Lexiculture as a Hidden Referent in Lexical Teaching in Spanish as a Foreign Language

Abstract

This paper on lexiculture as a hidden referent in lexical teaching in Spanish as a foreign language (SFL) highlights the importance of lexical teaching in language acquisition, underlining its relationship with culture. Here we study how cultural understanding enriches vocabulary learning and communication in SFL. It is highlighted that the lexicon reflects cultural realities, values and beliefs, which requires recognizing these connections for an effective use of terminology. It also examines how culture influences the lexicon and vice versa, from culture-specific terms to idiomatic expressions rooted in the culture.

Methodologically, the relationship between culture and lexicon is manifested in the expression of values, cultural identity, translation, cultural evolution, idiomatic expressions and social norms. Cultural terminology is essential to express significant aspects of a culture, such as food, festivities, kinship, idiomatic expressions of places, religion, traditional dress and nature. Therefore, the importance of adapting the lexicon to the cultural context under study without losing one's own identity is emphasized.

For the treatment of lexiculture in the classroom, cultural immersion and exchange are proposed as tools for understanding and using the cultural lexicon effectively. This analysis also outlines some strategies for the teaching-learning of lexis and culture in order to understand this intrinsic relationship and enrich linguistic competence. It also points out a series of lines of research on the academic horizon to broaden the study of the relationship between culture and lexicon, considering it to be profound and essential in the study of SFL and, above all, highlighting how the lexicon is shaped by the culture in which it is immersed.