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Language Socialization pp 1–16Cite as

Language Socialization Through Textbooks

Part of the Encyclopedia of Language and Education book series (ELE)

Abstract

Textbooks, as one of the primary and basic teaching and learning resources in education, provide a cornerstone for knowledge transmission, literacy education, enculturation, and socialization. By their very nature, textbooks contain not only subject knowledge but also social norms and cultural values and ideologies. Although language socialization through textbooks may depend on how they are employed in various contexts, this chapter reviews mainly studies of language textbooks’ cultural content as a means of socialization. The chapter starts with a review of the early developments of textbook content used for literacy education in different sociocultural contexts. It then provides a discussion of the major contributions to the field with a focus on cultural knowledge embedded in foreign language textbooks. This is followed by an overview of recent developments in language textbook analysis, including the critical analysis of ideological representations involved in the politics of content selection. Lastly, challenges for the field are outlined, and future directions are indicated as reflected in evolving educational systems and political environments.

Keywords

  • Critical discourse analysis
  • Cultural production
  • Culture
  • Ideology
  • Literacy
  • Socialization
  • Textbooks

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Education, University of Reading, L33-112, Reading, RG1 5EX, UK

    Xiao Lan Curdt-Christiansen

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  1. Xiao Lan Curdt-Christiansen
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Correspondence to Xiao Lan Curdt-Christiansen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Language and Literacy Education, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

    Patricia A. Duff

  2. Faculty of Education, University of Auckland, School of Critic, Auckland, New Zealand

    Stephen May

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Curdt-Christiansen, X.L. (2017). Language Socialization Through Textbooks. In: Duff, P., May, S. (eds) Language Socialization. Encyclopedia of Language and Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02327-4_15-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02327-4_15-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-02327-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-02327-4

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