ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a critical discourse analysis of six English as a Foreign Language (EFL) textbooks used in Israeli high schools. It focuses on the dynamic between these Palestinian Arab learners, and discusses the cultural content of the EFL textbooks, where the recurrence of seven discursive devices that might possibly serve as a means for shaping or (re)producing ideological values. The chapter discusses a discursive analysis of these texts, which identifies and examines the ideological bias of narratives and texts used in them and verifies their cultural relevance for the target audiences they address. Through the narratives used in EFL textbooks, national identities are bound to emerge, and collective memories to be maintained. The chapter argues that textbooks are ideological vehicles for transmitting dominant ideologies and perpetuating hegemonic discourses. It demonstrates how EFL textbooks promote intercultural understanding between Israel and the West, as well as among certain of Israel’s diverse groups, while excluding the Palestinian Arab minority.
