A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Representation of Persons with Disabilities in English Language Textbooks in Cameroon

Abstract

This paper examines English Language textbooks used in Cameroonian secondary schools with the aim of investigating the representation of people with disabilities in the textbooks. The study adopts the content analysis design to analyse the images, sentences and texts used in the textbooks in order to determine the space occupied by persons with disabilities and the ideological perceptions associated to them in the textbook. Data for the study are collected by observing the images and reading through the sentences and texts in the five English Language textbooks used in Form One, Two, Three, Four and Five of the Anglophone sub-system of education in Cameroon – Prime English Book 1, Prime English Book 2, Innovative English Book 3, Prime English Book 4 and Prime English Book 5, respectively. The data are analysed based on the Critical Discourse Analysis framework at two levels. The first stage involves statistical recording of the various occurrences of people with disabilities in the images, sentences and texts, and classifying them according to the different types of impairments (visual, hearing, mobility, mental). The second stage of the analysis involves critically examining the different occurrences of people with disabilities in the textbooks in order to determine ideological perceptions associated with their presentation. The findings reveal the limited space attributed to persons with disabilities in English Language textbooks at both the pictorial and lexical levels. Besides, the rhetoric associated with their presentation in the textbooks is sometimes negative and derogatory. It is recommended that within the context of inclusive education advocated by the government of Cameroon, more space should be allocated to persons with disabilities in school textbooks coupled with a more positive presentation of these people. This would positively influence perceptions and attitude of other learners towards people with disabilities.