WHAT LANGUAGE TEXTBOOKS TEACH ABOUT EMERGING ISSUES: AN ANALYSIS OF SETSWANA AND ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEXTBOOKS?

Abstract

The junior secondary school Setswana and English language syllabi identify emerging issues as an essential component of language instruction. This is an acknowledgement that language education can be used as an educational tool to support and communicate certain socially constructed messages to students about local, national and global concerns. This calls for using instructional resources that support teachers’ efforts to infuse emerging issues into language education. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to examine how emerging issues are positioned in language textbooks prescribed for students at the junior secondary education level. A qualitative content analysis of the textbooks suggests that the prescribed emerging issues are accommodated in diverse topics/themes in language textbooks. Of significance too is that language textbooks do not necessarily accommodate diverse forms of knowledge, realities and perspectives in their coverage of emerging issues. The study has implications for language teachers’ professional development and their reflective practices.
Keywords: Emerging issues and education; curriculum infusion; textbook analysis; language education; textbook research