The Construction of English ― Culture, Consumerism and Promotion in the Elt Global Coursebook

The Construction of English examines the representational practices adopted in the mapping of linguistic and cultural terrain in textbooks for the teaching of English as a foreign or international language. Now in paperback, this book is a research-based study which takes as its object of investigation the financially lucrative and widely disseminated global coursebook which is produced as part of an incremental English language course designed for global consumption. It identifies the 'representational repertoires' constructed in a sample of historically bestselling coursebooks and includes interviews in which ELT publishers and practising teachers discuss the nature of coursebook content. Drawing on insights from cultural studies and theoretical perspectives on visual communication and consumerism, the book argues that, in addition to being curriculum artefacts, coursebooks can also be seen as promotional commodities which seek to make English mean in highly selective ways which are often considered as deeply problematic by the teachers who use them.

John Gray is Reader in Languages in Education at the Institute of Education, University of London, UK. He is interested in language and globalization, the cultural and political aspects of the global spread of English, ELT materials analysis and English language teacher education. His previous publications include Neoliberalism and Applied Linguistics with David Block and Marnie Holborow, and Critical Perspectives on Language Teaching Materials.