Constructing the EFL learner: a multimodal critical discourse analysis of Chinese middle school textbook revisions

English education in China is evolving with textbooks playing a key role in shaping student identities. This study presents a comparative multimodal analysis of two Chinese middle school English textbooks (used in 2012–2024 vs. post-2024). Drawing on social semiotics and critical discourse analysis, the study examines discourse as both representation and interaction, exploring how verbal and visual materials interplay to recontextualize both Western and local student identity. In terms of representation, findings reveal significant shifts in student identities, which are legitimated through the strategic use of social actors and tactics of intersubjectivity. In terms of interaction, analysis shows the earlier textbook potentially weakens student identity construction due to its relatively random pedagogical interactions, while the newer version strengthens identity construction by engaging learners with more task-essential representations. This study provides a new lens for understanding how intermodality in textbooks works to frame, reshape, and legitimate student identities.