A Postcolonial Analysis of the Representation of the “Other” in ELT Textbooks: The Case of Interchange Level 3 and Summit 2

Abstract

This research paper is an attempt to analyze the intricacies of the representation of the “Other” in English language teaching textbooks, namely Interchange Level 3 and Summit 2, that are widely used to teach English as a foreign language. This study is encompassed by English language teaching and postcolonial cultural studies, and its importance stems from the fact that textbooks are used not only to teach language skills but also to shape learners’ perspectives about worldviews that align with Western narratives. The analysis explores how the two textbooks portray the “Other” and how Moroccan teachers perceive these depictions. The theoretical backbone of this study draws on Stuart Hall’s concept of representation, Edward Said’s Orientalism, Louis Althusser’s Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs), and Homi Bhabha’s concepts of ambivalence and mimicry. The outcomes of this research indicate a centric representation of the West in the content of the two books, a fact that is evidenced by the interviews of the teachers who confirmed the prevailing dominance of Western norms to the detriment of non-Western representation.