Volume 2, Issue 3 December 2019, pp. 120–141 
Regular Articles
"I don't want to be stereotypical, but..." Norwegian EFL learners' awareness of and willingness to challenge visual stereotypes
Cecilie Waallann Brown 
1
1 University of Stavanger, NORWAY 
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29140/ice.v2n3.194
Abstract
This article reports on a study that investigated Norwegian upper secondary pupils' visual stereotypes, as well as their awareness of and willingness to challenge these stereotypes before and after participating in an educational intervention. In the intervention, critical visual literacy was introduced as one approach to teaching about culture in English foreign language (EFL) teaching. Over the course of 16 weeks, the pupils were engaged in tasks that required them to reflect on visual stereotypes embedded in commonplace ways of representing the world, the origins of these stereotypes, their socio-political consequences, and ways of promoting social justice through taking informed action. Focus group interviews conducted with 30 pupils before and after the intervention comprise the main data set for the current article. These were supplemented by texts produced by the pupils during the intervention. The results of the study showed that the pupils were less inclined to explicitly stereotype based on ethnicity or religion after the intervention. The pupils also displayed an increased awareness of stereotyping as a process, which led some of the groups to challenge specific stereotypes and one group to challenge the process of stereotyping in general. These findings are encouraging for EFL teaching, where one of the aims is to encourage greater understanding between people with different cultural backgrounds.
Copyright
© Cecilie Waallann Brown
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Suggested citation
Brown, C.W. (2019). "I don't want to be stereotypical, but..." Norwegian EFL learners' awareness of and willingness to challenge visual stereotypes. Intercultural Communication Education, 2(3), 120–141. https://doi.org/10.29140/ice.v2n3.194
Related Articles:
Promoting acts of kindness on campus: Views of Chinese international students in the UK
Ming Cheng, Olalekan Adekola
Intercultural Communication Education Published: 30 April, 2022, Volume 5(1), 17–32. 
Tasks, self-efficacy, and L2 motivational self system in an online emergency EFL speaking class: A mixed-methods study
Nguyễn Nhật Quang, Phạm Nhật Linh, Nguyễn Thị Thu Hiền
The JALT CALL Journal Published: 2 April, 2022, Volume 18(1), 1–33.
Implementing backward design to foster intercultural communicative competence in textbook-based curricula: A proposed framework for English language practitioners
Hiba B. Ibrahim
Intercultural Communication Education Published: 30 April, 2022, Volume 5(1), 1–16.
Challenges and responses: A Complex Dynamic Systems approach to exploring language teacher agency in a blended classroom
Grace Yue Qi, Yuping Wang
The JALT CALL Journal Published: 9 April, 2022, Volume 18(1), 54–82.
The effects of corpus use on learning L2 collocations
Yoshiho Satake
The JALT CALL Journal Published: 9 April, 2022, Volume 18(1), 34–53.
Captions and learnability factors in learning grammar from audio-visual input
Anastasia Pattemore, Carmen Muñoz
The JALT CALL Journal Published: 9 April, 2022, Volume 18(1), 83–109.
Chinese language learners evaluating machine translation accuracy
Li-Ching Chang
The JALT CALL Journal Published: 9 April, 2022, Volume 18(1), 110–136.
Statistical analysis of the impact of the e-learning platform Furago on French learners’ listening skills
Albéric Derible, Éric Wiel
The JALT CALL Journal Published: 9 April, 2022, Volume 18(1), 137–161.
Work integrated language learning: Boundary crossing, connectivity, and L2 affordances
Linda Febring, Alastair Henry
Migration and Language Education Published: 29 April, 2022, Volume 3(1), 1–22.
YouTube for second language learning: What does the research tell us?
Gilbert Dizon
Australian Journal of Applied Linguistics Published: 30 April, 2022, Volume 5(1), 19–26.