Intercultural mediation in Spanish language teaching textbooks: a <i>CEFR</i> -based comparison of higher education materials from China and Spain

Against the backdrop of deepening globalization, Intercultural Mediation Competence (IMC) has emerged as a pivotal objective in foreign language education, yet its implementation in materials lacks systematic assessment. This study, for the first time, integrates the CEFR 2020 mediation framework to evaluate the representative Chinese-published series and the widely-adopted Spanish-native series (Levels A1–B2) using nested content analysis. Findings reveal a “double-zero phenomenon”, where intercultural mediation is absent throughout all learning stages. The internal distribution of intercultural competence follows a “collapsed pyramid” pattern, with the competence chain breaking abruptly after the reflection phase. A scarcity of interactive-negotiable and reflective activities constitutes a direct structural barrier. This systemic absence stems from a synergy of four factors: ambiguous syllabus guidance, lagging assessment, paradigm inertia, and cognitive gaps—a phenomenon prevalent across both Chinese and Spanish pedagogical systems. These results fill a void in systematic evaluation and offer methodological references and empirical evidence for adopting CEFR 2020 mediation goals as a plausible common ground for global criteria alignment, given the framework's empirically validated descriptor system and its growing application beyond European contexts.