Week 8

Our readings for the week explored some different and similar interpretations of EFL/ESL texts and their images and messages.  It is interesting to read about how impactful images can be, or as Giaschi writes, “a picture is worth a thousand words.”  When you really think about it, who should be represented in EFL/ESL texts? Should it be British culture or “American culture?”  Hinkel writes about the complexity of EFL/ESL texts and materials and how they are rarely culturally neutral.  It is the teacher’s responsibility to apply mediums of instruction by using methods that reflect those mediums/ materials.  For example, it is important for teachers to discuss with their students the meanings of the images and what they represent.  In Mendes’s study, she explores how images in EFL/ESL texts, which represent English cultures shape students’ and teachers’ impressions of the target foreign-language culture.  I think it was interesting that she recognized that students had the ability and willingness, when asked, to share their ideas of race and power in the images in their textbooks.   Her findings contrast Giaschi’s belief that, “students of ESL may find it difficult or impossible to challenge the hidden meaning in the materials provided to them.  I think I would have to agree with Mendes in that students, given the opportunity, are able to express their ideas about the images and what they mean to them.  Mendes illustrates this in her study.  First of all, I thought it was very important that she first recognized her position of power as an experienced EFL instructor who is a White woman from Canada and considered it when doing her study.  She talks about how this may influence her participant’s responses.  However, then she proceeds to tell us that several of the participants are former students of hers so they would feel comfortable sharing their perspectives.  During her interviews, she found that most of her participants were able to express critical viewpoints about the images presented in their textbooks.  The participants noticed that whites were represented as an ‘elite’ race in the images, and blacks were represented as poor or powerless.  I also thought it was interesting that the white students noticed the underrepresentation of minority people in the textbooks more so than the two participants who were black and mulatto.  Mendes suggests that ESL textbook images do not explore migration, immigration, colonization or the intermixing of race and identity.  What kind of a message does this send to ESL/EFL students around the world?  According to one of the participants, it reinforces stereotypes such as, “White American families eating hamburgers.”  Giaschi also points out stereotypes of gender that are represented in ESL/EFL textbook images.  It is interesting to think about how just the positioning of men and women in an image can send such a strong message to the reader/viewer.  Overall, I liked that each reading explored different issues related to EFL/ESL texts and their images.