LANGUAGE TEACHERS AND TEXTBOOKS AS

CULTURAL AMBASSADORS AND MEDIATORS

Roberto Dolci
UNIVERSITÀ PER STRANIERI DI PERUGIA

ABSTRACT
Teaching a foreign language abroad is a strong promotional tool. For this reason, it has al-
ways been recognized as an instrument of cultural diplomacy and soft power. In this strat-
egy, the teacher and the textbook play the crucial role of cultural ambassadors, subject to
the influence of many elements. The paper analyzes this role in different historical contexts
and moments, with some considerations for the present that may inform further research
in the field of Italian language teaching in the US.

KEYWORDS: Cultural Diplomacy, Language Teaching Ideology, Textbook Ideology, Intercul-

tural Competence.

THE PURPOSES OF TEACHING/LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Knowledge of a foreign language comes with knowledge of its culture
and the people who live and speak it normally.1 Motivation plays a key
role in achieving this goal. Although with some differences, all scholars
who have dealt with motivation divide it into two major areas: the first is
a motivation that refers to the pleasure of learning a language and the de-
sire to appreciate the culture, the curiosity to learn more about the people
who speak it and the country where they live to the point of identifying
with them and feeling part of that community.2 The second one refers to
the need or obligation to learn it. These two areas are variously defined:
integrative motivation, intrinsic motivation, cultural motivation, when it is
related to the pleasure of learning and thus to a voluntary and conscious
choice to learn one language over another. The second major area, on the
other hand, is identified as the need to learn a language for reasons having
to do with duty rather than pleasure. In this case the language/culture to
be learned is not chosen but is imposed. From school, parents, profession,
etc. Scholars refer to this as extrinsic, instrumental, duty-related motiva-
tion. (Balboni 2006, Dorney e Ushoda 2009, Gardner 2010). However, mo-
tivation is a complex concept. All scholars agree that the two areas can

1 It goes without saying that language and culture are closely interconnected. To emphasize this con-
nection even more we will sometimes use the term language/culture here. On the close relationship
between language and culture see as proposed and defined by Kramsh (1998) who speaks of “lan-
guageculture” and Risager (2005) who speaks instead of “languaculture.”
2 We mention here only the names of Gardner, Dorney, Deci, and Balboni among Italian scholars en-

gaged in this area of research.

Teaching Italian Language and Culture Annual (2021): 27-45

 R. Dolci • “Teachers and Textbooks as Cultural Ambassadors and Mediators”

coexist. Although pleasure-related motivation is particularly strong and ef-

fective in promoting learning, as every teacher has seen in his or her expe-
rience.
Even though one may be prevalent over the other, the learner of a lan-
guage must necessarily come into contact with the people who speak it,
with the customs and traditions of the other culture; he or she will want to
visit the country where the language is dominant, to know and buy its cul-
tural products, to become part, ultimately, of the community that is identi-
fied with the language/culture that the learner is studying. Hardly does
this lead to developing a negative or even rejecting a]itude toward that
community, but rather, those who study a language/culture speak it and
“live” it, develop a form of empathy or sympathy toward the culture and
the people it represents.
Governments rely on this aspect. For them, language/culture teaching/
learning also has political, economic, diplomatic therefore strategic value.

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY, CULTURAL DIPLOMACY SOFT POWER AND FOREIGN

LANGUAGE EDUCATION
Public diplomacy is defined as the effort of a country to directly address
the public of another nation to make itself known, to be appreciated, and
thus to have its policies and products endorsed (Cull 2008). Public diplo-
macy is not necessarily conducted by diplomats through traditional chan-
nels. Rather, the main actors are governmental and nongovernmental
agencies, international institutions, cultural institutions, prominent public
figures and even ordinary citizens. Culture and its manifestations are the
main topic of such communication. Public diplomacy thus becomes cul-
tural diplomacy.3 Therefore, cultural diplomacy refers to the use of cultural
exchange as a tool to foster mutual understanding, build relationships, and
promote national interests between countries. It thus involves all cultural
expressions, visual art, music films, tourism, architecture, design, etc.
The two concepts of public diplomacy and cultural diplomacy are
closely related to that of soft power. The notion of soft power was originally
coined by Joseph Nye in the late 1980s, when the fall of the Soviet Union
caused a rethinking of the balances and hegemonies that until then had
been established on force of arms. The idea of soft power, on the other
hand, is based on the force of persuasion. According to Nye, it refers to “the
ability to get what you want through a]raction rather than coercion or pay-
ments. It stems from the a]ractiveness of a country’s culture, political

3 Sometimes the two terms are also used with the same meaning.

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 R. Dolci • “Teachers and Textbooks as Cultural Ambassadors and Mediators”

ideals and policies. When our policies are seen as legitimate in the eyes of
others, our soft power is enhanced” (Nye 2009, 1).
From these concise definitions, one can easily understand how lan-
guage education is a key tool for public diplomacy, cultural diplomacy and
soft power. Through teaching/learning a foreign language/culture it is pos-
sible to read literature, see and listen to movies, understand song lyrics,
read newspapers, watch TV, interact with people, eat typical cuisine, buy
products, etc. And the more you know the language/culture, the more you
want to travel the country and fully enjoy the experience. Therefore, it is
possible to have full access to a country’s culture, its manifestations, and
cultural products: through which a people’s opinions, customs, behaviors,
values, ethics, and a]itudes are expressed, ultimately knowing how they
think. Governments have always been aware of this potential and have in-
itiated forms of direct or indirect control over the educational offerings of
their own language/culture as a tool of cultural diplomacy abroad. But also
of the teaching of foreign languages at home.
Evidence of this are the institutes that, since the late nineteenth century,
have been founded by governments for the purpose of promoting the
teaching of language/culture and culture abroad with the aim of increasing
not only the cultural, but also, and more importantly, the economic and
political influence of the country system abroad.
The first were the Alliance Française in 1883 and the Dante Alighieri
Society (1886), followed then by the Italian Cultural Institutes in 1926, the
British Council in 1934 to the Goethe Institute born in 1951, the Instituto
Cervantes, in 1991. Last are the Confucius Institutes, established in 2004.4

LANGUAGE EDUCATION POLICY AND LANGUAGE EDUCATION IDEOLOGY

The government’s strategy implies an ideological will, that is, a specific
vision of what it means to speak a language/culture. Academic literature
defines language ideology as:

“Language ideologies,” “linguistic ideologies,” and “ideologies of lan-

guage” are alternative labels for the same field of inquiry and are gen-
erally used interchangeably. Their focus is on ideologies that are in
some crucial way about language itself, rather than all ideologies en-
coded in or through language. As most commonly understood now,
ideologies of language are morally and politically loaded representa-

4These are just a few. There are actually many others. For example, Denmark, Portugal, Poland, Japan,
have all founded institutions aimed at promoting their language and culture abroad.

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 R. Dolci • “Teachers and Textbooks as Cultural Ambassadors and Mediators”

tions of the nature, structure, and use of languages in a social world.

(Woolard 2021, 1)

These definitions are part of the research field of both anthropology and
applied linguistics and also have implications for the field of language ed-
ucation.
Teachers, students and authors beliefs, assumptions, perceptions, dis-
positions, judgments, or pre-judgments -in addition to institutional lan-
guage education policies are all variables that interact in defining the rela-
tionship with the foreign language/culture, returning an “image” of it.5
They thus contribute to forming the complex system that we can call lan-
guage education ideology.
Although all are important the strength of these variables in defining a
language education ideology is not the same for all. Moreover, it can
change over time and under certain circumstances.
We will see in the following paragraphs how governments and educa-
tional or diplomatic institutions can define language policy and can condi-
tion language education ideology.
With regard to domestic policy, it is a common and shared view that
the main purpose of public education is to train citizens and educate them
to respect the laws and the nation’s founding values. 6
In democratic nations this ensures individual freedom and respect for
the opinions of others, but in non-democratic nations education is and has
always been one of the key tools in indoctrinating citizens and ensuring
the survival of the dictatorship or regime.
Within the educational system, some subjects are particularly suscepti-
ble to control by the political system. Policies regarding language educa-
tion are also aimed at forming citizens who respect institutions and the
state. But precisely because knowledge of a foreign language/culture rep-
resents the opening of a window to the outside world, and thus provides
access to uncontrollable information, to ideas that may be in opposition to
those of the regime or the state, it has always been subject to special scru-
tiny.7
In foreign policy it can be used as an ideological and political weapon
to propagandize a regime’s ideas outside. Or to defend against a]empts to
import values opposed to those of the state. Language/culture promotion

5 To which we must add the beliefs, perceptions, dispositions, etc. of families and society as a whole.
6 The debate on these aspects of philosophy of education is very broad and is not relevant here.
7 Clearly, in democratic systems, foreign language education has quite different goals, such as respect

for diversity, development of intercultural competence, intercultural dialogue, what we can call “peace
education.”

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 R. Dolci • “Teachers and Textbooks as Cultural Ambassadors and Mediators”

is no longer an instrument of cultural diplomacy, but of propaganda. In

such cases, the teaching of a foreign Language/culture and promotional in-
terventions can become a ba]leground between countries: the one promot-
ing the Language/culture and the one in which it is taught.
Such a tension could certainly be unloaded on the two key figures:
teachers and textbook authors. If nations are in some sort of ideological or
economic competition or even conflict, the pressure and control on them
could be very strong.

TEACHERS AS CULTURAL AMBASSADORS

All the most recent methodological approaches, from communicative
to socio-cultural and constructivist, emphasize that language competence
is only one of many skills needed to act effectively in a foreign lan-
guage/culture. All the major Standards, from the Common European Frame-
work of Reference for Languages to ACTFL’s World Readiness Standards for Lan-
guage Learning, emphasize how the learner must become a social actor who
knows how to act appropriately both linguistically and culturally in the
different situations he or she will face when interacting with native speak-
ers. In formal learning, students can and will be confronted with different
situations, texts, and tasks that will enable them to develop the skills nec-
essary to achieve the intended objectives.
The choice of texts, activities, tasks and situations depends on the
course syllabus and textbook. It is the teacher’s responsibility to manage
its timing, modes and content. Although not always with the same free-
dom. This depends on many factors. If the school or educational institution
provides a curriculum, syllabus or even mandates the choice of a textbook,
the teacher will have relative freedom, conditioned by higher specifica-
tions. In any case, the teacher does not merely give information about social
and cultural aspects, but inevitably suggests an interpretation that may in-
fluence the student.
Similarly, the choice of cultural products, practices and perspectives
made by the authors of a textbook to represent the society and culture of
the country where the language/culture is spoken influences the student’s
interpretation.
Therefore, we can say that authors and teachers have to handle two
representations:

ü The objective one. That is, aYempting to describe without pre-

judgment a certain country.

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 R. Dolci • “Teachers and Textbooks as Cultural Ambassadors and Mediators”

ü The subjective one. In which the description of reality is filtered

through a personal interpretation of that reality.

Both positions are idealized and extreme, and the reality is certainly
much more complex and relativized. We know that authors, but especially
teachers in their daily practice, move with a constant tension between these
two positions. They are aware that the second representation implies an
ethical question. Indeed, there is a risk of embellishing the image of a coun-
try, emphasizing its positive aspects and minimizing its negative ones. Or
of simply removing some aspects to focus on others with the more or less
conscious result of distorting reality. This risk is both present in an L2 con-
text i.e. where language and culture outside the classroom are the domi-
nant ones, and in an LS context, where instead language can only be prac-
ticed within the formal educational context and culture and social relations
can only be simulated.
But abroad the risk is certainly higher. In that context, the teacher is the
major or sometimes the only mediator between the two or more cultures.
He is the representative of the target culture. The one who knows the social
rules and knows how relational dynamics work. Even today although the
net allows students immediate access to information, events and cultural
representations, the teacher continues to serve as a filter that can influence
the interpretation of the target culture.
The ways in which a teacher decides to present and interpret the prac-
tices, cultural products, and social dynamics, that govern the life of the
country in which the language he or she is teaching is spoken are influ-
enced by a variety of factors.
Among such conditioning factors, an important role is played by the
emotional one, the emotional relationship a teacher has with the lan-
guage/culture and culture he or she teaches. This relationship may be in-
fluenced, for example, by his or her personal experiences. In fact, the L2
teachers most likely maintains strong ties to the country where the lan-
guage/culture they teach is spoken.
If they are not native speakers, they certainly have spent some time in
the target country where they have had a chance to learn the cultural rules
that govern social life and know how to use them correctly. And they prob-
ably go back there from time to time. They have managed in this way to
build strong and solid social relationships with the local community. It is
very likely that this path of their discovery and learning has gone through
various trials and has not always been easy. They may have experienced
situations of cultural conflict, caused by culture shock in the confrontation

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 R. Dolci • “Teachers and Textbooks as Cultural Ambassadors and Mediators”

between their own beliefs and the cultural norms of the host country. Cul-
tural adaptation may then have proved problematic and reinforced some
stereotypes or pre-judgments instead of resolving them. This may continue
to affect them in presenting the culture of the language they are teaching
to their students.
Teachers might instead have been born in the country and left it when
they were very young with their parents. They might therefore have a “her-
itage” relationship with the country of origin, filtered by the culture in
which they grew up and of which they feel part, by their parents, and by
the community of people with whom they share that origin and with
whom they have social relations.
Instead, they may have recently left their home country specifically to
go and teach abroad, and they see this as a success in their work, or they
may have been “forced” for various reasons to leave their country, toward
which they have some resentment for this very reason.
Motivations, then, can be many, these in turn elicit reactions, including
emotional ones, that can affect the kind of relationship with the language,
culture, and country that can then influence the way they present them to
their students.
Personal experience, background, education, even character, help de-
fine not only the identity of the teacher, but also that of each student who
makes up the class. To which is added the identity, values, and opinions of
the textbook authors. And other more external but still important factors
such as the educational language policies of the school and government.

TEXTBOOKS AS CULTURAL AMBASSADORS

If one were to ask a teacher what a textbook is and what it is used for
we would probably have answers that emphasize how books are a key re-
source of information, provide teaching activities for the class to work
with, also represent a syllabus to follow, etc.
It is clear to anyone, experienced teacher or not, student, families, how
textbooks are one of the most important educational tools. They are the
source of information that is given the most credibility, but at the same
time they have also often been the source of much controversy precisely
over the choice of content and its reliability and neutrality. There has al-
ways been a lively debate among specialists about the “impartiality” and
truthfulness of textbooks, whether they correctly report events or correctly
represent a culture. Many experts say that textbooks legitimize and convey
only those dominant cultural values and beliefs that serve the purpose of
creating national unity, deliberately omi]ing others (Apple 1999).

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 R. Dolci • “Teachers and Textbooks as Cultural Ambassadors and Mediators”

Others point out that “A textbook can be a teacher, a map, a trainer, a

resource, an authority and an ideology” (Cortazzi and Jin, 1999), highlight-
ing precisely the possible bias of their interpretation.
Guides have often been produced to assess the transparency and trust-
worthiness of textbooks. The purpose is to provide guidance for authors,
teachers, experts, curriculum developers, etc. UNESCO (2009, 1) has also
addressed this issue by publishing a guidebook that is meant to serve:

as a useful guide for peace-oriented approaches to textbook studies, sem-

inars and projects aiming at the modernisation of content and methodol-
ogy in the field of social studies, and, in particular, at overcoming biased
presentations of different cultures, religions or issues of national pride.

Textbooks are never a neutral vehicle in forming and transforming

knowledge. They are capable of proposing interpretations of reality that
serve the interests of particular groups and shape learners’ understanding
of social reality.
Foreign language textbooks, precisely because of their strong cultural
and intercultural content, addressing learners from other cultures, have
also always been at the center of the debate on the need to present other
cultures in correct ways, avoiding stereotypes and pre-judgments.
Gray points out that language textbooks are the result of a decision-
making process in which the interests, beliefs, and values of the [authors]
play a key role (2010, 1). He also states that (2000, 274):

ELT materials produced in Britain and the United States for use in class-
rooms around the world are sources not only of grammar, lexis, and ac-
tivities for language practice, but, like Levi’s jeans and Coca Cola, com-
modities which are imbued with cultural promise. In the case of ELT
coursebooks, it is the promise of entry into an international speech com-
munity which is represented in what tend to be very idealized terms.

Language textbooks contain the official view of dominant cultural

knowledge. By studying through these books, international students learn
to recognize and interpret aspects of a particular national identity. Text-
books are cultural artifacts that contain particular ideologies and legitimize
specific pa]erns of knowledge. Because the public tends to associate them
with truth rather than opinion, textbooks can contribute to the circulation
of specific (and partial) representations and stereotypes. And to present
them through the lens of the authors.

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 R. Dolci • “Teachers and Textbooks as Cultural Ambassadors and Mediators”

Textbooks and their authors can also be in a difficult balance between

an objective and a subjective representation. But they can also be manipu-
lated by those who deliberately pursue a propaganda purpose through a
distorted representation of a culture. We will see in the following para-
graphs some examples along these lines.

THE TEACHING OF LANGUAGE/CULTURE AS A PROPAGANDA TOOL.

We mentioned earlier that the promotion of language/culture as an in-
strument of cultural diplomacy can become propaganda especially in the
presence of a precise persuasion strategy.
This is what happens, for example, in authoritarian regimes. Fascism,
Nazism, communism, have always regarded education as a key tool for
maintaining their power at home and improving their image abroad.
Nazism, for example, launched an intensive campaign to promote the
German language abroad. As Hollm (2004, 3) writes, Nazi Germany in-
tended to spread German as a lingua franca in Europe. And even in coun-
tries such as the United States it initiated an intensive propaganda cam-
paign through the teaching of German language and culture.
Within Nazi Germany, the racist vision of fascism was extended to the
teaching of foreign languages: the teaching of Germanic languages was fa-
vored at the expense of Romance and Slavic languages and French in par-
ticular. English, as a Germanic language became the most taught language,
followed by Latin, as evidence of the Nazi regime’s admiration for the Ro-
man Empire (Hollm 2004, 2-3.) During World War II, a]itudes toward Eng-
lish changed completely and Great Britain began to be portrayed as a false,
untrustworthy, inferior race nation where the English aristocracy was con-
ditioned by Jews (Hollm 2004, 4). See, for example, Figures 1 and 2:

Fig. 1 Hirt’s Englandkundliches Lesebuch für die Oberstufe an Oberschulen (1942)

35
 R. Dolci • “Teachers and Textbooks as Cultural Ambassadors and Mediators”

Fig. 2 Hirt’s Englandkundliches Lesebuch für die Oberstufe an Oberschulen (1942)

Figure 1 depicts the slums in which, according to the Nazis, the British
working class lived, who, as is depicted in Fig. 2, were exploited by the
aristocrats. The intent was clear: to provide a false representation of the
enemy, the ruling class, and to justify the war.
In the Soviet Union, the regime embarked on a strong campaign of Rus-
sification and adoption of Russian as a lingua franca internally and in the
nations that were part of its sphere of influence. (Ornstein 1959). Interest in
foreign languages, with the onset of the Cold War and the closure to the
outside world, dropped considerably but recovered with the Khrushchev
era and until the 1980s when the Soviet Union opened up more and more
to the outside world (Ivanova and Tivyaeva 2015). On the reasons why for-
eign languages, particularly English, were taught, however, it is interesting
to report the words of a prominent linguist Aneta Pavlenko (2010) who
begins one of her articles with a personal note:

As a Soviet teenager studying foreign languages, I witnessed early on

how much foreign-language (FL) study in the USSR was permeated
with ideology and propaganda. My inculcation process started in 1975
when as a fifth grader I chose my foreign language, English, and at-
tended the first class. The teacher welcomed us with a passionate
speech: ‘My dear fifth graders, today is a very important day in your
life – you are starting to study English. Your knowledge of this lan-

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 R. Dolci • “Teachers and Textbooks as Cultural Ambassadors and Mediators”

guage will prove crucial when we are at war with the imperialist Brit-
ain and United States and you will have to decode and translate inter-
cepted messages. (313)

The scholar’s words are confirmed by a few pages from English language
books used in schools in the Soviet Union in the 1960s in which the ideo-
logical use of language is evident:

Fig. 3. English in pictures (1959)

In Fig. 3 it can be interpreted as an a]empt to depict an authentic scene of

life in an English-speaking country where the worker is clearly exploited
by the capitalist. This ideological intent is already evident in the title of the
lesson “We Love Our Mother Country” shown in Fig. 4 where the image
of Stalin accompanies a text extolling “the great leader comrade”:

Fig. 4 English in pictures (1959)

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 R. Dolci • “Teachers and Textbooks as Cultural Ambassadors and Mediators”

Somewhat amusing, however, is Figure 5 where we see a group of “pio-

neers” marching along a road with red flags. It is a scene that can hardly
be taken as an example of cultural contextualization.

Fig. 5 English in pictures (1959)

Over the past two decades, China has developed a very aggressive policy
of promoting Chinese (Mandarin) language teaching abroad. Since 2004,
when the first branch was opened in Seoul, there are now more than 500
institutes opened in dozens of countries on all continents. In recent years,
Chinese cultural diplomacy has often been criticized, and some scholars
and policymakers have spoken of “sharp power” rather than “soft power.”
In the United States, for example, since the first one opened in 2004 at the
University of Maryland, it has grown to 120 Institutes in just a few years.
Now, however, only about 30 remain open.8 Concerns about propaganda
use of the Institutes have also grown in the European Union, and many
countries have decided to close or to review agreements.9 Some countries
such as Finland have accused the Institutes of having espionage purposes.10
Within the country, foreign language teaching has been conditioned by
ideology, just as it was in the Soviet Union. Even until recent times. This
conditioning has led to considering foreign language learning solely for
utilitarian purposes, trying to “cleanse” it of more cultural connotations.
As Yeting Liu (2015, 66):

8 Si veda h`ps://china.usc.edu/confucius-institutes-united-states.
9 h`ps://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/ATAG/2019/644207/EPRSATA(2019)644207EN.pdf.
10 h`ps://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/shortnews/finland-shuts-down-confucius-institute-amid-

censorship-espionage-accusations/.

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 R. Dolci • “Teachers and Textbooks as Cultural Ambassadors and Mediators”

[…] the wax and wane of this instrumentalist view of foreign languages
and the fear of cultural infiltration manifested in China’s FLEP have ac-
companied the demise and formation of different governments up to the
21st century.

Especially in English language textbooks published in the 1960s-70s, at the

height of the Cultural Revolution, one can find references to ideology, a
Chinese contextualization, and a total lack of English or American cultural
references.

Fig. 5

The text of Lesson Ten narrates that before the liberation of the city of
Shanghai by the Chinese Communist Party led by Chairman Mao, “the
working people of Shanghai were cruelly exploited and oppressed by cap-
italists and landowners.” While in the reading “We have learned some
English,” the proud students claim to have learned to say, “Long live
Chairman Mao” and sing “The East is red.” The reading ends with a con-
vincing statement “We clearly know what we are studying English for.”
As a final example, we cite that of Italian language teaching abroad during
Fascism. The propagandistic use made by the fascist regime of teaching
Italian language abroad is well known. For example, teachers who were
sent by the regime to teach Italian abroad had to take an oath whose for-
mula was (Cavarocchi 2010):

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 R. Dolci • “Teachers and Textbooks as Cultural Ambassadors and Mediators”

Sul mio onore ed in piena consapevolezza dei miei doveri promeYo solen-
nemente:

- Di educare gli studenti ai più puri sentimenti di amore per il nos-

tro paese e alla più profonda devozione al Re e alle istituzioni
della madrepatria.
- Di far sorgere nei miei studenti non italiani il senso di ammira-
zione e rispeYo che l’Italia merita.
- Infine, promeYo di svolgere un’energica azione di propaganda
dell’italianità e sopraYuYo, di armonia nella colonia cosicché si
stabilisca un fascio di volontà che porti alla prosperità economica
dell’Italia e al suo maggiore prestigio politico nel mondo.

Especially where immigrant communities were large and strong, fascism

sought to use Italian language teaching to promote its image, using emi-
grants as a fifth column within the country in which they had begun a new
life. See for example Dolci (2018) and the references cited there on how fas-
cism used Italian language teaching in the United States.
Fascism invested a lot of money and resources to promote itself abroad
through the Italian language and culture. With this specific purpose it
founded the Italian Cultural Institutes in l926 and the University for For-
eigners in Perugia in 1925. He financed Italian professorships and Italian
schools abroad. He offered scholarships to study in Italy, started an intense
publishing activity specifically for the public abroad, particularly for stu-
dents of Italian. With widespread distribution throughout the world. See,
for example, Figure 6, which shows a page from a book for elementary
schools abroad:

Fig. 6 Letture Classe Prima. Bagagli, C. 1938

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 R. Dolci • “Teachers and Textbooks as Cultural Ambassadors and Mediators”

Or a page from a high school periodical where the teaching activity is

aimed at justifying the invasion of Ethiopia.

Fig. 7 Il Giornalino, 1935.

In Italy, fascism initiated a protectionist policy of the Italian language

against foreignisms. In schools, fascism did not cancel the teaching of for-
eign languages, although it especially favored the teaching of German, but
emphasized its study with utilitarian and practical purposes (Rapisarda
2016).

THE INTERCULTURAL APPROACH

The examples we have seen in the previous paragraphs represent de-
liberate distortion of culture for propaganda purposes. But even when lan-
guage/culture teaching aims to educate respect, mutual knowledge and
understanding, and dialogue, there is always a “risk” even if minimal, of
“conditioning” the representation of a culture.
Every teacher and every textbook author know that in a course it is
impossible to address all cultural practices and present their products, an-
alyzing them from all points of view. One is still forced to make a selection.
But in this way, one risks, precisely, to impose an interpretation, to feed

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stereotypes or prejudices. And above all, one does not enable the student
to develop his or her own idea.
Scholars and researchers developed various approaches and methods
that could provide the proper tools for students to interpret foreign cul-
tures without falling into the construction of stereotypes and prejudices.
Although all approaches, even the most grammatical or instrumental
cannot do without culture, it is from the communicative approach onward
that a proper scientific debate has developed on how to present and teach
it. The approach that has most developed scientific reflection on the ways
and purposes of teaching culture is the intercultural approach (Byram
2008). The fundamental notion that this approach holds is that of intercul-
tural competence.
A student develops intercultural competence when he or she can rec-
ognize the a]itudes, customs, and behaviors of another culture, can inter-
pret them, and can properly use the cultural practices that carry them out,
and develops an a]itude of openness, curiosity, and acceptance toward
cultural diversity.
The emphasis then shifts from knowledge, that is, from savoir, to focus
on savoir faire to do and savoir etre. Intercultural competence then becomes
an integral part of communicative competence and goes to form intercul-
tural communicative competence.
Thus, it is not only a ma]er of transferring knowledge by presenting
the cultural manifestations of a given culture and the practices that govern
them, but above all, it is a ma]er of having students develop critical think-
ing, openness, and awareness that would make them become citizens of
the world.
Consequently, the necessary selection one is forced to make in the
presentation of culture is aimed at building the student’s intercultural com-
petence and awareness. Thus, the role of the teacher and the textbook as
mediators between the student’s culture, or rather, the students’ cultures,
and the culture of the language being learned become even more essential.
All of us as teachers have been faced with the dilemma of presenting
only positive or even fewer positive aspects of Italian culture. Often text-
books focus on certain themes that tend to reinforce stereotypes. Some top-
ics, certainly particularly complex, are not addressed or summarily and
partially mentioned. It is understandable that dealing with topics such as
the Mafia and organized crime, corruption or terrorism involves a task that
not all teachers feel able to tackle, especially without support provided by
textbooks. But it is also important to stimulate a comparison between Ital-
ian cultures and those of students. Intercultural competence, in fact, not

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 R. Dolci • “Teachers and Textbooks as Cultural Ambassadors and Mediators”

only addresses other cultures, but also provides the tools to be]er reflect
on one’s own.
Most likely there is no right answer to the question of whether and
what cultural events or products should or should not be presented and
addressed. Certainly, the ultimate choice is left to the teacher who is often
left alone to make this decision. But whether in the choice of a textbook or
any supplementary materials, the analysis should not be limited to the
presence of as much information about Italian culture as possible, but on
whether it is presented from a perspective that helps the development of
critical thinking, awareness and intercultural competence.

CONCLUSIONS
We can conclude this brief essay — which certainly did not provide
answers but hopefully provide food for thought and stimulated further
necessary research — with some brief considerations and especially open
questions.
The role of teachers is increasingly complex and multifaceted. They are
teachers, tutors, and advisers, they are also mediators and cultural ambas-
sadors. They are also active subjects of cultural diplomacy and, as well,
possible instruments of propaganda. This role they share with the authors
of the textbooks and, thus, with the materials. But theirs is still and always
the last word. They are the ones on the front line, and it is they who are
crucial in the construction (or destruction) of a country’s image, presenta-
tion of cultural practices and products.
Their role is essential in training students to develop intercultural com-
petence and awareness to correctly interpret and defend against propa-
ganda. Certainly, many are aware of this, but they often become so through
experience, not through specific training.
The role of foreign language teaching in Cultural Diplomacy is a sensi-
tive and strategic topic that should be addressed in all continuing initial
training courses.

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