De-naturalizing the worldviews underlying representations of eco-awareness: a multimodal critical discourse analysis of Indonesian EFL textbooks

Abstract Given the escalating crisis of environmental degradation, textbooks play a crucial role in cultivating students’ eco-awareness by incorporating ecological themes into language education. However, the way textbooks frame eco-awareness can either challenge or reinforce existing dominant worldviews. This study sheds light on how eco-awareness is represented in Indonesian EFL (English as a Foreign Language) textbooks and unearths the worldviews underlying the representation. Employing a qualitative case study, this study integrates critical multimodal discourse analysis with an ecolinguistic lens to facilitate an in-depth exploration. The findings reveal a pattern of inclusion and exclusion of social actors. When included, these actors are shown engaging with environmental actions or expressing responses (reactions). In contrast, exclusion is commonly realized through visual techniques such as conversion and decontextualized settings, as well as linguistic choices like nominalizations and epithets which obscure human agency. These strategies generate ambivalent discourses that seem to support environmental care while subtly advancing an anthropocentric worldview and individual responsibility, which aligns with neoliberal environmentalism. Consequently, this study suggests that textbooks should better connect images with texts, highlight human agency, and provide real-life examples that promote meaningful ecological engagement.