مطالب مرتبط با کلیدواژه

Critical discourse analysis


۱.

An Analysis of the Ideological Content of Internationally-Developed British and American ELT Textbooks(مقاله علمی وزارت علوم)

کلیدواژه‌ها: Critical discourse analysis Ideology ELT Linguistic Imperialism Textbook

حوزه های تخصصی:
تعداد بازدید : ۱۱۳۳ تعداد دانلود : ۴۹۹
This study examines the ideological content of six internationally-used ELT textbooks, three British and three American. Applying the theory and procedures of critical discourse analysis (CDA), three aspects of the conversations in the textbooks, i.e. content, relations, and positions were examined. Results suggest that in terms of content, British textbooks tend to entertain the students while American textbooks include more occupational and business-related issues. Regarding relations, characters in the conversations were placed in socially equal roles. Moreover, inequalities were rarely addressed in the interactions and there was little attempt to make learners aware of issues such as dialogue management strategies. Finally, characters in the conversations took mostly societal positions.
۲.

The Representation of Iran in Englishcentral Educational Website: Unfolding the Hidden Curriculum(مقاله علمی وزارت علوم)

کلیدواژه‌ها: Iran Critical discourse analysis Hidden Curriculum Van Leeuwen’s Social Actor Network Englishcentral English Language Teaching (ELT)

حوزه های تخصصی:
تعداد بازدید : ۱۳۸۲ تعداد دانلود : ۵۹۱
Despite their widespread popularity and rapid growth, the Internet-mediated English educational materials for learners of English as a foreign/second language (FL/SL) have rarely been analyzed in terms of their potential hidden curriculum. Accordingly, the present study aims to address this need through conducting a CDA investigation into some lessons which are randomly selected from an English educational website called “Englishcentral.” Adapting, expanding, and adopting some elements of Van Leeuwen’s (2008) Social Actor Network, the researchers attempt to describe and explain the representation of “Iran” in Englishcentral. Investigating and thematizing the research data revealed that the keyword “Iran” was used in this website to refer to three groups of social actors, namely the Iranian government and officials, Iranian people, and Iranian people and/or government/officials. The way these social actors are associated and dissociated, activated and passivated, personalized and impersonalized creates remarkable findings which give support to the presence of particular hidden agenda in this program. In all, the results of this study reveal that the Iranian social actors are portrayed unfavorably in Englishcentral, which is an alleged English educational program.
۳.

Evaluating an Instructional Textbook: A Critical Discourse Perspective ارزیابی یک کتاب آموزشی از دیدگاه گفتمان انتقادی(مقاله علمی وزارت علوم)

کلیدواژه‌ها: ارزیابی کتاب درسی evaluation Critical discourse analysis Gender Textbooks Social Actors تجزیه و تحلیل گفتمان انتقادی بازیگر اجتماعی کتاب summit Summit

حوزه های تخصصی:
تعداد بازدید : ۹۱۱ تعداد دانلود : ۴۶۶
A critical discourse analysis (CDA) of English language teaching (ELT) textbooks can provide a theoretical description of existing ideological effects in the texts and a means to link linguistic and social practices. This study, thus, seeks to evaluate Summit 2B (i.e., the advanced book of Top Notch series) with a focus on the representation of male and female social actors. In so doing, this study drew on van Leeuwen’s (1996) social actor framework and Halliday’s (2004) transitivity model. To achieve the purpose of this study, content analysis was first carried out in the corpora obtained from the aforementioned textbook to find out the frequency and proportion of various social actors. The results obtained from the tests of significance (i.e., chi-square tests) and the qualitative data analyses revealed that there were some significant differences between males and females concerning role allocation (i.e., activation, subjection, and beneficialization), substitution (personalization/impersonalizaton), and personal pronouns. Compared with females, males were represented as more active, energetic, independent, and assertive forces; males were represented more frequently and placed in high-status positions; they were also individualized more frequently. The results indicated that though females and males were almost equally informalized and indetermined, there was not much serious attempt to eliminate the gender bias in Summit, used as a substitute for other ELT textbooks used in private language institutes in Iran. The findings suggest that textbook writers and publishers should be more cautious about the gender discourse, along with other criteria making ELT textbooks work, because gender bias can affect language learners’ perception and preference for the choice of language in second or foreign (L2) communication.
۴.

Using Critical Discourse Analysis Instruction in Argumentative and Descriptive Writing Classes(مقاله علمی وزارت علوم)

کلیدواژه‌ها: Systemic functional linguistics Critical discourse analysis Argumentative writing critical language awareness writing genres descriptive writing

حوزه های تخصصی:
تعداد بازدید : ۸۱۶ تعداد دانلود : ۳۸۴
The field of ELT is constantly witnessing the introduction of new instructional approaches: one such perhaps recent initiative is critical discourse analysis (CDA). Accordingly, the present study was an attempt to investigate the impact of CDA instruction on Iranian EFL learners’ descriptive and argumentative writing ability. To fulfill the aforementioned purpose, a sample TOEFL was primarily piloted among a group of 30 upper intermediate EFL learners by the researchers; with the acceptable reliability and item analysis indices achieved, then the researchers administered the test among another group of 90 upper intermediate learners. Ultimately, those 60 learners whose scores fell one standard deviation above and below the mean were chosen as the participants of the study and were randomly assigned to a control and an experimental group with 30 participants in each. Both of these groups underwent the same amount of teaching time during 20 sessions which included a treatment of CDA instruction based on Jank’s (2005) set of 14 features for the experimental group. A posttest was administered at the end of the instruction to both groups and their mean scores on the test were compared through a multivariate analysis of variance. The result (F = 14.41 and p = 0.000 < 0.05) led to the rejection of the two null hypotheses raised in this study, thereby demonstrating that the learners in the experimental group benefited significantly more than those in the control group in terms of improving their descriptive and argumentative writing ability. Hence, the major pedagogical implication of this study is that CDA instruction can be effectively used to assist EFL learners improve their argumentative and descriptive writing ability.
۵.

Discourse and Ideology Variation: A Critical Functional Approach To Mina Stampede News Reports(مقاله علمی وزارت علوم)

کلیدواژه‌ها: Iran Systemic functional linguistics Critical discourse analysis Discourse variation Mina stampede Saudi Arabia

حوزه های تخصصی:
  1. حوزه‌های تخصصی زبان شناسی زبان شناسی نظری کاربرد شناسی و تحلیل گفتمان
  2. حوزه‌های تخصصی زبان شناسی میان رشته ای ها گفتمان انتقادی
تعداد بازدید : ۱۰۵۰ تعداد دانلود : ۱۳۸۹
This paper takes a critical look at the news reports of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia on Mina stampede. Previous studies have indicated that media discourse contributes to public opinion and ideology. Little, however, has been mentioned on how variation in media discourse affects the process. This study analyzed 24 news reports from the two countries from 24 to 31 September 2015 using the components of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). The results indicate differences in the reports from the two countries in using variation patterns which in turn have the potential of changing and monitoring readers` ideologies through influencing their opinions on the nature of power relations and interactional structures. The paper tries to contribute to the area of research on media discourse and ideology construction by arguing that discourse variation has not been sufficiently theorized. An attempt will also be made to offer a tentative theorization of such variation
۶.

Using Critical Discourse Analysis Based Instruction to Improve EFL Learners’ Writing Complexity, Accuracy and Fluency(مقاله پژوهشی دانشگاه آزاد)

کلیدواژه‌ها: Critical discourse analysis writing accuracy writing complexity writing fluency

حوزه های تخصصی:
تعداد بازدید : ۳۸۹ تعداد دانلود : ۲۶۱
The literature of ELT is perhaps overwhelmed by attempts to enhance learners’ writing through the application of different methodologies. One such methodology is critical discourse analysis which is founded upon stressing not only the decoding of the propositional meaning of a text but also its ideological assumptions. Accordingly, this study was an attempt to investigate the impact of critical discourse analysis-based (CDA) instruction on EFL learners’ writing complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF). To fulfill the purpose of this study, 60 female intermediate EFL learners were selected from among a total number of 100 through their performance on a piloted sample PET. Based on the results, the students were randomly assigned to a control and an experimental group with 30 participants in each. Both groups underwent the same amount of teaching time during 17 sessions which included a treatment of CDA instruction for the experimental group. A writing posttest was administered at the end of the instruction to both groups and their mean scores on the test were compared through a MANOVA. The results led to the rejection of the three null hypotheses, thereby demonstrating that the learners in the experimental group benefited significantly more than those in the control group in terms of improving their writing CAF. To this end, it is recommended that CDA instruction be incorporated more frequently in writing classes following of course adequate syllabus design and materials development.
۷.

Developing and Validating a Questionnaire to Assess Critical Discourse Analysis Practices among EFL Teachers(مقاله پژوهشی دانشگاه آزاد)

کلیدواژه‌ها: ELT Critical discourse analysis teachers’ practices

حوزه های تخصصی:
تعداد بازدید : ۴۴۸ تعداد دانلود : ۳۱۳
The present study was an attempt to investigate to what extent Iranian EFL teachers practice critical discourse analysis in the English language classroom during their teaching. To reach this aim, a 27-item questionnaire was designed and administered among 120 male and female Iranian English teachers in different language schools in Tehran. Following descriptive statistics through which the mean, standard deviation, and reliability of the questionnaire were calculated,a factor analysis was conducted to assess the construct validity of the designed questionnaire.The results of the statistical analysis clearly demonstrated the validity of the designed questionnaire.Once validated, certain within group comparisons (with respect to the demographic factors of gender, age, and educational degree) were conducted to see how the different demographic subsets of the sample responded to the questionnaire. The study also discusses the implications of such measurement for ELT and points out a number of suggestions for further study.
۸.

Educational System as a Discourse of Power: Reading Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye in Terms of Adorno’s Theory of ‘Halbbildung’(مقاله علمی وزارت علوم)

نویسنده:

کلیدواژه‌ها: Education Half Education autonomy Conformity Critical discourse analysis

حوزه های تخصصی:
تعداد بازدید : ۳۶۵ تعداد دانلود : ۳۲۱
Discourse has been one of the most challenging interdisciplinary terms during the past few decades which connects variety of fields of study such as politics, philosophy, sociology, linguistics, and literature. One of the approaches which is born out of mutual interaction between Linguistics and socio-political debates is critical discourse analysis (CDA), which studies the relation between language and power. Among the influential figures of this approach, one may refer to Antonio Gramci, Paulo Freire, and Frankfurt School Critical Theory. Theodore Adorno as one of the key members of this school challenges the basic assumptions of educational system in his writings particularly his essay “Theory of Halbbildung,” by which he meant “Half-education.” In his viewpoint, education is deemed as very forceful, one of the manifestations of power relation, which speaks in its own language to its audience or learners. The present paper is an attempt to analyze the failure of educational system to foster autonomous individuals in Salinger's Catcher in the Rye in the light of Adorno's theory of half-education.
۹.

A Critical Discourse Analysis on Terms of Address in Persian(مقاله علمی وزارت علوم)

تعداد بازدید : ۴۰۵ تعداد دانلود : ۳۲۶
This study aims at ascertaining a framework that would account for the Persian data. We scrutinize all data occurring in the selected corpus, and describe how they usually work on the basis of the two following variables: power and intimacy. According to our investigation, the use of terms of address in Persian is affected by age, sex, occupation, ideology, political and social position of the interlocutors. These variables can be stated as a result of the investigation of older material – such as qualitative analysis of observations followed by unobtrusive note taking of contemporary use, a corpus of several plays, travel accounts, interviews, TV, radio and careful observation terms used to address today. The above-mentioned variables indicate a strong relationship between social structures and address terms in Persian.
۱۰.

The Relationship between Discursive Structures and Ideology in Press Texts(مقاله علمی وزارت علوم)

تعداد بازدید : ۴۱۹ تعداد دانلود : ۲۵۴
Through uncovering the underlying elements of language, this research aims to reveal the hidden layers of meaning in press texts in the framework of a critical discourse analysis. Having used socio-semantic features of Van Leeuwen's model (1996), this paper has studied, qualitatively, 40 issues of four Iranian Persian publications for a period of two months, from July 22 to September 21, 2011. These publications were 'E'temad', 'Sharq', Resalat' and Keyhan. The analyses included recognizing discursive structures in the texts, determining the linguistic realizations of structures, and explaining along with uncovering the hidden layers of meaning and the ideology behind the texts. The research results out of the data analysis indicate that the ideology dominating the minds of writers and groups is reflected in the texts using discursive features as exclusion, activation, passivation, personalization and impersonalization. Exclusion has been the most frequently used feature in 'E'temad and 'Sharq', whereas activation has had the highest frequency of occurrences in 'Resalat' and 'Keyhan'. The discursive structures take place using linguistic instruments like pre-modifiers, active vs. passive structures, coordination and circumstantials, in the texts. Besides, the relationship between discursive structures and ideology is dialectal, which can be determined by studying these structures in the texts and social institutions.
۱۱.

Criseme in Translation of Dubliners (Eveline): A Critical Discourse analysis to the Study(مقاله علمی وزارت علوم)

تعداد بازدید : ۲۸۴ تعداد دانلود : ۲۶۸
The present study focuses on the evaluation and critical reviewing of equivalence translation process and output. The choices of equivalents were examined by Fairclough’s model (2011) of critical discourse analysis. According to this model, interpretation and explanation of socio – cultural, socio – historical and situational context as macrostructures which examine everything about texts are complementary pairs for descriptive analysis which examine everything in texts as microstructures. To clarify the discussion, translated texts (Meta texts) are analyzed and compared with their source texts (Proto text). The results indicated that in order to find a framework for equivalence; there is a significant need for discursive features which are partly critical and partly descriptive (semantic) as units for translation criticism. These discursive components in translation process have been coined in this study as “CRISEME”.
۱۲.

The Role of Critical Discourse Analysis on Reading Comprehension Skills among Iranian EFL Learners(مقاله علمی وزارت علوم)

تعداد بازدید : ۵۶۲ تعداد دانلود : ۲۸۳
This research is to analyze the effects of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) on reading comprehension of Iranian EFL learners. After providing a useful synopsis, this research is to contextualize CDA in two ranges of learning situations and classifies how CDA can shed new perceptions on learning. Detailed systematic measures are included to clarify the procedure of conducting CDA. The participants were 61 male and female M.A. English students of Boroujerd Islamic Azad University, selected on a non- random basis by applying a TOEFL test among over 91 EFL M.A. students considered to be at the same level. Those whose scores on the test were from 224 to 316 with the mean of 273.736 were considered as the participants of this study. They had received instructions on English language for 16 sessions at Boroujerd Islamic Azad University. The participants were native speakers of Farsi. Any word, phrase, or structure can have different possible meanings, which is known as the meaning range. Focusing on the implied meaning of the text, the learners of the second language reach a better understanding of the text and consequently of the second language. The present research shows how seven elements offered by Fairclough's model in critical discourse analysis can affect reading ability of Iranian EFL learners. Also,besides scrutinizing the effect of CDA in EFL learners, the researcher introduces the seven elements of Fairclough's model as well.
۱۳.

A Contrastive Analysis of Reformists and Fundamentalists Press Texts Related to USA in Nuclear Talks: A Critical Discourse Analysis Approach Based on Van Leeuwen’s Socio-Semantic Model of Social Actors 2008(مقاله علمی وزارت علوم)

تعداد بازدید : ۳۲۰ تعداد دانلود : ۳۶۱
In this article, a contrastive analysis of reformists and fundamentalists’ press texts, related to nuclear talks has been performed in specific periods of time, before and after the last round of nuclear talks between Islamic Republic of Iran and the 5+1 group, especially the United States’ related texts in Iran’s Persian newspapers as representatives of the two opposite discourses, from the perspective of the Critical Discourse Analysis approach by using socio-semantic features of Van Leeuwen’s model (2008). This study goes beyond the structural description of the discourse practices and examines the ways through which a system and structure make possible a special type of action. To do so, discursive texts of the two Iranian Persian publications belonging to two rival groups: E’temad as the representative of reformists and Keyhan, the fundamentalists’ representative, have been analyzed, both qualitatively and quantitatively. In response to the research questions (How is the linguistic realization of the discursive structures performed in the given texts? And are Socio-Semantic features determined by power relations?)The result shows that the opposite ideologies dominating the minds of journalists of the two political groups are reflected in the texts and statistical analysis of the corpus also states that the Socio-Semantic features are determined by different ideologies, related to power relations. In other words, language and discourse at underlying levels are laden with ideology, power relations and dominance, and at surface levels, with discursive features and structures.
۱۴.

Reacting to “Failure and Triumph” among Iranian Soccer Coaches: A CDA outlook of the sports media language

کلیدواژه‌ها: Soccer coaches sports media Critical discourse analysis failure referee’s judgments

حوزه های تخصصی:
تعداد بازدید : ۳۰۰ تعداد دانلود : ۱۹۸
The importance of sport as a social, psychological, and cultural agenda in today’s world can by no means be denied. This is, as a rule, reflected in all its aspects through the language of media. The present descriptive study has thus tried to investigate how the language of sports media shape sport consumers such as coaches, players, the audience, and sporting officials at large. For this purpose, fifty soccer games were investigated during an eight-month period. The data collected from TV interviews, newspaper reports, and a sporting talk show called Navad (i.e. 90) were transcribed and analyzed with a CDA perspective in view, for the coaches, players, the audience, and officials. As a result, twelve categories were extracted based on the coaches’ reactions to their failure, from which the most salient was referees’ judgments. A close look at these categories reveal a circular relationship among sports media, coaches’ reactions to their failure or triumph, the audience interpretation of their favorite teams, and macro decisions of the officials in this field. The findings of this study can contribute to the development of a better and more appropriate environment among the four mentioned groups involved in soccer game in Iran.
۱۵.

The Representation of Social Actors in Top Notch Textbook Series: A critical discourse analysis perspective

کلیدواژه‌ها: Critical discourse analysis Ideology ideology and Language Gender Textbooks Social Actors

حوزه های تخصصی:
تعداد بازدید : ۵۰۰ تعداد دانلود : ۳۹۰
This study aimed to investigate how English language teaching textbooks portrayed male and female social actors according to their social roles and gender identities. To examine the linguistic representation of male and female social actors and construction of gender identities in ELT textbooks, Top Notch series was selected. To do so, attempts were made to analyze the series in terms of the features introduced in two analytical models: Van Leeuwen’s (1996) framework and Halliday's transitivity model (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004). All of the sentences in reading passages and conversations were counted and analyzed critically through discursive features of these two models. The findings of this study revealed significant differences in representation of male and female social actors in some discursive features. Male social actors were described as more autonomous, successful, and active compared to female social actors.
۱۶.

Inaugural Addresses of American Presidents: A CDA-oriented Analysis of Party Affiliation(مقاله علمی وزارت علوم)

کلیدواژه‌ها: Critical discourse analysis Discourse analysis Ideology political discourse analysis socio-cognitive approach

حوزه های تخصصی:
تعداد بازدید : ۳۹۳ تعداد دانلود : ۲۴۸
The United States with its presidents stepping into power from either the Democratic or Republican parties influences global affairs in one way or another. These two main political parties have long been struggling for power and the significance of tapping into the ideological inclinations of the two parties underscores scholars’ accountability toward raising the critical language awareness of the public which could be an initial step toward a change for the better. The presidential inaugural speeches, due to their programmatic and strategic nature, are of significance to researchers. This study employed van Dijk’s (2006b) socio-cognitive framework where he defined two levels of analyses for a political discourse including the micro-level and macro-level text analyses. The former included 25 discursive devices such as polarization, generalization, hyperbole, etc. The latter drew on the dichotomy of ‘positive self-representation’ and ‘negative other-representation’. In the present study, the linguistic features in 16 inaugural speeches delivered by American Democratic and Republican presidents from 1961 to 2017 were examined at both levels. The overall data analysis revealed that Democrats employed ‘norm expression’ and ‘presupposition’ significantly more than Republicans, while Republicans made more use of ‘categorization’, ‘lexicalization’, and ‘populism’. The macro-level comparison of the two parties indicated that both Democrats and Republicans resorted to using ‘positive self-representation’ significantly more than ‘negative other-representation’ while the deployment of ‘negative other-representation’ by Republicans was significantly more than that by Democrats. The findings of this study have some implications for English for political purposes, political studies, as well as attempts in discourse studies.
۱۷.

Ranking of Banks’ Risk Reporting Using Data Envelopment Analysis(مقاله علمی وزارت علوم)

کلیدواژه‌ها: Critical discourse analysis Data Envelopment Analysis Risk Reporting Board of Directors Report Corporate Governance

حوزه های تخصصی:
تعداد بازدید : ۲۷۷ تعداد دانلود : ۱۸۳
The present study aimed to rank banks in terms of board of directors report and notifying the users of reports. In addition, we evaluated factors affecting risk disclosure from the perspective of corporate governance. Moreover, we assessed risk disclosure based on linguistic analysis of board report text and capital adequacy ratio. Words were applied as measurement units to measure risk disclosure. The advantage of this technique is the unique analysis of words. According to the theoretical foundations presented in the present study, we first identified risk disclosure words in reports provided to financial information users and divided them into two categories of positive and negative risk disclosure words. Another variable selected for risk disclosure was capital adequacy ratio. Effective variables in corporate governance system in banks included the board independence, duality of CEO duties, and major shareholders as input variables in data envelopment analysis (DEA) model. On the other hand, the BCC model of DEA was selected as output-based nature. The statistical population included all banks listed in Tehran Stock Exchange. In total, 20 year-bank units listed during 2016-2017 were assessed. In the end, seven year-bank units were considered efficient while the rest were inefficient. Moreover, we estimated the amount of shortage in outputs to reach inefficient banks to the desired level of efficiency.
۱۸.

A Medley of Voices Representing Dialogic Democracy, Autocracy or Violence in Afghanistan: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Soltanzade’s Brazen Bulls(مقاله علمی وزارت علوم)

کلیدواژه‌ها: Hegemonic Discourse counter-hegemonic discourse Critical discourse analysis Ideology repressive state apparatus ideological state apparatuses

حوزه های تخصصی:
تعداد بازدید : ۵۳۲ تعداد دانلود : ۱۶۴
Afghanistan is a country besieged by years of instability and unrest as a result of the weak governments that have seized power, especially after King Zahir. Mohammad Asef Soltanzade’s “Brazen Bulls” is the story of the tragedy that befalls a country similar to Afghanistan. The story is an allegory of the atrocities committed against the civilians and the civilians who resort to extreme forms of violence to counteract the government and occupied forces’ measures. The novel has propensities for dialogical analysis as a result of the voices that represent different discourses in the present-day Afghanistan. This paper is an attempt to link the text of the novel to the discursive and social practices that gave rise to the emergence of such novels. It aims to illustrate the way in which literary products could engender discourses that are necessary for forcing effective changes in hegemonic discourse over time. The methodology used to fulfill the purposes of the paper and generate discussion is the critical discourse analysis endorsed by Norman Fairclough.
۱۹.

Critical Discourse Analysis of Micro and Macro Structures in Talks by Two Iranian Presidents at the United Nations General Assembly: A Socio-cognitive Perspective(مقاله علمی وزارت علوم)

کلیدواژه‌ها: Iranian political discourse UNGA addresses discourse devices representations of Iran and “the others” in talks by Iranian presidents Critical discourse analysis

حوزه های تخصصی:
تعداد بازدید : ۲۵۴ تعداد دانلود : ۱۱۳
This study analyzes official public talks by two Iranian presidents—Hassan Rouhani and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad—within the framework of Critical Discourse Studies (CDS). The study focuses on discoursal features in addresses of these presidents to the United Nations General Assembly at the micro-level (25 discursive devices) and the macro-level (positive self-representation and negative other-representation). The investigation attempts to determine whether significant differences existing in the micro and macro structures of these political discourses may be reflective of such factors as dissimilarities in political stance, world view and personal background. Combining quantitative and qualitative elements of analysis, the study demonstrates that consensus , illustration , hyperbole and polarization were used more frequently, whereas lexicalization and vagueness less frequently by Rouhani than by Ahmadinejad. At the semantic macro-level, Rouhani employed more positive self-representation s and Ahmadinejad relied stronger on negative other-representation .   Results are interpreted within the CDS framework of political discourse.  
۲۰.

Learning English Vocabulary through VOA News Lessons: Being Exposed to Authentic Material or Electronic Colonialism(مقاله علمی وزارت علوم)

کلیدواژه‌ها: Critical discourse analysis Electronic Colonialism Theory Ideological Square Model Online education

حوزه های تخصصی:
تعداد بازدید : ۳۳۰ تعداد دانلود : ۱۳۰
Teaching and learning languages via the Internet is becoming increasingly common all over the world and therefore, the experts growingly debate around the positive or negative effects of online education. The present study aimed to critically investigate into science and technology lessons of the VOA English Learning Website in a two-year interval, which claims to teach new words and phrases through the authentic VOA world news. Applying van Dijk’s (1998) Ideological Square Model of CDA, the researchers attempted to critically analyze the representation of the key term the United States within the collected VOA news story transcripts in order to observe whether the Website was trying to manipulate the learners’ minds through in-group favoritism and out-group derogation. The findings revealed that the VOA online lessons promoted certain American political, economic, cultural, social, and ideological values through particular discursive structures that tend to describe in-group members in a positive or at least neutral manner. Thus, as McPhail’s (2006) Electronic Colonialism Theory assumes such free online lessons on the VOA Website, which is a core country multimedia giant, struggle to convert and capture the attitudes, desires, beliefs, faiths, lifestyles, and consumer behavior of the other countries. Therefore, it is highly recommended that English teachers and learners try to inspect the content, reflect on the purposes, and evaluate the merits of similar online authentic materials before and while applying them to facilitate the language learning process.