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

: 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

the will of the Party and the country" (Sun, 2021, p. 3).In an effort to address this demand, the current study attempts a systematic analysis of the depiction of Hispanic cultures in Chinese Spanish as a Foreign Language (CSFL) textbooks, to gain a better understanding of how CSFL authors and users (teachers) represent and reconstruct Hispanic cultures in multiple modes.

Culture in foreign language education
As an integral and indispensable part of foreign language education, culture teaching plays a significant part in developing learners' cross-cultural communication competence, the value of which is widely recognized among policymakers, researchers, and teachers across different contexts (Council of Europe, 2018;MoE, 2017).Nonetheless, there is little consensus on what culture(s) to teach.Over time diverse categorizations of culture have been proposed-for instance, "communicative culture and knowledge culture" (Zhang, 1990), "achievement culture, information culture, and behavior culture" (Hammerly, 1982), or "aesthetic culture, sociological culture, semantic culture, pragmatic culture" (Adaskou, Britten, & Fahsi, 1990).A more widely accepted classification is "culture with a big C" and "culture with a small c" (Stern, 1992).According to this definition, in general "big C cultures" are more "visible" and "artifactual", involving aspects such as literature and music, while "little c cultures" are more "actable" and "routine", including things like social customs and lifestyle (Clayton, 2003).

Studies of Spanish textbooks worldwide and in China
As Kramsch and Sullivan (1996) asserted, "appropriate pedagogy should be a pedagogy of both global appropriacy and local appropriation " (p. 199).Given the diversity of Spanish cultures, practitioners are seeking global and local relevance for the Spanish textbooks in their teaching practices.The issue of how to integrate and evaluate culture teaching in the Spanish textbooks used in different countries has aroused the concern of scholars worldwide: Jiménez (2014) compared 12 Spanish textbooks published in Spain and in the US and found that the place of publication influences the introduction of new words; Risager's series of studies (Risager, 2018(Risager, , 2020) ) revealed severe deficiencies in the representations of colonial history in the Spanish textbooks published in Sweden; Padilla and Vana (2022) examined the (non)existent representation of Afro-Latinx in 12 Spanish textbooks used in North America.
Research on the CSFL textbooks has also emerged in the past decade.By comparing the localized textbook Español Moderno with the Cervantes Institute Curricular Plan, Macarro and Martinez (2016) found that the localized textbook taught Spanish culture in a way that was insufficient and sometimes stereotyped.Zhai and Álvarez (2019) reviewed five mainstream business Spanish textbooks used in China's vocational education institutes and concluded that the current textbooks could not meet the real needs of business Spanish learning.Liu (2020) tracked the history of Spanish textbooks in China's higher education, concluding that imported Spanish textbooks failed to "acclimatize" into the local system and proposing the ideal model of "collaboration between Chinese and Spanish" for future textbook designers (p.93).Wen et al.'s (2022) review of Español Moderno found that the textbook's explanation of the cultural meaning and significance of vocabulary was not explicit, which they attributed to the absence of unified criteria for the classification of phrases.
On the whole, however, in comparison with the better-researched areas of language comparison, translation, and acquisition by local researchers in Spanish language teaching (Chen, 2013;Cheng, 2011;Lu et al., 2019), textbook research remains largely an underexplored area.In terms of methodology, the scattered studies on CSFL textbooks are mainly simple reviews or comparisons, with few findings obtained by quantitative methods.In terms of scope, most studies have focused on tertiary-level textbooks, with little attention given to secondary school textbooks.

Studies on multimodal discourse analysis
The current study attempted a fine-grained, in-depth analysis of the representation and reconstruction of Hispanic cultures in CSFL textbooks.It employed a multimodal discourse analysis (MDA) perspective because "today's textbooks are highly visual in their design and given that… most textbook publishers now offer a plethora of digital supplements to their print-based materials" (Weninger, 2021, p. 134).Language textbooks encompass a variety of multimodal representational practices, and the "cultural meanings are co-constructed by images, texts, and possible pedagogic activities" (Xiong & Peng, 2021, p. 164).
With its roots in functional linguistics and cognitive linguistics, MDA has previously been applied to analyzing verbal and non-verbal sign systems in multiple forms of communication (Forceville & Urios-Aparisi, 2009).The approach has also been adopted in a few recent studies on second language textbooks; for example, Arita and Imamura (2023) examined the dialogues in Japanese textbooks and found that the minimized responses failed to do justice to the multimodal features of naturally occurring interaction, while Smith (2021) conducted a multimodal exploration of EFL textbooks and classroom teaching in Korean universities and found that reflexive negotiation between students and instructors is a kind of rhetorical accomplishment that lessens the potential for cultural marginalization in the multimodal discourse of EFL textbooks.Although there have been studies on the compiling of multimodal EFL textbooks in China (Zhang & Zhang, 2010), it is still unknown how CSFL textbooks reflect the multimodal features, and how textbook authors and teachers exercise their agency to mediate the contextual conditions (Tao & Gao, 2021).
Drawing upon insights from previous research, this study mainly focuses on addressing two questions: 1. What Hispanic cultures are represented in the localized Spanish textbooks used in both universities and secondary schools in China? 2. How are Hispanic cultures intentionally reconstructed by local textbook authors and teachers?

Multimodal rhetorical analysis and content analysis
To apply multimodal discourse analysis (MDA) to CSFL textbooks, we adopt the new approach of multimodal rhetorical analysis (MRA) recently proposed by Chinese scholars of rhetorical studies.At the center of MRA is the belief that speech behaviors actively involve the use of various modalities in different temporal and spatial dimensions to achieve effective communication; "text, audio, image and video interact and collaborate in rhetorical phenomena" (Huang, 2018, p. 122).Unlike traditional textual discourse analysis, which considers a clause as the basic analytical unit, in MRA all units with "independent functional integrity" can be treated as minimal analytical units.Hence, a minimum analysis unit can be a word, a phrase, an image, or a video clip with the same meaning potential (Huang et al., 2021).Therefore, this study treated all textual, visual, audio, and visual data that carried independent cultural meanings as a "minimum culture unit" in the textbooks.
Apart from MDA, content analysis (CA) was also used in the analytical procedure.MDA is primarily a qualitative method used to define and locate minimum culture units in the textual and non-textual content of the textbooks.CA is mainly a quantitative method which we used to analyze and compare the distribution of the various sub-cultures in the textbooks.In terms of our research questions, CA is mainly applied to examining the first question, i.e., the representation of Hispanic cultures.MDA is mainly applied to discussing the second question, i.e., the reconstruction of Hispanic cultures.

Data collection and coding
This study followed the classification of big "C" and small "c" cultures based on studies by Xiao (2010), Kramsch and Vinall (2015), and Derakhshan (2021).In our refined categorization the big "C" is divided into Policy (P), History (H), Economy (E), Geography (G), Literature and Art (L/A), Social Norms (SN), EDucation (ED), Architecture (A), and Music (M); the small "c" is divided into food (f), holidays and festivals (h), lifestyles (l), customs (c), values (v), hobbies (ho), and gestures (g).Adjustments were made to customize the framework for the CSFL textbooks under study.All minimum culture units were marked according to their categorization of subculture and counts (see Tables 1 to 4).
Data were collected from four sets of representative CSFL textbooks, including two sets of tertiary-level Spanish textbooks.One was Español Moderno (vols 1 and 2) (Dong & Liu, 2017), which is widely used in undergraduate Spanish language programs in Chinese universities.The other was Español ABC (vols 1 and 2) (Liu, Liu, & Xu, 2008;2007), which is a common choice for "Spanish as the second foreign language" courses in Chinese universities.In addition, the two sets of secondary-level Spanish textbooks were Español 1 (vols 1 and 2) (Yao & Lu, 2019;Yan & Li, 2019) and Curso básico de español para los juveniles (CBEJ) (vols 1 and 2) (Fu & Li, 2019;Zhou & Fu, 2019).These two sets are often the only available CSFL textbooks for secondary schools, and were compiled in line with the new Spanish curriculum standards.Similar to the two sets of university textbooks, these two sets of secondary school textbooks teach basic Spanish, roughly equivalent to DELE A1-A2 level.
To collect and code the data, 17 Spanish major university students were recruited.They had on average one and a half years of experience in learning Spanish, and were able to extract cultural elements independently under teacher guidance.They received training to locate and make excerpts of minimum culture units in the four sets of CSFL textbooks, with page numbers and occurrences marked.To ensure consistency of coding, all the student coders were first trained to be familiar with the coding framework and typical samples.Then two students were assigned to work as a pair to analyze the same textbook separately.Inconsistencies in the pair analysis were listed and then posed in a group chat on WeChat App, where the authors and all the student coders could discuss disputed cases until a consensus was reached.After the first round, all the coding results were reviewed by the first and third authors, who are Spanish teachers.The two coders worked together under the pre-set coding scheme, and relatively high inter-coder reliability (over 85%) was achieved in the first two rounds.The ambiguities emerging therefrom were referred to by the second (corresponding) author, who is a non-Spanish speaker but is an expert in Chinese language and culture.Finally, the first author performed a final check of the coding results.
In addition, as part of the multimodal analysis all the authors visited China's largest MOOC website (https://www.icourse163.org/)and watched a MOOC course of basic Spanish taught using Español Moderno (vol.1).The analysis focused on the teacher's agency during the cultural representation and reconstruction, and minimum culture units manifested in the visual mode were identified, saved, and discussed.Typical examples are presented and discussed below in the findings and appendix.

Findings based on text and image analysis
In terms of the number of big "C" and small "c" cultural aspects in the two volumes of tertiary CSFT textbooks, the results (see Table 1: ∑I of Tables a and b in the appendix; more complete data are presented in the appendix.Subculture "n" is not calculated for the number in the bracket, for its exceptionally large values.)show that in both Español Moderno and Español ABC the textbooks deployed more small "c"s than big "C"s, especially the textbook Español ABC.This might be because the latter set of textbooks is used in an intensive instruction course.The textbooks for sophomores (vol.2) show a significant increase in the proportion of big "C"s and a decrease in the proportion of small "c"s, which hints at an emphasis on more classic and sophisticated cultures as the language level increases.In the case of the secondary CSFL textbooks, the results (see Table 2: ∑II of Tables c and d in the appendix) show that the distribution of small "c"s follows the pattern of tertiary CSFT textbooks, whereby there is an overall emphasis on small "c"s.However, the proportion of big "C"s does not increase significantly as the textbooks level increases.This is abundantly clear in the case of CBEJ, where the deployment of big "C"s decreased in volume 2. We speculate that this is because the secondary textbooks tend to be more "communicative" to attract young learners, while the tertiary textbooks have a stronger motivation to introduce "classic" cultures to adult learners.These differences between CSFL textbooks of different levels and for different students are to some extent a reflection of the textbook authors' agency.In terms of the specific subcategory cultural elements across all four sets of CSFL textbooks (see the complete Tables a and b, c and d in the appendix), except for a couple of elements that were particularly favored (e.g., Geography, Literature/Arts, names, foods) or avoided (e.g., Social Norms, values), there was no clear pattern in the selection and presentation of subcategory cultural elements among the CSFL textbooks.This indicates the arbitrariness of CSFL teaching in its cultural representation, a possible reason being that the national Spanish curriculum standards prescribe only the required vocabulary list with no explicit description of the teachable cultural elements.

Table 2. ∑II of Tables c and d in the appendix
Meanwhile, the correspondences between images and texts show that images were used extensively throughout the textbooks in presenting Hispanic cultures, forming a "text-image" intertextual relationship.This is particularly evident in relation to certain cultural elements, such as "Geography" and "Literature/Arts" among the big "C"s, and "customs" and "lifestyles" among the small "c"s.Nevertheless, we found a mismatch between the numbers of texts and images in all the textbooks: images and texts are not always presented in one-toone correspondence.Table 3 shows this:

Data collection and coding
In addition to the texts and images, we also analyzed the textbooks' corresponding audio files (CD/MP3).Most of the files were recordings of the texts, vocabulary, and listening practices.The audio files included recordings of speakers with three different accents, i.e., Peninsular accents (PA), Latin American accents (LAA) and Chinese accents (CHA) (which was found exclusively in CBEJ).Table 4 summarizes the accents and genders of the speakers in each analyzed textbook.

Textbook
Accent and Gender (f: feminine; m: masculine) Generally speaking, each textbook recording was performed by 2 to 5 speakers, including female and male speakers with Peninsular and Latin American accents, which is a reasonable requirement for compiling a Spanish textbook.In comparison, the secondary textbooks were found to feature more diversity; CBEJ utilized two speakers with Chinese accents, while the Español series also included additional music and activity sections which may enhance the textbook's appeal to young learners.To deeper understand how the CSFL textbook was used to reconstruct Hispanic culture in practice, we examined a Spanish MOOC course titled "Introduction to Spanish", taught using the textbook Español Moderno 1.Our analysis found that teachers' supplementary explanations often compensated for the insufficiency and one-sidedness of the cultural representation and reconstruction in the textbooks.For example, Español Moderno featured a "Conocimiento Sociocultural" (sociocultural knowledge) section in each unit, where a brief Chinese-language introduction was given to a certain aspect of Hispanic culture.The textbook authors clearly indicated that "this part is only for outside class reading, and must not be explained and analyzed in class" (Español Moderno preface, p. 1).However, the MOOC video tended to give particular attention to this section, offering detailed explanations and examples and thereby extending the textbook content to include the instructor's own narration.In addition, we also found that the teacher endeavored to represent cultural content when teaching linguistic knowledge.As Figure 1 shows, by taking a perspective of localization and globalization the teacher was able to introduced examples of various places in Spain, Europe, and China to teach the rule of toponyms.

Figure 1. Teacher's introduction of the rule of toponyms in the MOOC class
Table 5 summarizes some of the main cultural reconstruction strategies used by the CSFL textbook authors and teachers (the illustrating figures are in the appendix).

Translation
Introducing Hispanic cultures via translation, e.g., writing culture sections of the textbook only in Chinese (direct translation) or in both Spanish and Chinese (parallel narration).(The sociocultural knowledge section of Español Moderno)

Superficialization
Absence or disproportionately small representation of "deep" cultures, e.g., sub-culture "social norms" and "values" are least represented in CSFL textbooks.(Tables a, b, c, d in the appendix)

Symbolization
Using famous landmarks, people, etc. as icons, e.g., using photos of the "Plaza de España" on the cover page; using a photo of the Spanish royal family to learn family vocabulary.(Table 3, Figure 2 in the appendix)

Comparison
Making comparisons among Spanish, Latin American, international, and Chinese culture, e.g., juxtaposition of the images of flags of Spain, Argentina, Mexico, France, China, and Japan in the textbook illustration; different Spanish accents in audio files.(Table 3, Table 4)

Localization
Explaining Hispanic culture in Chinese or introducing Chinese culture in Spanish, e.g., annotation of "Spanish youth in the 21 st century" in Chinese; example sentence introducing the Chinese snack "Chunbing".(Table 3, Figure 3 in the appendix)

Globalization
Viewing Hispanic culture as part of globalization and multicultural integration, e.g., showing a photo of a big Hispanic family including members with different ethnological characteristics; using music from the American English film "CoCo" to introduce a Mexican festival and learn Spanish.(Table 3, Figure 4 in the appendix)

dIscussIon
To our knowledge, the current paper is the first systematic study of CSFL textbooks to examine their cultural representation and reconstruction.Regarding the first research question in the study, our results are mainly supportive of the general consensus, as well as offering some new findings: (1) In contrast to a common perception that China's foreign language education is not communicative enough and is traditionally form-focused (Chen & Li, 2022), we found that current CSFL textbooks generally include rich Hispanic cultural content.In particular, small "c" cultural products were emphasized over big "C" aspects.This demonstrates that China's contemporary Spanish education has attached great importance to cultural teaching, and is following new trends in international teaching approaches as well as the guidance of new National Curriculum Standards (MoE, 2017).( 2) The CSFL textbooks conform to the general rules in teaching culture, and have been designed to adapt to different students of different levels.These findings offer further evidence to support the findings of previous studies on teacher agency (Tao & Gao, 2021).(3) We also found that the Hispanic cultural representation in CSFL textbooks is inconsistent among different series and levels, and that the distribution of subcultures is unbalanced.This echoes the limitations found in the teaching of culture and ideology in previous textbook studies (Macarro & Martinez, 2016;Curdt-Christiansen & Weninger, 2015).
With regard to the second research question, a multimodal analysis including "image-text" intertextual relationship, audio, and videos was applied to find out how Hispanic cultures were reconstructed.The results showed that textbook writers and teachers used a variety of strategies to reconstruct Hispanic culture.This is in line with the findings of previous studies on textbooks for teaching English as a foreign language (Derakhshan, 2021) and Chinese as a foreign language (Xiong & Peng, 2021), which showed that teachers exercise agency in recreating textbook content and mediating cultural information (Tao & Gao, 2021;Xiong & Peng, 2021).Furthermore, these findings also remind us to be cautious of the side effects of some common strategies such as translation, superficialization, and symbolization, which may be a quick way to learn the target culture but can also lead to a simplistic and stereotyped understanding of culture.

conclusIon
To sum up, this study applied a multimodal perspective to analyze the representation and reconstruction of Hispanic culture in secondary and tertiary CSFL textbooks.The analysis reveals that although the representation and construction of different Hispanic cultures remains unbalanced and somewhat superficial in CSFL textbooks, compilers and teachers have exercised their agency while following the guidance of China's foreign language education policies.
In spite of our limited sample of CSFL textbooks and the fact that we were unable to directly consider the learner's role in reconstructing culture, the findings of this study suggest some implications for compil of Spanish as a foreign language textbooks.The primary contribution of this paper is in offering a full picture of the distribution and representation of different Hispanic cultures in current CSFL textbooks, and the various strategies that textbook authors and teachers can used to achieve the plural goals of cultural teaching.The findings will help to improve the quality of future Spanish as a foreign language textbooks, providing a better understanding of the complexity of representing, reconstructing, and teaching target cultures in a localized context.

Figure 3 .Figure 4 .
Figure 3. Localized cultural reconstruction in the teacher's explanation of "nouns of locality"

Table 1 .
∑I of Tables a and b in the appendix

Table 3 .
Examples of images and text

Table b .
Small "c"s for teaching materials in tertiary education

Table d .
Small "c"s for teaching materials in secondary education

Table c .
Big "C"s for teaching materials in secondary education