Representation and reconstruction of Hispanic culture in localized Spanish textbooks in China: A multimodal discourse perspective

Abstract

This study examines how Hispanic cultures are represented and reconstructed in localized Spanish textbooks in China. A multimodal discourse perspective was applied to the textbook data to identify the texts, images, audios, and teaching videos that depict Hispanic cultures, and to analyze their reconstructions. Our findings show that despite a large number of Hispanic big “C” and small “c” cultures included in the textbooks, there is an unbalanced contribution of sub-cultures and a lack of depth in teaching. Based on the analysis of textbook data and teaching video, the study also reveals several main strategies employed by textbook writers and users (teachers) in reconstructing culture, including translation, superficialization, symbolization, comparison, localization and globalization. This study is helpful in promoting the development of Spanish language education and textbooks and in global and local contexts, and also in better understanding language teachers’ agency in teaching foreign culture. FUNDING INFORMATION. This paper was funded by China’s National Social Science Fund of Education (BGA210059), project led by the corresponding author Geng Zhi.