A Systematic Review of Critical Discourse Analysis on Textbooks in China (2015-2025)
Abstract
This article conducts a systematic review of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) research on textbooks in China published between 2015 and 2025. Based on 72 studies screened through rigorous criteria, it explores the development of the field by examining publication patterns, textbook and disciplinary coverage, methodological means, theoretical trajectories, thematic and ideological configurations, and publication contexts. The findings reveal that English language textbooks obtain disproportionate attention, while STEM textbooks remain understudied. Methodologically, qualitative CDA prevails with Fairclough’s model most frequently adopted. There are additional contributions from Wodak’s and van Dijk’s approaches, multimodal discourse analysis and corpus-assisted methods. Thematically, ideology, power, nationalism, cultural representation, and pedagogy dominate, whereas neoliberalism, gender and ethnicity are marginal. Saliently, although studies in both domestic and international contexts are predominantly authored by Chinese scholars, their divergent research emphases reflect differing academic and institutional contexts rather than disparities in academic capacity.
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