Atefeh Jamali; Farahangiz Shokoohi
Volume 10, Issue 2 , March 2021, , Pages 81-101
Abstract
Literary critics of ecocriticism consider the prevailing culture as one of the main causes of the enviromental crisis, therefore they try to correct the cultural attitudes. Since the ...
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Literary critics of ecocriticism consider the prevailing culture as one of the main causes of the enviromental crisis, therefore they try to correct the cultural attitudes. Since the educational system and textbooks are the main factors in culture developing, in this paper, through a qualitative content analysis method, Farsi and Al-Arabia Loghati textbooks of Iran’s and UAE’s primary schools have been comparatively studied. We examined environmental concerns in these texts and finally evaluated the strategies offered to internalize respect for nature in children. The results show that issues such as the importance of the environment, water crisis, air pollution, waste recycling, species protection, planting, and practical government policies are more reflected in Al-Arabia Loghati books. The authors of these books, explicitly or implicitly represent environmental issues in 45.4% of thecourses; in Farsi books, these concerns are reflected in only 15% of the courses. It seems that the UAE’s geographical location and government supports for the protection of environmental resources have brought the education system in line with the government’s goals. While in Iran, despite biodiversity and various environmental crises, the authors of Farsi books have used their linguistic capacities to create literary images focused on nature. In fact the pivotal environmental issues have been addressed in experimental science and social education textbooks.