Where is learner agency in locally produced ELT textbooks?

Abstract This study examines how locally produced elementary-level ELT textbooks from China, Egypt, Russia, and Türkiye frame opportunities for learner participation and construct learner agency. Focusing on curricular architecture across three dimensions—multimodal and multilingual resources, localisation of contexts and content, and global citizenship and intercultural participation—we demonstrate how these textbooks structure what learners are invited to do, say, and become in classroom contexts. The findings indicate that while the materials frequently position learners as active and culturally situated participants, the forms of agency they construct are largely pedagogically managed and bounded. As a result, learner participation is often guided toward predetermined outcomes, limiting opportunities for open-ended meaning-making, critical engagement, and more expansive expressions of agency. We propose a teacher toolkit designed to support teachers in noticing opportunities for curricular modification and invite learner agency.