Representations of the foreign and self-representations in language classes: theoretical and methodological approaches
Original Articles
This article proposes some theoretical references and methodological suggestions
on the subject of images of the foreign in language classrooms, or more precisely,
on the representations of foreign cultures and about one’s own culture. In order
to do this, a brief examination of the concept of social representations is taken
as a starting point, and then it is regarded the applicability of this concept in the
field of language didactics using an approach that advocates a reflexive look at
one’s own culture and, at the same time, at foreign cultures: the diversified de-
scription. This methodological approach aims to warn of the risks of a univocal
and reductive vision on this subject, and to give an active and critical role to both
the student and the teacher in the construction of self-images and images of the
foreign. However, it is not a question of offering pre-established formulas but of
presenting a range of conceptual and practical tools, which can be permanently
expanded and adapted, in order to undertake a reflexive process that allows the
(self-) representations to emerge, identify their sources and examine them with
a relativizing view