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Environmental content across Romance languages

Multimodal design of teaching activities in French, Italian and Spanish textbooks

ORCiD logo with link | Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń
Published online: 2 March 2026
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/rro.25030.kal
Abstract
This study examines the multimodal representation of environmental content across 22 B1-B2 (intermediate proficiency levels) Romance language textbooks used in major Polish universities. Employing Kress and van Leeuwen’s visual social semiotics framework, the analysis reveals significant cross-linguistic variations in both content distribution and pedagogical implementation. The investigation focuses on the composition of the activities concerning environmental education. Findings demonstrate that French and Spanish textbooks integrate environmental content most extensively and effectively utilize visuals as pedagogical tools, while Italian materials show limited environmental integration (merely 5.48% of teaching units) with visuals often serving aesthetic-contextual functions. Of the 459 analyzed teaching activities, nearly half (48.16%) employ visuals in a purely denotational frame, missing opportunities for deeper engagement. This study contributes to understanding how multimodal design choices impact environmental education in language instruction and provides concrete recommendations for developing more pedagogically effective materials that foster ecological awareness as an integral component of transnational cultural education.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • 1.Language textbooks’ cultural content under the research lens
  • 2.Environmental education in language textbooks
  • 3.Research and methodology
  • 4.Results of the study
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusions
  • References
  • French Language Textbooks
  • Italian Language Textbooks
  • Spanish Language Textbooks
References (66)
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