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Shaping learners’ national imaginary through discourse of resilience in locally-developed Iranian ELT textbooks

A multimodal critical perspective

ORCiD logo with link | Universiti Malaya
ORCiD logo with link | Universiti Malaya
Published online: 5 May 2026
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.26032.dag
Abstract
Education in post-revolutionary Iran has long served as a means to reinforce the state ideology. This study examines the overt and covert presence of state socio-political agenda in a series of Iranian locally-produced English language textbooks (ELT) (Vision) by analyzing textual and visual representations of Iranian and global societies, employing Machin and Mayr’s Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis (MCDA). Findings reveal a distinctive form of state-imposed cultural resilience through three key discursive patterns: (1) selective global engagement, (2) absence of modern Iranian urban life, and (3) selective inclusion of state-defined nationalist values. Rather than an organic preservation of cultural identity, these patterns emphasize state-approved traditional, religious, nationalistic, and security-based aspirations while downplaying or excluding global, modern, and individualistic elements. Unlike the engagement with globalization seen in ELT textbooks elsewhere, the Vision series actively counters perceived cultural homogenization to uphold the state’s ideological stance and socio-political agenda.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.State Control and Ideological Reproduction in Post-Revolutionary Iran
  • 3.Methodology
  • 4.Findings
    • 4.1Selective global engagement
    • 4.2Absence of modern Iranian urban life
    • 4.3Selective inclusion of state-defined nationalist values
  • 5.Conclusion
  • References
References (51)
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