Colonial acts in Norwegian EAL textbooks – Relations between coloniser and colonised

Abstract

This article discusses representations of colonial acts and the relationship between coloniser and colonised in EAL (English as an Additional Language) textbooks produced for grades 5–7 in Norwegian schools. Multimodal and critical discourse analyses are used to analyse the textbook series. We present five extracts from these textbooks that exemplify findings common to all the textbook series. Findings show that tokenism, exclusion and marginalisation are still common in textbooks. Implications for teachers are discussed, together with the need for them to gain greater critical awareness of teaching materials and to develop their own knowledge of colonialism, and its effects. • Decolonial perspectives are used to discuss representations of colonial acts in textbooks. • Excerpts from textbooks analysed using multimodal and critical discourse analytical approaches. • Tokenism and marginalisation are common in textbooks when referring to colonial acts. • Implications of findings require teachers to develop critical awareness and knowledge of colonialism.

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