The Use of Visual Metonymy in English Textbooks for Young Learners: Evidence From Croatia

Abstract

Multimodal communication is found in modern discourse types, including textbooks, influencing the attitude and motivation in message interpretation. The paper will explore instances of visual metonymy in English textbooks for young learners (grades 1-4) approved by the Ministry of Science and Education in the Republic of Croatia. Metonymy is qualitatively simpler than conceptual metaphor (Rundblad & Annaz, 2010), requires less cognitive effort to process and is, therefore, more salient in textbooks for children. Previous studies (Guijarro, 2015; Littlemore, 2009) indicated its important role in both these fields of authors' interest. The occurrences of visual metonymy in the approved textbooks will be collected, analysed and grouped according to the metonymic target (actions, emotions, occupations, etc.). The results will show which concepts appear most commonly as metonymic targets in the visual form in the textbooks and attempt to determine their appropriateness for the chronological, mental and cognitive age of children. Also, the functions of visual metonymies will be identified.