Exploring global citizenship as a cross-curricular theme in Moroccan ELT textbooks

This paper examines ways in which three Moroccan ELT textbooks currently used in teaching second year Baccalaureate students in public high schools promote values of global citizenship. It also investigates the extent to which these textbooks present activities that develop learners’ sense of belonging to global and local communities and provide them with skills, knowledges and behaviors that would make them good citizens of the world. The study uses the theoretical framework of the Standards-Based Approach and UNESCO’s (2015) global citizenship learning domains. It adopts a convergent parallel mixed-methods design and uses content analysis as a data analysis method which combines both qualitative and quantitative techniques. The data are collected using a checklist that is designed based on UNESCO’s framework. The materials include three textbooks: Gateway to English 2, Insights into English 2 and Ticket to English 2. The findings demonstrate that although the three textbooks actually provide a number of activities that promote aspects of citizenship, there is still room for improving learners’ awareness of various global issues including democracy, human rights and conflict resolution. Other problems related to developing learners’ critical perspective towards global citizenship themes in reading texts, speaking, listening and writing activities and project works were identified. The study concludes with implications that inform teachers and textbook designers about the importance of empowering values of global citizenship in ways that strengthen learners’ critical thinking and problem-solving skills.