FRAMING ALBANIAN LANGUAGE AND CULTURE THROUGH COMMUNIST LENSES. (AN ANALYSIS OF A TEXTBOOK OF ALBANIAN AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
FRAMING ALBANIAN LANGUAGE AND CULTURE THROUGH COMMUNIST LENSES. (AN ANALYSIS OF A TEXTBOOK OF ALBANIAN AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

Summary/Abstract: In terms of cultural diplomacy, countries have been using various mechanisms, some aiming at getting their language taught around the world. Teaching materials and books are specifically designed to best convey the image of the country to language-learning foreign students. Textbooks for foreign languages are part of larger discursive and pedagogical practices, thus being historically embedded in the political, cultural, and social context. The present paper examines the most common frames used to project the image of Albania, its political regime, and its culture in the textbook ‘Gjuha Shqipe 3’ (1981), (Albanian language 3). This textbook for advanced learners of the Albanian language was published under communist rule. Following a framing analysis method, we determine which cultural/political/historical aspects of Albania are made more salient in the textbook for the sake of perpetuating and imposing the ideology of the communist regime. In the textbook, there are multiple forms used to display a glorious communist image of Albania: the reading materials, the illustrations, as well as the grammar sections are all devices displaying the omnipresent communist ideology. This approach is important to understand how textbooks for foreign language learners shape the image of a country by complying with the dominant ideology and the language policy of that specific country.

• Details
• Contents