2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
The Use of Illustrations in Teaching English in Europe
| Project/Area Number |
22330228
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Sociology of education
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| Research Institution | The University of Tokyo |
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Principal Investigator |
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| Project Period (FY) |
2010-04-01 – 2015-03-31
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| Keywords | 挿絵 / 英語教育 / ヨーロッパ / フランス / ドイツ / イタリア / スペイン / ロシア |
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
Our research examines the function of illustrations and pictures in the English textbooks published in Europe. In general, visual aids are useful to learn foreign languages. They are, first and foremost, beautiful to look at, and show the cultural background to the learners who don’t know it. That’s why current English textbooks are full of images, most often in color. Despite this remark, we sometimes notice that several illustrations don’t match the description. We observe also some “talkative” illustrations which bring much more information than expected. Our analysis shows that they often are under the influence of political and historical context. Those visuals - originally made just for their appealing beauty - don’t illustrate texts but in fact political message like a Nazis slogan under the Third Reich. Reconsidering the illustrative function of images in English textbooks lets us know that learning foreign languages is fully aware of political scheming.
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| Free Research Field |
人文学
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