ERIC Number: EJ1185985
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018
Pages: 17
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1051-144X
EISSN: N/A
Hit over the Head with Hegemony: Relations of Power in Japanese and Taiwanese English School Ads
Journal of Visual Literacy, v37 n1 p1-17 2018
With the commodification of English education in East Asian societies, a robust advertising industry has arisen to attract consumers. In the project described here, I engaged in a critical content analysis of over 1000 advertisements for English educational products and services collected in Japan and Taiwan. My focus was on how social groups are portrayed in the visual components of these Ads. Results indicate that this imagery served to place individuals into positions as 'owners' or 'consumers' of the commodity of English by virtue of factors such as national origin and race, while also sidelining others through invisibility. Such results imply the ongoing workings of powerful beliefs associated with English tending to cement traditional hegemonies. Thus, this research supports the call for heightened attention to critical visual literacy in education while at the same time suggesting a need to redouble efforts to disrupt relations of dominance within English education.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Advertising, English (Second Language), Second Language Instruction, Content Analysis, Cross Cultural Studies, Imagery, Beliefs, Cultural Influences, Critical Literacy, Visual Literacy, Power Structure
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Japan; Taiwan
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A