Unveiling criteria for EFL textbooks through a critical interculturality lens: A proposal for Colombian state-funded schools

This article explores the need to unveil criteria for evaluating, selecting, and using English as a Foreign Language (EFL) textbooks from a critical interculturality perspective, focusing on the sentipensares from students and teachers in Colombian state-funded schools. The literature revealed different tensions in the relationship between Critical Interculturality and EFL textbooks. Using a qualitative approach, this ongoing documentary research intends to analyze data from in-depth interviews, focus groups, and a Critical Multimodal Thematic Analysis (CMTA) of the English Please! series. The preliminary sense-making of this research include insights into how teachers and students perceive cultural representation in EFL textbooks and the identification of tensions between local realities and Eurocentric content. It is anticipated that their sentipensares will offer valuable input for understanding and evaluating textbook use. Finally, these findings are expected to support more inclusive, decolonial teaching practices and to lead to the development of critical interculturality criteria for the evaluation, selection, and use of EFL textbooks.