This study examines different representations of adolescents conveyed by adolescent discourse in French and German first language reading books. It is based on a comparison of 12 ninth grade schoolbooks by means of an approach called « comparative discourse linguistics ». The results of the investigation show that whereas French schoolbooks represent the adolescent as a (future) citizen of an intergenerational well-read community, German reading books convey an image of the adolescent trying to construct him/herself, defining him/herself by his/her age group, in conflict with adults.

Adolescence, 2009, T. 27, n°4, pp. 921-930.