Diversidade cultural em livros didáticos de alemão como língua estrangeira: uma análise contrastiva para ampliação de horizontes

Abstract

This research work is the result of a personal demand for inclusive and reflective continuing teacher education, and its primary objective was to analyze the sociocultural diversities present in two didactic collections for teaching German as a Foreign Language (GFL) to teenagers between the ages of 10 and 16, entitled Magnet (2013) and Magnet neu (2019). As part of the qualitative paradigm, this is methodologically an exploratory research whose data were generated from the aforementioned corpus, being analyzed and discussed in a comparative way. In this sense, this research sought to assess how each of the selected GFL teaching collections presents sociocultural diversity in its images in the most diverse aspects, as well as comparing the differences and similarities adopted with regard to some specific categories, such as race and gender. The analysis, among other issues, sought to verify whether and to what extent there was an evolution in the treatment of these themes from one edition to another, taking as a beacon what Ferreira (2014; 2015) postulates about the role of the language textbook which, in most educational contexts, is the only instructional resource that guides pedagogical practices, and is therefore a voice of power and authority. Therefore, in addition to the aforementioned author, this research is placed under Applied Linguistics orientations, reflecting an intercultural perspective (Kleiman, 2013; Walsh, 2005; 2006), as well as drawing on discussions about representation presented by Hall (2006; 2016), the political nature of language teaching (Apple, 2006; Munanga, 2005; Rajagopalan, 2006; 2012), the concepts of culture, interculturality (Mendes, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2015; Scheyerl, 2012), multiculturalism (Mota, 2010) and some concepts linked to Critical Pedagogy (Freire, 1979). The results of the work, among other aspects, showed that the editions analyzed feature mostly white people, little diversity of cultures other than European culture and the figure of women is still heavily stereotyped. It is also important to highlight the importance of the critical and decolonial gaze of the GFL teacher towards the didactic material used so that, together with his/her students, everyone can build knowledge considering the local context in which they are inserted and recognizing the numerous gaps, rarely problematized, present in most didactic materials aimed at language teaching.