Representing Identity in American English and French Foreign Language Coursebooks

This article examines the representation of learner identities through discourse in a selection of American English and French as a Foreign Language coursebooks published within the past five years. Anchored in contrastive discourse analysis and Halliday’s metafunctional theory, the analysis shows that French coursebooks view the learner as a young person whose identity aligns with that of his/her generation. In contrast, American English coursebooks see the learner as an individual with prior experiences and an emerging identity as an English speaker. A similarity among the coursebooks is the relative absence of representations of identity dimensions, such as sexual orientation. While authentic texts offer opportunities to provide visibility of diverse sexual identities, as cultural artefacts, coursebooks are influenced by their authors' commercial goals. These results indicate that investigating discursive cultures within specific discursive genres requires consideration of the commercial interests that shape their production.