Derrière son esthétique naïve, la littérature portugaise pour enfants feint son intention de persuader le sujet lisant d’accepter les valeurs qu’elle véhicule. Le système axiologique des publications récentes nous montre qu’il est possible d’évoquer, à travers une approche simple et ludique, les thématiques triviales, mais également les sujets socialement plus complexes. Notre étude examine comment les livres « socio-réalistes » récents adaptent leur projet idéologique aux particularités d’une littérature succincte. Comprendre la poétique persuasive de la forme exige l’analyse de plusieurs éléments de transmission de valeurs, dès les premiers arguments du paratexte jusqu’à l’étude de l’organisation et des caractéristiques du récit. La poétique persuasive du fond se fait à travers une approche socio-philosophique. L’exercice consiste, d’abord, à repérer les différents principes culturels imprimés par le texte, pour développer ensuite une réflexion sur leur contribution à la formation des représentations mentales du lecteur. Ainsi, pour chaque valeur, explicitement ou implicitement repérée dans le texte, nous analysons son importance en amont de la rhétorique sociale du pathos, ethos et logos. La tripartition aristotélicienne nous sert également à expliquer l’influence de l’extratextuel dans la légitimation de la valeur du et dans le récit pour enfants. / With its naïve aesthetics, children’s literature in Portugal seeks to hide its intentions of persuading the reader to accept the values it imparts. The axiological system of the most recent published works proves it possible to evoke both trivial and more socially complex themes by means of an approach that is simple and playful. In this study, we start by analyzing how present-day “socio-realistic” books adapt their ideological agenda to the specificities of children’s short fiction. In order to understand the poetics of form, it is necessary to analyse a number of aspects regarding the transmission of values, from the first plot points in paratext to the study of story organisation and characteristics. The poetics of persuasion is carried out with a socio-philosophical approach. This exercise involves initially locating the various cultural principles instilled in the text and subsequently examining their role in the formation of the reader’s mental representations. Thus, for each and every value explicitly or implicitly identified in the text, we analyse its importance in relation to the social rhetoric of pathos, ethos and logos. Likewise, Aristotle’s tripartite division assists us in explaining the influence of the extra-textual elements in the legitimization of values in and of children’s stories.

Machine anthropomorphism is the reification of technology in representation, giving machines human features, qualities, and motivations. This study aims to investigate the origins and functions of machine anthropomorphism and the impact that it has on readers in a technic society as part of an ideological apparatus. It looks at how machine anthropomorphism creates a social imaginaire for technology and how animist representations of machines have shifted from adult culture to children’s fiction. Working from the premise that children identify with childlike machines such as Thomas the Tank Engine this study examines how the relationships between machines and humans are used to model relationships between children and adults. These fall into three modes of representation: the promethean machine, the fraternal machine, and the dominant machine. Each mode functions as an ideological apparatus to either support the promethean ideology, provide a counter discourse, or turn it on its head completely. The case studies focus on promethean representations in The Railway Series/Thomas and Friends and Bob the Builder; on fraternal representations in Ivor the Engine and WALL·E; and on reverse promethean representations in The Transformers franchise and Pixar’s Cars films. Machine anthropomorphism is an important mode of representation not only in children’s entertainment but increasingly in adult culture as well, functioning as part of an ideological apparatus to reproduce consumer power in a post-technic society. As technology becomes more human-like machine anthropomorphism functions to create a new social imaginaire, preparing society for the technical disruption of increased automation, robotics, cybernetics, and artificial intelligence.

A useful medium when teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) to young learners is authentic children’s literature. Previous research in the area has provided insight into benefits and challenges in something that could be described as ‘fiction-based teaching’. There is however little to none that is set in a Swedish classroom context.  The aim of the current study was to find how teachers in Sweden utilize children’s literature in teaching English as a foreign language in grades 1–3. The study was performed using semi structured interviews with five teachers in the central east coast of Sweden. The participants gave insight into how they use English fiction as a teaching tool, which follows the structure of the didactic questions what, how and why. The teachers’ experienced challenges in using such a medium as a teaching tool were also processed in the study. To understand and analyse the gathered data, Aidan Chambers and Lev Vygotsky’s theories about young learners were used. The main findings of the study show that processing literature via discussions between teachers and students is beneficial for language acquisition, such as vocabulary gain and comprehension. At the same time, the teachers mention challenges in using such a method, for example a lack of time and how to differentiate the teaching of EFL. The conclusion was that these findings were in line with the previous research that has been made in the area.