Using Fairclough's Model for Critical Discourse Analysis for Evaluating Textbooks and Raising EFL Learner’s Awareness of Text Structure and Discourse Organization

Critical discourse analysis (CDA) methods can be used to evaluate English language teaching (ELT) materials for different purposes. This study aims to examine the role of FAIRCLOUGH's (1989, 1995) model for critical discourse analysis in evaluating the suitability of textbooks for raising EFL learners’ awareness of text structure and discourse organization in the reading comprehension classroom. In so doing, it was assumed that if a valid checklist for evaluating the suitability of a coursebook to raise EFL learners’ awareness of text structure and discourse organization in a reading classroom could be elicited from the location of text structure and discourse in FAIRCLOUGH’s model of CDA, then the model could be used to evaluate and select textbooks. One main question and two subsidiary questions are asked: Can a valid checklist for evaluating the suitability of a coursebook to raise EFL learners’ awareness of text structure and discourse organization in a reading classroom be obtained from the location of text structure and discourse in FAIRCLOUGH’s model of CDA? Where are text structures and discourse organizations located in FAIRCLOUGH’s model of CDA? What elements are prompted from that location to make the checklist valid for evaluating the suitability of a coursebook? An analysis of the reading task in GO FOR ENGLISH TMLE (1995), a textbook used in the Ivorian secondary schools, was conducted. FAIRCLOUGH's notion of the analysis of text was balanced against GRABE and STOLLER’s approaches (2002) to the reading process and ESKEY’s perception of prior knowledge (1986), to design a checklist and some deriving checklist criteria. The evaluation of the textbook with reference to the checklist and its deriving criteria led to the conclusion that FAIRCLOUGH's model for CDA can be used as pre-use evaluation framework for reading coursebooks, provided a valid checklist is designed.