El tratamiento de la cultura en las clases de español de enseñanza media en Senegal

Studies on the cultural component in the Spanish as a Foreign Language (ELE) classroom have seen significant growth in recent decades, although they have been limited in the Senegalese context. Therefore, through this article, we aim to contribute to this field of study. Our objective is to explore the balance of different aspects in the treatment of culture in the teaching of Spanish in the first cycle of secondary education in Senegal: the three cultures, the cultures of the Spanish-speaking world, and the culture of the target language in relation to the student's culture. To achieve this, we have reviewed the Senegalese education curriculum and one of the most commonly used textbooks, Horizontes, while also investigating the teaching practices of educators in this stage through a questionnaire. We have observed an imbalance in that "Culture" has a greater presence than "culture", and "culture” is absent from Spanish classes. Additionally, local culture, which is not often approached from an intercultural perspective, is also addressed in the classroom, albeit to a lesser extent than the cultures of the Spanish-speaking world, with Spanish culture predominating among them.