PREPARING LEARNERS FOR A GLOBAL EXPERIENCE: AN ANALYSIS OF INTERCULTURAL CONTENTS IN GOVERNMENT SCHOOL EFL TEXTBOOKS IN PAKISTAN

Abstract

Purpose of the study: This study aims to build the capacity of a learner as a "global citizen," language teaching needs to focus on building the 5 C's of Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities along with language proficiency. The present study analyzes English language textbook contents taught at the secondary school level in Pakistan's postcolonial and multilingual context. Methodology: Identity and otherization are used as key heuristic tools to analyze the ideological texture of the focal texts and their influence on adolescent learners' emerging identities. Main Findings: Data analysis in the current article shows that texts in the textbook promote strong in-group identities. Exercises and activities for students focus on lexico-syntactical aspects of the texts. The communicative and intercultural skills of the students are not stimulated in the textbook. Applications of this study: This study can be useful for improving English language textbooks, and classrooms need to move beyond traditional language teaching and incorporate active critical thinking and intercultural awareness to suit the needs of the students in the globalized world of our present times. Novelty/Originality of this study: To create a more stable world in this age of interconnectedness, mobility, and globalization, our young generation needs to develop fluid identities open to dialogue with the Other and seek complexity instead of simplification and stereotyping in intercultural encounters.