Linguistic Salience and Ideological Framing of Environmental Issues in Pakistan Studies Textbooks: An Eco-Linguistic Analysis

Abstract

The study examines political dominance and ecological erasure in the Punjab Textbook Board's Pakistan Studies syllabus (Code 2059) for grades 9 and 10 from an Eco-linguistic perspective. The study adopts a mixed-methods approach, which includes both quantitative content analysis and qualitative interpretation. This interpretation is based on Stibbe’s (2015) Eco-linguistic framework, particularly his concepts of ideological framing and erasure, which fall under the concept of Stories We live By”. For this purpose, a corpus of 416 pages from seven textbook sources was analyzed to understand the trends of representation and omission. The results show that political and historical narratives are overwhelmingly dominant in the curriculum, found in 71% of paragraphs and 68% of sentences (about 900 paragraphs and 3,470 sentences). In contrast, environmental topics are significantly neglected. For example, glaciers are mentioned on only 2.6% of paragraphs (39 times), the blind Indus dolphin is completely absent, while the Markhor is mentioned in only 0.5 of sentences (25 times). The ratio of historical to environmental references is about 36:1, indicating a severe imbalance in representation. According to Stibbe, this imbalance indicates a theoretical framing in which Pakistan is presented primarily as a political and historical state, while the absence or under representation of natural and environmental elements is a form of erasure, that is, important aspects of the natural world are made invisible in discourse. This erasure results in a reduction in the salience of environmental issues and limits the formation of an ecological identity among students. Considering the environmental issues facing Pakistan, such as melting glaciers and pollution of the Indus River, this research recommends that 10 to 15% of the curriculum content be allocated to environmental topics to promote Eco-literacy and establish a more balanced narrative in the curriculum.