Présentation

DOI: 10.17533/udea.ikala.v21n01a01

Paula Andrea Echeverri

Sucerquia Directora Escuela de Idiomas Universidad de Antioquia, UdeA Calle 70 N.°52-21, Medellín, Colombia E-mail: paula.echeverri.sucerquia@gmail.com

It is my pleasure to introduce the first number of the 21^st issue of Íkala, Revista de Lenguaje y Cultura. This time the journal offers a diversity of articles, whose focus range from literature to translation studies, media analysis, and critical thinking and reading.

The first article of this issue, authored by Minguez López, is a reflection about the relationship between children/youth literature and the overall field of literature. Based on work by Bourdieu and Even-Zohar, the author discusses the marginalization of children and youth literature and defends the idea that it is a field on its own; he argues that this literature is a focus of analysis in itself, which does not need to rely on methods from general literature.

In their reflection about the training of new specialized translators, Perassi and Centeno discuss the importance and challenges of specialized translation in today's globalized world, and present a profile of prospective translators in Cordoba, Argentina. They provide a glimpse into their program by describing the approach they use to help students develop translation competence, as well as to become whole professionals. Most importantly, they discuss the particular challenges they face in their program in terms of developing linguistic and professional competences.

In this issue the reader will also find a media analysis piece by Silva Rodríguez. The author discusses the representation of Colombian women in two transnational films, El arriero (2009) y Rabia (2009), based on principles of imagology and feminist studies. The author argues that the transnational character of these films —since they are co-produced (with international investment, portraying Colombians overseas)— has an effect on the end product — the film, particularly in the construction of a nation through the depiction of its women. He explains the reasons why the representation of Colombian women in these films subscribe to stereotypes that circulate globally, in terms of female body, economics, male domination, and geopolitical power.

There are as well, a couple of research articles featuring the relationship between critical thinking and reading. On the one hand, we have Pereira Rojas' report of a study on the development of metacognitive awareness and reading comprehension among students of a Business Administration program in Madrid, where a Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) approach to English teaching is used. The researcher presents the results of comparing a reading strategies survey about students' perception of their metacognitive awareness and a task they completed while reading a specialized text. Data evidenced that students who took the survey had an intermediate level in the use of reading strategies, which is comparable to that of students who participated in the development of the reading and writing task, where they demonstrated ability to complete specific linguistic tasks, but showed difficulty to complete activities that required a critical reading of the text. On the other hand, we have Fernández de Morgado, Mayora Pernía, and St. Louis report of a quantitative exploratory study of English learners' critical thinking and reading comprehension of specialized texts in an English program from a university in Venezuela. In their study, two tests were used —the Ennis-Weir critical thinking essay test and departmental reading comprehension achievement test. With this study, they want to contribute to the national education agenda of fostering critical thinking among students. They found that critical thinking positively affects reading comprehension. However, data evidenced that students in the course where the sample was taken did not achieve the expected critical reading achievement levels.

Lastly, this issue includes Velásquez Tangarife's review of the book Competencias del profesor de lenguas extranjeras: creencias de la comunidad educativa, by Cortés Cárdenas, Cárdenas Beltrán, and Nieto Cruz (2013). This book reports the results of research conducted in a foreign language teaching program housed in Universidad Nacional, Bogotá.

I hope the reader finds these articles enlightening and contributing to their work.