Language textbooks

Windows to the world

Bibliographic Data

ID12112445
AuthorsKaren Risager (0000-0001-8507-1200, Roskilde University, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume34
Issue2
Pages119-132
Publication date2020-07-22
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueLanguage Culture and Curriculum (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0790-8318 • E-ISSN: 1747-7573
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/07908318.2020.1797767
OpenAlexW3044593749
LanguageEN
Citations received29
References cited12

What images of the world do we find in language textbooks? What countries and continents are favoured, what key problems of the world are mentioned and taken up, what segments of the world’s populations are represented and how, what role is given to the understanding of world history, colonialism and imperialism, what role is given to the understanding of transnational processes? Are there blind spots in the representation of the world? This article challenges the tradition of focusing on the representation of ‘countries’ in language teaching – target language countries and the country of the learners. It takes an explicit global perspective, drawing on a range of critical approaches to the study of culture, society and the world: National studies, citizenship education studies, Cultural studies, postcolonial studies and transnational studies. The article argues that the approaches imply different sets of analytical questions regarding the cultural content of language textbooks. Examples of questions and analyses are taken from textbooks for a number of languages taught in Denmark: English, German and French in lower secondary school and Spanish in upper secondary school

Linguistics · Pedagogy · Sociology · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning · Multilingual Education and Policy · Philosophy · Psychology

Tools

Open DOI