Abstract
As foreign language acquisition is potentially connected with shaping intercultural and global competences, this paper focuses on textbooks used for learning English to critically reflect on their diversity-related contents. The conceptual frame of the research is based on specific aspects of intercultural and global education, connections between them, and learning English and the hidden curriculum. The qualitative study of textbook analysis content allowed the authors to identify main themes related to ethnic diversity, including petrification with exotization, and povertization. Thus, the findings of the study highlight the limitations in fostering intercultural and global values in the analysed material and stress both the need for critical approach in classroom practice and further study in this area with the use of a theoretical framework suggested by the authors.
Highlights
Foreign language acquisition has the natural potential to shape intercultural competencies, resulting primarily from the socio-cultural construction of a language (Byram 2013; Byram and Fleming 1998; Chamberlin-Quinlisk and Senyshyn 2012; Savva 2017)
Relying on the chosen aspects of intercultural and global education and their connections with learning English, there were two main research questions that guided this examination: 1) What image of groups of non-European origin is depicted in the chosen sample of textbooks used by English teachers and learners in Poland, 2) In what ways, if at all, does this image contribute to values of intercultural and global education? conducting the analysis was aimed at raising language teachers’ awareness of potentially stereotypical and simplified depiction of these groups on the pages of educational materials
In all the analyzed textbooks, the target groups coming from the regions listed below were identified – the numbers in the brackets stand for the number of texts in which the representatives of the given location were present: Africa (11), Asia (23), Australia, New Zealand and Pacific islands (11), the Caribbean (5), North and South America (6)
Summary
Foreign language acquisition has the natural potential to shape intercultural competencies, resulting primarily from the socio-cultural construction of a language (Byram 2013; Byram and Fleming 1998; Chamberlin-Quinlisk and Senyshyn 2012; Savva 2017). During foreign language learning, getting acquainted with this “otherness” is usually connected with the groups whose language is taught (e.g. the French, the Americans or the English). Is it considered that foreign language acquisition provides various opportunities to get in touch with cultures other than the ones directly related to the target language. Acknowledging the potential intercultural importance of learning languages, this paper critically analyzes the depiction of particular groups of non-European origin in the chosen sample of textbooks used in teaching English in Poland. The conceptual framework and the research questions guiding the analysis will be presented This part will be followed by the methodology, findings, and conclusions
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