The The English Textbook: A Multimodal Comparison between Malaysian and IGCSE Syllabus

Abstract

The English language has been a dominant force in many aspects of life, where it is utilized in areas such as trade, official matters, and education. Due to its widely recognized status, the English Language Teaching (ELT) sector has seen an incline in English learners. In Malaysia, there are three main recognized pathways for education on a primary and secondary basis. However, this paper will only focus on the English textbooks provided in both the SPM and IGCSE syllabus for Form 5 and Year 11 respectively. The paper will analyze the various methods used by the textbooks to convey information to the students via the Theory of Multimodality. It will then investigate the usage of multimodal techniques present in the textbooks in assisting students in English language learning. Finally, it will attempt to uncover the criteria that could improve the English textbooks based on student preferences. The expected results are that the English textbooks utilize similar modes in terms of multimodality to convey information. However, the IGCSE English textbook might utilize more linguistic means as compared to the SPM English textbook, which might utilize more visual means. Furthermore, the space of the content in the IGCSE English textbook may be different from the SPM English textbook. Multimodality is also expected to play a vital role in assisting the students in learning the English language more efficiently compared to a monomodal approach. Finally, students are expected to prefer more pictures and less words in textbooks to attract their attention.