1. Introduction

                 The victory of the Islamic Revolution in the late 1970s over the royal regime was the beginning of tremendous political and educational changes in Iran. In the struggle of the revolutionaries against the Shah's rule, one of the social institutions that were severely criticized was the educational system (Abbasi, Yarmohammadian, & Yousefi, 2021). The analysis of the revolutionaries' point of view showed that they benefited -consciously or unconsciously- mainly from the principles governing the theory of critical pedagogy and the opinions of people such as Michael Apple (Atai & Moradi, 2016). To put it better, there was a common ground between the opinions of critical pedagogy thinkers and Iranian Shiite revolutionaries in several issues. The first common is that the revolutionaries paid more attention to the cultural function of the educational system and did not value its other functions. The second common is that the revolutionaries, like critical pedagogy scientists, considered the educational system to be more of a political tool that served the Shah's regime in Iran. They strongly criticized this instrumental role. The third point of commonality refers to the view that the educational system reproduces capitalist relations in the form of school-society relations, while the revolutionaries strongly opposed the capitalist system (Rabiei, 2019). The fourth common feature between Iranian revolutionaries and the views of critical pedagogy thinkers refers to the idea that the educational system serves the domination system in all its social, political, cultural and economic dimensions.

            Now, more than four decades have passed since the victory of the Islamic Revolution and the establishment of the Islamic Republic in Iran. The passage of time has naturally created this basic question for the curriculum planners of Iran, whether it is still possible to consider the views of the proponents of critical pedagogy as true regarding the functions of the educational system. Do Iranian revolutionaries still believe in the views of people like Michael Apple, and does the view and interpretation of Iran's political system have the ability to accept the views of thinkers like Apple. The fact is that the Iranian revolutionaries' formal interpretation of the functioning of the educational system with the discourse of critical pedagogy has led to the existence of two similarities and three differences after more than four decades. Iranian revolutionaries still agree that educational systems have more of a cultural function than an economic function (Sajjadi, 2015). Also, they strongly look at the education system as a completely political institution that should serve the Islamic Republic (Moinipour, 2021). But despite these two common features, the passage of time caused three differences between Iranian revolutionaries and supporters of critical pedagogy: First; formal interpretation in Iran does not believe much in the rule of capitalism in Iran's economic system. Iranian politicians consider Iran's economic system to be more of an Islamic economic system, even if in practice there are many similarities between it and the capitalist system (Mahdavi, & Majderezaee, 2012); Second, politicians and educational planners in Iran do not believe that the current educational system serves the continuation of the domination system (Safari, & Pourhashemi, 2012). In fact, if the domination system means the domination of the political system over the educational system, this type of domination is encouraged by Iranian politicians - unlike those like Apple. To put it better, today's Iranian politicians and yesterday's revolutionaries consider the dominance of the political system over other social institutions to serve the continuation and survival of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Third ; Iranian politicians in their formal interpretation of the state of schools, unlike the supporters of critical pedagogy and especially those like Apple, do not believe in the resistance of students, teachers and parents against the formal programs of schools (Hazari & Rezapour, 2013 ; Gilouri & Shafiezadeh, 2021).

           Since the 1970s, many studies have been conducted on critical pedagogy and the theories of people such as Michael Apple (Cho, 2010; Gur-Ze'ev, 2003; Breunig, 2005; Davies & Barnett, 2016; Groenke & Hatch, 2009; Cooper, Gormally & Hughes, 2015). In Iran and during the last four decades, there has been a wide interest among experts in the philosophy of education and curriculum planners to confirm or criticize the theory of critical pedagogy and the opinions of its supporters. For example, Asdipour, Imani & Sadeghzadeh Qomsari (2013) in a research entitled "Explaining the role of politics in education from the point of view of Apple and its criticism based on the point of view of Muslim thinkers" acknowledge that Apple uses education as a means to convey the concept of criticism in school context. Sahabetlu & Mirzamohammadi (2013) with a biased view believe that critical theory in education has highlighted the role of teacher, student and curriculum in the process of cultural & political education. Yaqoubi (2014) emphasizing on Apple's theory of resistance shows that Iranian students use behaviors such as leaving class & school, camouflage, concealment, secrecy, playing, trickery, showing off, etc. to express opposition to formal curricula of schools.

            By introducing and criticizing Michael Apple's book "Can Education Change Society", Sharapour (2016) emphasizes that schools have always resisted the formal interpretation of reality and truth. Havas Bigi, Sadeghi, Maliki, & Qadri, (2017) through "Analysis of the categories of multicultural education in the social studies textbooks of Iran's primary school" using Apple theory indicated that the authors of these books deliberately refrain from emphasizing different Iranian identities and ignore multicultural education. Bazdar Qomchi Qiyeh, Fathi Vajargah, Arefi & Farasatkhah (2017) by examining the "Shadow Curriculum in Iran's Education System and Analyzing Students' Behaviors and Verbal Jokes" found that there is no conformity between the content of the formal curriculum and the students' wishes. Qaidi, Bargordari & Bustani (2017) investigated "Educational Evaluation Based on Critical Theory with Emphasis on the Opinions of Henry Giraud and Michael Apple" found that criticism is considered an important tool for enlightening, informing and guiding thoughtful action in learners. By introducing and criticizing the book "Can Education Change the Society", Ashareh & Rahbar (2019) emphasize that Apple wants to join the protest movements of the world against the domination system through textbooks and schools. Shekarchi and Ragheb (2021) studied sociologically about order and power in children's and teenagers' story books and found that the emphasis on teaching these concepts to children is evident in school life literature. Shirbaghi, Boland Hemtan & Abdullahzadeh (2021) in the research "Commodification and reproduction of inequality in Iran's education" show that the commercialization of education has increased the gap between educational and social inequalities.

   A brief review of previous research shows that the analysis of learning discourse components in Michael Apple's critical pedagogy and emphasizing its application in Iran's educational system, has not received much attention from Iranian researchers. For this reason, in addition to the main goal, the following sub-goals have been taken into consideration by the present researchers:

• In relation to learning, Apple's critical pedagogy discourse consists of what structures, situational contexts & textual and intertextual relationships?
• What are the differences and similarities between Apple's critical pedagogy and the discourse governing Iran's formal education system?

2. Research Method

        The current research is of a qualitative type using the critical discourse analysis method. The method of data collection was documentary searching primary and secondary sources in international information databases - such as Google Scholar and Iranian databases  (n= 91). Also, for data analysis, Norman Fairclough's method (2000) including three stages of description, interpretation and explanation was used. This type of data analysis focuses on the characteristics of the language of the text, processes related to the production & consumption of the text (discourse practice), and the wider social practice to which that communication event belongs (Jorgensen & Phillips, 2011). Also, the validity and reliability of the research is focused on the data collected during the discourse analysis and analyzed under the logical discussions related to the findings, author's power of speech and expression.

3. Findings

1. A) Description

1. Lexical analysis of learning in Apple discourse

           In the first step, by searching in Apple books and articles and evaluating different words, the relationships and semantic inclusion of the words were identified and their main meaning was extracted. In the analysis of Apple's discourse, it was found that around terms like freedom of thought and speech & critical thought, presence and meaningful repetition of words such as dominance, inequality, suppression, commercialization, authoritarianism, assimilation, submission, conservatism, consumerism, oppression, unilateralism orientation, awareness, democratization, destructuring, activism and foresight have been formed (Baker, & Ellece, 2011). Also, in Apple's thought, the main learning goals in critical pedagogy are based on terms such as self-reflective learning, progressive learning, authentic learning, critical literacy learning, empowering learning and learning hope in learners - with an emphasis on re-creation, avoiding reproduction and redistribution of utilitarianism. In addition, attention to the thinking and inquiry of learners in learning indicates an ideology and a structured view in which critical pedagogy mentions an egalitarian, rationalizing, free-thinking and self-motivated human being (Apple 2018) (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Learning super keywords in Michael Apple's critical pedagogy

           Examining and analyzing the semantic contrast of words and phrases in Apple's learning discourse refers to his two important goals: First, to distance and show the difference between real learning and functional learning by using terms such as real learning vs. utilitarian; dynamic learning vs. static learning; Enlightenment vs. ambiguous learning; democratic vs. compliant learning; critical vs. silent learning; creative vs. controlling learning; discriminating vs. egalitarian learning; dialogic vs. dictation learning; incremental vs. deductive learning and intelligent learning vs. traditional representational learning (Apple, 2016). The second goal is to criticize and reject market-based and self-interested learning, and distance between the current and the desired situation, which is defined by using words such as borrowed learning versus authentic learning; free-thinking learning vs. imposed learning; investigative learning vs. passive learning; mandatory learning vs. selective learning; meta-narrative learning vs. perceptual learning; awakening learning vs. marginalized learning, and pluralistic learning vs. one-sided learning (Apple, 1995, 2009). The superiority of the positive aspects over the negative aspects is represented by the two phrases "clear and honest hope relying on one's abilities" versus "false and deceitful hope".

2. Metaphors

         According to Fairclough's method (2000), metaphor is a means to represent one aspect of experience through another aspect of it. Table 1 shows some metaphors of Apple's learning discourse in critical pedagogy, the direction of analogy (positive & negative) and their similarities or differences.

Table No. 1: Metaphors and explanation of similarities

3. Relational values in grammar

              At this stage, attention is paid to the expression of the dependence of the choice of text words on social relations and the use of sentences (Declarative, interrogative and imperative sentences) (Fairclough, 2000: 142). Declarative sentences are sentences that are characterized by the existence of a subject and a verb, and the position of the subject (writer or speaker), the position of the information giver, and the position of the audience (the position of the receiver of information) are determined. In Apple's learning discourse, most of the sentences used are of the declarative type, which shows that the text generator has a special emphasis on presenting the desired content and conveying its message to the general audience. Also, imperative sentences are used in a limited way, which shows that it creates affinity with the audience and increases the impact of the text. Interrogative sentences also show that the creator of the text seeks to convey experiences and content to the audience and create an intellectual challenge in her/him. According to the data analysis, Apple has used the word "must" 34 times and the word "must not" 25 times. In addition, by using different aspects of the verb "to be able" 15 times, he tries to strengthen the spirit of activism, confidence in the ability, self-creation, renewal, self-correction and internal ability and showing the learner's strengths. Also, Apple has used the verb "can't" 13 times. "Can't" means "not allowed".

4. Concrete and exclusive pronoun "we"

           A pronoun whose meaning includes both the author's and the audience's point of view is called integral, and a pronoun whose meaning is only the opinion of the author or the person or group with him is called exclusive (Fairclough, 2000). The pronoun "we" has been used 23 times in Apple's discourse works, 12 of which can be considered as exclusive pronouns and the rest as concrete pronouns. The purpose of Apple's concrete pronoun is the learners who have played an effective role in the process of freeing and raising awareness of democratic and critical learning and gained many experiences in this way. However, in most of the sentences where the pronoun "we" is used exclusively, Apple's goal is the USA nation and society, and the critical, creative and selective learners (Apple, 2018).

5. Expressive values

           The majority of verbs used in Apple's learning discourse in critical pedagogy indicate his absolute commitment to the truth of the text's propositions and the clarity of his view of the world. Therefore, in Apple's speech, auxiliary verbs such as "possible", "probable" and the words such as "may be" are rarely used in the text (Gottesman, 2012).

Table No. 2: Use of auxiliary verb “to be able” and relational and expressive values

+++To be allowed, to be able

­­­ Not being allowed, not being able to

* Absolute commitment to the truth of the positive statement

√ Absolute commitment to the truth of the negative statement

6. Text coherence

         Any formal feature of the text that gives a sign of connection between a sentence and other sentences is called a cohesive feature (Fairclough, 2000:130). The bold use of conjunctions in Apple's works mainly refers to the purpose of "spacing and showing differences" which was mentioned earlier in the analysis of opposite words. Also, spaces were used to explain the concepts in two styles: " There is A, but B is not" or "A is not, but B is there", which indicates Apple's attempt to explain its point of view.

  Table 3: Conjunctions, their type, function and frequency in learning discourse

7. Text structures

In Apple's learning discourse and in the majority of authored texts, text structures are generally divided into three distinct features: 1. Critical literacy, 2. Critical learning, and 3. Democratic learning for a non-elitist world (Apple, 1990). Apple presents the initial part of his view to enter the main topics of "awareness & critical understanding in the act of learning". In the middle part, he reminds the history of dominance, one-sidedness, consumerism and commercialization of educators and the subordination and belief of learners - in the heart of topics such as self-reflection, critical thinking, deconstruction, differentiation and the search for liberation of students.

1. B) Interpretation

             According to Fairclough (2000), interpretations are a combination of the content of the text and the mentality of the commentator. Based on this, the interpretation includes six aspects:

1. What is the story (situational context and type of discourse)

               According to Fairclough (2000), positions are known as one of the distinct and specific activities within the framework of a specific institution. In this research, the situation refers to the story of writing, publishing and issuing Apple's written books, works such as: education and power; Formal knowledge (democratic education in the age of conservatism); ideology & curriculum, and can education change society. Apple's goal is for learners to achieve critical awareness, self-improvement and creativity with active learning, pragmatism and awareness of learners through providing tips and guidelines to bring to fruition the original, free and selective existence of people in the process of learning and liberating search.

2. The parties involved in the story

           Investigating the involved persons and their type of relationships and determining the position of the subject (Fairclough, 2000, 224). On one side of the activity, there is the authoring of text-generating books and writings - that is, Apple - who has published these works in the position of the most prominent thinker of contemporary critical pedagogy. On the other side, there are general learners, teachers and educationists.

3. Relationships between people involved in the story

            It refers to the power relations and social connection between the parties involved in the discourse (Fairclough, 2000). In his books and authored texts, Apple, while expressing general principles and policies and strategies, has an interactive, trans-sectarian attitude and aligned with freedom-seeking learners. The aim is to create a critical and self-reflection space for the audience and advance the goals of critical pedagogy for the development of awareness and liberation.

4. The role of language in advancing the story

             Language, a tool for the realization of an institutional goal, not only determines the genre, but also determines the channel of communication (Fairclough, 2000, 224). Apple's works have a written language. In these texts, he has used authored and researched literature and the capacity of language to convey and explain concepts. The necessity of this language is, on the one hand, its explanatory, contemplative, questioning and advice-oriented tone, and on the other hand, considering the wide range of audiences in search of freedom in the learning process.

5. Intertextual context and defaults

            In the intertextual analysis, attention is paid to the common contexts and presuppositions of the participants (Fairclough, 2000, 152). In Apple's works, one should look for clues that connect the desired text to other texts that are related to it in terms of content or support it. Presuppositions are not the features and characteristics of the text, but the interpretation of the intertextual context by the producers of the text. The texts of the works of authorship have many presuppositions that are in accordance with the requirements of the text and its purpose to explain the learning discourse approach in critical pedagogy. Also, the aforementioned presuppositions are the result of the shared background knowledge of the text generator and the participants in critical pedagogy. In explaining learning achievements in critical pedagogy, Apple points to 35 cases, all of which have the following assumptions: Awareness, critical knowledge, mastery-centeredness, repetitiveness, inequality, work-making, transferability, originalism, transferability, massification, controversy, dialogue, objectivism, pragmatism, liberation, emancipation, conservatism, independence, market learning, uniformity, anti-libertarianism, subservience, elitism, authoritarianism, reductionism, storage, isolationism, and accumulation of learning.

6. Method of negation

          The method of negation includes elements of the intertextual fabric that text producers can question and dispute the presuppositions (Fairclough, 2000, 154). Apple's texts negate the presuppositions between him and the participants in two cases: first) in learning, you cannot change the structural conditions just by thinking. They must be interpreted so that they can be interpreted in practice, and our thoughts will never be enough to do such a thing; Second, we should never underestimate the ways in which the racial dynamics, history, and assumptions of current efforts to turn schools into tools of business—both covertly and overtly—are referenced (Apple, 2018).

           Table 4: Presumption of negation in the works of Michael Apple

            In all exemplary cases, the audience of the text will understand that the mentioned four points of view, including the separation of knowledge from action and subjectivity from objectivity in learning are common interpretations in human society.

1. C) Explanation: Social action

            In the explanation stage, the social foundation and changes in background knowledge and its reproduction during the discourse action are discussed. Discourse, as a part of social action, has influenced institutional structures on the one hand and is influenced by them on the other hand (Fairclough, 2000, 246). This step includes two components:

1. The impact of Apple's discourse on institutional structures

            According to Apple, not everyone needs to be a careful reader of Foucault's works to understand that it is the micro-politics and identity construction that works in society. In fact, like Paulo Freire and following him, Apple believes that we should be completely critical of a position that is anti-theory and prefer knowledge that is created and produced in the interaction between theory and practice (Apple, 2019). Therefore and According to Freire, the goal is to keep alive the reality that should not become a slogan. The main slogan is not to despair, teach and organize. Also, following Gramsci, Apple believes that the critical process should give way to active consensus. He points out that our perceptions of the world and our place in it show the existence of elements of the bad concept and elements of the good concept. Apple also agrees with those such as Bowles, Gintis, and Althusser that schools are important agents of social structure reproduction (Gottesman, 2012).

2. 2. The impact of Apple's discourse on institutional structures

            Thinkers like Apple are among the limited number of people in the world who have dedicated themselves to creating new insights about education and creating new routines to realize learning. In Michael Apple's theory, there are deep analyzes of the role and function of public and private institutions as well as groups that affect the lives of learners. Hence, Apple's influence has undoubtedly been due to his continuous, fruitful and extensive work. One of the important reasons for Apple's effort is his attempt not to leave aside the most difficult questions about individual responsibility in the era of individualism and conservatism ruling the educational systems (Redalyc.org. 2022). According to Apple, the pursuit of democracy in teaching and learning happens in and out of school. Therefore, we should be deeply concerned about what is happening in schools. Part of our task is to connect with leading teachers, those who have tried to teach the community how to individually or collectively challenge and change existing relationships (Apple, 2017).

4. Conclusion

               The Analyzing Apple's critical pedagogy learning discourse in the description phase shows that he creates a sense of affinity, trust and connection in his audience by using words. Also, when he criticizes market learning and self-pity of the learners, he expresses the weakness clearly - using clear words. In addition, Apple generally uses the verb "must" to warn - without forcing - about critical learning and fostering a sense of self-confidence in learners. Another research finding in the analysis of the coherence of the text and the semantic contrast of the words indicated the bold use of the conjunction "but", mainly referring to the three purposes of distancing and showing namely: 1. Ideological and functional differences with the causes and guardians of the current intellectual and attitudinal state of the learners, 2. Enlightenment and criticism and 3. Distance between the existing and desired situation. In the interpretation stage, Apple, with an interactive, aligned and trans-situational view, through things such as the structural order of the text, use of words & communicative sentences, and adoption of an intimate and constructive tone, while being serious and formal, has been able to use the capacity of language to convey and explain its intended concepts. The finding of the explanation stage reveals the impact of the existing structure of institutions on Apple's words and also the impact of his critical pedagogy on the structure of educational institutions. The results of the research showed that the content and structure of Michael Apple's books and articles are based on concepts, components and words such as a critical look at textbooks, school environment and social context; rejection of the banking learning method; Increasing the interactive role of teachers and students, encouraging critical dialogue and listening in the classroom and school environment; Negation of the culture of silence is through emphasizing awareness and conscience building, reducing the role of government administration, and negation of one voice and one culture.

              Considering these findings and based on Michael Apple's theories, Iran's educational system should avoid imposed relationships and guardianship of political system, Ministry of Education, school administrators and teachers to students - which causes the internalization of inherited values and degradation of the concept of social learning-. Also, Iran's educational system should provide a suitable environment for the progress of learners by providing opportunities for democratic learning, exchange of leading ideas and critical awareness. Based on this, it is necessary to refrain from promoting a culture of silence and a passive view of students in schools. Michael Apple's ideas are to negate the dominance of the formal curriculum, attention to different spaces and voices, openness of thought, negation of unequal and dominant system relations in learning, respect for distinct human and global identities, and negation of the politicization of the educational system. It is obvious that the reform of Iran's education system needs more space to implement the ideas of progressive thinkers like Apple.