Global Englishes Orientation: A Content Analysis of China's Senior High School Textbooks

Global Englishes pragmatics in focus: Unpacking Taiwan's ELT curriculum and textbooks

As Taiwan advances its agenda under the Bilingual 2030 policy, English is increasingly framed as a medium for intercultural engagement rather than merely an academic subject. With the expansion of English-medium instruction and English use in a variety of domains, Taiwanese learners are more likely to use English with other non-native speakers in global contexts. In this setting, pragmatic competence and Global Englishes Language Teaching (GELT), a framework with pragmatics at its core, are essential for enabling learners to negotiate meaning, manage interaction and adapt to diverse cultural norms in an increasingly multilingual and globalized world. Despite this policy shift, English Language Teaching (ELT) curriculum reform has not kept pace. This study examines the extent to which GELT dimensions are incorporated into Taiwan's national ELT curriculum guidelines and four widely used elementary English textbook series. Using deductive thematic analysis and qualitative content analysis across eight dimensions of an adapted GELT framework, the findings reveal a significant divergence between policy-level intentions and their realization in instructional materials. The curriculum guidelines align closely with GELT principles, emphasizing communicative effectiveness, intercultural awareness and the de-centring of native-speaker norms. However, GELT-related pragmatic elements remain largely conceptual, with limited explicit guidance on context-sensitive language use and interactional strategies at the elementary level. In contrast, textbook representations of GELT are partial and uneven. Although some cultural diversity and strategic use of learners’ first language are evident, key dimensions, such as target interlocutors, role models and language norms, continue to privilege Inner-Circle orientations and accuracy-focused conventions. Overall, the study characterizes Taiwan's ELT landscape as a hybrid and transitional model in which globally oriented communicative aims coexist with persistent native-normative practices, highlighting the need for stronger alignment among curriculum design, materials development, assessment practices and teacher education to support sustainable GELT-informed ELT reform.

Cultural representation in ESP textbooks used in Vietnamese higher education: A comparative content analysis

This study examines how culture is represented in two internationally published English for Specific Purposes (ESP) textbooks used in Vietnamese higher education, Professional English in Use: Finance (Cambridge University Press) and English for Logistics (Oxford University Press). Drawing on Cortazzi and Jin’s [15] tripartite classification of source, target, and international cultures, together with Byram’s [3] model of intercultural communicative competence (ICC), the study analyses both the cultural references contained in the textbooks and the learning opportunities through which those references are pedagogically addressed. The findings reveal contrasting cultural profiles. Target-culture content, particularly Anglo-American institutions and professional practices, predominates in the finance textbook, whereas international-culture references are more frequent in the logistics textbook. Both materials nevertheless display an almost complete absence of Vietnamese cultural perspectives. The two books also differ pedagogically. Whereas the finance textbook relies primarily on vocabulary-focused exercises, the logistics textbook includes a greater number of communicative tasks and a wider range of international settings. Even so, neither provides systematic support for all five components of Byram’s ICC model, and opportunities to develop critical cultural awareness remain particularly limited. These findings suggest that internationally published ESP textbooks cannot, by themselves, fully address the intercultural demands facing Vietnamese graduates. Locally relevant supplementary materials and tasks are therefore required to connect professional English with Vietnamese institutional contexts and the culturally diverse interactions characteristic of regional and international workplaces.

A Global Perspective on the Evaluation of English Coursebooks

Coursebooks play a central role in English language instruction worldwide. However, variations in educational goals, curriculum standards, and cultural contexts often lead to differences in coursebook design and content. This study adopts a global perspective to evaluate English coursebooks used in the third year of English language learning across four countries; Uzbekistan, Iraq, Ukraine, and Türkiye. Using a Coursebook Evaluation Template (CET), the analysis focuses on key aspects; coursebook components, language skills and activities, cultural representation, pedagogy, and gender representation. The findings reveal that while each coursebook reflects its country’s national educational priorities, they consistently feature themes related to children's everyday lives, support language learning through familiar contexts, and offer engaging materials that foster communication skills. All four coursebooks effectively use appealing visuals, relatable topics, and age-appropriate activities to capture students' interest and enhance their learning experience. Some differences are also evident, such as variations in gender representation. Türkiye, in particular, shows the most balanced portrayal of male and female characters in both text and illustrations. By analysing third-year of English learning coursebooks from four countries, this study highlights the role of coursebooks in shaping language education globally. It also underscores the need for future research that includes learners' perspectives and longitudinal studies to better understand the long-term impact of coursebook use on students’ language development and cultural awareness.

The Representation of Moral Values in Indonesian Grade 7 English Course Books: A Multimodal Content Analysis of Prescribed Student Profiles

Moral education has become an important concern in English Language Teaching (ELT) materials, as coursebooks are expected to support both language development and learners’ character formation. In Indonesia, this role is reflected in the prescribed Student Profiles. This study aims to examine how moral values are represented in Indonesian Grade 7 English coursebooks from a multimodal perspective. Employing qualitative content analysis, the study analyzes three widely used coursebooks, namely English for Nusantara, Bright an English, and Interactive English, using Kress and van Leeuwen’s (2006) multimodal framework and the six dimensions of the prescribed Student Profiles. The findings reveal that moral values are conveyed both explicitly and implicitly through verbal texts, visual images, and learning activities; however, their distribution is uneven, with certain values consistently prioritized while others remain marginal. The analysis also shows differing orientations toward local and global moral values across the coursebooks. These findings suggest that although multimodal resources enrich moral meaning-making, their effectiveness depends on pedagogical framing and opportunities for critical engagement. The study concludes that a more balanced and critically mediated integration of moral values is needed to better support learners’ moral development, with implications for coursebook design and classroom practice.

REPRESENTATION OF LOCAL WISDOM AND CULTURAL IDENTITY IN PRIMARY SCHOOL ENGLISH TEXTBOOKS

The present study examines how English primary school textbooks in Indonesia represent cultural identity and local wisdom within the pedagogical paradigm of the Indonesian Kurikulum Merdeka, employing Cortazzi and Jin's (1999) cultural categories. The study focuses on critically analyzing the textual and visual representations of Source, Target, and International Cultures as found in the Grow with English series used by Grade 1 and Grade 5 learners at Raudhatul Jannah Elementary School. The research methodology, based on sociolinguistic theory, utilizes a qualitative Critical Content Analysis which triangulates textual and visual document analysis with semi-structured interviews with a homeroom teacher as well as practical pedagogical resonance. The findings illustrate unmistakable Source Culture orientations evidenced from local geographic nomenclatures, national school uniformations, and less controversial symbols with regional and religious associations (the hijab, the udeng), pervasive among the Target Cultures or International Cultures. However, the textbooks cater to Indonesian national policy (Permendikbudristek No 12 of 2024) and local ordinances (Cilegon Mayor's Regulation) and lead English teaching in strictly localized sociolinguistics contexts immediately relatable to students. The study ends with this, which says that their model of localized content will bring down the set of effects filters, called sociolinguistic dissonance and builds a local id, indigenously infused ready for global bilingual identity.  

Understanding Chinese university’s English language communication challenges –a systematic literature review