Files and links (1)
CC BY V4.0, Open Access
Dissertation
Critical Discourse Analysis of Civic Education in Palestine, Jordan and the United States
Washington State University
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
01/2022
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000004426
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/118963
Abstract
Citizenship and civic education cover the different processes and activities that influence people’s commitments, values, beliefs, actions, and capabilities as members of particular communities. It is evident that there is a significant gap between rhetoric and practice in school curriculum in Palestine, Jordan, and the U.S. Considering the crucial role and possible effects of textbooks on constructing learners’ views and self-identity. The purpose of this study is to identify the particular discourses at work as manifested in citizenship and civic education textbooks through which social actors are represented in the texts under study and reveal the possible hidden discursive structures.
The data under study include a selection of similar chapters across the Palestinian, Jordanian, and American contexts. Texts under investigation are the eight-grade Palestinian official ministry of education civic education textbook, the official ministry of education Jordanian civic/citizenship textbook, and Washington State civics textbook titled The State We’re In: Washington which is the first civics text to include tribal government and history. The study draws on the work of Norman Fairclough’s (1995) framework, which utilizes a dialectical relational approach, in a systematic way.
The findings demonstrated that the textbooks nearly completely use gender-masculine terminology and conjugation to allude to citizens doing civic tasks at school, work, in the military, and elsewhere. The textbooks occasionally refer to gender-neutral social actors but frequently use masculine pronouns. The findings uncovered that social actors’ representations in the textbooks are critically lacking, especially in comparison to dominant representations and narratives of men. Using both visual analysis and critical discourse analysis together, I highlighted instances where gender representation is woefully inadequate and in need of development.
This study is an endeavor to clarify through describing, interpreting, and analyzing problematic discourses that impede and limit understanding and implementation of existing civic education in different sociocultural and historical environments. This study endeavors to expose and disrupt the existing status quos to recognize the oppressive sociocultural paradigms embedded in civic education curricula in Palestine, Jordan, and the U.S.
Metrics
2 File views/ downloads
65 Record Views
Details
- Title
- Critical Discourse Analysis of Civic Education in Palestine, Jordan and the United States
- Creators
- Abdelhadi Basheer
- Contributors
- Anthony G Rud (Advisor)Tariq Akmal (Committee Member)John Lupinacci (Committee Member)Michael T Hayes (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Teaching and Learning, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 174
- Identifiers
- 99900883239901842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation