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Constructions of peoples of Arab descent in social studies textbooks and teachers' talk in secondary schools in British Columbia

University of British Columbia

Informed by culturally relevant pedagogy, which emphasizes guiding principles that focus on appreciating students’ cultural differences, preserving students’ cultural integrity, and challenging knowledge constructions that maintain social inequities, a critical discourse analysis of text and talk was conducted to examine constructions of peoples of Arab descent in social studies textbooks and in teachers’ talk in secondary schools in British Columbia. The study examined the following research questions: 1) How are peoples of Arab descent constructed in social studies textbooks that are available for Grades 10 and 11 and by secondary school teachers in British Columbia? 2) How do secondary school teachers talk about using the textbooks in teaching about peoples of Arab descent? Linguistic and discursive analyses, based on Fairclough (2003), identified three discourses. The first discourse, a “discourse of othering,” was found in both textbooks and teachers’ talk. The discourse of othering was reflected in the accentuation of differences between peoples of Arab descent and peoples in Canada. The second discourse, also found in the textbooks and in teachers’ talk, was identified as a “discourse of multicultural progress” that emerged in the ways the texts highlighted a positive shift in cultural attitudes in Canada. The third discourse, a “discourse of barriers to teaching about peoples of Arab descent,” emerged in the ways the participants talked about the challenges they faced in teaching about peoples of Arab descent. The study revealed stereotypical constructions of peoples of Arab descent as terrorists, violent, and aggressive. Peoples of Arab descent were excluded from Canada’s past and present, and shown as passivated colonial subjects who are inferior opponents to the “West.” Additional findings revealed homogenization between peoples of Arab descent, Islam, and the “Middle East,” and constructions of Islam and the “Middle East” as involved in human rights violations and oppressive practices. The study also identified barriers to teaching about peoples of Arab descent, including insufficient textbooks and teachers’ lack of cultural knowledge. Implications highlight the importance of enhancing pedagogical skills that could help teachers recognize and challenge stereotypical constructions of peoples of Arab descent in text and talk.

Text

2020-05-07

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/74371

Human Development, Learning, and Culture

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/