Several studies have reported the quasi-exclusive inclusion of cultural
elements of a given country in foreign language textbooks that teach this country’s
first\second language. This research builds on the findings of these studies by
carrying out cross-language analyses. First, it establishes geolinguistic boundaries
in a set of international English as a foreign language textbooks and French as a
foreign language textbooks by looking into the frequencies of words that refer
to geographical places and origins in 1,853 texts. Then, it uncovers the criteria
lying behind the definition of these boundaries. Indeed, this paper identifies four
geolinguistic areas in either set of textbooks: a “core target language speaking
area”, an “extended target language speaking area”, a “mutual influence area” and
a “remote area”. It also argues that the identification of the contents of these four
geolinguistic areas in a given international foreign-language textbook would supply
foreign language teaching professionals with information on the conception of the
speaking world of the target language that learners may receive from this textbook.
Furthermore, this identification may be useful for finding out whether it contains
geolinguistic areas whose contents match foreign language learners’ learning needs
and wants. It may be used to supplement if it includes geolinguistic areas whose
contents are not included.
Keywords:
International foreign-language textbooks, geolinguistic boundaries, English as a foreign language, French as a foreign language
Orlando, M. E. (2016). Geolinguistic Boundaries in International Foreign- Language Textbooks: A Cross-Language Analysis. Lenguas Modernas, (46), Pág. 63 – 79. Retrieved from https://revistadeantropologia.uchile.cl/index.php/LM/article/view/43396
