Stereotyping in the representation of the textual content of narrative texts through visual reformulations.

MELINA PORTO

Foreign Language Annals

American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages

Lugar: New York; Año: 2003 vol. 36 p. 347 - 369

0015-718X

Revista indexada en (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1944-9720):Academic OneFile (GALE Cengage)Current Contents: Social & Behavioral Sciences (Thomson Reuters)Education Full Text (HW Wilson)Education Index/Abstracts (EBSCO Publishing)Educator?s Reference Complete (GALE Cengage)ERA: Educational Research Abstracts Online (T&F)ERIC: Educational Resources Information Center (CSC)IBR & IBZ: International Bibliographies of Periodical Literature (KG Saur)InfoTrac (GALE Cengage)MLA International Bibliography (MLA)OmniFile Full Text Mega Edition (HW Wilson)OmniFile Full Text Select (HW Wilson)ProQuest Central (ProQuest)ProQuest Central: Professional Edition (ProQuest)ProQuest Education Journals (ProQuest)ProQuest Research Library (ProQuest)SCOPUS (Elsevier)Social Sciences Citation Index (Thomson Reuters)This study investigated the process of stereotyping in the representation of the content of narrative texts through visual reformulations. 219 visual reformulations produced in response to three narrative texts about Christmas celebrations were analyzed (one in Spanish, the subjects´ native tongue, and two in English as a foreign language). Subjects were Argentine college students (prospective teachers and translators of English, Caucasian, mostly female, middle class) between 19 and 21 years of age enrolled in English Language II at the National University of La Plata in Argentina. The stereotypes in the visual reformulations were classified into two large groups: those corresponding to the native culture and those referring to the target (alien) culture. Stereotypes were further classified into three categories of reference: main characters (personality and/or physical appearance), the Christmas celebration itself, and the storyline. A selection of typical visual reformulations is analyzed here. In general, the visual reformulations did not sufficiently capture the cultural content of the texts and embodied a superficial approach plagued with stereotypes. The students? perceptions of otherness were limited to what was exotic or exciting and did not reflect genuine efforts to become familiar with what was strange. The study thus revealed the learners´ inability to transcend their cultural biases and points to an urgent need to address stereotypes in the classroom.