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Article published In:
Linguistic Landscape
Vol. 3:2 (2017) ► pp.187–212

Exploring the perceptions of passers-by through the participatory documentary photography tool PhotoVoice

| Sakhnin College

Research in the linguistic landscape (LL) field underscores the need for investigating the passers-by’s perspectives. To explore how the passers-by perceive LLs, researchers often use questionnaires or interviews. This article suggests the use of an innovative research tool named PhotoVoice (Wang, Burris & Xiang, 1996), to shed light on the perception of signs by Israeli-Arab college students in their ideologically-laden area. After familiarizing the students with PhotoVoice and guiding questions for examining LLs, they were asked to capture photos of signs within their localities, analyze the messages embedded within, and write commentaries voicing their reflections. Thus, students themselves became both the data collectors and the analyzers. One of the highlighted categories was the absence of Arabic from commercial signs produced by Arab business owners. Students’ “PhotoVoices” within this category reflected not only the linguistic reality of the commercial signs within Arab localities, but also the ways such space was experienced by them as local inhabitants. Such findings demonstrate how, through PhotoVoice, LLs can become a stimulus for profound cognitive and emotional reflections of passers-by toward the LL.

Keywords: Israel, Arabic, minority, PhotoVoice, commercial signs, passers-by, emotional reflections
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The linguistic landscape reality in Israel
  • 3.Using PhotoVoice in linguistic landscape research
  • 4.Methodology
    • 4.1Research context and participants
    • 4.2Data collection process
    • 4.3Data analysis
    • 4.4The commercial signs category
  • 5.Findings
    • 5.1Stirring negative feelings
    • 5.2Negligence and self-disrespect
    • 5.3Pride in own language
    • 5.4Language loss
    • 5.5Language preservation
    • 5.6Searching for reasons and possible justifications
      • 5.6.1Practicality
      • 5.6.2English is prestigious
      • 5.6.3Hebrew is prestigious
    • 5.7Catering to Hebrew non-readers
    • 5.8Need for change
    • 5.9Lack of mutuality
  • 6.Further scrutiny into students’ photos and voices
    • 6.1The linguistic reality
    • 6.2The perspectives of local inhabitants
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
Published online: 19 October 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.3.2.04hay
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