Representations of Learning Languages in Visual Narratives: What The Images of English School Sites Show

Abstract This article is about the discourse on learning languages construed and transmitted by images in websites of private schools specialized in foreign languages teaching, evidencing the representations construed by these establishments to society. The argument favors the consideration of images in language studies, and the theoretical basis adopted includes the socio-semiotic approach to language, the Grammar of Visual Design, and the concept of social representation. The corpus analysis evidences the representation of the learning in optimal conditions of comfort, homogeneity, with the presence of resources and diverse instruments, in which the student is an agent of processes related to linguistic reception. It is concluded that these visual narratives contribute to the idea widely spread in society that the ideal language learning happens in private specialized schools and is reserved for few people.

摘要 本研究聚焦于外语私立教学机构网站中依托图像构建与传播的语言学习话语，旨在揭示此类办学主体向社会传递的形象表征。本研究倡导将视觉元素纳入语言研究范畴，所采用的理论基础包括语言社会符号学方法、《视觉设计语法》（Grammar of Visual Design）以及社会表征理论。语料分析结果显示，此类机构构建的语言学习形象具有如下特征：学习场景处于最优舒适与均质化的环境中，配备丰富的教学资源与多元工具，学生则是语言接收相关教学过程的核心主体。研究最终得出结论：这些视觉叙事强化了社会上广泛流传的一种观念——理想的语言学习应发生于专业私立教学机构，且仅为少数人群所专属。