Plurinormativism and SFL in Taiwan. Some reflections on the teaching of geographical varieties

Abstract

The Spanish-speaking world is moving towards a wider recognition of its geographical varieties and towards a complete overcoming of the traditional monocentrism. ASALE's new language policy, which highlights the polycentricity of the language, points in this direction. This recognition of diversity has permeated the world of SFL didactics, where debates on the teaching of varieties have multiplied in recent years. However, Spanish is in a stage of asymmetric (Pöll, 2012) or pyramidal (Hamel, 2004) polycentrism, so that the equal treatment of its diverse geographical norms is still a work in progress. Thus, it is of great interest to observe how the teaching of these varieties is approached in the SFL field, since dialect hierarchies and stereotypes that favor the transmission of certain attitudes and beliefs may still exist in the classroom. In this text we make a brief overview of the teaching of Spanish in Taiwan, focusing on outlining the situation of the teaching of geographical varieties in the university environment. For this purpose, we review some studies on linguistic attitudes and we and carry out an approach based on a brief survey of 100 undergraduate students of Spanish. Finally, we provide a set of reflections for the choice of a possible linguistic model that guarantees, on the one hand, a greater representation of the different geographical norms of Spanish and an improvement in its teaching, and, on the other, a better adaptation to the interests and expectations of Taiwanese students.