Zahoor Janjua (2020) - Ecolinguistic and Ecopedagogical

British Educational Research Journal
Vol. 46, No. 2, April 2020, pp. 321–338

DOI: 10.1002/berj.3579
Green contents in English language

textbooks in Pakistan: An ecolinguistic and
ecopedagogical appraisal
Mehwish Zahoor* and Fauzia Janjua
Department of English (Female Campus), International Islamic University, Islamabad,
Pakistan
The belief that English language teaching (ELT), for its global scope, should not only focus on fur-
nishing learners’ language skills but also on raising their awareness about critical global issues, like
environmental crises, led to the ‘greening’ of ELT textbooks. However, the ecopedagogical import
of the green contents in ELT textbooks has a bearing on the linguistic/discursive representation of
nature and the human–nature relationship in them as it conditions the way we humans perceive and
treat the natural environment. Ecolinguistics, an emerging paradigm in linguistic research, offers
the premise to analyse the construction of ecology in texts. This study conducted an ecolinguistic
and ecopedagogical appraisal of the environmental texts in English language textbooks used in Pak-
istani schools at primary level, adapting Gaard’s ecopedagogical framework for children’s texts and
Halliday’s transitivity analysis model. The study found that the construction of nature and the
human–nature relationship in the selected textbooks principally propagated an anthropocentric
worldview, thus lacking in ecopedagogical import.
Keywords: ecolinguistics; ELT; ecopedagogy; systemic functional grammar; transitivity analysis
Introduction and theoretical backdrop

Schools of thought like social semiotics and functional linguistics, emerging in the latter
half of the twentieth century, highlighted the role of language as a social semiotic tool to
construe a selective representation of the physical as well as the social world and conse-
quently shape the perception and attitudes of its users towards them. The perspective
stimulated the thought that language teaching, precisely English language teaching
(ELT), for its global scope and the value associated with the English language, should
not only focus on furnishing learners’ language skills but also on giving them an aware-
ness regarding every matter that concerns their lives and well-being. It was realised that
one of language teaching’s goals must be to help learners ‘become informed about as
many issues as possible that intrinsically affect their lives’ (Brown, 1991, p. 4), while
language teaching offers great flexibility of content as well. As stated by Rivers (1976,
p. 96), being ‘language teachers we are the most fortunate of teachers – all subjects are
ours. Whatever [the students] want to communicate about, whatever they want to read
about is our subject matter’. Likewise, Provo (1996, cited in Cates, 1990, p. 96) argued
*Corresponding author. Department of English (Female Campus), International Islamic Univer-

sity, Sector H-10, Islamabad, Pakistan. Email: mehwishzahoor97@yahoo.com
© 2019 British Educational Research Association

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322 M. Zahoor and F. Janjua
that being language teachers, we ‘need to use reading passages, dialogues and discus-
sions in our teaching, so why not design these with content that informs students of
important world issues and challenges them to consider solutions?’
Identifying environmental crises as one of the most critical issues of the time affecting
the human race globally, it was particularly emphasised that ecological themes should
be given a mandatory place in all English as a second language (ESL)/English as a for-
eign language (EFL) curricula (Brown, 1991). Special emphasis, however, has been
placed on ‘greening’ the socialisation of children, for this implies shaping generations to
curtail the ecological upheaval hovering over humanity at large (Bhalla, 2012). As
affirmed by Jabeen et al. (2014), the primary school curriculum plays a vital socialisa-
tion role for being an agent of social transformation, while, central to socialisation and
transformation through education, especially at primary level, is the role of textbooks.
Therefore, it has been recognised that the ‘greening’ of children’s textbooks can have
incredible value in bringing up an ecologically conscious generation (Adugna, 2015).
Raising children’s ecological consciousness through textbooks, however, is not sim-
ply giving them ecological information (Potter, 2003), but developing their ecological
self by helping them recognise how closely human lives are connected with the non-
human world. As one of the significant ecophilosophies, termed ‘deep ecology’, con-
notes: environmental crises chiefly lie in the anthropocentric perception or worldview
which takes the human as centre or norm, thus legitimising his supremacy over all
which is non-human. Fundamental for the resolution of ecological crises then is to
transform our perception of the self/human and the other/non-human in bio or eco-
centric terms which stress the integrity of the entire ecosystem without giving privilege
to any one species (Clark, 2011).
Language, being a social semiotic tool, has a critical role in construing the concept
of nature as well as the ideological dimensions of the human–nature relationship
which in turn conditions the way we interact with nature and what we do with and
about ecology (Akcesme, 2013). Ecolinguistics, as a new paradigm of linguistic
research, emerging in the 1990s, is concerned with exploring the nexus between lan-
guage and ecology. It endeavours to expose discourses propagating ecologically dam-
aging ideologies as well as discursive representations contributing to an egalitarian
society. As reported by the major online research forum of ecolinguistics—The Inter-
national Environmental Communication Association (IECA)—the scope of ecolin-
guistic research ranges from the impact of advertising discourse in promoting
ecologically damaging consumption to the power of nature poetry in instilling rever-
ence for the natural world.
The ecolinguistic study of ESL/EFL teaching materials has emerged as yet another
potential research area lately. There are just a few published researches in the area so
far, including: a survey of international ELT textbooks by Jacobs and Goatly (2000),
reporting a general lack of curricular activities concerning environmental protection;
a content analysis by Kirova and Veselinovska (2004) of the EFL textbooks used in
Macedonia, to explore the frequency and treatment of ecological topics in them; a
critical discourse analysis (CDA) of Japanese EFL textbooks by Stibbe (2004), expos-
ing shallow environmentalism in the examined textbooks; a CDA of a sample of EFL
textbooks used in Iran by Amalsaleh et al. (2010) to analyse the linguistic and ideolog-
ical construction of different social actors in the community as well as nature; a CDA

Green contents in ELT textbooks 323
by Akcesme (2013) of certain leading English coursebooks consumed globally, to find

out in what ways nature is represented and how the different representations of nature
propagate certain eco-ideologies; Al-Jamal and Al-Omari’s (2014) content analysis of
the state-sanctioned EFL textbooks used for 10th graders in Iran, pointing out the
scarcity of global ecological themes in the textbooks; Xiong’s (2014) ECDA of EFL
textbooks used in China, exposing the shallow environmentalism propagated in them;
and a recent study by Brown (2017) studying the use of the relative pronoun ‘who’
with non-human animals in English dictionaries and graded readers in the English as
an additional language (EAL) context.
As can be noticed, there are studies conducted in this area across the globe, includ-
ing the Far East and Asian countries like Iran, China and Japan, but, to the best of
our knowledge as researchers, there is no published research in this area in a Pakistani
context. The present study is, therefore, significant in tapping this gap. However, the
issue of environment is a global issue, raising global concerns for its resolution and
generating a unanimous response from the international community in the form of
‘greening’ educational curricula across the board in the whole world. The present
study is therefore not only significant in a Pakistani context, but also has relevance for
a global readership as well as research scholars around the world interested in this
area, which is as yet new and underexplored internationally as well.
In compliance with the National Curriculum for English Language (NCEL, 2006),
the English textbooks used in all the state-run schools in Pakistan follow a commu-
nicative language teaching approach and a theme-based language syllabus (resonating
the recommendations of the Common European Framework of Reference for Lan-
guages). According to the NCEL (2006), themes cater to learners’ social/ethical
development, which is marked further as a distinct competency to be developed
alongside four other communicative competencies of the English language. It is
noticed further that the environment makes up one of the themes considered in the
organisational schemata of all English textbooks for grades I–XII, which suggests that
the environmental discourse in these textbooks is meant to develop students’ ethical
orientation with regard to the environment, and hence their ecological education. But
the inclusion of environmental contents in textbooks alone cannot be contended for
learners’ ecological education. Considering the role of language in cultivating learn-
ers’ ecological perception, the need arises to evaluate the environmental discourse in
these textbooks from an ecolinguistic and an ecopedagogical perspective, while such a
study is wanting to date in the Pakistani context.
The present study has therefore aimed to analyse the ecological worldview that has
been constructed by the language used in the environmental texts included in the
selected English textbooks so as to explicate their ecopedagogical import. It is, hence, an
interdisciplinary study, merging ecopedagogy and ecolinguistics. The analysis in the
study involved both these dimensions. For the ecopedagogical dimension of analysis, the
study has adapted the ecopedagogical framework proposed by Greta Gaard in her study
‘Towards an ecopedagogy of children’s environmental literature’ (Gaard, 2008). Gaard
maintains that the environmental texts for children should challenge the anthropocentric
worldview and propagate ecocentric values, thus helping to develop an egalitarian or
ecological child self. She suggests that from an ecopedagogical perspective, the environ-
mental texts for children should be examined along three main aspects: (1) the place

given to nature; (2) the relation between the child/human self and the natural other; and
(3) the role assigned to the child/human self in relation to ecojustice issues. These three
aspects have been adopted as the three main research questions of our study.
For the linguistic analysis, since the study has to explore the ecological worldview
propagated by the environmental texts, it focused on the experiential metafunction of
language, precisely the transitivity model proposed by Halliday as part of his systemic
functional grammar (SFG) framework (Halliday, 1994). In Halliday’s SFG, a clause,
taken as the basic unit of analysis, is believed to embody three kinds of meaning
simultaneously, identified as three metafunctions (meaning potentials) of language,
namely the experiential, interpersonal and textual. The experiential metafunction
entails our experience of the real physical world as well as the world of consciousness
(i.e. our perception or worldview), whereas transitivity is the main implant and the
system of grammatical choice to articulate the experiential meanings in a clause, ‘rep-
resenting “processes” or “experiences”: actions, events, processes of consciousness
and relations’ (Halliday, 1994, p. 53).
Traditionally, transitivity is taken as a grammatical feature to indicate if a verb takes
a direct object or not. However, in Halliday’s conception, the system of transitivity
comprises three elements, namely the process, participants in the process and circum-
stances associated with the process. The process is the nucleus of the experiential
clause and is essentially realised by a verb phrase. The participant(s) are directly
occupied with the process and this is typically realised by noun phrase(s), while cir-
cumstances are attendant to the process but not directly involved in it. They are
rather an adjunct element in the clause structure and are ‘typically expressed by
prepositional and adverb phrases’ (Simpson, 2004, p. 22).
Furthermore, Halliday classifies the processes into six types: material, mental, rela-
tional, behavioural, verbal and existential. To begin with, material processes repre-
sent ‘happening’ or ‘doing’, and typically involve two participants: the actor—the one
who does the action—and the goal—the one to whom the action is directed. Mental
processes signify cognition, perception and affection. They also occupy two partici-
pants: a sensor carrying out the process and a phenomenon—what is thought, per-
ceived or felt by the sensor. Relational processes realise relationships of ‘having’ or
‘being’ between the participants. Verbal processes embody the act of ‘saying’. How-
ever, they may include any form of meaning exchange, like ‘The book tells us how to
write an essay’ or ‘The clock says ten’. The verbal process also engages mainly two par-
ticipants: the sayer—one who utters—and the target—the one who is addressed,
whereas what is said is termed ‘verbiage’ (Iwamoto, 2007). Behavioural processes
‘represent outer manifestations of inner workings, the acting out of processes of con-
sciousness and physiological states’ (Halliday, 1994). In simple terms, they represent
psychological or physiological behaviour and fall between the material and mental
processes. However, the behavioural process typically engages a single participant
called the behaver. The existential process, as the name implies, realises that some-
thing exists. The process usually takes the word ‘there’ as a dummy subject. This pro-
cess also involves a single participant called the existent, referring to what exists.
As noted, the study of transitivity patterns helps us understand what kinds of action
a text involves (represented through different processes distinguished on the basis of
whether they represent physical actions, speech, states of mind or states of being);

how actions are represented (that is, who is carrying them out or who is the agent);
and to whom the actions are being directed (that is, who is being affected by the
actions of others). Precisely, studying transitivity patterns in a text can help unveil the
ideological positioning of two contested entities in relation to each other (humans
and nature in the present study’s context), hence offering a pertinent analytical tool
to answer the following research questions of the study:
1. How do transitivity patterns used in the environmental texts in the selected Eng-
lish textbooks construct nature?
lish textbooks construct the human–nature relationship?
lish textbooks situate humans in relation to ecojustice issues?
These three research questions have been designed based on the three aspects pro-
posed by Gaard (2008) in her ecopedagogical framework for children’s texts so as to
examine the ecopedagogical intent of the environmental texts included in the sample
English textbooks. Our study’s primary focus was language, particularly transitivity
patterns, used in the environmental texts in the selected English textbooks.
Methodology
The study conducted an ecolinguistic appraisal of the environmental texts included
in Pakistani English textbooks for primary level in order to explicate their ecopeda-
gogical import. However, the NCEL (2006) has further split primary-level education
into two developmental levels based on learners’ age and intellectual ability. The first
level includes grades I and II and focuses only on lexical and structural activities, play-
ing a formulaic role. The second level encompasses grades III–V and the focus here
shifts to the function of language and the content knowledge appropriate to learners’
age, and a critical understanding of it. Since the present study’s focus was the ecologi-
cal contents included in English textbooks and the function of language in construct-
ing the ecological reality in the environmental texts in the textbooks, it has been
delimited to the textbooks for grades III–V. Besides that, the textbooks selected are
English textbooks published by the Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board
(PCTB). The PCTB is authorised by the National Curriculum Wing of the Ministry
of Education, Pakistan to produce textbooks for all the state-run schools in the Pun-
jab province. The province has the largest population in the country, so these text-
books have a wider scope than any others being used in the country.
The analysis of the study considered two dimensions: ecopedagogy and ecolinguis-
tics. For the ecopedagogical dimension, the study has adapted Gaard’s framework
‘Towards an ecopedagogy of children’s environmental literature’ (Gaard, 2008),
while for the ecolinguistic dimension, the study has focused on the experiential meta-
function, the transitivity patterns exploited in the environmental texts included in the
sample textbooks and Halliday’s transitivity analysis model adapted from his seminal
book An introduction to functional grammar (Halliday, 1994).
The analysis procedure involved screening of the selected textbooks for the envi-
ronmental texts included in them as the first step. It has been observed that the

selected textbooks included texts which have explicitly targeted the theme of environ-
mental crisis, as well as those which have involved nature and humans in non-envi-
ronmental themes. The present study has considered them all as environmental texts,
since the latter also have covert potency to shape children’s perceptions of nature and
the human–nature relationship. At the second step of the analysis, the transitivity pat-
terns in the environmental texts have been analysed using Halliday’s transitivity
model (Halliday, 1994). Finally, a comprehensive qualitative analysis of the transitiv-
ity patterns in the selected texts was carried out to answer the research questions of
the study.
Data analysis and discussion

The analysis of the environmental texts included in the selected textbooks has been
carried out along three dimensions: the representation of nature; the relative place-
ment of humans vs. nature; and the positioning of humans in relation to ecojustice
issues in order to answer the three research questions of the study.
Representation of nature
As stated by Akcesme (2013), ‘[t]he linguistic representations of nature reveal how
we conceptualize, comprehend and treat the natural world as well as how we con-
struct ideas about nature and our relationship to it’ (p. 96). The environmental texts
in the selected English textbooks have represented nature in multiple ways. Almost all
the various representations of nature in the environmental texts in the selected text-
books have been found to be anthropocentric in one way or another. While a basic
ecocentric principle promoted by deep ecology is that ‘all things in the biosphere have
an equal right to live and blossom’ (Devall & Sessions, 1985, p. 68)—that is, all are
intrinsically valuable—the selected textbooks have generally represented nature/non-
humans in utilitarian terms serving human ends and lacking any intrinsic worth. For
instance, one of the representations of nature in the selected textbooks is nature repre-
sented as a source of aesthetic pleasure for humans. Nature/non-humans, in certain envi-
ronmental texts in the selected textbooks, has been constructed as a sensual
phenomenon for the human sensor; a thing of beauty to appeal to the human senses or a
recreational spectacle for human amusement. For instance, the text ‘Helping Hands’
in English 4 abounds in images of nature as a delight for the human senses and emo-
tions. It can be observed in the following lines from the text that nature (flowers) is
occupied as the phenomenon of the mental processes (of affection) performed by the
human sensor:1
All the children in the school [sen] liked [pr: men] his gift [ph]. Every morning [cir], they
[sen] expected [pr: men] Mr Khan to be standing at his gate with a bunch of flowers in his
hand and a smile on his face [ph].
He [sen] loved [pr: men] growing plants [ph].
He [sen] liked [pr: men] the colours and fragrance of flowers [ph]. (English 4, pp. 58–59)

The character of Mr Khan in the text has been shown to love plants, but his fond-
ness for them is limited to the aesthetic beauty of flowers, which have been repre-
sented as ornamental objects. In transitivity terms, as a goal or possessive attribute
possessed by Mr Khan to beautify his home (circumstance).
Mr Khan [ac] kept [pr: mat] flowers [gl] in his bedroom [cir]. He [carr] had [pr: rel] flow-
ers [att] in every room [cir], even in his bathroom [cir]. (English 4, p. 59)
Another text, ‘The Horse and Cattle Show’, from the unit ‘Festivals’ in English 3,
has delineated the animals as an aesthetically pleasing recreational spectacle for
humans. The word ‘show’ in the very title of the text implies animals as an object to
be showcased, while the title of the unit ‘Festival’ endorses that this show is a recre-
ational festivity for humans. A little boy Hassan in the text has come to Lahore to
spend his holidays with his uncle who takes him to a horse and cattle show in the
town.
Hassan [sen] loved [pr: men] animals [ph] so he [carr] was [pr: rel] very happy and excited
[att]. All the animals [gl] had been decorated [pr: mat] with flowers and beads [cir]. The
animals [bhvr] stood [pr: beh] in a line [cir] and followed [pr: mat] their master’s orders
[gl]. (English 3, p. 78)
In the above quoted excerpt from the text, Hassan (as sensor) has been mentioned
to love (mental process) animals (phenomenon), but instead of showing genuine care
and concern for animals by considering them as sentient beings, the text realises Has-
san’s love for animals as sheer excitement at seeing them decorated and played as
puppets by their human master (as shown by the processes associated with the animals;
‘stood in a line’ and ‘followed their master’s orders’), to amuse the spectators of the
show.
The text further constructs nature as commodity. While the cattle are a source of
amusement for the show spectators, they are a commodity for their masters since this
show earns them money. The commodification of animals is further fortified in the
text through their being showcased at the festival among other consumer products
like handicrafts and food items.
Hassan [sen] also went to see [pr: men] the stalls of handicrafts, food and folk music [ph].
He [ac] ate [pr: mat] sweets and cotton-candy [gl]. (English 3, p. 79)
Just like the representation of animals throughout the text (as goal and phe-
nomenon), the stalls of handicrafts, food, folk music and the sweets and cotton-candy
in the quote above are occupied as the phenomenon and goal of the mental and material
processes carried out by the human sensor and actor, respectively. This parallelism
between the representation of animals and other consumer goods in the text endorses
the idea that animals are also a consumer good possessed by humans and valued prin-
cipally for their attached monetary benefits attained. Qiu (2013), in a critical dis-
course analysis of eco-hotel profiles, has highlighted the ideological construction of
eco-hotel profiles from a consumerist perspective and identified the customary
human attitude of overriding nature’s well-being for material wealth and comfort to
be the root cause of all ecological crises.

Another representation of non-human nature in the selected textbooks is nature as

an object of scientific study. This representation has also robbed the non-human of its
inherent value as a sentient life form and reduced it to an inert object being studied by
a human observer only to satisfy his quest for scientific knowledge and discoveries.
For instance, a text ‘Sleeping Habits of Animals’ in English 4 simply gives informa-
tion about the sleeping habits of a number of different animal species. The animals
throughout the text are majorly occupied in behavioural processes, with their varied
sleeping behaviours described.
. . .a giraffe [bhvr] keeps standing [pr: beh] while he [bhvr] is sleeping [pr: beh].
Some elephants [bhvr] also sleep [pr: beh] standing up [cir].
Some animals like bears [bhvr] hibernate [pr: beh] in winter [cir].
A baboon [bhvr] sleeps [pr: beh] for ten hours [cir] while a sheep [bhvr] sleeps [pr: beh]
only for four hours [cir]. (English 4, pp. 89–90)
Akcesme (2013), in his ecocritical study of a sample of internationally consumed

ELT coursebooks, has also found that nature in the sample coursebooks is not valued
other than as being a source of aesthetic pleasure, economic use and scientific knowl-
edge, and argued that ‘[s]uch representations put the human in a controlling master
position who acts upon nature to exploit its resources, claiming for the ownership and
domination over it’ (p. 101). Qiu (2013) likewise ascertained that this ‘human-cen-
tered instrumentalism that regards nature simply as tools. . . results in the rejection
and conquest of nature by human beings, which eventually brings about the dissimila-
tion and alienation between man and nature’ (p. 1884).
However, deep ecological claims for the equal intrinsic worth of all life in the uni-
verse are frequently criticised for being radical and likely to be misanthropic. It is
argued that just being alive or sentient does not qualify an entity to have intrinsic
value, for if all life is sanctioned an equal right to live and flourish, how should
humans deal with, for instance, injurious pests, bacteria and viruses? The answer has
been provided by a stream of deep ecologists holding a non-radical position. For
them, ‘ecocentrism is merely an “orientation” within which major differences of opin-
ion will subsist. . . Naess, for example, [sanctions] that “vital” human needs may take
priority over the good of any other thing, thus ruling out difficult conflicts between
the interests of humans and the interests of a man-eating tiger or a bubonic plague
bacillus’ (Garrard, 2004, p. 22). In essence, humans can supersede non-human nat-
ure just in case their vitality is at stake, while it can be noticed that in all of the texts
discussed above, nature is not being consumed for the sake of human vitality (aes-
thetic pleasure, monetary use and quest for scientific knowledge/discoveries are by no
means vital human needs), hence the representation of nature in these texts is bla-
tantly anthropocentric.
Certain other texts in the selected textbooks have been found to foster alienation
and conquest of nature by humans by representing nature as wild and unruly, and
hence in need of being tamed. For instance, the text ‘The Horse and Cattle Show’ in

English 3 constructed the image of the animals as untamed and savage creatures, pos-
ing a threat to humans and thus having to be strictly dealt with and controlled by a
human master.
Just when the cattle show began [cir], an ox [sen] suddenly [cir] got angry [pr:
men] and ran away [pr: mat] free from its master’s grip [cir]. Everyone [sen] was
afraid [pr: men] because it [carr] was [pr: rel] big and strong [att]. It [ac] could
hurt [pr: mat] someone [gl]. However, its master [tok] was [pr: rel] a strong man
[val] who [sen] knew [pr: men] how to look after his animals [ph]. Soon [cir], he
[ac] had [pr: mat] the ox [gl] under his control [att] and brought [pr: mat] it [gl]
back to the shelter [cir]. Everyone [sen] was pleased [pr: men] to see the ox back
with its master [ph]. (English 3, pp. 78–79)
It can be observed in the above quoted excerpt from the text that the ox,
through mental and relation processes, has been constructed as a big, strong and
hostile creature, endowed with the agency through material process to hurt
humans. It has also been represented as a dreadful and challenging phenomenon
for the human sensor. However, the human—through material and mental pro-
cesses—has been given physical as well as mental supremacy over the non-human
so he heroically takes control of the animal and has further been shown as
cheering in his might over the animal. In investigating the construction of man
and nature in EFL textbooks used in Iran, Amalsaleh et al. (2010) found simi-
lar othering of nature. The textbooks have mostly constructed humans as gen-
uine, successful, expert and so on, while nature is represented as a risky, wild
or dangerous other, thus in need of being tamed.
Likewise, a poem ‘The Rooks’ in English 4 identifies the rooks (through behavioural
processes) as coarse and vulgar creatures, in direct comparison with human children
who are being delineated as cultured and civilised.
‘Caw, Caw!’ Oh, what a noise [behaviour].
They [bhvr] make [pr: beh] in rainy weather [cir].
Good children [bhvr] always [cir] speak [pr: beh] by turns [cir].
But rooks [bhvr] talk [pr: beh] all together [cir]. (English 4, p. 65)
It can be observed in the above quoted lines from the poem that by way of a com-
parison drawn along the behavioural process of ‘speaking’, the rooks have been repre-
sented as uncouth, while human children are labelled as ‘good’, implying that they
are well-behaved and cultured.
As argued by Adugna (2015), in an anthropocentric value system the human
is positioned at the pinnacle of the hierarchy of beings, and ‘conferred the
power of taming and humanizing the non-human through its ideology of giving
intrinsic value to only the human and making human life the standard of living
on earth’ (p. 49). Hence, the comparison drawn between the rooks and human
children in the poem is just discursive, as it is absolutely irrational to judge

animal behaviour by applying human values and norms which are only an ideo-
logical and cultural construct.
In a similar vein, the representation of nature personified as human in multiple envi-
ronmental texts in the selected textbooks is anthropocentric in setting the human
spirit as the norm for imparting value to the non-human. In a number of texts in the
selected textbooks, nature, particularly animals, has been imparted with human
agency through material, behavioural and verbal processes, or identified through rela-
tional processes as possessing human attributes.
In the heart of a seed [cir],
Buried [pr: mat] deep so deep [cir],
A dear little plant [bhvr]
Lay fast asleep [pr: beh] (The text ‘The Little Plant’, English 3, p. 111)
For the past many weeks [cir], Drip and his friends and family (fish) [carr] are [pr: rel] very
sick [att]. They [bhvr] are coughing [pr: beh] and sneezing [pr: beh], and have trouble
breathing [pr: beh]. (The text ‘Drip and Trip’, English 3, p. 127)
Once [cir] there [dummy subject] lived [pr: ex] a wise monkey [ext]. He [carr] was [pr:
rel] very clever [att]. The other monkeys [bhvr] always [cir] listened [pr: beh] to him [cir].
‘My friends’, he [sayr] would say [pr: ver], ‘this forest [carr] is not [pr: rel] a safe place’
[att]. . . (The text ‘The Wise Monkey’, English 5, p. 73)
The animal characters in certain texts are even occupied in complex mental
processes of reflecting, reasoning or expressing deep emotions; the traits marked
as an emblem of humanity and used to pointedly establish human superiority
over non-human.
And I (the squirrel) [sen] think [pr: men] it no disgrace
To occupy my place [ph]
If I [carr] ‘m [pr: rel] not so large as you [att],
You [carr] are [pr: rel] not so small as I [att],
And half so spry [att]. (‘The Mountain and the Squirrel’, English 5, p. 67)
Drip [sen] is worried [pr: men] to see his family and friends in so much pain [ph]. . . ‘Who
[ac] is polluting [pr: mat] our river [gl]?’ asks [pr: ver] Drip [rcvr] in a worried voice [cir].
Trip [sen] gets very sad [pr: men]. (‘Drip and Trip’, English 3, pp. 127–128)
However, personification of nature in human terms can be taken as ecocentric to

the extent, as opined by Adunga (2015), that it can help child readers envisage

animals as a life form, as sentient beings, like their own selves and consequently
develop a sense of belongingness, regard, empathy and love for them. Xiong (2014),
in an ECDA of secondary school EFL texts in China, also reported personification to
be exploited as a discourse strategy to bring the animal world to life and avowed it to
be ‘an accessible means to have students appreciate that nature should be treated in
the same way as humans are treated’ (p. 240).
Construction of human–nature relationships

A healthy ecosystem, as described by Stibbe (2012), is ‘teeming with life, with
humans, animals and plants living their lives and interacting with each other and the
physical environment in ways that sustain all life’ (p. 47). Ecologically oriented and
ecopedagogically appropriate texts/discourses must endorse such harmonious rela-
tions between human and non-human nature (Gaard, 2008), for ‘[i]f the logic of
domination is rooted in alienation and the myth of a separate self, then undoing this
logic would require narratives of connection, community, and interdependence
among humans, animals, and the natural world’ (p. 15).
As regards the construction of nature–human relationships in the selected
textbooks, it has been noticed that all the various kinds of relationship between
human and non-human/nature observed in the environmental texts stem from
the different representations of nature constructed in them. Like the different
representations of nature, almost all kinds of human–nature interaction con-
structed in the selected textbooks are also generally found to be anthropocentric
for situating human and non-human in a hierarchical or dualistic relation,
instead of endorsing narratives of organic connection, interdependence and
interrelatedness between human and nature. According to Britto (2012), the
anthropocentric dualism of human and non-human nature is chiefly ‘based on
the grounds of possession of an immortal soul or rationality. . . confer[ing] supe-
riority upon humans’ (p. 722). The relationship of human as a rational and sci-
entific observer of non-human, constructed in two of the texts in the selected
textbooks, ‘Sleeping Habits of Animals’ and ‘An Ant’s Language’, has likewise
situated human and non-human along rational/irrational and subject/object dual-
ities. Both the texts are purely informational texts conveying scientific informa-
tion about animals, representing the human as a sensor of the mental processes
(of cognition), pondering over or investigating the animals like any other objec-
tive phenomenon in the physical world.
Scientists [sen] wondered [pr: men] if ants talked to each other too [ph].
Scientists [sen] decided [pr: men] to study ants more closely [ph].
They [sen] learned [pr: men] that ants have special chemicals [ph].
Even the scientists [sen] learnt [pr: men] that ants do not talk like humans [ph]. (‘An
Ant’s Language’, English 5, pp. 81–83)

This subject/object duality, which is mandatory for a scientific approach, positions

the humans in these texts as detached, uninvolved and rational observers, simply
focused on their inquiry and collecting information about animals in an objective
manner. They treat the animals like any material object of scrutiny, absolutely disre-
garding the fact that they are sentient beings, while their quest for knowledge about
the animal world has no other purpose but to assert intellectual and spiritual supre-
macy over the non-human, hence their indifference and disregard for the sanctity of
animals as a life form. As argued by Akcesme (2013):
Dualistic thinking does not only lead to separation and alienation but also to oppression
and domination of the first items over the second items in the binary oppositions since the
first items are considered to be intellectually superior, more competent and more rational.
(p. 101)
Another kind of relationship between human and non-human endorsed by the

selected textbooks is human and non-human dwelling in two separate worlds. For
instance, in the text ‘Sleeping Habits of Animals’ in English 4, the sleeping behaviours
of a variety of animals have been explained as bizarre and alien, thus polarising them
as a strange and weird other in relation to humans.
Just as [cir] we [bhvr] lie [pr: beh] in our beds [cir] at night [cir] to sleep [cir], many of the
animals [bhvr] also sleep [pr: beh] to give rest to their bodies [cir]. We [ac] would surely
fall down [pr: mat] if we try to sleep [pr: beh] standing up [cir], but a giraffe [bhvr] keeps
standing up [pr: beh] while he [bhvr] is sleeping [pr: beh]. It [bhvr] may sleep [pr: beh] on
the ground [cir]. It [ac] turns [pr: mat] its neck [gl] around and its head [bhvr] rests [pr:
beh] on its back [cir], closer to its tail [cir]. It [carr] looks [pr: rel] very strange [att] while
sleeping [cir]. (English 4, pp. 88–89)
It can be observed in the passage quoted above that the author, having dis-
cussed the sleeping behaviour of the animal in comparison to humans using
analogous transitivity structures (i.e. behavioural processes) for both parties, finally
attributes the animal sleeping behaviour through a relational process as ‘very
strange’ in comparison to that of humans. Likewise, as discussed in the previ-
ous section, the poem ‘The Rooks’ in English 4 represents animals through be-
havioural processes as wild and vulgar, being irrationally judged along human
standards of sophistication and culture. In effect, deep ecology marks this dual-
istic separation and consequent power polarity between humans and nature
‘promoted by Western philosophy and culture as the origin of environmental
crisis, and demands a return to a monistic, primal identification of humans and
the ecosphere’ (Garrard, 2004, p. 21). As argued by Britto (2012), the redemp-
tion from this power polarisation of human vs non-human lies in humans’
recognition of ‘the animating principle of the world so that an intimacy with
Nature may be developed, and thus Nature and humanity may be shielded
from all sorts of perils that would devastate them’ (p. 724). This animating
principle can be God, or the soul spirited by God into all beings that connects
them with each other and to their Lord. However, it is to be noted here that
while the othering of nature in some respects is clearly anthropocentric, in cer-
tain others it is ecocentric to acknowledge nature as a diverse other in its own
right (as is the case in the texts ‘The Rooks’ and ‘Sleeping Habits of Animals’),

hence tolerance for diversity and peaceful co-existence of varied life forms on
earth are recommended egalitarian values (as argued in the text ‘The Mountain
and the Squirrel’ on p. 16 under heading 3.3).
Another very stark nature–human relationship found in the selected textbooks is
the master–slave relationship constructed in the text ‘The Horse and the Cattle Show’.
All the animals [gl] had been decorated [pr: mat] with flowers and beads [cir]. The animals
[bhvr] stood [pr: beh] in a line [cir] and followed [pr: mat] their master’s orders [gl]. (Eng-
lish 3, p. 78)
As can be observed in the quote above, the text explicitly uses the term ‘master’ for
the owner of the cattle which are being brought to a horse and cattle show, fully
tamed and subservient, hence ratifying the master–slave relationship between human
and non-human. The animals, primarily, are the goal of the material process performed
by the human actor, while in the agentive position of the behavioural and material pro-
cesses also the animals are rather following their human master’s orders. The relation-
ship is entrenched in the text through a detailed narration, as quoted previously, of
the manhandling of an angry ox by its chivalric human master. Akcesme (2013), in
his study of globally used ELT coursebooks, also found nature frequently depicted as
a wilderness, ‘with an emphasis on unusual and dangerous species. . . as an alienated
and unknown other that exposes a threat against which humans must defend them-
selves’ (p. 106). He further argued that the ‘construction of nature as an alienated
other reveals man’s loss of an organic connection with it’ (p. 102).
Just one text in the selected textbooks, that is ‘The Red Bike’ in English 4, repre-
sents the ecocentric unison between human and non-human nature by interrelating
human and non-human in an emotional bond. The text shows the human characters as
having deep love for and emotional attachment to a cat. The cat also reciprocates the
human love and concern for her. Mr Usman is the owner of a toy shop and pets a cat
in his shop which he has named Billo. A boy Arif in the story passes by Mr Usman’s
shop every day on his way to school. He is desperate to buy a motor bike in the shop
but cannot afford it. There he encounters Billo, who plays with him, and he gets fond
of it too.
‘This [tok] is [pr: rel] Billo [val]’, said [pr: ver] Mr Usman [sayr]. ‘She [ac] keeps [pr: mat]
mice [gl] away from my shop [cir]. They [ac] usually [cir] spoil [pr: mat] my toys [gl]’, he
[sayr] said [pr: ver].
While they [bhvr] were talking [pr: beh] the white cat [ac] walked up to [pr: mat] Arif [gl]
and rubbed [pr: mat] itself [gl] against his legs [cir].
‘She [sen] seems to like [pr: men] me [ph]’, Arif [sayr] said [pr: ver]. Every evening [cir]
when [cir] Arif [ac] passed [pr: mat] close to Mr Usman’s toy shop [cir], he [sen] saw [pr:
men] Billo waiting for him, looking outside the glass window [ph].
He [ac] took [pr: mat] a closer look [range] and saw [pr: men] that the shop was full of
smoke [ph] and the cat [ac] was racing [pr: mat] back and forth, up and down the shop
[cir]. Arif [sen] got worried [pr: men] about his bike and the cat [ph].

Arif [sen] couldn’t see [pr: men] anyone around to help [ph]. He [ac] couldn’t wait [pr:
mat]. He [sen] thought [pr: men] that Billo would die [ph]. He [sen] decided [pr: men] to
call the firemen [ph] but before that [cir] he [ac] must save [pr: mat] the cat [gl], he [sayr]
said [pr: ver]. (English 4, pp. 31–32)
In the above quoted examples from the text, it can be observed that Arif and the cat
have been related through mental processes of affection and cognition into an emotional
bond. It can be said that Billo overwhelmed Arif’s thoughts and emotions and
because of his earnest love and affection for the cat, Arif attempts to save the cat as a
priority when the toy shop catches fire. Mr Usman, the other human character in the
text, is also represented as owning the cat, since he calls it ‘my cat’ (p. 32) and feels so
happy at the cat’s rescue by Arif that he rewards him with the bike he so dearly wished
for.
‘. . .This bike [tok] is [pr: rel] yours [val] now [cir], your own, red bike [val]’, he (Mr
Usman) [sayr] said [pr: ver]. ‘You [ac] got [pr: mat] as a reward [cir] for saving my cat
[cir].’ (English 4, pp. 31–32)
As shown by all the examples quoted above, the text constructed a true organic eco-
logical interdependence and unison between human and animal, hence entailing an
ecocentric worldview. Gaard (2008), in her paper ‘Toward an ecopedagogy of chil-
dren’s environmental literature’, has also emphasised that it is imperative for an envi-
ronmentally oriented children’s text to leave the desired impact on readers that it
‘must develop a connected self-identity, a connection with and a joy in nature’ (p.
20).
The issue of ecojustice and humans’ stake in it

The issue of ecojustice and humans’ stake in it has not been dealt with in the selected
textbooks in clear and direct terms, except in two texts which have given direct and
comprehensive advice on ecofriendly attitudes and behaviours on the part of humans.
For instance, the text ‘Drip and Trip’ in English 3 has focused on the issue of water
pollution and the suffering of marine life in consequence. The text has blatantly held
humans accountable for polluting and risking the survival of fish. The fish in the text
have been personified and given voice through verbal processes to plead their case
before child readers, to help them identify and empathise with animals, in agreement
with Gaard (2008) who argued that children, because of their innate love for animals,
‘when assessing ecojustice problems. . . seem to rely more on their emotions than on
their intellectual knowledge of environmental science’ (p. 20). The text concludes
with an implied request to children in the fish’s voice that they should bring it to par-
ent/adult knowledge that their callous behaviour—throwing rubbish in the rivers—is
making the fish’s survival difficult so they must stop. In that sense, the text to some
extent reflects Bradford’s (2003) proposition that children’s environmental texts
should reflect ‘an ecological democracy in which human subjects listen to what the
nonhuman world has to say. . . [and] the child is constructed as an environmental sub-
ject open to reformulation and change through interaction and empathy’ (p. 119).
Likewise, the text ‘Taking Care of our Environment’ has also given comprehensive
general advice on preserving the environment, including plants, animals, natural

resources and, overall, the natural habitat. Throughout the text, the human self is
occupied in the position of actor of the material processes acting upon his environment
(goal) in order to preserve it. Another clear and loud message concerning ecojustice
conveyed through this text is that protecting the natural environment is a moral duty
on the part of humans, for it is not only needed to ‘make life healthy and comfortable’
for ourselves, ‘but also for. . . future generations’ (English 4, p. 101). In that sense,
the text has also endorsed sustainable lifestyles.
A few texts have embarked on the issue rather implicitly by endorsing certain eco-
logical principles/ethics to be followed by humans to uphold ecojustice. For instance,
the text ‘The Red Bike’ in English 4 has espoused the ecological principle of interre-
latedness and interdependence between human and non-human/nature by position-
ing human vs non-human in an ecological harmony. The text has depicted a
reciprocal ecological bond of love and care between the human characters in the text
(Arif and Mr Usman) and the non-human (the cat) through mental processes, as well
as material processes, alternately portraying the human and non-human as caring for
and helping each other. This is in congruence with Gaard’s (2008) proposition that
children’s narratives should engage humans and nature in reciprocal roles, since
reciprocity is the foundation of sustainable relations.
The poem ‘The Mountain and the Squirrel’ in English 4 implies the principle of
tolerance and compassion for diverse life forms and an egalitarian relationship among
them. It has also drawn upon religious ideology pertaining to the issue of ecojustice
by endorsing the idea that everything on earth is a divine creation, hence is valuable
and should be given due space and regard. The author has ingrained the ideology in
the text by blurring the boundaries between human, animal and inert nature through
imparting the mountain (which is an inert, non-living, non-human natural object)
and the squirrel (non-human, but a living being) with the human faculty of voice
through verbal processes to argue and validate each other’s place and worth in the uni-
verse. In other words, the poem has overturned the classical theological ideology plac-
ing the human as the lord of all creation on earth and thus superior. The discourse in
the poem coheres with Gaard’s (2008) argument that:
if the logic of domination is rooted in alienation and the myth of a separate self, then undo-
ing this logic would require narratives of connection, community, and interdependence
among humans, animals, and the natural world. Similarly, if the second step in the logic of
domination is hierarchy, then the literary antidotes would offer narratives of anarchy, or
an absence of hierarchy and a presence of diverse human–animal–nature communities and
participatory democracy. Resolving these two operations leaves no room for domination,
the third step in the logical sequence of oppressive thought. (p. 15)
Conclusion
The ecologically dreadful condition of the world today is one of the grimmest issues
plaguing not only the present, but also the future survival of humanity at large. Great
importance, therefore, is now given to ecostudies, to draw attention to and devise
solutions for the global ecological cataclysm. Environmental crises, to a fair degree,
are a matter of linguistic and discursive representations and meanings imposed on

nature by human meaning-making activities. The linguistic selections in a text deter-

mine if the text implies an anthropocentric or an ecocentric worldview. On the basis
of the results of this study, it is concluded that the environmental discourse in the
selected textbooks mostly propagates an anthropocentric worldview and not ecocen-
tric values. The selected textbooks are significantly lacking in ecopedagogical merit in
that the representation of nature and the construction of the human–nature relation
in these textbooks mostly resonates anthropocentric ideology, while the ecojustice
issue is considered sparingly. Additionally, Gaard’s (2008) framework avows praxis,
‘the necessary unity of theory and practice’ (p. 14), to be an essential element of
ecopedagogy. However, the selected textbooks also have a serious dearth of practical
activities to nourish children’s skills and participation in the resolution of environ-
mental crises. The end-of-lesson activities in all the environmental texts in the
selected textbooks are chiefly focused on furnishing learners’ language and literacy
skills alone. A revision of the selected textbooks is suggested to improve the shortcom-
ings pointed out in the research. The study’s results can be generalised to endorse vig-
ilance in the ecopedagogical import of all the English textbooks used in Pakistani
schools at different levels. The findings of the study may also be of value for interna-
tional readers as well as researchers interested in this area, as a number of previous
studies, conducted in varied international contexts (quoted in the first section of the
article), have similarly reported anthropocentric or shallow environmentalist trends
in the ESL/EFL textbooks examined.
Data Availability Statement

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed
in this study.
Ethical Approval
No ethical approval was required for this study.
Conflict of Interest
The study does not have any conflict of interest.
NOTE
1
The key for the transitivity labels is given in the Appendix.
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Appendix
Key to transitivity labels
Transitivity label Abbreviation
Process Pr
Material Ac
Actor Cl
Goal Gl
Client Cl
Recipient Recp
Range Rng
Mental Men
Sensor Sen
Phenomenon Ph
Verbal Ver
Sayer Sayr
Receiver Rcvr
Verbiage verbg
Relational rel
Carrier carr
Attribute att
Token tok
Value val
Behavioural beh
Behaviour bhvr
Existential ex
Existent ext

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British Educational Research Journal

Vol. 46, No. 2, April 2020, pp. 321–338

Green contents in English language

Keywords: ecolinguistics; ELT; ecopedagogy; systemic functional grammar; transitivity analysis

Introduction and theoretical backdrop

*Corresponding author. Department of English (Female Campus), International Islamic Univer-

© 2019 British Educational Research Association

© 2019 British Educational Research Association

by Akcesme (2013) of certain leading English coursebooks consumed globally, to find

© 2019 British Educational Research Association

© 2019 British Educational Research Association

© 2019 British Educational Research Association

Data analysis and discussion

He [sen] loved [pr: men] growing plants [ph].

© 2019 British Educational Research Association

© 2019 British Educational Research Association

Another representation of non-human nature in the selected textbooks is nature as

Some elephants [bhvr] also sleep [pr: beh] standing up [cir].

Akcesme (2013), in his ecocritical study of a sample of internationally consumed

© 2019 British Educational Research Association

They [bhvr] make [pr: beh] in rainy weather [cir].

© 2019 British Educational Research Association

Buried [pr: mat] deep so deep [cir],

A dear little plant [bhvr]

To occupy my place [ph]

If I [carr] ‘m [pr: rel] not so large as you [att],

You [carr] are [pr: rel] not so small as I [att],

However, personification of nature in human terms can be taken as ecocentric to

© 2019 British Educational Research Association

Construction of human–nature relationships

© 2019 British Educational Research Association

This subject/object duality, which is mandatory for a scientific approach, positions

Another kind of relationship between human and non-human endorsed by the

© 2019 British Educational Research Association

© 2019 British Educational Research Association

The issue of ecojustice and humans’ stake in it

© 2019 British Educational Research Association

© 2019 British Educational Research Association

nature by human meaning-making activities. The linguistic selections in a text deter-

Data Availability Statement

© 2019 British Educational Research Association

© 2019 British Educational Research Association

Key to transitivity labels

Transitivity label Abbreviation

© 2019 British Educational Research Association

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