What Culture? : Cultural representations in English as a foreign language textbooks

Teaching the cultural aspect of foreign language education is a complex and sometimes difficult task, especially since English has become an international language used in different settings and contexts throughout the world. Building on the idea that the spread of the English language and its international status in the world has made English an important school subject to develop students’ cross-cultural and intercultural awareness, this paper has studied what research reveals about the influence this has had on cultural representations in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) textbooks. Findings from a systematic literature review that analyzed four different international studies on the topic are presented. The study showed that EFL textbooks often present stereotypical and overgeneralized representations of culture and that the cultural aspect of EFL education is not adequately addressed since focus tends to lean towards language proficiency. Results also indicated that though steps are made to include cultural representations from different international contexts, the target culture of countries where English is the first language remains dominant in EFL textbooks. The findings are discussed in correlation with the Swedish national curriculum and syllabus.

Environmental health, indigenous identity, cultural representations and the production of ecological consciousness in Northern Ontario

The primary goal of this research is to document local perspectives by presenting a set of commentaries and meanings, in the form of narratives, related to environmental health conceptions on an Oji-Cree reserve in Northeastern Ontario, Canada. Through an ethnographic case study, this research explores how the modern-day production of a sociocentric and ecocentric self, as ethnic marker and moral category, is contributing to environmental/community health and well-being on Native reserves. Cultural representations of personhood and community based on the Medicine Wheel model, as a cognitive model, create an ontological paradigm that promotes a holistic foundation for human behaviour and interaction, as well as healthy, sustainable communities.

Gender, Nationality and Cultural Representations of Ireland: An Irish Woman's Place?

Ireland has struggled with its ‘feminine’ identity throughout its history. The so-called ‘chasmic dichotomy of male and female' is embedded in colonial and postcolonial constructions of Irishness and it continues to manifest itself in contemporary cultural representations of Ireland and Irishness. This study explores issues of gender and nationality via a reading of a 70-second television advertisement for Caffrey's Irish Ale, titled ‘New York’. The article suggests that, although colonial and postcolonial discourse on Ireland continues to perceive the ‘feminine’ in problematic terms, this is gradually changing as Irish women increasingly, in poet Eavan Boland's words, ‘open a window on those silences, those false pastorals, those ornamental reductions’ that have confined us.

Representations of culture in EIL : Cultural representation in Swedish EFL textbooks

The English language has become an international language and is globally used as a lingua franca. Therefore, there has been a shift in English-language education toward teaching English as an interna-tional language (EIL). Teaching from the EIL paradigm means that English is seen as an international language used in communication by people from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. As the approach to English-language education changes from the traditional native-speaker, target country context, so does the role of culture within English-language teaching. The aim of this thesis is to in-vestigate and analyse cultural representations in two Swedish EFL textbooks used in upper-secondary school to see how they correspond with the EIL paradigm. This is done by focusing on the geograph-ical origin of the cultural content as well as looking at what kinds of culture are represented in the textbooks. A content analysis of the textbooks is conducted, using Kachru’s Concentric Circles of English as the model for the analysis of the geographical origin. Horibe’s model of the three different kinds of culture in EIL is the model used for coding the second part of the analysis. The results of the analysis show that culture of target countries and "Culture as social custom" dominate the cultural content of the textbook. Thus, although there are some indications that the EIL paradigm has influ-enced the textbooks, the traditional approach to culture in language teaching still prevails in the ana-lysed textbooks. Because of the relatively small sample included in the thesis, further studies need to be conducted in order to make conclusions regarding the Swedish context as a whole.

Exploring Indigenous representations in Australian film and literature for the Australian Curriculum

The Australian Curriculum: English, v.5 (ACARA, 2013) now being implemented in Queensland asks teachers and curriculum designers to incorporate the cross curriculum priority (CCP)of Indigenous issues through Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures. In the Australian Curriculum English, (AC:E) one way to address this CCP is by including texts by and about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. With the rise of promising and accomplished young, Indigenous filmmakers such as Ivan Sen, Rachael Perkins, Wayne Blair and Warwick Thornton, this guide focuses on the suitable films for schools implementing the Australian Curriculum in terms of cultural representations. This annotated guide suggests some films suitable for inclusion in classroom study and suggests some companion texts (novels, plays, television series and animations, documentaries, poetry and short stories) that may be studied alongside the films. Some of these are by Indigenous filmmakers and writers, and others features Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island representations in character and/or themes.

Violencia cultural producto del desplazamiento forzado. Estudio de caso: mujeres desplazadas del Caquetá a Bogotá. Período 2002-2010

En la presente investigación se realiza un diagnóstico de la forma en la que las prácticas culturales de Bogotá generan violencia cultural en las mujeres desplazadas del Caquetá, en el período 2002-2010.

Terrorist transgressions: gendered representations of the terrorist in visual culture

The aim of Terrorist Transgressions is to analyse the myths inscribed in images of the terrorist and identify how agency is attributed to representation through invocations and inversions of gender stereotypes. In modern discourses on the terrorist the horror experienced in Western societies was the appearance of a new sense of the vulnerability of the body politic, and therefore of the modern self with its direct dependency on security and property. The terrorist has been constructed as the epitome of transgression against economic resources and moral, physical and political boundaries. Although terrorism has been the focus of intense academic activity, cultural representations of the terrorist have received less attention. Yet terrorism is dependent on spectacle and the topic is subject to forceful exposure in popular media. While the terrorist is predominantly aligned with masculinity, women have been active in terrorist organisations since the late 19th century and in suicidal terrorist attacks since the 1980s. Such attacks have confounded constructions of femininity and masculinity, with profound implications for the gendering of violence and horror. The publication arises from an AHRC networking grant, 2011-12, with Birkbeck, and includes collaboration with the army at Sandhurst RMA. The project relates to a wider investigation into feminism, violence and contemporary art.

Striking a balance: cultural conflicts or cultural adaptation

This paper explores the cultural representations embedded in the EFL textbooks for Primary English language education in China. In particular, it examines how cultural globalisation and localisation are competing with each other as the educational policy in English attempts to strike a balance between the local culture and ‘western’ culture. Using discourse analysis as an analytical framework, this paper argues that culture as a social construct is constantly evolving and traditions are fused with new cultural values and worldviews brought about by globalisation. As such, the analysis of the textbooks illustrates that culture as a social phenomenon has changed over the decades and glocalisation is gaining new perspectives in English language education in China. Importantly, the analysis shows that new cultural elements have been established and cultural globalisation has taken place when local culture adapt ‘foreign’ cultures to suit local needs. Acknowledging that there are cultural conflicts and competing ideologies in the texts, the paper argues that these conflicts and contradictories can be used to develop students’ critical language awareness and foster their critical analytical abilities. Importantly, the analysis can facilitate the students’ English language learning by providing them with opportunities to read beyond texts per se to cultural politics and practices. Juxtaposing different cultural and ideological perspectives can help students understand that cultural values are socially and politically constructed when they are confronted with complex linguistic and cultural environments in reality.

Tradução como representação cultural: olhares sobre o Brasil

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Motivação e representação cultural no ensino e aprendizagem de inglês como língua estrangeira dos alunos da Licenciatura em Letras da UFPA

Nos últimos anos a questão cultural tem ganhado cada vez mais espaço nas pesquisas da área de ensino-aprendizagem de línguas. Uma vez que os materiais didáticos estão entre os principais suportes no processo de ensino-aprendizagem de línguas estrangeiras, as representações de cultura que estes materiais apresentam podem influenciar nas crenças e atitudes dos aprendentes em relação à língua alvo e, consequentemente, em sua motivação para aprendê-la. Compreende-se que cultura envolve uma gama de aspectos diferentes, entretanto, ao analisar o livro didático de inglês como língua estrangeira Touchstone, observamos que as amostras de cultura apresentadas nesse material referem-se basicamente a aspectos histórico-geográficos e informações turísticas. Observamos também que, em relação ao contato com a cultura da língua alvo, os aprendentes da disciplina Culturas Anglófonas podem ter atitudes variadas. Assim, esta pesquisa apresenta reflexões acerca da considerável limitação da representação cultural no livro analisado, tendo como foco principal a maneira como esta afeta a motivação do aprendente. Além disso, esta dissertação apresenta reflexões sobre como a cultura do outro pode ser abordada de maneira a enriquecer a percepção de sua própria cultura.

AIDS and pro-social television : industry, policy and Australian television drama

This thesis examines the intersection of popular cultural representations of HIV and AIDS and the discourses of public health campaigns. Part Two provides a comprehensive record of all HIV related storylines in Australian television drama from the first AIDS episode of The Flying Doctors in 1986 to the ongoing narrative of Pacific Drive, with its core HIV character, in 1996. Textual representations are examined alongside the agency of "cultural technicians" working within the television industry. The framework for this analysis is established in Part One of the thesis, which examines the discursive contexts for speaking about HIV and AIDS established through national health policy and the regulatory and industry framework for broadcasting in Australia. The thesis examines the dominant liberal democratic framework for representation of HIV I AIDS and adopts a Foucauldian understanding of the processes of governmentality to argue that during the period of the 1980s and 1990s a strand of social democratic discourse combined with practices of self management and the management of the Australian population. The actions of committed agents within both domains of popular culture and health education ensured that more challenging expressions of HIV found their way into public culture.

"The greatest harbour in the world" : Sydney Harbour as a contested space in Australian culture

It is a matter of public record that the former Prime Minister of Australia, the Honourable Paul Keating, upset certain Australian architects with his intervention into the redevelopment of the 22-hectare “Barangaroo” site on Sydney Harbour. While Keating’s intervention continues to provide engaging theatre for Sydney residents the debate is also an interesting expression of the narrative of contestation that has been played out historically about the waters of Sydney Harbour. From a cultural studies perspective, the Harbour, and the Sydney Harbour Bridge, has been for many years a political and imaginative space that captures a diversity of local and national preoccupations. Keating’s announcement that planners have a “once-in-200-year opportunity to call a halt to the kind of encroachments we have seen in the past” is in fact another moment in the long history of disputation over the impact of the man-made environment on the natural landform in this area. This paper addresses the spaces of Sydney Harbour as represented in recent debates and in writing and film from previous decades. The argument suggests that the Harbour is a complex site of public and private enactment that is played out in a diverse range of cultural representations. In particular, the paper notes the work of Michel de Certeau on the mythic qualities of certain spaces in relation to the space of the Harbour. ‘The Greatest Harbour in the World’ argues that the Harbour, and the Bridge, fulfils a particular historical and cultural function that gives this space a set of meanings that are well beyond the typical parameters of urban development.