A critical study on ELT course books regarding general competences presented in the common European Framework of Reference for Languages

No language use is neutral (Fairclough, 1992). All kinds of texts, spoken or written, intentionally or unintentionally transmit certain ideologies. However, some texts such as newspaper articles, political speeches, educational materials, advertisements which are produced towards creating specific desired effects on the audience may be assumed to have more intense ideological load. One of the most widely encountered text types in this regard are course books which are systematically designed towards implementing the dominating policies of the state via education. As Crawford puts forward, "Textbooks are the dominant definition of the curriculum in schools and are a representation of cultural, economic and political battles and compromises" (2000, p.1). For these reasons, it is vital to carry out studies considering the contents of course books. This study examines the texts of three English language course books for 8th grades that are officially approved by the Ministry of Education and widely used in state schools in Turkey focusing on the General Competence Categories (Declarative Knowledge, Skills and Know-how, Existential Competence and Ability to Learn) presented in the Common European Framework of Reference (2001) in the units investigated. The study also aims to uncover the ideologies regarding General Competence categories presented in the CEFR in the course books under investigation. The study was conducted through a Critical Discourse Analytical perspective (Fairclough, 1992, 1995; Van Dijk, 1998; Wodak, 1995) and specifically, Fairclough's (2001) Critical Discourse Analysis Framework was used to identify the possible ideological implications promoted through the General Competence categories presented in the course books. Keywords: General competences, the CEFR, critical discourse analysis, ideology, ELT course books