CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF POSITIVESELF AND NEGATIVE-OTHER REPRESENTATIONS THROUGH ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEXTBOOKS IN PUNJAB, PAKISTAN

The present research is a critical discourse analysis of the contents related to positive-self representation and negative-other representation projected through Punjab Textbook Board’s (PTB) School English textbooks which are taught in government and non-elite English medium schools at the secondary level (Grades 9 & 10). The present research aims at finding out the ideologies of positive-self representation and negative-other representation in the discourses of PTB School English textbooks. It employs Van Dijk’s (2005) analytical framework of critical discourse analysis to explore the ideologies of positive-self representation and negative-other representation in the discourses of School English textbooks. The findings show that PTB School English Textbooks are replete with the ideologies of positive-self representation and negative-other representation. The said textbooks are more religious, nationalistic, anti-Israel, anti-Hindus, and anti-Christians. The findings of the study can be useful in a number of ways. They can be useful in developing new curricula and teaching materials including textbooks with less nationalistic, religious and cultural biases. They can be helpful for policy makers and textbook authors to realize the politics of language textbooks to establish a symmetrical educational system.