MD ISLAM (INDEPENDENT UNIVERSITY BANGLADESH)

EVALUATING MULTIMODAL TEXTS IN NATIONAL ENGLISH TEXTBOOK THROUGH CRITICAL READING AND CRITICAL LITERACY APPROACHES : CREATIVITY AND CRITICAL LITERACIES

Texts appearing in the EFL/ESL instructional or in independent learning materials - print or electronic- are nowadays invariably multimodal. The concern among scholars, academics, and researchers is burgeoning regarding how the instructors may be encouraged to help the EFL/ESL learners in building capacity and competence in critical reading and critical literacy skills when they encounter multimodal texts. Addressing this concern, this study has been designed to evaluate the multimodal texts in the Bangladesh national English textbook of grade nine through critical reading and critical literacy approaches. Although understanding multimodal texts through the lenses of critical reading and critical literacy have tremendous potential to transform the learners from average readers to sophisticated readers, research on this area is almost absent in Bangladesh. Adopting document analysis method, the researcher found issues of social justice, awareness of equity, elements of political awareness, and discursive interrogation of mainstream viewpoints as the themes that engage the students in critical reading to develop critical literacy. Semi-structured interviews with the textbook writers were also conducted to elicit their perceptions and applications of critical reading and critical literacy while writing or designing the texts for the textbook. The themes that emerged after the analysis of the transcripts include moderate awareness, and application of critical reading and critical literacy in the textbook. Both policy and pedagogical implications were addressed.

Dr. Md Shaiful Islam is Assistant Professor, Department of English and Modern Languages, Independent University Bangladesh (IUB). He obtained PhD in TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). His research interests include self-regulated learning, teacher education, literacies, and assessment in education.