Intercultural encounters through two picturebooks in the lower primary EFL classroom in Denmark

Abstract

Intercultural encounters are important sites for intercultural learning. Hence the teaching of English as a foreign language should include possibilities for learners to engage in such encounters. It is theoretically suggested and empirically supported, that encounters with texts and images can be fruitful for intercultural learning. Picturebooks constitute one form of literary text that is suitable for teaching foreign languages to children. This study suggests that purposefully selected picturebooks can create affordances for intercultural encounters in the early English as a foreign language classroom, thus contributing to intercultural learning from an early age. Selected learner data collected in a qualitative multiple case study with learners from 8 to10 years old, interacting with two English language picturebooks, were analyzed using deductive, qualitative content analysis. The analyses showed that learners displayed awareness of several intercultural encounters with and between characters in the picturebooks, especially encounters that included the two child protagonists. These encounters were based on multiple cultural group affiliations, including affiliations based on a more traditional as well as an extended view of culture, which included non-human groups. It is concluded that, based on a non-essentialist view of culture, the selected picturebooks and their teaching sequences created affordances for learners’ awareness of different cultural affiliations, which is considered a prerequisite for engagement in intercultural encounters.