Critical Analysis of ESL Textbook Discourse in the Philippine Setting

English as a Second Language (ESL) textbooks play in teaching and learning is one reason academic institutions continue to purchase these learning resources. The use of commercial textbooks in elementary, secondary, and tertiary education is common practice. Textbooks provide useful resources for both educators and learners: information, content, texts, activities, and standardized instruction. The study was conducted to critically examine ESL textbook discourse situated in the Philippine setting, specifically, to critically examine how students positioned and conceptualized in the ESL textbook discourse in Oral Communication. The analysis found that: the author and the textbook assume an authoritative role over the student in the delivery of the text, the textbook discourse constructs unequal power relations between the author and the student; the student is positioned as subordinate and receiver of information, advices, instruction and direction; despite the unequal power relations between the textbook producers and students, the discourse constructs positive beliefs and assumptions about the students; the 21st century student is conceptualized as a socially active and responsible individual capable of meeting standards and excelling in different situations; the student must become a competent communicator but must be given holistic training and proper guidance as he or she has the tendency to become insensitive, disrespectful, and inconsiderate to others; and if the discourse is accepted as an authority, then this would contribute to sustaining the notion of textbook producer authority. Thus, textbook may be used by the teachers as aid in the classroom instruction because of its positive view towards the student the position and conceptualization of the teachers in the ESL textbook discourse may be studied teachers are encouraged to evaluate textbooks with a CDA point of view.