Représentation de la culture dans trois manuels de FLE

Authors : Daniel Rojas-plata

Pages : 63-83

Doi:10.26650/LITERA2020-0029

View : 21 | Download : 19

Publication Date : 2020-06-23

Article Type : Research

Abstract :In this paper, we analyze the cultural elements present in a set of French as a Foreign Language textbooks. We focus mainly on the iconographic elements, that is, the photographs and illustrations accompanying each unit. The idea that language and culture are interdependent products of a single process becomes even more evident in language textbooks, since here the latter regularly serves as a support to graphically represent the former. This research has two objectives: 1) to describe the use and evolution of images as an element of cultural representation in a set of French language textbooks and 2) to analyze how these images relate to the content of different lessons. The methodology consists of examining three textbooks of French as a Foreign Language that have been published a few years apart. We compare quantitatively and qualitatively the use of images in these materials and we retrace their characteristics and differences. The analysis reveals that in the most recent textbooks there is a greater number of images, especially photographs. These are also much more complex from the point of view of culture representation. In general, the results point to an increasing interest in presenting multiculturalism in language textbooks through the use of a well-defined iconographic collection.
Keywords : Culture, French language, iconography, language textbook, contrastive analysis