a critical analysis of ili textbook series framed in four resources model

One of the most newly debated topics within the field of language education is to train a critical literate learner. hence, the current study tends to extend application of critical literacy theories on textbook evaluation as an ignored issue in the literature. theoretically embedded in four resources model (frm) as one of the most known models of critical literacy, the present study is to evaluate the reading module of iran language institute (ili) textbook series as one of the most popular english textbooks in iran based on luke and freebody’s four resources model (frm). indeed, this study is to disclose to what extent the textbook series could represent and constructs the four mentioned resources in the frm in their developed practices. in so doing, 9 reading passages of each textbook levels from basics to advanced levels were chosen randomly. each level had three textbooks and there were 6 levels. therefore, 54 reading passages and 801 questions were analyzed. the data analysis was basically descriptive but for the quantitative part some statistical analysis such as frequency and percentage were applied. the results of the present study revealed that based on frm, the reading passages of the textbook series just reflect the first and the second layers of frm, namely code breaking and meaning making. there is no appearance of the third and the fourth layers, namely text critic and text user. as a result, the ili textbook series never train a critically literate learner. the present study offers some implications for materials developers, and curriculum designers, to name few.