Promoting English in Saudi Arabia: A critical discourse analysis of advertisements for private English language teaching institutes

Promotional discourses of English language teaching (ELT) institutes play a significant role in shaping beliefs about the English language and about language learning. This study examines the persuasion strategies and the ideological assumptions in a corpus of advertisements for private ELT institutes in Saudi Arabia. Critical discourse analysis (CDA) of rhetorical moves and multimodal elements was used to analyse a corpus of 45 online advertisements. Findings reveal that the institutes attempt to persuade their potential audience to enrol by conceptualizing English as a global language and by stressing the advantages of learning English for job opportunities, travel, and education. The advertisements also construct English learning as fun, personally empowering, and confidence-enhancing. Among the rhetorical moves aimed at persuasion, establishing credentials was the most dominant. This involved providing accreditations, using the institute's name and logo, identifying particular textbooks and teaching methods, and claiming expertise. Moreover, language choice serves as a persuasive strategy, as code-switching into English constitutes a symbolic resource by which the institutes display their mastery of the language. The study contributes to a better understanding of the ways in which English is conceptualized in Saudi Arabia and has implications for language policy.