Tipo: capítulo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: vocabulario

Resumen:

Until very recently, vocabulary played a role in the production of language teaching materials that was very definitely a secondary one. Although inevitably present in any course book, vocabulary was generally subordinated to other elements that were considered more important to the process of learning a language. Thus, in the 1950s and 1960s, when grammar translation was the dominant approach to language teaching, the lexical content of courses was considered less important than the grammatical content of textbooks. To a large extent, the vocabulary taught was determined by the words that appeared in the works of classical authors whose texts were used for teaching purposes. Later, the structural or audiolingual methods, based on behaviourist theories subordinated the vocabulary to be taught to the linguistic structures that the...

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Tipo: capítulo

Metodología: trabajo teórico

Temas: telecolaboración e intercambios virtuales

Resumen:

The model of telecollaboration described in this chapter, Cultura, is one whose focus is precisely that of intercultural competence. Its methodology integrates culture into the language classroom by facilitating the direct communication between two groups of learners from different cultures and the comparison of those cultures. We will describe the principles and practices of Cultura and examine its implementation in an ongoing exchange between classes at Barnard College in New York and the University of Leo´n in Spain.

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: creencias y actitudes de los profesores

Resumen:

This article presents the results of an empirical investigation into the teaching practices and opinions of UK-based Spanish teachers concerning the treatment of language varieties in the L2/FL classroom. Qualitative and quantitative data obtained through an online survey provide the basis for an analysis of participants' knowledge of dialectal varieties and how to teach them, their perceptions of their own and other varieties, and the extent to which they accept new Pan-Hispanic ideologies and the conception of Spanish as a pluricentric language. The study reveals a lack of correlation between teachers' declared knowledge about Spanish dialectal varieties and their own teaching practices.

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Este artículo presenta los resultados de una investigación empírica sobre las opiniones y prácticas docentes...

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Tipo: vídeo

Temas: lingüística cognitiva

Resumen:

Presentación en el Institut des Sciences Cognitives - Université du Québec à Montréal.

Cognitive Linguistics provides a theoretical framework to understand language as a builder of meaning that stems from interaction with the world and draws from the sensorimotor experience of all speakers. This point of view affords remarkable potential for foreign language teaching: it shows that as physical experiences are universal, so are the conceptualizations of the L1/L2 speakers who have them.

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: trabajo teórico

Temas: variación y variedades del español

Resumen:

Recent advances in sociolinguistics demonstrate the need to adopt a wider international perspective related to the way in which language variation should be reflected in the work of the institutions that participate more actively in the design of language ideologies in a 21st-century, globalized society. The most recent Pan-Hispanic publications by the Real Academia Española (RAE) and the Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (ASALE) reflect a will to recognize and promote all Spanish varieties on equal footing. This article analyzes how language variation is becoming an integral part of the Diccionario de la lengua española (DLE) in its successive print and online editions. In addition, beginning with the results of a questionnaire administered to United States' Spanish instructors, this article discusses how this new Pan-...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: trabajo teórico

Temas: cultura

Resumen:

Teaching second-language (L2) culture is problematic due to the possibility of creating stereotypes and overgeneralizations about the target culture. Several researchers have proposed raising an awareness of first-language culture (C1) at the same time they raise that of the second language (C2), to promote a "relative" view of the C2. The objective is for learners to recognize themselves and others as "socially constructed". We propose learning culture through activities based on surveys completed by native speakers (NS) that can lead learners to a deeper understanding of L2 cultural perspectives and practices. To illustrate this approach, target culture data (e.g., folk medicines used or the kinds of housing students live in) were obtained via a questionnaire completed by 154 native-speaker university students in Spain, Peru, Mexico...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: revisión bibliográfica

Temas: español para fines específicos

Resumen:

Over the past two decades, Languages for Specific Purposes (LSP) and Community Service Learning (CSL) in the United States (US) have gained traction in post-secondary institutions. Abbott and Lear (2010) established that CSL provides excellent opportunities for students to meet the National Foreign Language Standards. After establishing a brief historical overview of programs and research in the fields of Spanish LSP and CSL, this paper provides an overview of core issues facing the field, i.e., the need to (1) focus LSP on a new specific purpose (foundational training in professionalism) (i.e., those linguistic abilities, behaviors, skills, and manners that are vital to all professions in the target culture), (2) thread this training in professionalism throughout the curriculum (from basic language, to majors, to graduate students...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: trabajo teórico

Temas: manuales

Resumen:

The importance of textbooks in the shaping of world-language instruction in the US is undeniable: for better or for worse, published materials tend to define the content, pace, and pedagogical orientation of language courses at all levels in this country. As educators continue to confront the challenge of selecting and/or adapting published materials for their language courses (particularly for Spanish, which represents 69% of the total language textbook market at the high school level, and 52% at the college level), the need for information on the origin and evolution of our teaching materials becomes apparent. Following a diachronic perspective, this article traces the historical evolution of Spanish textbooks in the US, and examines the current state of affairs of language materials for learners K-16. In addition, this article...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: enseñanza/aprendizaje de vocabulario

Resumen:

There is general agreement that speed of lexical access is an essential component for successful communication and fluent language use. In vocabulary acquisition research the majority of studies have focused on the acquisition of the form and meaning of new words but research into the teaching conditions leading to the improvement of speed of lexical access is still scarce. This article reports results of two studies which explored the effectiveness of two vocabulary teaching approaches for the development of speed and automaticity of lexical access by learners of Spanish as a foreign language. Participants in Study 1 were exposed to the target vocabulary in reading passages (incidental approach), while participants in Study 2 were exposed to the target words in explicit vocabulary activities (explicit approach). A pre- and post-...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: trabajo teórico

Temas: gramática pedagógica

Resumen:

In this paper we focus on the relationship between Spanish compounding and derivation on the one hand, and anaphoric relations involving null and overt subjects, on the other, in order to argue that a pedagogical grammar of Spanish for non-native speakers should take into consideration: (i) universal approaches to the analysis of Spanish which also depict its specific structural properties; (ii) psycholinguistic proposals on how Spanish morphosyntactic structures are acquired and processed; and (iii) empirical research that provides information about the learnability principles and the mechanisms involved in the acquisition of Spanish grammar. This threefold approach draws from developments that have taken place in this century. First, linguistic theory has refined the "universal" principles and parameters approach developed to...

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