The representations of contemporary legislation in South African Grade 12 Business Studies textbooks.
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Date
2022
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Abstract
The purpose of the study was to analyse the representations of contemporary legislation in South
African Grade 12 Business Studies textbooks. Critical discourse analysis (CDA) was used as a
contemporary theoretical approach to qualitative research with a view to examining the use of
words and sentences. Employing a qualitative approach allowed for the extraction of rich data
from the diverse meanings that different textbooks assign to current legislation, as portrayed in
Grade 12 Business Studies textbooks. Qualitative research is unrestricted and adaptable.
The study employs Critical Theory (CT) to demonstrate how bureaucratic, cultural, and social
power in society influence the representations of legislation, such that what may be known about
legislation is subjectively shaped by the values and social positioning of the dominant group. The
main focus of this study is CDA, a social analysis programme that examines discourse critically;
in other words, how language is used to address social change. The analytical tools used in the
study were ―Omission‖, ―Insinuation‖, ―Presupposition‖, ―Modality‖, ―Topicalisation‖,
―Foregrounding‖, ―Register‖ and ―Connotation‖, as employed by (Huckin, 1997, 91, 93;
McGregor, 2003, 4-6). Findings from the analysis of six South African Grade 12 Business and
Studies textbooks indicate that the use of power is still embedded in the written words, to
maintain control of society by those in the elite. The findings also indicated that school textbooks
lack neutrality.
The implications of the findings suggest that the South African Grade 12 Business Studies
textbooks are overwhelmed with issues of power and control and hidden messages, even though
no explicit linguistic features are articulated at the surface level. Awareness must be raised
among policymakers, textbook creators, textbook users, facilitators, teachers, and schools, to
make power relationships and social group illustrations in textbooks more reasonable. Grade 12
Business Studies teachers treat school textbooks used in the classroom as if they are neutral.
However, there is a need for teachers to critically engage with school textbooks and to examine
how and why specific texts are written or presented in particular ways. Grade 12 Business
Studies teachers, in collaboration with subject specialists, scholars, and policymakers, must
examine school textbooks.
Description
Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.