A Discursive Studv Of Science Textbooks

This study explores the taken-for-granted intruded discourse in the fourth-grade science textbook used in an elementary school from a critical perspective and examines how power mechanism is operated in the science textbook and contributes to the construction of the predominant and monotonous scientism discourse in the textbook as a result of power domination and suppression.Drawing on Michel Foucault’s conceptualizations of discourse, episteme, power/knowledge, genealogy and Habermas’conceptualizations of positivism and scientism, the author analyzes texts extracted from the fourth-grade science textbook. Furthermore, traditional Chinese discourse concerning the related topics in the textbook is retrieved from the internet and source documents, to provide an alternative way to interpret the topics.Two research questions are put forward as follows:1) what role does traditional Chinese discourse play in the fourth-grade science textbook.2) How are such topics as electricity, flowers, food and rocks conceived and approached in the fourth-grade science textbook.The study reveals the pervasiveness of power domination and suppression penetrating very giain of the textbook. The research presented in this study finds that the discourse in the textbook is monotonously predominated by scientism discourse, the conviction that the natural sciences represent not merely one source of knowledge, but are the only source of knowledge (Habermas.1971). The textbook editor naturally takes up the scientism epistemological blinker to analyze and inteipret the topics in the text book.Moreover, with the scientism epistemological blinker, traditional Chinese discourse concerning the topics in the textbook is marginalized or silenced. In addition, the monotonously predominant scientism discourse constructed in the textbook might reinforce the hegemonic status of scientism discourseWith the concepts of Michel Foucault and that of Habermas. this thesis offers a fresh perspective for studies on science textbooks. Foucault and Habermas’ analysis can help science textbook editors and users be aware of the unintended effects of power domination and suppression which produces the "the stark impossibility"(Downing,2008) to think otherwise.