Power, Access, and Design in Moroccan EFL Textbooks: A Critical Literacy Perspective

Abstract

This study investigates the extent to which critical literacy is promoted in the Moroccan EFL textbook, Ticket 2 English, through the analytical lens of Janks’ (2010) critical literacy framework. Employing a mixed qualitative–quantitative content analysis, ten reading passages and their accompanying tasks were systematically coded across four interrelated dimensions: power, access, diversity, and design. The findings reveal a marked imbalance among these dimensions. While the textbook consistently facilitates linguistic access through readable texts, structured scaffolding, and comprehension-oriented activities, opportunities for learners to critically interrogate power relations and ideological assumptions are minimal. Representations of diversity are present but remain largely descriptive and celebratory, with limited multivoicedness or engagement with structural inequalities. Most notably, the design dimension is almost entirely absent, as learners are not invited to redesign texts, construct counter-narratives, or reframe meanings from alternative perspectives. Overall, the textbook prioritizes functional and communicative literacy over critical literacy, positioning learners primarily as consumers rather than producers of meaning. The study underscores the need for pedagogical and textbook-level interventions that integrate critical engagement and textual redesign to foster reflective and socially aware EFL learners in the Moroccan context.

Keywords: critical literacy, EFL textbooks, Moroccan education, Janks’ model, discourse and ideology.

Received Date: February 25, 2025                  

Accepted Date: March 18, 2025                   

Published Date: April 01, 2025

Available Online at: https://www.ijsrisjournal.com/index.php/ojsfiles/article/view/869