Challenging the Supported Curriculum: Faculty Members’ Attitudes toward Caribbean and Louisiana Content in Undergraduate French and Spanish Textbooks

Abstract

Guided by a theoretical framework underpinned by Critical Multicultural Education (Banks, 2019), this study aimed to understand university faculty members’ attitudes toward the presentation of Caribbean and Louisiana-themed content in French and Spanish textbooks and their associated teaching practices. A Likert-Scale survey was employed, and it was discovered that faculty members felt textbook content about the Caribbean was more or less accurate, but content about Louisiana was inaccurate. Likewise, they had to adjust their teaching practices to be more intentional about how these areas are presented in their teaching and represented in novice and intermediate French and Spanish courses. The findings of this study help to inform curriculum design in higher education World Language courses and assist in curriculum development efforts that align with frameworks that center on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion as the core of course design.