Representations of people in foreign language textbooks

Abstract

In recent years, English has further strengthened its dominant position in the field of foreign languages (FL); on the other hand, countries all over Europe are facing pluri-cultural and pluri-linguistic challenges. Therefore, the recognition of the value of FL has become more precious, and the FL textbook market is growing. FL textbooks are not only tools for learning, but they (need to) reflect cultural aspects, attitudes and social dynamics. The purpose of this study is to analyse several FL textbooks in terms of the representation of non-white people, as transmitted by their visual presence, aiming to reveal how images of ‘non-whites’ are integrated into the selected textbooks, pursuing (a) whether principles of choice are different in the chosen three different linguistic areas, (b) if there seems to be any awareness developed, and (c) if the findings might reveal that some series are biased in terms of ‘non-whites’ representation.