Representing language, culture, and language users in textbooks: A critical approach to swahili multiculturalism

Abstract

Using a framework of critical multiculturalism and contrasting it to liberal and conservative approaches to multiculturalism (Kubota, 2004), this article offers a critical analysis of the representations of Swahili users and their cultures in five widely used introductory Swahili as a foreign language textbooks. Findings indicate that while one book takes a conservative approach to multiculturalism, the liberal approach dominates, with reference made to both coastal Swahili first language users and a variety of second language users. However, because all of the textbooks discuss a singular abstract culture without connecting it to any of the categories of Swahili users they identify, the result of both liberal and conservative approaches is a failure to teach culture. The article concludes with suggestions for using critical multiculturalism to help learners understand the diverse linguistic and cultural practices and perspectives of language users rather than abstract notions of a (standard) language or a unified culture.

Current Trends in Critical Discourse Analyses of Textbooks: A Look at Selected Literature

“…Van Dijk (2011) describes "othering" as the process by which discourse either sufficiently presents or omits information that divides or segregates a particular community or group as 'them' or, sometimes insidiously, as "not us" (Machin & Mayr, 2012). These social injustices were exposed in studies of social conditioning (e.g., Chiu, 2011, Borhaug, 2014, where certain communities were marginalized in the content (Chu, 2015;Eriksen, 2018;Maposa, 2015;Song, 2013;Thompson, 2013;Xiong, 2012) or by "othering" certain groups as less important to national interests (Camase, 2009;Popson, 2001) or less important than an academic pursuit (Lee, 2011) or government immigration policies (Gulliver, 2010). A curiosity of these trends in the literature are the methods of analysis; while Fairclough (1992) is the most strongly represented approach to CDS across all literature, in this contextual category, content analyses of various, unspecified types or Wodak and Meyer (2015), or Gee (2004), or Van Dijk (1993, or Van Leeuwen (1996, 2006) are diversely represented.…”

Aspects of Vocabulary Knowledge in German Textbooks

“…For discussion on culture in textbooks, see Kramsch (). For a more recent discussion of issues relating to the presentation of culture in textbooks, see Thompson (). Meunier and Gouverneur () and Harwood () both provided a review of research on textbooks, including some discussions on studies that analyzed textbook vocabulary. The following textbooks were used in this study, cited here with a corresponding code to which they are referred throughout the article: Textbook 1: Di Donato, Clude, and Vansant (); Textbook 2: Lovik, Guy, and Chavez (); Textbook 3: Moeller, Adoph, Hoecherl‐Alden, Berger, and Lalande (); Textbook 4: Sevin, Seven, and Brockman (); and Textbook 5: Tschirner, Nikolai, and Terrell (). We have limited our analysis here to the printed textbooks themselves and not any supplementary materials, including grammar exercise workbooks, online activities, or pronunciation training manuals that accompany the textbooks. For example, in one exercise in the textbook Vorsprung (Lovik et al, 2012), students were provided with vocabulary like Hamburger/Bratwurst essen [eat hamburgers/bratwurst], which they needed to manipulate into a question like Isst du lieber Bratwurst oder Hamburger? [Would you rather eat bratwurst or hamburgers?]…”

“…For discussion on culture in textbooks, see Kramsch (). For a more recent discussion of issues relating to the presentation of culture in textbooks, see Thompson ().…”

Anaconda, Jet Fuel, White Robes, and Miaow Miaow: The Argot of Women Prisoners

“…The language of subgroups, subcultures, or speech communities (Thompson, 2013) may include idiosyncratic expressions that do not exist in the formal language of the larger society or “borrowed” words that are assigned new meanings or are used in novel contexts (Coates, 2016). These unique combinations of formal language and contrived meanings adopted by subgroups are termed “argot.” Nowhere is the understanding and immersion of oneself in a particular argot as important as in prison.…”