Pictorial images, lexical phrases and culture

Abstract

Foreign language teaching materials tend to use pictorial images in contrived ways in order to elicit target language (TL) knowledge, with the consequence that the image itself is often largely incidental. An excessive use of ‘convergent’ tasks may cause learners to scan illustrations merely for clues to linguistic puzzles. However, ‘divergent’ tasks may encourage imaginative interpretations of illustrations and offer insights into TL society and culture. One way of organising ‘divergent’ tasks is to combine them with lexical phrases. The latter, if used judiciously, can provide an early and gradual introduction to competence in discourse, itself an aspect of culture.