Enhancing Citizenship Values In Secondary School English Textbooks

Abstract

In the wake of the educational reforms undertaken in 2003, the Algerian Ministry of National Education set out to make a new series of textbooks which are meant to reflect and comply with the requirements of the new curricula. The latter are largely underpinned by modern pedagogical dogmas and highly recommended values of the twenty first century such as: learner-centeredness, freedom and equal opportunity. The new set of textbooks, in all disciplines and across the grades, are supposed to attain harmoniously a host of political, ideological, cultural and learning objectives and aims. Within this perspective, it can be said that issues of identity and citizenship seem to be at the heart of textbook designers’ preoccupations. The common assumption is that citizenship education is by no means restricted to a well designed textbook of civic or Islamic education, but a shared objective of all schooling areas. Building on this ground, the present paper attempts to explore thoroughly the notion and values of citizenship in Secondary School Education textbooks which represent not only a material source for learning, but also a window through which students can get a few glimpses about the world. The study will be carried out through a critical and systematic analysis of the syllabi and contents of these course books with a special reference to the kinds of topics to which learners are exposed. The results and findings of the analysis will be used to suggest some recommendations to textbook writers and teachers in order to remedy the deficiencies and shortcomings of teaching citizenship values in a world that is exceptionally panicked by the threats of globalization