Rhetorical Analysis of Reading Materials in Persian and English Textbooks with an Emphasis on the Critical-Contrastive Rhetoric

The current study examined the general Persian L1 and English L2 textbooks used in different levels of education in Iran in order to examine how they were rhetorically organized in these textbooks. For this purpose, more than 100 opinion and argumentative/informational sample texts in both English and Persian textbooks----- were analyzed. The rhetorical analysis of the English texts in English textbooks ------- revealed that almost all of the essays followed the three-part structure of introduction-body-conclusion (IBC) and their pervasive pattern was the deductive pattern (i. e. the main idea is stated at the outset of a text). Regarding the Persian texts, the analysis showed that some texts didnt follow the three-part structure of IBC and opinion statement was presented variously among the essays. Though deductive pattern was the most pervasive pattern found in the Persian textbooks similar to the English texts, and according to the principles of Persian rhetoric the lack of preview statement in the sample texts implied that still, there is a culturally situated interpretation about deduction in Persian L1 textbooks.