Navigating Aphantasia. Examining Challenges in EFL Textbook Tasks for Learners' Imagery Abilities

Seminar paper from the year 2023 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Miscellaneous, grade: 1.3, University of Potsdam (Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik), course: Vertiefungsmodul Fachdidaktik in den Sekundarstufen I und II Englisch, language: English, abstract: In this paper, I look at four textbooks that are used in secondary schools in Brandenburg, Germany, and examine the extent to which tasks: 1. rely on mental imagery, and 2. offer alternative strategies. In the end, if necessary, I will suggest adjustments to the tasks that take into account more of the spectrum of neurodiversity found in language learners.

Aphantasia is a condition that describes people who cannot voluntarily conjure images in their minds. Since Zeman described it in 2015, mental imaging extremes have received more attention. It has not yet been shown in more than anecdotal evidence, how the inability to form mental images influences language learning, but considering the visual dominance of Western
society, and our school systems especially, it stands to reason that aphantasics and people with limited mental imagery capabilities could be negatively impacted.