Religion Representation in Textbooks for Teaching Persian to Non-Iranian Language Learners

Taking into account the importance of religion as an important part of the Iranian culture as well as Persian learners’ tendency towards religious studies, the present research aims to examine the extent to which religion is represented in selected textbooks of teaching Persian language to other languages speakers. Those textbooks included "Teaching Persian" in Al-Mustafa university (Vol. 7), "Teaching Persin" in Al-Zahra university (vol. 6), AZFA (Vol. 4), and the "History of Iranian Culture and Civilization" written by Saffar Moghaddam (Vol. 4). The religious discourses of selected samples were classified in three semantic fields of "Islamic" "other religions" and "neutral" discourses. Subsequently, the representation of each discourse was examined based on Halliday’s Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG). The findings showed that Islamic religious discourse was dominant in Al-Mustafa and Al-Zahra books, while the other religions discourse was dominant in AZFA; however, the equality of three semantic fields in Saffar Moghaddam’s book was reported. The representation of Islamic discourse through material process indicated that Islam has been portrayed as a practical part of the Iranian lifestyle. The relational process was dominant in the neutral and other religions discourses which indicate attempts to introduce other religions to Persian language learners. The Islamic discourse in Al-Mustafa and Al-Zahra books was identical in terms of the frequency, order, and distribution of processes. The Islamic discourse in AZFA and Saffar Moghaddam textbooks shows the Iranians position in Islam and the crucial role they played in Islam’s progress.