SILVIA RODRIGUEZ SABATER, PH.D.

DEPARTMENT OF HISPANIC STUDIESCOLLEGE OF CHARLESTON

4TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE DEVELOPMENT AND ASSESSMENT OF

INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE

TUCSON, ARIZONA JANUARY 23-26 , 2014

Representations of Indigenous Cultures in Spanish L2 Textbooks

Introduction and Background

“Commercially available books which are used in language teaching programs and are often designed for a wide range of clients” (Hatoss, 2004, p. 25).

It is widely accepted in the study of L2 acquisition that learning an L2 cannot be separated from learning the culture of the target group of speakers (Brosh, 1997; Kramsch, 1995; Mar-Molinero, 1992; Ndura, 2004; Ros i Solé, 2003 among many others) and that learning culture needs to start at the introductory level (Ros i Solé, 2001 and Mar-Molinero, 1992).

Textbooks as Sources of Information

Textbooks are central to the educational process (Aliakbari, 2005; Brosh, 1997; Hatoss, 2004; Hutchinson and Torres, 1994 among others):

They introduce the linguistic system and the culture(s) of Spanish-speaking peoples.

Textbooks have the power to influence students’ perceptions of the L2 culture.

Cultural Information

Culture is an essential element of L2 learning and can be an objective in itself for L2 enrichment.

Common definitions of culture in L2 teaching and learning: Cultural products, background knowledge, and

an inventory of items such as music, social life, interesting places, holidays, food, sports, famous people, daily life, art, social institutions, artifacts, manners, customs, geography and history.

The Study

In a previous study, Rodriguez Sabater (2013) found that indigenous cultures received 11.0% and 17.5% of the total cultural coverage in Introductory and Intermediate books respectively.

This study aims to find out the type of cultural information L2 learners receive with regards to the indigenous cultures of Latin America.

Research Questions:1. Which indigenous cultures of the Spanish-speaking countries of

Latin America are well represented in the textbooks?2. Which themes are learners exposed to in written and visual

representations?

Textbook Selection

5 major publishing houses (Cengage, Pearson, Wiley, McGraw-Hill, Vista Higher Learning) were contacted and asked about their two best selling introductory and intermediate textbooks:

Introductory Intermediate¡Claro que sí! (2013)¿Cómo se dice? (2013)Gente (2012)¡Arriba! (2012)Dicho y hecho (2012)¡Vívelo! (2011)Dos mundos (2010)Puntos de partida (2012)Vistas (2012)Panorama (2013)

¡Continuemos! (2013)Nexos (2013)Atando cabos (2012)Más allá de las palabras (2010)Horizontes (2005)Punto y aparte (2011)Más (2010)Enfoques (2012)Imagina (2011)

Procedures and Analysis

Following Ndura (2004) I read the publishers’ introductions, editors’ remarks to identify the teaching/learning theoretical background. All textbooks mentioned a strong cultural

component.

I read the textbooks in their entirety, marked all passages and visuals with cultural references to the indigenous cultures of Latin America.

259 chapters in 19 books were analyzed.

Procedures and Analysis 2

Following a modified approach to Yamanaka (2006); Ramirez and Hall (1990), Chapelle (2009), and Rodriguez Sabater (2013):

Cultural references to indigenous cultures of the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America were noted.

Themes were analyzed whether in: Written mode: texts longer than one sentence. Visual mode: photos, drawings, maps, graphs, tables,

charts, and reproductions of realia (Alley, 1994, Ilet, 2009).

Findings

More references to indigenous cultures in the 2nd year textbooks than the 1st year textbooks.

More visual references than written references in both 1st and 2nd year textbooks.

Main cultures mentioned are: The Incas, the Mayas, Andean cultures in general, and

the Aztecs. The general situation of indigenous cultures in Latin

America.

Findings: Inca CultureThemes for the Inca culture:

Machu Picchu and Cusco, the Incan civilization, customs, marriage, the writing system, ceramics and textiles, the cemetery, the quipu counting system, the Inca roads and mail system, the Inca emperor and empire, and the indigenous market.

"La civilización inca se desarrolló aproximadamente en el siglo XV,basada en la herencia de varias culturas anteriores. Hacia 1470, los incas habían conquistado un vasto territorio y habían incorporado muchas culturas vecinas ….”(¡Vívelo, p. 457)

Findings: Inca Culture 2

“ Un avanzado sistema de rutas no sería de mucha utilidad sin un sistema de comunicación eficiente. Los incas usaban un sistema de chasquis, omensajeros, para llevar órdenes y noticias por todo el imperio. El sistema utilizado por los chasquis era similar al de las carreras de relevos.Se dice que fue el sistema de mensajería más rápido hasta la invención del telégrafo. Loschasquis podían llevar un mensaje de Quito a Cuzco (aproximadamente 2.000 kilómetros) enunos cinco o seis días”

(Enfoques, p. 446)

Findings: Maya Culture

Themes for the Maya culture: The Mayan civilization, the ruins of Copán, Chichén Itza,

Tikal, Popol Vuh Museum, traditional clothing textiles and weaving, the Mayan calendar, numbers, and Mayan sports.

“Estudien el sistema de númerosmayas. Observen que al llegar a 20, hay dos niveles de símbolos: elnivel superior representa el nú-mero de unidades de 20, el nivelinferior representa el número deunidades 0-20…” (Más allá de las palabras, p. 186)

Findings: Maya Culture 2

“¿Qué ingrediente secreto se encuentra en las telas tradicionales de Guatemala? ¡El mosquito! El excepcional tinte de estas telas es producto de una combinación de flores y de mosquitos aplastados. El insecto hace que los colores no se destiñan. Quizás es por esto que los artesanos representan la figura del mosquito en muchas de sus telas.”

(Vistas, p. 296)

Findings: Andean Cultures

Themes for the Andean cultures (chibcha, quechua and aimara): Weaving, music, food, legends (Tio Supay), and Diablada de Oruro.

“La región andina de la Américadel Sur tiene una rica tradición indígena (…) Se entiende, enton-ces el origen netamente indígenade muchos platos andinos . Con-sidere el maíz, que se ha cultiva-do en la región de los Andes por4000 años…” (Dos mundos, p. 293)

Findings: Andean Cultures 2

“Una gran parte de la música andina refleja la fuerte influencia de las diversas culturas indígenas de la región. (…) Aunque los instrumentos de los indígenas precolombinos eran muy variados, predominaban los instrumentos de viento. Entre los que todavía se usan hoy en día están las zampoñas o sikus, la quena y las tarkas, una flauta rectangular …” (Punto y aparte, pp. 156-7)

Findings: Aztec Culture

Themes for the Aztec culture: History, Aztec empire, chocolate, Moctezuma II,

Chichimeca dancing, war, and ruins.

“ La capital de México es enorme, y su metro es uno de los más extensos delmundo. Durante la excavación para elmetro, encontraron (they found) una pirámide azteca completa entre las líneas 1 y 2 de la estación Pino Suárez.Los ingenieros dejaron la pirámide intacta en la estación.”(Arriba, p. 106)

Findings: Aztec Culture 2

“Los granos de cacao fueron el medio de pago de los aztecas; lo llamaron cacahuatl y era la única moneda de validez universal con que las provincias conquistadas pagaban los impuestos y podían comprar en los mercados. También hubo falsificadores que rellenaban las cáscaras vacías del cacao con barro. A estas “monedas” falsas se les llamaba cachuachichiua…”

(Atando cabos, p. 298)

Findings: General Situation of Indigenous Cultures

Themes for the general situation of cultures in Latin America: Indigenous subjugation, the indigenous life and globalization, social

exclusion, the historic role of Spain in the current social situation of the indigenous peoples, the role of the land and Pachamama, indigeneous languages, and indigenous voices such as Rigoberta Menchú and Dolores Cucango.

“Hace más de cinco siglos después de la conquista de América, las comunidadesindígenas - hast ahora oprimidas y des-heredadas de su patrimonio ancestral – Están en busca de un futuro propio. Los pueblos indígenas luchan por salvar suidentidad contra el poder de la uniformidad y la globalización. Para ellos, la tierra es unelemento esencial …” (Atando cabos, p. 127)

Findings: General Situation of Indigenous Cultures 2

“La situación lingüística de Paraguay no es la norma sino la excepción. El mapa lingüístico de América Latina es muy diverso, y depende del curso que siguió la historia de cada país. (…) Hay países como Guatemala y México, que tienen numerosas comunidades indígenas y donde existen muchos idiomas autóctonos. En México, por ejemplo, hay tres centenares de idiomas autóctonos, pero casi todos son hablantes son bilingües…”(Gente, p. 231).

Conclusions

L2 textbooks of Spanish at Introductory and Intermediate levels show that students are exposed to the indigenous cultures of Latin America: More references to indigenous cultures in the 2nd year

textbooks than the 1st year textbooks. More visual references than written references in both

1st and 2nd year textbooks. More complex social and historic topics at the

intermediate level.Main cultures mentioned are:

The Incas, the Mayas, Andean cultures in general, and the Aztecs.

The general situation of indigenous cultures in Latin America.

Conclusions 2

Since textbooks are one of the primary sources of cultural information for L2 beginning learners, their culture content becomes the cultural knowledge they are most likely to gain.

The references to indigenous cultures gives the message that they are relevant in the understanding of Latin American Spanish-speaking cultures overall because of a general interest for globalized issues and concern for human and cultural rights of all peoples.

Further Research

Continue exploring cultural diversity within the Spanish-speaking world such as the representation and themes of non-Spanish-speaking cultures in Spain.

Analyze frequency of cultural information in Spanish and/or in English.

Explore the themes from a products, practices and perspectives approach.

Study instances for learners’ cross-cultural awareness and reflection.

Explore online supplementary materials and compare to textbooks.

ReferencesAliakbari, M. (2005). The place of culture in the Iranian ELT textbooks in high school level. Journal of Pan-Pacific Association of Applied Linguistics, 9 (1), 163-179.Alley, D. (1994). Trends in the use of illustrations in university Spanish textbooks. Hispania, 77 (3), 489-495.Brosh, H. (1997). The sociocultural message of language textbooks: Arabic in the Israeli setting. Foreign Language Annals, 30 (3), 311-326.Chapelle, C. A. (2009). A hidden curriculum in language textbooks: are beginning learners of French at U.S. Universities taught about Canada? The Modern Language Journal, 93 (2), 139-152.Hatoss, A. (2004). A model for evaluating textbooks. Babel, 39 (2), 25-38.Hutchinson, T. and Torres, E. (1994). The textbook as agent of change. ELT Journal, 48 (4), 315-328.Ilett, D. (2009). Racial and ethnic diversity in secondary and postsecondary German textbooks. Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German, 42 (1), 50-59.Institute of International Education. (2012). Open doors 2012 “Fast facts.” Retrieved on January 12, 2013 from http://www.iie.org/en/Who-We-Are/News-and-Events/Press-Center/Press-Releases/2012/11-13-2012-Open-Doors-International-Students

References 2

Kramsch, C. (1995). The cultural component of language teaching. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 8 (2), 83-92.Mar-Molinero, C. (1992). Cultural representations in foreign language teaching: a critique of four BBC courses. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 5 (1), 1-10.Modern Language Association. (2010). Enrollments in languages other than English in the United States institutions of higher education, Fall 2009. New York: Modern Language Association.National Standards in Foreign Language Education Project (1999). Standards for foreign language learning in the 21st century. Yonkers, NY: The National Standards in Foreign Language Education Project.Ndura, E. (2004). ESL and cultural bias: an analysis of elementary through high school textbooks in the Western United States of America. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 17 (2), 143-153.Ramirez, A. G. and Hall, K. H. (1990). Language and culture in secondary level Spanish textbooks. The Modern Language Journal, 74 (1), 48-63.Rodriguez Sabater, S. (2013). A critical analysis of Spanish L2 textbooks as sources of cultural information. Paper presented at ISLS, San Juan, Puerto Rico. June 13-15, 2013.Ros i Solé, C. (2003). Culture for beginners: a subjective and realistic approach for adult language learners. Language and Intercultural Communication, 3 (2), 141-150.Yamanaka, N. (2006). An evaluation of English textbooks in Japan from the viewpoint of nations in the inner, outer, and expanding circles. JALT Journal, 28 (1), 57-76.

 

 

Thank you!

Silvia Rodriguez SabaterCollege of Charleston

rodriguezsabaters@cofc.edu