Emeritus Professor Chris Pountain, with Irene Macías Fernández of the University of Bath, has published El mundo hispanohablante en textos / Reading the Spanish-Speaking World (London & New York: Routledge). The book, written entirely in Spanish, is a content-based textbook set at B2 and C1 levels (immediately post A-Level) which aims to develop command of the Spanish language and critical thinking skills through response to a series of texts originating from a number of different Spanish-speaking countries. A full description is available at https://www.routledge.com/El-mundo-hispanohablante-en-textos--Reading-the-Spanish-Speaking-World/Fernandez-Pountain/p/book/9780367349448.
The book attempts to implement a number of the ideas developed in Professor Pountain’s 2014 Kate Elder Lecture at Queen Mary, a revised version of which was published as ‘The Three Ls of Modern Foreign Languages: Language, Linguistics, Literature’ in Hispanic Research Journal, volume 18, no.3, pp.253-271 (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14682737.2017.1314096). This advocated an integrated approach to the teaching of language, linguistics and literature by encouraging learners to ‘notice’ the linguistic features of what they read (and hear) and to reflect on how language is used for many different purposes.
The texts included belong to several different genres and span all areas of the Spanish-speaking world. They have been chosen to reflect present-day concerns with a transnational and decolonising approach to the modern languages curriculum, focusing especially on national, racial and sexual diversity and the rights of indigenous people. The final three texts call attention to situations of linguistic contact between Spanish and other languages (in Puerto Rico, Paraguay and the United States).