Introduction

This book presents a case-study of the ways in which education is embedded in society. It looks, more particularly, at the link between school curricula and social expectations by means of a case-study of the English textbooks used at the higher secondary school level in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam over a period of about four decades, from the 1980s to the present. In light of Vietnam’s recent history, we analyse the cultural messages and values incorporated in these EFL textbooks. The introductory chapter provides theoretical and historical context, as well as a clarification of the methodological principles applied to conduct our school textbook analyses. We end this introduction with a brief overview of the following chapters of this book.