María Martínez Lirola

Approaching the representation of Sub-Saharan immigrants in a sample from the Spanish press. Deconstructing stereotypes

Spain has become a country receiving immigrants in the last years. The majority of the items of news related to immigration that appear in the press exhibit negative characteristics. The main purpose of this article is to observe the linguistic and visual representation of Sub-Saharan immigrants in a sample of the Spanish press in order to answer the following research questions: how are Sub-Saharan immigrants portrayed linguistically and visually in the given press? What are the implications of the choices in language and images? The researcher collected all the pieces of news related to Sub-Saharan immigrants in the three most popular Spanish newspapers, i.e. El Pais, ABC and El Mundo from 1 June 2011 to 31 March 2013. Visual grammar and critical discourse analysis will be used in order to deconstruct the visual and linguistic representation of such immigrants. In addition, van Leeuwens [2008 Discourse and practice. New tools for critical discourse analysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press.] classifica...Spain has become a country receiving immigrants in the last years. The majority of the items of news related to immigration that appear in the press exhibit negative characteristics. The main purpose of this article is to observe the linguistic and visual representation of Sub-Saharan immigrants in a sample of the Spanish press in order to answer the following research questions: how are Sub-Saharan immigrants portrayed linguistically and visually in the given press? What are the implications of the choices in language and images? The researcher collected all the pieces of news related to Sub-Saharan immigrants in the three most popular Spanish newspapers, i.e. El País, ABC and El Mundo from 1 June 2011 to 31 March 2013. Visual grammar and critical discourse analysis will be used in order to deconstruct the visual and linguistic representation of such immigrants. In addition, van Leeuwens [2008 Discourse and practice. New tools for critical discourse analysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press.] classification of social actors will be used in the analysis. The analysis demonstrates that the representation of Sub-Saharan immigrants displays the following characteristics: they are represented as vulnerable, lacking autonomy, as victims, etc. This representation does not contribute to the fact that the autochthonous population favours the integration of immigrants into the socio-economic structure, exercising the same rights as the Spanish population.

Linguistic and visual strategies for portraying immigrants as people deprived of human rights

ABSTRACT The majority of news items on sub-Saharan immigrants in the Spanish press refer to their arrival by jumping the fences of Ceuta or Melilla or landing in small boats at the Spanish coast. The data in this article consist of all the news items published on the arrival of sub-Saharan immigrants in Spain by jumping the fences of Ceuta and Melilla, items that appeared in the digital editions of the two most popular Spanish newspapers, El País and ABC, from 1 January 2012 to 1 January 2015. The principles of critical discourse analysis and visual grammar are used to deconstruct the linguistic and visual portrayal of sub-Saharan immigrants when they try to enter Spain by jumping the fence. This research reveals that the immigrants jumping the fence at Melilla are represented as wild and dangerous. There is no reference to their human rights. The study thus aims to provide a visual analysis of the way in which the arrival of these immigrants is represented visually in two serious newspapers. In this way, the study aims to unveil visual ways of negative representation of immigrants, who are portrayed as dangerous invaders.ABSTRACTThe majority of news items on sub-Saharan immigrants in the Spanish press refer to their arrival by jumping the fences of Ceuta or Melilla or landing in small boats at the Spanish coast. The data in this article consist of all the news items published on the arrival of sub-Saharan immigrants in Spain by jumping the fences of Ceuta and Melilla, items that appeared in the digital editions of the two most popular Spanish newspapers, El Pais and ABC, from 1 January 2012 to 1 January 2015. The principles of critical discourse analysis and visual grammar are used to deconstruct the linguistic and visual portrayal of sub-Saharan immigrants when they try to enter Spain by jumping the fence. This research reveals that the immigrants jumping the fence at Melilla are represented as wild and dangerous. There is no reference to their human rights. The study thus aims to provide a visual analysis of the way in which the arrival of these immigrants is represented visually in two serious newspapers. In this way, ...

Potenciando el enfoque de la educación para la paz en la enseñanza universitaria española: una propuesta de actividades en asignaturas de lengua inglesa

Este articulo propone un enfoque pedagogico enmarcado en la educacion para la paz en la educacion superior, concretamente en dos asignaturas de lengua inglesa en el Grado en Estudios Ingleses. El fin de la propuesta es que el alumnado pueda adquirir competencias sociales como la comunicacion, la cooperacion o la resolucion efectiva de conflictos a la vez que desarrolla las distintas destrezas que se trabajan en una lengua extranjera (escucha, habla, lectura, escritura e interaccion). Para llevar a cabo el estudio se disenaron actividades centradas en temas sociales que destacaran la importancia de la paz y la justicia, todas ellas enmarcadas en la educacion para la paz. Ademas, se diseno una encuesta con el fin de conocer la opinion del alumnado universitario sobre las actividades y la metodologia empleada. Los resultados ponen de manifiesto que el alumnado es consciente de que el enfoque pedagogico de la educacion para la paz le ayuda a su formacion integral, a adquirir distintos tipos de competencias y a mejorar las destrezas linguisticas. Las actividades disenadas y los resultados de la encuesta son un ejemplo claro de un proceso de ensenanza-aprendizaje que va mas alla de aprender contenidos sino que en todo momento se potencia una ensenanza basada en competencias con el fin de que el alumnado asuma un papel activo y comprometido con la sociedad.

Multimodal analysis of a sample of political posters in Ireland during and after the Celtic Tiger

espanolThe aim of this research paper is to analyse the key political posters made for the campaigns of Irish political party Fianna Fail framed in the Celtic Tiger (1997-2008) and post-Celtic Tiger years (2009-2012). I will then focus on the four posters of the candidate in the elections that took place in 1997, 2002, 2007 and 2011 with the intention of observing first how the leader is represented, and later on pinpointing the similarities and possible differences between each. This is important in order to observe the main linguistic and visual strategies used to persuade the audience to vote that party and to highlight the power of the politician. Critical discourse analysis tools will be helpful to identify the main discursive strategies employed to persuade the Irish population to vote in a certain direction. Van Leeuwen’s (2008) social actor theory will facilitate the understanding of how participants are represented in the corpus under analysis. Finally, the main tools of Kress and van Leeuwen’s visual grammar (2006) will be applied for the analysis of the images. The study reveals that politicians are represented in a consistently positive way, with status and formal appearance so that people are persuaded to vote for the party they represent because they trust them as political leaders. The study, thus, points out that the poster is a powerful tool used in election campaigns to highlight the power of political parties EnglishEl proposito de esta investigacion es analizar los principales posters politicos empleados en las campanas electorales el partido irlandes Fianna Fail enmarcado en los anos de los periodos denominados Celtic Tiger (1997-2008) y post-Celtic Tiger (2009- 2012). La atencion se centrara en los cuatro posters del candidato a las elecciones que tuvieron lugar en 1997, 2002, 2007 y 2011 con la intencion de observar como se representa el lider y en senalar las similitudes y diferencias entre los mismos. Esto es importante con el fin de observar las principales estrategias linguisticas y visuales empleadas para persuadir a la audiencia para que vote al partido y para destacar al politico representado. La perspectiva del analisis critico del discurso sera util para identificar las principales estrategias discursivas empleadas para persuadir a la poblacion irlandesa a votar en una direccion determinada. Las herramientas de la teoria de van Leeuwen (2008) sobre los actores sociales facilitara la comprension del modo en que los participantes son representados en el corpus objeto de estudio. Finalmente, tambien se emplearan las principales herramientas de la gramatica visual que proponen Kress y van Leeuwen (2006) al analisis de las imagenes. El estudio revela que se representa a los politicos de forma positiva, con estatus y apariencia formal de modo que se persuade a la gente para que vote al partido que representan porque confian en ellos como lideres politicos. Asi, este estudio senala que el poster es una herramienta poderosa empleada por los partidos politicos en las campanas electorales

Aproximación a la educación para la paz en la enseñanza universitaria: Algunas actividades prácticas *

Este articulo presenta una propuesta pedagogica basada en la educacion para la paz en una clase de lengua inglesa en la educacion universitaria, en concreto en el Grado en Estudios Ingleses. Se presentan algunas actividades cooperativas (analisis de textos escritos, escritura de un ensayo y participacion en debates cooperativos) y se relacionan con algunos de los principios de la educacion para la paz. Ademas, se senalara la pertinencia de las actividades propuestas para trabajar distintos tipos de competencias que sean de utilidad para el alumnado en el mercado laboral como el respeto a la diversidad, la cooperacion y la resolucion pacifica de los conflictos. Se incluyen los resultados de una encuesta con el fin de conocer la opinion del alumnado sobre la educacion para la paz y las competencias y destrezas que ha desarrollado. Una de las principales conclusiones es que las actividades propuestas contribuyen a potenciar las relaciones interpersonales pacificas entre el alumnado. Ademas, las actividades presentadas establecen relaciones entre lo que se ensena en el aula y la vida real

Exploring ideology and language in Paton's Too late the phalarope (1953): A contextual approach

Abstract In this article we explore the relationship between Patons response to ideology, which also reflects that of his own religious convictions, and his conception of human identity in his novel Too late the phalarope (1953), paying attention to some structures of marked syntax in the novel. For its framework of analysis this study employs Systemic Functional Linguistics and Critical Discourse Analysis, to establish the relationship between Patons discourse and that of his society. The article, thus, aims to provide both a textual and a contextual view of Patons ideology and his resistance to the hegemonic ideology of his time, through a discussion of the language he uses in the novel.