This study examines the representation of cultures across three sets of national English textbooks currently used in China by conducting a synchronic content analysis to explore what and how cultures are represented in the textbooks. Data analysis was conducted based on a newly constructed framework focusing on the content (countries and…

China has had an ambivalent policy for the learning and teaching of English as a foreign language (EFL) over much of its history. The explicit and implicit implementation of language policy has had a significant impact on the content of EFL textbooks and the ideologies underlying them. However, studies exploring such ideologies remain sensitive…

The ideological role of English, beyond its instrumental value, is reported to be immense. British colonial rule deployed English as an ideological tool which facilitated colonial subjugation and religious conversion. Connections between English and evangelism have widened in the postcolonial and globalising world, leading to labelling English as…

Applying Kachru and Nelson's model of English spread and their categorisation into Inner/Outer/Expanding Circles, this content analysis of English as a Foreign Language textbooks used in Japanese junior high schools investigates which countries were introduced and further studies how Japan's domestic diversity was constructed in those textbooks.…

With its recent entry into the European Union (EU) and the adoption of multiethnic democracy as a national policy, a key challenge for Poland is to transform its education policy and practice in ways that are consistent with multicultural and pluralist values. This paper examines Poland's efforts to address these issues by exploring changes in the…