The Control of Interpretation and the Interpellation of Subjectivity. On Possible Uses of Critical Discourse Analysis in Textbook Research (Exemplified by the Results of Discourse Examination in Selected Social Science Textbooks for Lower Secondary School

(on the examples of discourse research results of selected Social Science textbooks for junior high schools)

Abstract

The first aim of this paper is to present opportunities arising from the use of the critical paradigm (particularly Critical Discourse Analysis, CDA) in textbook research. The second aim is to present an example of research that uses the method and theory of Norman Fairclough’s CDA to analyse lower-secondary school social science textbooks. The main notions used in the research are interpretation control and Fairclough’s interpellation of subjects in discourse. The results show that the discursive and linguistic mechanisms applied in the material examined are used to legitimise and justify the representations of the social reality constructed in the textbooks and to reduce the potential for ambivalent interpretations of the knowledge presented. The CDA perspective allows for the discovery of the means by which the aforementioned effects are produced.

English translation: Anna Moroz-Darska

Modernisation of the journal's operations and translation into the English language of articles published in Ars Educandi in 2012-2017 were financed with funds from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education as a part of the task Science Promotion Activity (pl. DUN).

The task ‘The implementation of the editorial module on the platform of Uniwersyteckie Czasopisma Naukowe – a system facilitating the editing and management of the academic journal Ars Educandi‘ was financed as a part of contract 661/P-DUN/2018 of 12.06.2018 from funds of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education designated for the promotion of science.

The task ‘The creation of a modern online version of the academic journal Ars Educandi through the implementation of the publication module on the platform of Uniwersyteckie Czasopisma Naukowe and the handling of international indexing databases’ was financed as a part of contract 661/P-DUN/2018 of 12.06.2018 from funds of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education designated for the promotion of science.

The task ‘Preparation of the English language version of the last 6 annual issues (2012-2017) of the academic journal Ars Educandi and their publication online’ was financed as a part of contract 661/P-DUN/2018 of 12.06.2018 from funds of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education designated for the promotion of science.