The (De)construction of Patriarchal Values in Textbooks

A Comparative Study of Italian as a Foreign Language and Serbian as a Foreign Language Textbooks

Bibliographic Data

ID22327009
AuthorsNataša Vučenović (0000-0001-5828-872X, University of Banja Luka, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume13
Issue40
Pages375-397
Publication date2022-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueFolia linguistica et litteraria (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1800-8542 • E-ISSN: 2337-0955
PublisherFaculty of Philology - University of Montenegro (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.31902/fll.40.2022.19
OpenAlexW4312500695
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited9

In this paper, foreign language textbooks are interpreted from a social constructivist perspective, as sociocultural products that contain not only specific subject knowledge, but also social norms, cultural values and ideologies (Curdt-Christiansen 2). From the point of view of critical discourse analysis ideology is a construct based upon assumptions and beliefs that reinforce, reproduce and legitimate asymmetrical power relations between different social groups. In line with this, we employ CDA to examine the presence of patriarchal ideologies in the depiction of the private sphere in a corpus composed of five textbooks of Italian as a Foreign Language and four textbooks of Serbian as a Foreign Language. Since the issue of patriarchal legacy in FL textbooks in previous research is primarily addressed in relation to English FL textbooks, one of the objectives of the present study is to shed a light on Italian FL textbooks that are insufficiently explored, and to compare them to Serbian FL textbooks, that are especially relevant as they were until now never approached from the perspective of gender. All the textbooks are employed in the specific educational context of foreign language teaching and learning in the post-secondary education in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The importance of the critical analysis of FL textbooks is emphasized because foreign language acquisition includes not only the development of communicative competence in the target language, but also represents a complex process of acculturation, during which students learn and incorporate the cultural values and customs of other countries. In this vein, we argue that FL textbooks used in class should not contain outdated gender stereotypes that convey the message that Italy and Serbia are places where patriarchal cultural values and inequalities are commonly accepted as undisputed societal norms; instead, it is argued that textbooks should promote a more emancipatory discourse and support the transformation of traditional gender roles that has occurred in the past decades in both Serbian and Italian society

Foreign language · Ideology · Linguistics · Pedagogy · Political science · Politics · Serbian · Sociology · Law · Linguistic Education and Pedagogy · Linguistic Studies and Language Acquisition · Second Language Learning and Teaching

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