‘Textbooks matter.’ (Fuchs & Bock, 2018, p.1). Textbooks is not just an agent in delivering knowledge to students. textbooks, usually presented in impersonal and objective tones, are unconsciously perceived as the authoritative source of knowledge (Oteíza & Achugar, 2018). Therefore, textbooks have the power in legitimizing the ‘truth’ and constructing or reconstructing the reality (Apple & Christian-Smith, 1991; Foster, 2011). Apple and Christian-Smith (1991, p.1-2) described textbooks as ‘the results of political, economic, and cultural activities, battles and compromises ... conceived, designed, and authored by real people with real interests, ... within the political and economic constraints of markets, resources, and power’. Not only do textbooks impact students learning and the society, but textbooks are also influenced by various factors and considerations imposed by different stakeholders. As such, textbooks have a very complex nature which deserve much research upon.

As for History teaching, textbooks have an important role to play (Bod, 2014). Textbooks are served as the repository of historical knowledge from which teachers can select and present to their students (Gautschi, 2018). In Hong Kong, the wide use of textbooks in History lesson is observed (Jackson, 2015). Moreover, the change in textbooks published in Hong Kong through time is also worth investigating given her local history – Hong Kong was a colonial city under the British rule and now has been returned back to China in 1977. The textbooks have been changed for several times to match with the different social climates.

Considering the portrait of historical events as an important factor shaping how the expected messages are delivered to students, this work is going to analyse on lexico-grammatical features of local History textbooks published in different political periods with the application of Systematic Functional Linguistics (SFL). It is believed that clauses, as the combinations of words, have their role to play in producing social and cultural practice and shaping the society by sustaining or transforming the status quo (Fairclough & Wodak, 1997; Locke, 2004; Wodak & Meyer, 2009).

However, the use of SFL in historiography in Hong Kong is limited. The application in the formal education of History in secondary school is even scarce. The only recent History textbook analysis using SFL approach is a thesis done by Akashi (2017). She compared a local junior secondary History textbook with a Japanese textbook. It is concluded that history education in these two places also has a role to play in national identity and global citizenship building. This study conducted a symmetric comparative study across regions. However, a comparative study across time is still absent.

Given that History textbook analysis deserve more attention in the discipline in Hong Kong and that the comparative study of History textbooks in Hong Kong through time is absent, this work was aimed at filling in this gap.

To do so, the study aims to address the research question: How did the portrait of modern Chinese history change in History textbooks in Hong Kong? This research seeks for both qualitative and quantitative method within  the SFL framework for analysis. To provide a more holistic picture, the general trends are supported by the quantitative data and illustrated by qualitative examples.

It is hoped that this study can provide implications for teachers, publishers and policymakers in using, choosing, designing and reviewing textbooks. Some shortcomings and merits of the textbooks is hoped to be outlined. It can provide constructive comments for the future History textbooks generation. Further implications would like to extend to teachers of other subjects and increase their awareness towards the hidden patterns and ideologies behind the narratives in textbooks.

To better show the change in the lexico-grammatical features of local History textbooks, the textbooks were carefully selected with reference to the major changes in the political environment in Hong Kong. Four History textbooks were selected before and after the major events happened in Hong Kong. All textbooks chosen were History textbook for senior secondary students as the greater depth of the discussion on historical events provides more complexity for investigation. All of the textbooks selected were reviewed by authority. They can be considered as a representation of the corresponding perspectives in the official curriculum. After comparing the coverage of the four textbooks, three themes concerning modern Chinese history, namely 1911 Revolution, the formation of the first United Front and the Establishment of the PRC, are selected. Texts selected from textbooks are analysed with the application of SFL. Two of the analytical tools developed by Martin and Rose (2007), namely ideation and appraisal, are employed in this study. Ideation focus on ‘how our experience is construed in discourse’ (Martin & Rose, 2007, p.73). Each clause consists of words which can be classified into different groups, such as agents, processes, medium, beneficiaries or circumstances. Meanwhile, there is a difference in the importance between different group – some groups, such as processes and medium, are foreground whereas some, for example, beneficiaries and circumstances, are backgrounded. This is named as the degree of nuclearity. To show the nuclear relations within each clause, each clause is coded by different groups proposed by Martin and Rose (2007) and it provides qualitative data for the analysis. It is supplemented by quantitative data. The agents and medium are count and compared with different textbooks so as to identify the change in emphasis on different stakeholders in the History textbook through time. Appraisal concerns with evaluation (Martin & Rose, 2007). The evaluation can be classified into five types – (1) evaluation on people, (2) evaluation on things, (3) evaluation on feeling, (4) amplification of attitudes and (5) citation as part of the evaluation. The selected texts are code by clause according to these five types of evaluation to calculate the proportion of evaluative clauses, namely appraisal density. Clauses from different textbooks describing the same context are compared with the awareness of appraisal words. Therefore, both qualitative and quantitative data can be obtained.

Two general trends in the change in lexico-grammatical features are expected to be spotted with the use of two different SFL tools. First, each clause is divided into clusters of words with reference to the framework proposed by Martin and Rose (2007) whereas the agents and mediums are counted by different stakeholders. A trend of decontextualization is spotted. In describing the formation of First United Front, the coverage on nationalist and communists increased from a total of nearly 70% in 1977’s textbook to more than 90% in the latest textbook whereas the mentions on other foreign country decreased from 22% to just 4%. Similarly, the portrait on the establishment of the PRC is concentrated on the communist in the latest textbook whereas the mentions on nationalist and other countries are absent. Therefore, it is found that textbooks have a tendency of excluding foreign stakeholders from the modern Chinese historical events. The focus was shifted to the internal tension and situation whereas foreign roles in these events are backgrounded. This is an attempt in decontextualizing modern Chinese history from world history. After counting appraisal clauses, appraisal density is calculated by dividing the number of appraisal clauses by the total number of clauses. ppraisal densities in all three themes are reduced through time. The decrease in percentage ranges from 19% to 30%, which can be considered as significant. Given that appraisal is about evaluation, it can be deduced that History textbooks are written less and less evaluative whereas authors’ stances are less explicit. There is a general increase in neutrality and decrease in evaluative power. Qualitative example can also be named to support the finding of these two trends.

Akashi, T. (2017). A social semiotic investigation of historical narratives in history textbooks from Hong Kong and Japan (Doctoral dissertation). The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Apple, M. W., & Christian-Smith, L. K. (1991). The Politics of the Textbook. In M. W., Apple & L. K. Christian-Smith (eds.), The Politics of the Textbook (pp. 1-21). New York: Routledge. Bod, R. (2014). A New History of the Humanities. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Fairclough, N., & Wodak, R. (1997). Critical Discourse Analysis. In T. Dijk (Ed.), Discourse Studies: a Multidisciplinary Introduction (pp. 258-284). London: Sage. Foster, S. (2011). Dominant Traditions in International Textbook Research and Revision. Education Inquiry, 2(1), 5-20. Fuchs, E., & A. Bock. (2018). Introduction. In E. Fuchs & A. Bock (Eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Textbook Studies (pp. 1-10). New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Gautschi, P. (2018). Ideas and Concepts for Using Textbooks in the Context of Teaching and Learning in the Social Sciences and Humanities. In E. Fuchs & A. Bock (Eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Textbook Studies (pp. 181-198). New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Jackson, L. (2015). Religion in Hong Kong Education: Representation in LS textbooks. Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong. Locke, T. (2004). Critical Discourse Analysis. London: Continuum. Martin, J., & Rose, D. (2007). Working with Discourse: Meaning Beyond the Clause (2nd ed.). London; New York: Continuum. Oteíza T., & Achugar M. (2018). History Textbooks and the Construction of Dictatorship. In E. Fuchs, & A. Bock (Eds), The Palgrave Handbook of Textbook Studies. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Wodak, R., & Meyer, M. (2009). Critical Discourse Analysis: History, Agenda, Theory and Methodology. In R. Wodak & M. Meyer (Eds.), Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis (2nd ed.). London: Sage.