ideologies. These units
are as under:
(a) Unit number two ‘War and Peace’ text ‘A Christmas Story’
(b) Unit number three ‘London’ text ‘The Great Fire of London’
(c) Unit number ten ‘Achievement’ text ‘Nazir Sabir: the Pakistani
 58

Mountain-Conqueror’
4.5.1 Analysis of Lesson from Unit ‘War and Peace’
The unit number two contains five texts and the researcher selected ‘A
Christmas Story’ written by Michal Morpurgo for analysis. The writer narrates the
story in the background of World War I in 1914 on 25th December wherein
British and German soldiers were celebrating Christmas while they were at war
against each other. The complete text of the lesson is attached as Appendix “D”.
In the entire lesson, the writer illustrates the Christmas celebration which presents
the religious, military, political and sports discourse of the British and the German
nation.
In the next paragraphs, the text will be closely seen starting with features
associated with the text as a whole and then gradually narrowed down to sentence-
level. All the aspects of the lesson, analyzed within the CDA perspective are
elaborated in the next paragraphs.
(a) Genre
The entire text of the lesson ‘A Christmas Story’ is narrative in nature and it
has analytical tone. The text of the lesson contains religious, military, and sports
discourses of British and German communities jointly having same religion with
certain evidences of genre mixing. The writer has presented the celebration of
Christmas festival in the war field at no man’s land during the First World War. The
researcher witnessed in the lesson that the writer has merged different genres in the
text. Using the military discourse, the writer starts the story from the trenches.
Then he moves towards the discourse of religion as he presents the celebration of
Christmas festival with voices of the soldiers greeting ‘Christmas Morning’.
At the start of the lesson, the writer mixes two genres; military and religion by
presenting that ‘we were all standing to in our trenches yesterday morning,
Christmas morning.’ The writer has depicted the event of the war and the Christmas
at the same time which is an instance of genre mixing. The writer creates two
different effects on the mind of the readers (students), war and peace. The soldiers
from two different armies are at war against each other and the arrival of the
Christmas festival dawns the moments of peace and joy bringing them come closer
to each other at the occasion of festival.
There is another instance of genre mixing in the text. While narrating the
Christmas festival celebrated at the battlefield, the writer reports the sports event, a
 59

football match, and describes that ‘No one dies in a football match. No children
are orphaned. No wives become widow’. This time, the writer mixes the discourses
of military and sports, and narrates the event in his particular tone. Being an active
participant of the major event, war, the writer has skilfully interwoven the occasion
of Christmas festival followed by a football match.
The lesson ‘A Christmas Story’ rightly justifies the title of the unit ‘War and
Peace’. Within the event of world war, when two armies are at war against each
other, the writer merges two other genres containing the theme of peace.
Investigating how other voices are merged within the text are some of the key
inquiries of the current work. The researcher explored important instances of
intertextual references within the texts which are discussed in the next paragraph.
(b) Intertextuality
Intertextuality is a significant element worth exploring in CDA through
Fairclough’s three-dimensional model. However, there were no instances of
intertextuality in the entire lesson.
Exploring how the things are overshadowed and overlooked, the researcher
further investigated the instances of foregrounding and backgrounding, another
dimension of Fairclough’s three-dimensional model worth investigating within
critical language study. The researcher also gained insights into this particular
perspective.
(c) Foregrounding and Backgrounding
The researcher explored the instances of foregrounding and backgrounding in
the whole lesson and noted that the writer emphasises and de-emphasises particular
viewpoint.
The lesson is titled as ‘A Christmas Story’ where the writer has depicted the
instances of Christmas festival celebrated in battlefield. However, it is in fact a
letter by a British soldier, actually participating in World War I, to his friend. The
writer has foregrounded the Christmas Story and backgrounded the elements of a
letter. In this way, the writer has substantiated his viewpoint.
The setting of the story is war field and the writer starts the narrative from the
depiction of war like situation. The advent of the Christmas festival has brought
cease fire and thus backgrounded the situation of blood and horror.
As the lesson proceeds, the soldiers from both the armies celebrate Christmas
festival together and introduce each other. The narrator of the story introduces
 60

himself as a school teacher from Dorset. However, there is not any instance for
the reader highlighting his teaching practices. The writer has aptly foregrounded
the current status of the narrator by indicating his involvement in the war.
In the middle of the lesson, while celebrating the Christmas festival, German
soldier suggests for a sports event by saying ‘A football match. No one dies in a
football match no children orphaned. No wives become widow.’ Within the
situation of war, the writer has cleverly backgrounded the war and foregrounded the
desire for peace.
The writer, while demonstrating his point of view on particular religious
festival, has de-emphasised the war. In fact, he remained strict to the title of the
lesson and thus foregrounded the Christmas festival indicating that the religion can
bring peace and unity among the nations who are at war against each other.
Lastly, the lesson was extracted from the lesson ‘War and Peace’. The current
lesson was set in the war field and no war takes place. The writer foregrounds the
peace and backgrounds the war and it indicates that peace is much needed. The
writer tried to influence the mind of the reader with his desire for peace, the desire of
everyone.
In order to expose ideological underpinnings ‘presuppositions’ were the
appropriate tools of inquiry. Prominent instances of presupposition traced within the
selected texts are presented in the subsequent paragraph.
(d) Presupposition
During the in-depth analysis of the text, it has been noted that there are some
instances of the text carrying presupposition. For example,
‘First someone saw a white flag waving from the trenches opposite’….‘By this
time there were dozens of them walking towards us across no man’s land and
not a rifle between them’
The white flag is considered as omen of peace worldwide and the text
presupposes that the soldiers are marching forward, not for bloodshed, but for
maintaining peace.
The writer, while introducing himself to fellow counterpart narrates ‘… I’m a
school teacher from Dorest, in the west of England’ it presupposes that people from
different profession participated in the World War I.
There is another instance of presupposition when the writer narrates that ‘As I
looked about me there were huddles of khaki and grey everywhere, all over no man’s
 61

land, smoking, laughing, talking, drinking, eating.’ In this line, the word
huddles presupposes that the soldiers from both the armies were not
professional soldiers rather forced to participate in war. That’s why, a German
soldier says ‘A football match. No one dies in a football match no children orphaned.
No wives become widow.’ the response of both of the armies towards war and their
desire for peace indicates that they have been unwillingly put in the war.
Having noticed the other significant features of the text, the researcher
typically proceeded through the text sentence by sentence.
(e) Topicalization
While analysing the text, the researcher proceeded from lesson to paragraphs
then looked it deeply sentence by sentence. At this level, in addition to
constructing the basic meaning of each sentence, the researcher noticed that certain
pieces of information appear as grammatical subjects of the sentence. The instance of
topicalization is elaborated in the text extracted from the lesson.
(i) We were all standing to in our trenches yesterday morning,
Christmas morning.
(ii) First someone saw a white flag waving from the trenches opposite.
(iii) Happy Christmas Tommy! Happy Christmas!
(iv) It is Christmas Day, Tommy.
(v) I shared what was left of your wonderful Christmas cake.
(vi) There never was a Christmas party like it.
(vii) I think this is how we should resolve this war. A football match. No
one dies in a football match.
All the sentences have topics referring to religious festival ‘Christmas’,
‘football match’, and ‘white flag’ denoting peace. All the sentences have topics
referring either to lesson ‘A Christmas Story’ or the title of the unit ‘War and peace’.
All the examples quoted above having certain pieces of information appear as
grammatical subjects of the sentence. All the topic sentences cover a particular
perspective of peace, ‘A Christmas Story’ and influenced the perception of the reader.
After investigating the text at the sentence level, the researcher further analysed
the text to investigate the aspects pertaining to ‘social events’ within the lesson, the
third dimension of Fairclough’s three-dimensional model.
(f) Representation of Social Events
The researcher investigated the entire lesson within the Critical Discourse
 62

Analysis perspective and noted the significant representation of social events. The
lesson is constructed on the narrative of a soldier, in the form of a letter written to his
friend, participating in the First World War. There have been certain social
representations in the lesson that undoubtedly furnish the depiction of military,
religious, and sports events. It demonstrates that various ideologies have been
ingrained by the publisher for the readers to read and interpret.
The next social representation is that the writer has presented the celebration
of Christmas festival in the war field at no man’s land and he used the discourse of
military to start the story from the trenches. Then he moves towards the discourse of
religion to present the celebration of Christmas festival with voices of the soldiers
greeting ‘Christmas Morning’, another representation of social event.
Another social representation of the events in the lesson is the interconnection
of different scenes in the story, closely connected with the title of the unit ‘War and
Peace’. Joint celebration of Christmas festival by two hostile armies at the battle
adds the greater significance to the title of the unit, as while they were at war against
each other and now at peace to celebrate the religious festival together. It also
indicates the supremacy of the religion that has created the bond of friendship
and generosity among two armies.
Another social representation in the title of the lesson ‘A Christmas Story’ is
the depiction of the religious and societal ideology of the west (England and
Germany). England and Christianity are interrelated to each other in all aspects of
identities. There is an element of commitment on the part of the writer of the lesson
confining the story to the appropriately suitable title of the unit, ‘War and Peace’.
The writer has beautifully shifted from one discourse to the other within the
same venue and presented all the events at the battlefield in the atmosphere of war. It
gives way for the representation of another social event.
There is another representation of the social events in the lesson depicted
through triangle. The main event of the lesson is the Christmas festival, the setting of
the event in battlefield and the peace prevails at the battlefield in the form of sports
event at the festival. All these events are closely interlinked to each other.
It is pertinent to mention that the book is prepared for the students of Pakistan.
However, apparently all these three events have nothing to do with the
dominant social context of the country. The writer put all his efforts in the narrative
to present a story of their social context and put his hegemonic efforts to create
 63

consent among the masses for their religious festival and so on. Through the
religious discourse the writer seems to be propagating that their religion
(Christianity) spreads peace whereas the geographical boundaries are the cause of
hate and horror. The way this very theme was constructed within the text is
representative of OUP textbooks over the ideological construction of Pakistan. These
ideological perspectives are also significant within the construction of religious and
societal ideology of western culture leaving deep imprints on the students.
The entire text creates the religious, political, military and societal ideology of
England. The readers are interconnected with the national identity of Pakistan as an
Islamic republic and thus the lesson plays significant role in creating specific
religious, political, and military ideologies.
Another dimension of the representation of social events is the investigation of
the text at the clause level, a significant element of qualitative inquiry in CDA. The
researcher explored further into the text to highlight the ‘Processes’ (usually
realized as verbs), ‘Participants’ (subjects, objects, etc.) and ‘Circumstances’
(commonly realized as adverbs) involved within the text and elaborated it in the
subsequent paragraphs.
The in-depth analysis of the text highlights that the writer has merged the
following ‘Processes’ of various sorts within the text under study:
Write, happened, tell, began, ashamed, saw, waving, called, shouted, think,
stopped, occurred, walking, meet, make, looked, approached, outstretched,
replied, smiling, sharing, talking, learn, smoking, laughing, drinking, eating,
tasted, agreed, dumped, cheered, clapping, stamping, noticed, said, die,
become, laughed, watch, finished, wish, fighting, saluted, turn, exchanged,
loving
All the above mentioned ‘Processes’ are reflective of rich religious, military,
and sports ideologies and the ideological references within which these ‘Processes’
were employed as ‘forms of activity’. All the ‘forms of activity’ associated with
these
‘Processes’ were extracted from their particular context rich in cultural,
historical and ideological perspectives.
Connected with these processes were the Participants’ serving as subjects and
objects in the social representation performing various ‘forms of activity’. The
researcher witnessed the following ‘Participants’ within the social representation:
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Connie, trenches, Christmas day, Fritz, white flag, no man’s land, Tommy
,grey greatcoat, Germans, food, tinned meat, rifle, Morris, officer, Hans wolf
Dusseldorf, Captain Jim Macpherson, Dorset, Orchestra, England, English,
School, Thomas Hardy, Bathsheba, Gabriel, Oak, sergeant Tro, Christmas
cake, Christmas party, football match, children, cricketer, silent night
The above mentioned ‘Participants’ were extracted from religious, military,
and sports discourses of British and German communities within their cultural and
ideological perspectives where they acted as subjects and objects to various ‘forms
of activity’ merged within the text.
After pointing out the contribution of the ‘Processes’ and ‘Participants’ in the
qualitative inquiry in CDA, the researcher further investigated the text to highlight
the prominent ‘Circumstances’ mentioned within the text under study as mentioned
below:
Wonderful has just happened, frosty as a Christmas morning should be,
someone shouted, men walking slowly, gripping my hand warmly, be sure of
winning probably, walked away from me slowly unwillingly, singing it quite
beautifully, a distant terrible memory
The above mentioned ‘Circumstances’ added more meanings to various ‘forms
of activity’ merged within the lesson and gave more strength to already established
context.
4.5.2 Analysis of Lesson from Unit ‘London’
Unit number three ‘London’ comprises ix different texts appropriately linked
to the title of the unit and the researcher selected ‘The Great Fire of London’ for
analysis. The writer narrates the story about the fire of London which occurred in
Mr. Faryner’s shop and describes all the consequences. The complete text of the
lesson is attached as Appendix “E”. This lesson consists of seven paragraphs
depicting the event of the great fire of London and the participation of the
government and the public in snuffing out the fire. The catastrophic event of the fire
illustrated the governmental and societal discourses of London.
In the preceding parts of the current section, the researcher closely analysed
the text within the CDA perspective and discussed the features of CDA and
gradually narrowed down the analysis to sentence-level features.
(a) Genre
The lesson ‘The Great Fire of London’ is narrative in nature. The entire lesson
 65

covers the event of fire and issues related to it. The lexical choices of
different characters in the narrative confirm the availability of different genres and
provide the evidences of genre mixing.
In the lesson, the main genre is a narrative of catastrophic event but there are
other genres drawn upon the narration of catastrophic event. The writer narrates the
horrible scene of fire breaking out in the baker shop expanding in most of parts of
the city and finally affecting the entire city.
While analysing text within the CDA perspective foregrounding and
backgrounding is another aspect of CDA. The researcher also gained insights into
this particular perspective.
(b) Foregrounding and Backgrounding
There have been particular viewpoints that the writer has emphasized and de-
emphasised in the lesson. The writer has foregrounded the great catastrophic incident
of London and backgrounded the role of different classes of people during the time
of fire. Although these concepts were backgrounded, the writer has exposed lack of
administrative skills of the Lord Mayor, his responses and actions at the tragic time
of fire, the behaviour of the mob to the foreigner, the role of boatmen, and the
looting of the pickpockets. While depicting the scene of fire, the writer has
successfully managed to expose the bright and dark picture of the society.
In order to expose ideological underpinnings ‘presuppositions’ were the
appropriate tools of inquiry. Prominent instances of presupposition traced within the
texts are as under.
(c) Presupposition
During the in-depth analysis of the text, it has been noted that there are some
instances of the text carrying presupposition. For example, ‘they might as well have
spat on the flames’ which presupposes that they have very less quantity of water for
fire fighting. Through this instance of presupposition, the writer seems to imply
that ‘Who’s to blame? Foreigners! People told him’. It presupposes that non-natives
living in London were notoriously contributing in the catastrophic events of
London. There is another instance of presupposition when the writer narrates that
‘The River was a red glare, the smoke an artificial night.’ It presupposes that the
city was situated at bank of the river and the intensity of fire was so dense and
flames were so high that it reflects on the river and the river gives red glare.
Moreover, the smoke of the fire was so dense that it created darkness and a night like
 66

scene.
The writer narrates a crucial instance of presupposition that ‘The watermen
were pitiless demanding their fee.’………..‘Pickpockets were lifting a fortune in
watches and silk handkerchiefs. ’it presupposes that opportunists never let the
opportunity go.
After investigating the substantial aspects of the text within the CDA
perspective, the researcher further explored the text at the sentence level.
(d) Topicalization
While investigating the text, the researcher continued from lesson to
paragraphs and further looked it thoroughly on a sentence level. At this level, in
addition to constructing the basic meaning of each sentence, the researcher
noticed that certain pieces of information appear as grammatical subjects of the
sentence. The instance of topicalization is elaborated in the text extracted from the
lesson.
(i) The river was a red glare, the smoke an artificial night.
(ii) The goldsmith and silversmith of the city converged on the tower
of London.
(iii) Stone buildings crazing.
(iv) Stones bursting like bombs.
(v) St Paul’s Cathedral as a safe place.
(vi) The great fire had reached the limit of its strength.
All the above cited sentences have topics referring either to lesson ‘The Great
Fire of London’ or the title of the unit ‘London’. These examples contain pieces of
information appearing as grammatical subjects of the sentence. Topic sentences of
the lesson cover a particular perspective of fire and the city London and influenced
the perception of the reader.
The researcher further proceeded to the third dimension of Fairclough’s three-
dimensional model i.e., ‘representation of social events’ in pursuit of social
dimension, a significant aspect of enquiry in CDA.
(e) Representation of Social Events
The representation of social events is an essential feature of Critical Discourse
Analysis of the text through Fairclough’s three-dimensional model. There have been
certain details in the lesson furnishing the depiction of social events like fire
incident, the response of the government officials and the role of public at the event
 67

of catastrophe.
While breaking down this particular text, the researcher has already given
various remarks demonstrating how a typical reader might read and interpret it. The
lesson is marked with the social representation of a catastrophic event in London
burning the large part of the city and leaving many people homeless. The narration
of the entire event significantly contributed to expose the particular ideologies for the
readers to read and interpret it.
The social representation of the ruling class and the response of the public in
the time of crisis are the significant events in the lesson. The writer has juxtaposed
the response in a twofold way, depicting the good and culprit in the society and
exposing the competent and incapable government officials giving an objective touch
to the entire text.
The response of the government official to the disastrous events underpins
another dimension of social representation. The King asked the mayor to take
administrative actions to extinguish the fire and the mayor took charge of the
contingency but instead of taking prompt actions to extinguish the fire, he initiated
the investigation to find out the culprit instead of the cause. The incompetence of the
mayor further aggravated the situation indicating the incompetence of the
government officials in the time of critical situations.
The next social representation is based on the response of the military services
in extinguishing the fire. Local government, after failing to fight the fire, requested
army to take charge of the situation and rescue. The active participation of army in
the firefighting indicates that army is not only the defender of the nation at the
frontiers but also contributes significantly in helping the nation to rescue it from such
disasters. The image of army, depicted in the lesson, significantly contributes to the
construction of particular ideologies and creates consent among the students to
accept its productive role in the events other than war.
There is another social representation of events depicting the positive as well
as negative aspects of the society at the outbreak of fire. The writer has
highlighted the positive aspect of the society by presenting the response of the
residents busy in saving their belongings, rescuing their children and women, and
throwing water to extinguish the fire. It was a great show of a team work for a
common goal, a bright picture of the society. Within the positive aspect the writer
has outlined the negative aspect of the society too giving another dimension to the
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representation of social events. The incident of brutally treating the foreigner

(Frenchman) declaring him the culprit behind the fire indicates the prejudice and
hatred of the natives for non-natives. In connection to that, the role of boatmen
and criminal activities of pick pockets further authenticate the dark aspects of the
society. The boatmen, in such a critical situation, demanded fares from the bereaved
families and pick pockets looted the people busy in escaping fire. In short, the
objective picture of the society greatly imprints the minds of the reader.
The investigation of social representation of events at the clause level, a
significant element of qualitative inquiry in CDA, motivated the researcher to
explore the ‘Processes’ (usually realized as verbs), ‘Participants’ (subjects, objects,
etc.) and
‘Circumstances’ (commonly realized as adverbs) involved within
the text.
While investigating the text at the clause level, the researcher noted following
‘Processes’ of various sorts merged within the entire text under study:
Packed, throwing, burning, began, looking, choked, wanted, summoned,
remembered, turned, gathered, hidden, carrying, sprawled, scattered, clutched,
dragged, leapt, mustered, demanding, passed, changed, converged, seemed,
added, poured, blowing, molten, reached, starved, bewildered, managed,
organised, fetch, roaming etc.
The above mentioned ‘Processes’ develop a special link with catastrophic
event of the fire illustrating the particular culture of London and establish the
author’s stance.
The researcher also noted various ‘Participants’ serving as subjects and objects
in the social representation performing various ‘forms of activity’: Following
‘Participants’ were observed within the lesson:
Street, fuel, cellars tiles, families, fire, chests, bags, children, doors, gangs of
men buckets of water, king Charles II, London, black smoke, Lord Mayor,
soldiers, foreigners, fire raisers, Faryner, baker, bread oven, city, people,
culprits, Frenchmen, woman, apron, fireballs, Arsonist, yellow chicks, houses,
householders, furniture, river, watermen, boat, artificial night, tables, crowds,
pickpockets, handkerchiefs, bag, cutlery, goldsmith, silversmith, tower of
London, stone, church, tree, buildings, bombs, booksellers, St Paul Cathedral,
lead, bronze, rats, mice, books, maps, Bibles, parks, wheel barrow, chair
 69

‘Participants’, mentioned above, were extracted from catastrophic event of the

fire illustrating the governmental and societal discourses of London where they acted
as subjects and objects to various ‘forms of activity’ merged within the text.
After noticing the contribution of the ‘Participants’ in the text; the researcher
explored the ‘Circumstances’ mentioned in the lesson. Prominent ‘Circumstances’
mentioned within the text under study are as under:
Gangs of men banded together, women sprawled senseless, a dozen of fluffy
yellow chicks, the householders screamed prayers, a red glare, the air seared
nose, making a bonfire of the books, to melt brilliant torrents, the few worldly
goods, personally administrated the billeting etc.
‘Circumstances’, mentioned above, acted as adverbials and gave more strength
to the text after being attached with different ‘forms of activity’. Therefore, the
catastrophic event of the fire illustrating the governmental and societal culture of
London is inferred from the above mentioned text.
4.5.3 Analysis of Lesson from unit ‘Achievement’
Unit number ten ‘Achievement’ comprises five different texts appropriately
linked to the title of the unit and the researcher selected ‘Nazir Sabir: the Pakistani
Mountain-Conqueror’ for analysis. It is a description of mountain conquering
expeditions of Nazir Sabir and his fellow mountaineers. The complete text of the
lesson is attached as Appendix “F”, consisting of six paragraphs depicting the
events of the mountain conquering struggle of Nazir Sabir accompanying
Pakistani and foreigner mountaineers.
The researcher has deeply investigated the text of the lesson, starting with the
description of features associated with the text as a whole and then gradually
narrowed down to sentence-level. All the aspects of the lesson have been analyzed
through Fairclough’s three-dimensional model within the CDA perspective.
(a) Genre
The entire text of lesson number ten is descriptive in nature and has interpretive
tone. The text selected for the analysis is biographical discourse containing the life
events of great Pakistani mountain Conqueror, Nazir Sabir. It is the analytical work
of the writer who unleashed the struggle of mountain conqueror Nazir Sabir who
won many awards on mountaineering performance. The researcher witnessed
throughout the text that the same type of genre has been developed. All the texts do
not form their association with any other genre of discourse.
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In order to expose ideological underpinnings ‘presuppositions’ were the

appropriate tools of inquiry. Prominent instances of presupposition traced within the
selected texts are as under.
(b) Presupposition
During the in-depth analysis of the text, it has been noted that there are some
instances of the text carrying presupposition. The instances of presupposition in the
lesson are presented as under:
‘Nazir Sabir comes from Raminji village in the remote Chapurson Valley of
Gojal in North Hunza,’ which presupposes that his passion with mountaineering is
linked with his upbringing in the valley of Hunza.
‘Sabir and the expedition leader, Manzoor Hussain, survived a night spent
huddled in a snow cave 150 metres from the summit of Mt Paiyu in China without
sleeping bags’. It presupposes that Manzoor Hussein, the writer of the lesson was
also a mountaineering conqueror. Spending the whole night in a snow cave
presupposes they were blessed with courage and stamina to bear the hard
circumstances.
‘Having pushed himself to the absolute limits of his strength and endurance
during his moonlight climb, the next morning he achieved his life-long ambition’
presupposes the passion and determination of Nazir Sabir that he not only climbed in
the day light but also in the moon light.
The instances entailing the elements of presupposition indicate that Nazir Sabir
was a passionate mountaineer and he loved the expeditions.
Foregrounding and Backgrounding is another dimension worth investigating
within CDA. The researcher also gained insights into this particular perspective.
(c) Foregrounding and Backgrounding
There have been certain instances of foregrounding and backgrounding that
caught the attention of the researcher. Starting from the title, the writer has
foregrounded the mountaineering expeditions of Nazir Sabir and gave very less
space to the other events of his life. Nazir Sabir has participated in politics, actively
played his part as an advisor of a feature film. The writer has foregrounded only
those events of his life that link with mountaineering in one way or the other;
everything else has been backgrounded.
After investigating the significant features of the text, the researcher looked
more closely at the individual sentences to see a pattern of sentence topics.
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(d) Topicalization
Looking more closely at the individual sentences, one can see a pattern of
sentence topics that support the title. The instance of topicalization is elaborated in
the text extracted from textbook.
 He has a collection of over 5000 photographs of the greatest passion of
his life: mountains.
 He was honoured with the Presidents medal for pride of performance in
mountaineering.
 …..K2 the second highest mountain on the earth.
 His major mountaineering success……
 Celebrate the golden jubilee of Pakistan’s independence in 1997…
 The Alpine Club decided to launch the first Pakistani expedition….
 He joined an international Everest expedition.
 …..The Alpine Club of Pakistan……
All the sentences have topics referring either to the achievement of Nazir Sabir
or the mountaineering passion.
While analysing the text, the researcher further probed into the representation
of social events, a significant dimension of Fairclough’s three-dimensional model.
(e) Representation of Social Events
The researcher investigated the entire lesson within the Critical Discourse
Analysis perspective. There have been certain details in the lesson that undoubtedly
depict the career of Pakistani mountaineer Nazir Sabir.
The whole lesson gives a specific direction to the representation of social
event with brief description of the achievements of Nazir Sabir and interprets the
dangerous expeditions attracting the ambitious mountaineers and promotes tourism
in Pakistan.
Multi-dimensional personality of Nazir Sabir gives another dimension to the
representation of social events. While presenting the lifetime achievements, the
writer has presented him as an ambitious adventurer, a patriotic mountaineer, a
politician, and a film advisor and this depiction seems to be positively affecting the
minds of the young Pakistani learners of English language.
The description of mountain expeditions in the lesson gives another angle to
the representation of social events. The way Nazir Sabir climbed the highest
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peaks and hoisted the national flag substantially promotes tourism and patriotism. He
carried national flag in all his expeditions and hoisted it at all the peaks he climbed
promoting the positive image of Pakistan. His treatment with his fellow mountaineers
symbolizes the hospitality and comradeship of Pakistani mountaineers.
Another dimension of the representation of social events is the investigation of
the text at the clause level, a significant element of qualitative inquiry in CDA. The
researcher explored further into the text to highlight the ‘Processes’ (usually
realized as verbs), ‘Participants’ (subjects, objects, etc.) and ‘Circumstances’
(commonly realized as adverbs) involved within the text and elaborated it in the
subsequent paragraphs.
The in depth analysis of the text highlights that the writer has merged the
following ‘Processes’ of various sorts within the text under study:
Come, educated, rose, travelled, daunted, honoured, attempted, survived,
indicated, exhausted, dehydrated, planted, accompanied, succeeded,
triumphed, conquered, decided, considered, sacrificed, threatened, returned,
joined, started, pushed, achieved, retired etc.
The above mentioned ‘Processes’ developed their intimacy with mountain
conquering struggle and ideological context where they were employed as
various ‘forms of activity’.
Connected with these processes were the ‘Participants’ serving as subjects and
objects in the social representation performing various ‘forms of activity’. Complete
lesson comprises following instances of the ‘Participants’ employed within the text:
Nazir Sabir, Raminji village, valley of Gojal, Northern Hunza, Primary school,
K2, President’s medal, Karakoram Highway, Passu peak, Nanga Parbat,
German, Manzoor Hussain, Mt Paiyu in China, Alpine Club Flag, Japanese,
Abruzzi ridge, Ashraf Awan, Mt Everest, Golden jubilee of Pakistan, Tibet,
Nepal, oxygen cylinder, international Everest expedition, Canadian team,
Pakistani flag,
‘Participants’ employed within the lesson are reflective of mountain
conquering struggle of Nazir Sabir accompanying Pakistani and foreigner
mountaineers and these ‘Participants’ performed various ‘forms of activity’
establishing ideologies within the text.
After pointing out the contribution of the ‘Processes’ and ‘Participants’ in the
qualitative inquiry in CDA, the researcher further investigated the text to highlight
 73

the prominent ‘Circumstances’ mentioned within the text under study as mentioned
below:
a night spent huddled in a snow, , the previously unclimbed summit, fatally
caught in vicious winds, a faulty oxygen cylinder, night climbing, caught in
vicious winds, bad weather, etc.
‘Circumstances’ performed the role of adverbials adding significant meanings
to different ‘forms of activity’ already merged within the text and , therefore,
contained deeper national, historical and ideological underpinnings.
4.5.4 Discussion on OUP Textbook
The researcher selected three units from the OUP English text book designed
for class VII. Three lessons, one each from unit number two, three, and ten,
contained the occurrences of ideological constructs. The textbook designers have put
all the endeavours to synchronize the text of the lessons appropriate to the title of
unit. The representation of different events in the OUP textbooks creates specific
impact on the minds of Pakistani students. The writer has exercised the power over
the minds of the young learners and exposed them to the other culture. These
hegemonic efforts greatly affect the students and seem to be creating specific
ideologies as required by the textbook designers.
The analysis of the selected lessons reveals that the authors of the textbook
have bypassed the ideology of Pakistan. Apparently, there is no text clashing with
the national ideology of Pakistan but the detailed analysis of the narrative of events
highlights that the OUP textbook is significantly contributing towards the creation of
consent among the students to accept the European ideology as their own. The
religious festivals and the social events presented in the textbook entirely focus
on their domain. Moreover, the events of global significance are also presented with
the contextual boundaries of ‘their’ domains.
In the unit number one ‘War and Peace’ the writer has presented ‘A Christmas
Story’ for the students to read and understand. Apart from enhancing the language
skills of the students, the lesson has a lot to understand and interpret. The students
are exposed to the Christian religious festival, a minority religion in Pakistan. The
scene of world war, its participant countries and the religious festival, all has
outwardly nothing to do with sociolinguistic background of the students. Apparently,
Christmas story has been framed in the battlefield but the writer has beautifully
propagated the worth of their religion, Christianity, that how their religious festival
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has postponed the war and how the soldiers respect their religious festival. Being a
country of Muslim majority, the writer has tried to impose his religious ideology by
indicating the involvement of the religion in bringing peace. The teaching of such
topics will enhance the knowledge of the students about the Christian religious
festival and the World War. The students also learn that geographical boundaries
have created hatred among the nations and the religion in general has brought peace.
However, teaching such events to the students in Pakistan is not purposeless.
Learning English language through these text books is unconsciously creating
consent among the students to accept the foreign ideologies.
In the unit number three ‘London’ the writer has depicted a famous
catastrophic event ‘The Great Fire of London’. Another lesson, dealing with foreign
ideology, depicts the event happened in the city of the target language. The writer
depicts the response of the public and the government at the catastrophe. It indicates
that the society of London is an amalgam of various types of people. At the brighter
side, people working for the betterment of their fellow beings and at the darker side,
people searching for the circumstances to loot the people. The lesson has greater
impact on the reader as it has implications beyond geographical boundaries.
The writer has depicted the societal ideology with an impact of urban area of
London. Similar type of people and similar response of the public can be seen at any
part of the world.
In the unit number ten ‘Achievement’ the writer has added a lesson on a
famous Pakistani mountaineer titled as ‘Nazir Sabir: the Pakistani Mountain-
Conqueror’. In this lesson, the students are exposed to the expeditions of a Pakistani
mountaineer, in country and abroad. The lesson points out that there are some
peaks in Pakistan for the mountaineers to explore and these peaks attract the
mountaineers around the globe. The students learn in this lesson about a
multidimensional personality of their country, a mountaineer and a politician. His
climbing expeditions contributed the promotion of tourism to the Northern areas of
Pakistan. People from different nationalities explored the towering peaks of the
country. The writer has also described his expeditions abroad with fellow climbers.
Thus, the students, in this lesson, are taken from the national identity to the global
identity.
In a nut shell, the lesson number two, three, and ten contained elements
embedded with ideological constructions. The textbook designer has put all his
 75

efforts to construct the specific ideologies as desired by the owners and donors. All
the students acquire the English language skills in the background of global
atmosphere. The book not only helps in learning English language, but also enhances
the knowledge of the learners regarding the religious festivals of the Christians.
While giving global touch to every lesson, the writer has exercised his powers to
create consent among the learners to accept the Christian as a dominant religion and
Britain as a better place for the oppressed people. There is no instance of the
stress on national ideology in any lesson of the textbook. The writer has considered
English as a global language and structured the lesson with global perspective in
mind but still he could not break the chains of his religious and national identity
and tried to express his religious and national identity as superior to others.
4.6 Similarities and Differences between PTB and OUP Textbooks
The PTB textbooks are a clear reflection of the Pakistani society including
various religious, national, political, and societal events and practices to inculcate the
learners with nationalistic, cultural, moral, and religious fervour. Unlike the PTB, the
OUP textbook is replete with the instances of Western culture and ideology. It offers
the students an opportunity to learn about the culture that is not their own and the
religion that is minority in their country. The OUP textbook creates consent
among the students by exercising power over the minds of the students. The life
depicted in the textbook is presented as ideal for them in contrast to the social life
they live in Pakistan and thus taking them away from their national ideology.
While investing the aim of the selected textbooks (PTB and OUP), it has been
noted that the main purpose of these textbooks is to provide an opportunity to the
students to learn English language skills and enhance its vocabulary. The PTB has
endeavoured to achieve this aim while considering the sociolinguistic background of
the students and foregrounded the political, societal, religious identities of the natives
contributing significantly to the construction of national ideology. The stuff,
available for the students to read, is confined to the national ideology and students
are learning English language within the boundaries of their own culture and
religion of the majority. To name a few, the textbook designer has prescribed the
lessons based on religious ideology i.e., ‘Eid-ul-Azha’, societal ideology i.e., ‘A
terrible Earthquake’, and national / historical / political ideology i.e., Quaid-i-
Azam’. The writer has confined the students to read the stuff confined to the national
ideology.
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In OUP textbook, students are exposed to the entirely new things. The writers
of the OUP textbooks have put all their efforts to take the attention of the students
away from their culture, and religion and make them aware to the culture and
religion of the country of target language. For example, ‘A Christmas Story’
depicts the religious and military ideologies, ‘The Great Fire of London’ presents the
societal and governmental ideologies, and ‘Nazir Sabir’ portrays the elements
embedded with national / historical / political ideology of miniature significance.
In both books, an exercise of the power is apparent as the dominant imposes
its thoughts and creates consent among the masses. However, the hegemonic
efforts of PTB are in line with the national identity of the students whereas the OUP
textbooks contribute to the creation of confused identities, an amalgam of indigenous
and foreign thoughts.
The depiction of the religious events in both the textbooks significantly
contributes to the construction of specific religious ideologies. The PTB textbook
covers the Muslim religious festival Eid-ul-Azha enhancing the awareness of the
students regarding the religion of the vast majority. The students studying in
government schools are bound to learn about only one religion through the PTB i.e.,
Islam. In OUP textbook, the writer has presented a Christian religious festival in the
background of World War. The depiction of such lessons takes the attention of the
students away from the most substantive elements pertaining to their ideologies. The
researcher noted that there is quite limited space for the depiction of the religious
events and students are confined to learn nothing about the dominant religion of the
country rather they are a little bit exposed to the religion of the people of target
language. The OUP textbook, specifically designed for the students of Pakistan, has
nothing to do with the religious events of Pakistan. Ignoring the religious events of
target country and depicting the festival of their religion will definitely leave a great
impact on the mind of the learners.
The delineation of the specific personalities in the textbook is very important
in the construction of ideologies. In the PTB textbook, the writer has given an outline
of the life of the founder of Pakistan, the Quaid-i-Azam. The depiction of the life
sketch of the personalities of such a great stature definitely contributes to the
construction of national ideology. Whereas, in the OUP textbook, the writer has
depicted the personality, Nazir Sabir, from the indigenous community but its
impact on the mind of the students, in terms of construction of ideologies, is not too
 77

significant. While comparing the lessons based on two personalities in two different
textbooks taught at the same level, the researcher noted that the lesson in PTB
textbook based on the personality of great stature has a remarkable impact on the
minds of the students. On the other hand there is no significant impact on the minds
of the learners in terms of ideological construction in the lesson based on a
personality in the OUP textbook. Quaid-i-Azam has climbed the political mountains
and won a country for the nation and Nazir Sabir has climbed the physical mountains
and hoisted the flag of the country.
The depiction of disastrous events in the textbook significantly contributes to
the construction of societal ideologies. The lesson ‘A Terrible Earthquake’ depicts
the role of the government and the public to overcome the catastrophe. The events in
the lesson illustrate that the disastrous earthquake has united the entire nation. The
writer has depicted the positive aspects of the society and thus gave way for the
construction of specific ideologies in optimistic direction. On the other hand,
through the depiction of only brighter aspect of the society the writer has kept the
students away from the notorious incidents which took place during the time of relief
and recovery. Keeping students away from knowing such incidents will definitely
affect the construction of embedded ideologies.
In contrast to the lesson, ‘A Terrible Earthquake’, the researcher investigated
the lesson ‘London’ to depict the urbanized life. The writer has presented ‘The Great
Fire of London’, within the geographical bounds of the city and depicted the two-
fold response of the government and public at the catastrophic event. At the one
hand, the writer has presented the incompetence of the government in handling the
contingency and at the other hand he depicted their sense of responsibility in taking
serious actions to catch the culprit and seek help from the army to extinguish the fire.
While exposing the response of the public, the writer has presented both, bright and
dark, pictures of the society of London. One group of people was busy in
firefighting and rescue whereas the other group was busy in looting the public by
raising fares and pick pocketing. The writer has objectively portrayed the society
of an urbanized setting with all its goods and evils. The depiction of these events at
the catastrophe is of universal significance as time and place can be different but the
response might be same in the urban areas of any part of the world. The capable vs.
incompetent capable, humanitarian vs. opportunistic masses are everywhere in the
world and they play their part accordingly. Thus, the writer has successfully created
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the consent among the students to accept these realities of the urbanized society.
4.7 Conclusion
The researcher analyzed the selected lessons of PTB and OUP textbooks
prescribed for class VII through critical discourse perspective. The comparisons
were drawn to highlight the similarities and differences in terms of ideological
constructions in these textbooks. In the next chapter findings and recommendations
will be discussed.
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Chapter Five
Conclusion
5.1 Introduction
The current study mainly focussed to respond to the research questions posed
in the first chapter. The current chapter, being the last, provides a brief account of the
findings of the research. It furnishes a summary on the investigation of hidden
ideologies in English language textbooks taught in govt and private sector schools at
middle level in Punjab and relates it with earlier works. It also provides a
brief account of the implications of the study and highlights the limitations of the
current research. In the end, apart from personal reflections, it also suggests the
recommendations for further research.
5.2 Summary of Research Findings
The present study endeavored to answer three questions: the investigation of
ideologies presented in PTB English textbooks implemented at the middle level
(class VII) in Punjab, exploration of the ideologies presented in OUP English
language textbooks followed at the middle level (class VII) in Punjab, and the
similarities and differences in terms of construction of ideologies among the PTB
English textbooks and OUP English textbooks taught at the middle level (class VII).
It was a qualitative study within the domain of Critical Discourse Analysis. The
researcher analyzed the data through Fairclough’s (2003) three-dimensional model
and discussed the research questions dealing with ideologies embedded in the
selected textbooks to furnish the comparative analysis too. The key findings of the
current study are summarized in the subsequent sections of the chapter.
5.3 Embedded Ideologies in PTB English Textbooks
Certain ideologies are embedded in PTB English textbooks taught at middle
level. The present study demonstrated that the government officials (writers of the
book) have put all their efforts to construct / preserve the religious, societal, national
and political ideologies jointly contributing towards diverse national ideology of
Pakistan. These findings are in line with Pandhiani, (2016) who noted that
children in Pakistan are taught what the state considers to be abstract basis of
their common identity and it is expected to guide the students to see the world as the
state desires.
The findings of the study indicate that PTB English textbook taught at middle
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level in Punjab specifically covers the sociolinguistic background of the students,

foregrounds the dominant religious ideology thus conforms to the findings of Zaidi
(2011) who noted the subjectivity of the textbooks and highlighted the propagation
of desired world view in a particular perspective by polarization of social studies
textbooks in Pakistan.
The current study reveals that while designing the English textbooks to teach
at middle level in Punjab the government officials (the authors of the textbook) have
particularly concentrated on the ideology of Pakistan and Islam is presented as the
dominant religion of the state. These findings validate Shah et al. (2013) who
note that textbooks are manufactured by influential groups according to their
ideological vision.
The findings of the current study indicate that the author of the PTB English
textbook has focussed on the presentation of Muslim brotherhood and
compassion. The findings of the study agree with Yaqoob (2011) who noted that
PTB textbooks are embedded with religious ideologies and Shah et al. (2013) who
highlighted that EFL textbooks contained emphasis on Islamic teaching.
It has been noted in the current study that PTB English textbook contained the
material on national ideology and the writer has carefully added the lesson on
Quaid- i-Azam primarily focusing on the national ideology. The current study
reflects the findings of Yaqoob (2011) who highlighted that PTB textbooks are more
nationalistic.
The current study highlighted that the stuff available in PTB English textbooks
covered the indigenous setting and kept the students within the national, religious,
and geographical background of the country and thus helped learners to preserve
their identity. Sajid (2015) also noted the dual function of the textbooks as they not
only help to validate and maintain the prevalent cultural, economic, and political
power but also transmit ideological values and knowledge.
5.4 Embedded Ideologies in OUP English Textbooks
OUP textbooks taught at middle level in Punjab are embedded with certain
ideologies. It has been noted in the current study that through the depiction of
different events the writers of OUP textbook have exercised the power over the
minds of the young learners and exposed them to the other culture. These
findings are further validated by Shah & Pathan, (2016) who noted that OUP
textbooks exercise its power by depicting a Western world to the students and
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dominantly take them away from their culture to Western culture including social
practices, values, and religion.
It has been observed in the current study that OUP textbook is significantly
contributing towards the creation of consent among the students to accept the
European ideology as their own. The presentation of religious festivals and social
events entirely focus on their domain. Moreover, the events of global significance
are also presented with the contextual boundaries of ‘their’ domains. These
findings are in line with the findings of Sajid (2015) who noted that the stuff
provided in the OUP textbooks is usually charged with ideological constructs
mirroring a particular type of worldview of a nation.
The findings of the current study revealed that in the OUP textbooks, the
students are exposed to the Christian religious festival, a minority religion in
Pakistan. Being a country of Muslim majority, the writer has tried to impose his
religious ideology by indicating the involvement of the religion in bringing peace.
Thus, learning English language through these text books is unconsciously creating
consent among the students to accept the foreign ideologies. These findings conform
to the findings of Shah & Pathan, (2016) who highlighted the implicit agenda behind
OUP English language textbooks westernizing the local students and preparing them
acknowledge western culture as acceptable standard and neglect the indigenous
culture, religion, and traditions.
It has been noted in the current study that the writers of OUP textbook have
considered English as a global language and structured the lesson with global
perspective in mind but still they could not break the chains of their religious and
national identity and tried to express their religious and national identity as superior
to others. These findings further validate Taki (2008) who noted that the textbooks
imported from the target language countries, mainly Oxford textbooks, tend to
represent particular ideologies and cultural values as any selection of content carries
with it ideological implications.
5.5 PTB vs. OUP English Textbooks: Similarities and Differences
The current study highlights that both textbooks focus on the culture of their
own. PTB textbooks clearly reflect Pakistani society whereas the OUP textbook is
replete with the instances of Western culture and ideology. These findings are in line
with Yaqoob (2011) who indicated that PTB and OUP English textbooks taught at
secondary level were embedded with cultural ideologies representing different
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cultures influencing worldviews of their readers. Taki, (2008) also presented the
similar findings in their studies. These findings are further validated by Bakhtin
(1981) who noted that the process of obtaining language proficiency is leads to a
process of ideological becoming.
It was noted in the current study that both textbooks were aiming to provide
English language learning opportunities to the learners. However, English language
being ideology led has been manoeuvred by both in their own directions. The PTB
English textbook has considered the sociolinguistic background of the students and
foregrounded the political, societal, religious identities of the natives contributing
significantly to the construction of national ideology. On the other hand, the stuff
available in OUP textbook puts all its efforts to divert the attention of the students
away from their culture, and religion and make them aware to the culture and
religion of the country of target language. These findings validate the findings of
Taki (2008) a particular discourse very much in line with Western economy and
consumerism was presented by the textbooks globally produced for teaching of
English as a foreign- language while, the culture of indigenous people was
represented by EFL textbooks produced locally.
The results of the current study highlight that in both textbooks an exercise of
the power is apparent and the dominant seems imposing its thoughts to create
consent among the masses. However, the hegemonic efforts of PTB are in line
with the national identity of the students whereas the OUP textbooks contribute to
the creation of confused identities, an amalgam of indigenous and foreign thoughts.
Abdollahzadeh and Banisad (2010) also noted the similar findings and highlighted
the exercise of hegemonic efforts in EFL textbooks.
The current study finds that both the textbooks represent the religion of their
country and thus construct their ideological vision. In a country of Muslim majority,
PTB textbooks represent the religion of the majority of the country whereas OUP
textbooks depict the events of the dominant religion of the target language country.
Both struggle to impose their ideologies on the minds of the learners. Shah et
al. (2013) also noted the similar finding and highlighted that the contents of English
language textbooks are manufactured by influential groups according to their
ideological vision.
5.6 Implications of the Study
The current study highlights the ideologies embedded in the English text books
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taught at middle level in government and private sector schools.

On the one hand ideological constructs presented in PTB English textbooks
highlight endeavours of the government preserving religious, national, political, and
societal ideologies and on the other hand OUP English textbooks create the consent
among the students to accept their culture and ideologies. In the light of the
findings of the current study, the researcher suggests the following:
(a) The current study suggests useful insights for a reformation of the current
state pertaining to English language textbooks taught at middle level in Punjab. By
highlighting the certain ideological constructs, it demands the advancement to take
over the dominance of certain ideological practices. It also raises awareness of the
impact of stereotypical representations and misrepresentations on the social and
cultural beliefs in society in general and classroom settings in particular.
(b) The findings of current research also propose valuable insights to textbook
designers, authors, and syllabus designers in convening English language textbooks.
In this regard, syllabus designers involved in the creation of school materials are
suggested to consider ideological impacts of the textbooks. In this regard, innovative
material would not only emphasize the changes process but also admit the right of
better representation with respect to ideologies.
(c) The current study provides the useful insights to the owners of private
sector schools and suggests them to seriously consider the preservation of national
ideologies while selecting English textbooks to be taught at any level in their
schools. Moreover, the same rule applies for the selection of textbooks like Urdu,
Social Studies, Islamic studies and Pakistan Studies.
(d) Preserving the ideologies in the ideal frame is possible only if the
government and private sector schools are at one page. Government sector schools
are offered with ideology laden textbooks whereas private sector schools adopt OUP
textbooks and that can hamper their ideology and in turn can affect their identity too.
(e) The current study calls for attention from both, the government officials
and the private sector school administration to focus on the quality stuff
confined to their national ideology as well as provide useful insights to the learners
to better live in global village.
5.7 Limitations of the Research
The current study focussed on the English textbooks taught at middle level in
Punjab and highlighted the ideological constructs embedded in PTB and OUP
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textbooks. Due to time constraints, it was not possible for the researcher to analyze
all the lessons from both the textbooks. Thus, three lessons from each textbook,
containing plenty of ideological constructions worth investigating for comparative
study, were selected for the analysis.
There are certain varieties of textbooks taught in private sector schools.
Dealing with all the brands of textbooks taught in the private sector schools has not
been possible for the researcher due to limited time and thus he confined his study to
the OUP textbooks only.
English language is taught in Pakistan as compulsory from the primary level to
the graduation level. It was not possible for the researcher to conduct a large scale
research dealing with all the academic levels and thus focussed on middle level only.
While remaining within the constraints of the present study, the researcher
suggested the recommendations for the future researcher and that will be presented
in the subsequent section of the chapter.
5.8 Recommendations for Further Research
Although the current study has provided insights into the construction of
embedded ideological construction in English textbooks taught at middle level in
government and private sector schools, more research of this kind will be handy both
in Punjab and elsewhere.
Further study of the ideological constructs embedded in English textbooks
taught at primary level in Punjab will be handy to build on the insights highlighted
in this study.
As one textbook is not being followed in government sector schools of other
provinces of the country, the study of similar kind can be conducted on the
textbooks taught at any level in any other province of the country.
The entire study dealt with the comparative analysis of the PTB and OUP
textbooks taught at middle level in Punjab, therefore, longitudinal studies on the
ideological constructions in PTB and OUP texts can be conducted on the basis of
the findings of the study.
Last but not the least, further research can be conducted seeking the opinion of
the authors of PTB and OUP text books and getting their feedback on the rationale
behind the addition of each lesson in textbook and then compare the results of the
current study with their opinion.
5.9 Personal Reflections
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As a final note, the present research has considerably facilitated the researcher
to enhance his research skills that could have never been acquired. It helped the
researcher to acquire the conventions of academic writing and thus enabled him
demonstrate his thoughts. The qualitative inquiry in the present study facilitated the
researcher to understand the data in qualitative research, the technique to collect the
data, the way to analyze it, and the procedure to make a sense out of the data. It
has built the self-confidence of the researcher to further pursue in qualitative inquiry
needed the field of English linguistics in the country.
Last but not least, during the entire course of present study, the researcher
learnt that conducting qualitative research was not as simple as it was considered
to be. It is, in fact, a challenging task even for those who are quite familiar with
qualitative research and they may still encounter difficulties and challenges during
the conduct of entire research proceedings.