"Great Technology, Football and...": Malaysian Language Learners' Stereotypes about Germany

Die folgende Studie untersucht stereotypische Wahrnehmungen in Bezug auf 'Deutsche' und 'Deutsche Kultur' unter den Studenten der Germanistik an einer großen öffentlichen Universität in Malaysia. Das Forschungsprojekt beleuchtet nicht nur stereotypische Repräsentationen des Landes 'Deutschland', sondern hinterfragt auch deren Bedeutung und Salienz - in einer Weise, wie es bisher noch nicht geschehen ist. Die Forschungsergebnisse haben erbracht, dass die auf Deutschland bezogenen stereotypischen Wahrnehmungen der Student(inn)en sowohl vielschichtig als auch vielfältig waren. Sie waren darüber hinaus auch überwiegend positiver Natur. An der Spitze des Deutschlandbildes der befragten Student(inn)en standen die drei Kategorien 'Technologie', 'berühmte Persönlichkeiten' - überwiegend Fuß...This study focuses on stereotypes about Germany, its culture and people, held by learners of German in a big public university in Malaysia. It examines not only the stereotypical representations of the target language country but also assesses its favourability and salience, which has not been done previously. The findings revealed that the students' stereotypes about Germany were varied and diverse. Also, they were overwhelmingly positive. The top three salient categories of images about Germany were related to technology, famous personalities - for the most part football players and scientists - and cars. The findings also indicated that very few references had been made to German culture and to its great cultural figures. The results of the present study suggest that students could benefit from a wider and deeper exposure to German culture in the language classroom

Foco no Brasil: imagens do país por estudantes malaios de Português do Brasil

This study explores images about Brazil held by learners of Brazilian Portuguese in a big public university in Malaysia. It employs a mixed methods approach for this purpose. In the qualitative component of the study, the students’ images about Brazil were explored by analyzing their responses to an open-ended question and grouping the resultant images into categories. In the quantitative strand, favourability of the images about Brazil was accessed using the ratings that each respondent had assigned to his or her images about Brazil. The findings revealed that references to football and sporting events made up the largest share in the kaleidoscope of images about Brazil. For the most part, the students’ images about the target language country, culture and people were highly positive. At the same time, the findings indicated that the students’ mental pictures about Brazil were limited to popularly held country stereotypes. The article concludes with a discussion on pedagogical implications of the findings.Keywords: country image, foreign language education, Brazilian Portuguese, foreign language learners, mixed methods, applied linguistics.Este estudo focaliza as imagens que aprendizes de Português do Brasil têm sobre esse país. Os participantes do estudo estudam em uma grande universidade pública da Malásia. O estudo emprega a abordagem de métodos mistos. No componente qualitativo da pesquisa, as imagens dos alunos sobre o Brasil foram exploradas através da análise de suas respostas a uma pergunta aberta e através do agrupamento das imagens em categorias. No componente quantitativo, o caráter favorável das imagens sobre o Brasil foi medido usando-se o valor que cada participante atribuiu as suas imagens sobre o Brasil. Os resultados revelaram que as referências ao futebol e a eventos esportivos constituíram a maior parte do calidoscópio de imagens sobre o país. Em sua maioria, as imagens sobre o povo, a cultura e o país de sua língua alvo foram altamente positivas. Ao mesmo tempo, os resultados indicaram que as imagens mentais dos estudantes estavam limitadas a estereótipos populares sobre o Brasil. O artigo é encerrado com uma discussão sobre as implicações pedagógicas dos resultados.Palavras-chave: imagem do país, ensino de língua estrangeira, Português do Brasil, aprendizes de línguas estrangeiras, métodos mistos, linguística aplicada

Focus on Brazil: Country images held by Malaysian learners of Brazilian Portuguese

This study explores images about Brazil held by learners of Brazilian Portuguese in a big public university in Malaysia. It employs a mixed methods approach for this purpose. In the qualitative component of the study, the students’ images about Brazil were explored by analyzing their responses to an open-ended question and grouping the resultant images into categories. In the quantitative strand, favourability of the images about Brazil was accessed using the ratings that each respondent had assigned to his or her images about Brazil. The findings revealed that references to football and sporting events made up the largest share in the kaleidoscope of images about Brazil. For the most part, the students’ images about the target language country, culture and people were highly positive. At the same time, the findings indicated that the students’ mental pictures about Brazil were limited to popularly held country stereotypes. The article concludes with a discussion on pedagogical implications of the findings.Keywords: country image, foreign language education, Brazilian Portuguese, foreign language learners, mixed methods, applied linguistics.</p

"Great technology, football and ..." : Malaysian language learners' stereotypes about Germany

This study focuses on stereotypes about Germany, its culture and people, held by learners of German in a big public university in Malaysia. It examines not only the stereotypical representations of the target language country but also assesses its favourability and salience, which has not been done previously. The findings revealed that the students' stereotypes about Germany were varied and diverse. Also, they were overwhelmingly positive. The top three salient categories of images about Germany were related to technology, famous personalities – for the most part football players and scientists – and cars. The findings also indicated that very few references had been made to German culture and to its great cultural figures. The results of the present study suggest that students could benefit from a wider and deeper exposure to German culture in the language classroom.Die folgende Studie untersucht stereotypische Wahrnehmungen in Bezug auf 'Deutsche' und 'Deutsche Kultur' unter den Studenten der Germanistik an einer großen öffentlichen Universität in Malaysia. Das Forschungsprojekt beleuchtet nicht nur stereotypische Repräsentationen des Landes 'Deutschland', sondern hinterfragt auch deren Bedeutung und Salienz - in einer Weise, wie es bisher noch nicht geschehen ist. Die Forschungsergebnisse haben erbracht, dass die auf Deutschland bezogenen stereotypischen Wahrnehmungen der Student(inn)en sowohl vielschichtig als auch vielfältig waren. Sie waren darüber hinaus auch überwiegend positiver Natur. An der Spitze des Deutschlandbildes der befragten Student(inn)en standen die drei Kategorien 'Technologie', 'berühmte Persönlichkeiten' – überwiegend Fußballer und Wissenschaftler – und 'Automobile'. Die Studie zeigte aber auch, dass es unter den Befragten nur ein sehr geringes Bewusstsein in Bezug auf 'Deutsche Kultur' und 'Kulturelle Persönlichkeiten' gab. Die dargelegten Forschungsresultate legen den Schluss nahe, dass Student(inn)en deutlich von einer weit intensiveren Behandlung deutscher Kultur im Sprachunterricht profitieren würden

Foco no Brasil: imagens do país por estudantes malaios de Português do Brasil

This study explores images about Brazil held by learners of Brazilian Portuguese in a big public university in Malaysia. It employs a mixed methods approach for this purpose. In the qualitative component of the study, the students’ images about Brazil were explored by analyzing their responses to an open-ended question and grouping the resultant images into categories. In the quantitative strand, favourability of the images about Brazil was accessed using the ratings that each respondent had assigned to his or her images about Brazil. The findings revealed that references to football and sporting events made up the largest share in the kaleidoscope of images about Brazil. For the most part, the students’ images about the target language country, culture and people were highly positive. At the same time, the findings indicated that the students’ mental pictures about Brazil were limited to popularly held country stereotypes. The article concludes with a discussion on pedagogical implications of the findings.Keywords: country image, foreign language education, Brazilian Portuguese, foreign language learners, mixed methods, applied linguistics.Este estudo focaliza as imagens que aprendizes de Português do Brasil têm sobre esse país. Os participantes do estudo estudam em uma grande universidade pública da Malásia. O estudo emprega a abordagem de métodos mistos. No componente qualitativo da pesquisa, as imagens dos alunos sobre o Brasil foram exploradas através da análise de suas respostas a uma pergunta aberta e através do agrupamento das imagens em categorias. No componente quantitativo, o caráter favorável das imagens sobre o Brasil foi medido usando-se o valor que cada participante atribuiu as suas imagens sobre o Brasil. Os resultados revelaram que as referências ao futebol e a eventos esportivos constituíram a maior parte do calidoscópio de imagens sobre o país. Em sua maioria, as imagens sobre o povo, a cultura e o país de sua língua alvo foram altamente positivas. Ao mesmo tempo, os resultados indicaram que as imagens mentais dos estudantes estavam limitadas a estereótipos populares sobre o Brasil. O artigo é encerrado com uma discussão sobre as implicações pedagógicas dos resultados.Palavras-chave: imagem do país, ensino de língua estrangeira, Português do Brasil, aprendizes de línguas estrangeiras, métodos mistos, linguística aplicada