A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis of Terrorist Textbooks

The present study explores how terrorist groups’ multimodal educational materials strategically promote ideological indoctrination and recruit followers. It aims to uncover how linguistic, visual, and symbolic modes interact to convey and reinforce extremist ideologies. Gaining insight into these persuasive strategies can support efforts to protect vulnerable populations from radicalization. The methodology combines established analytical frameworks, including Kress and van Leeuwen’s multimodal social semiotic model, Fairclough’s three-dimensional critical discourse analysis, and van Dijk’s socio-cognitive approach. This integrated framework enables a comprehensive examination of the multimodal texts, revealing the strategies used to shape perception, legitimize violence, and construct identity. The data were collected from two reliable purposively selected YouTube videos showing these groups’ educational rhetoric in schools and community contexts. Across 32 texts and 11 images, the findings reveal that, terrorist propaganda systematically uses all three models’ tools. Most dominantly, repetition, visual salience, actor description, and framing to embed ideology in educational discourse. Violence is normalized, fighters are glorified, and ideological loyalty is cultivated, turning ordinary schooling into a tool of indoctrination. The coordinated use of violent language, religious symbolism, and visual framing normalizes violence, glorifies fighters, and positions children as part of a sacred struggle. These strategies merge religious and ideological messages into everyday lessons, embedding extremist beliefs under the guise of education. In conclusion, the study contributes to understanding how multimodal discourse shapes young minds and sustains ideological violence in digital propaganda.