Investigating the Ethical Values in Algerian Middle School Textbooks (The case study: 1Ms Textbook: My Book of English)

Abstract

The present study aimed at investigating the ethical values in the first grade textbook of English in middle school. The researchers used two tools to conduct the study; the first one is a checklist to list out and analyze the ethical values that are factually represented in the 1Ms textbook (My Book of English), to be followed by a teacher-oriented questionnaire designed to find out the teachers’ perspective on ethical values represented in the textbook. This research adopted a mixed method: the analytical descriptive approach and the content analysis method which was conducted on a sample textbook (Ms1); and a sample group of teachers from middle school. Results revealed that there are seven main domains of values in the textbook. They reached the total of 428 frequencies distributed over the seven dimensions. These ethical values cover thirty six aspects. The value of memorization is the most frequent value in the content while honesty and solidarity are the least promoted within the textbook.