IN SEARCH OF COMMUNITY: AN ANALYSIS OF EFL TEXTBOOKS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS IN THE REPUBLIC OF SRPSKA

The aim of this article is to examine the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) textbooks used in elementary schools in the Republic of Srpska (RS) based on their representation of community and the development of cooperation and connectedness among students. As a universal teaching material, the textbook is very significant for both students and teachers, and the quality of its content and the values it promotes are extremely important in the learning process. Given that the RS Law on Elementary Education includes provisions referring to the development of social awareness, tolerance, and empathy, the analysis of the main texts is expected to show what themes related to these values are most prominent, who the main participants are and what kind of relationships they develop, as well as what forms of cooperation among students are expected in their school activities. The approach used in the article is content analysis of the texts and the instructions preceding the exercises in the textbooks. The main themes are identified based on how far they extend to strangers and who is included in different communities.The article focuses on tolerance, compassion and empathy as necessary skills to develop for a thriving society and it also examines the language of the task instructions based on whether they promote cooperation among students and what kind of language skills these exercises are meant to develop.