Methodological developments in teaching Spanish as a second and foreign language

"This book on applied linguistics presents new trends and improvements on the teaching of Spanish. It deals with two major scopes in the field of linguistics that have a crucial role in the development of language teaching in general and of the teaching of Spanish in particular: interaction and grammar. The topics chosen coincide with the areas in which the communicative approach to language teaching, dominant in European and American language programs since the 1970s and 80s, has been the object of most revision. In its first part, the book appeals both to pragmatics and to discourse analysis to research the specifics of classroom discourse and classroom interaction, as well as the differences between interactions among Spanish native speakers and interactions among non natives, in order to develop methodologies for the effective incorporation of these aspects to the Spanish language classroom, such as tasks to teach interaction or techniques to implement learner-centered interactive class dynamics and cooperative learning. In its second part, this book reviews the pedagogical advantages of language description based on Cognitive Linguistic theory to explain different aspects of Spanish grammar. The main purpose of our contribution is to show how taking different dimensions of construal and perspective in linguistic representations into account helps teachers to elucidate idiosyncratic and subtle contrasts of Spanish structure that other views and approaches cannot clarify on a meaningful base [i.e. basis], such as the aspectual opposition between preterits or the modal opposition between indicative and subjunctive, both of high importance for the English speaking student. The work selected for this book, by experts from Columbia University and from several universities in Spain, represents the most current lines of inquiry in this 'post-communicative' approach as applied specifically to the teaching of Spanish. This book seeks to be a 'must-read' for the present and future. It tackles unexplored territory, for journals and applied linguistics collections have mainly addressed these problems in relation to English language and instruction"--Publisher's description, p. [4]of dust jacket.

Classroom discourse and teacher training: one more window / Lourdes Díaz Rodríguez -- Turn-taking in Spanish foreign language conversations / Marta García García -- Tasks for interaction / Guadalupe Ruiz Fajardo -- The pragmatic and affective dimension in teaching Spanish as a second language: a humanistic approach / Francisco Rosales Varo -- The promotion of interaction through group dynamics and cooperative learning / Adolfo Sánchez Cuadrado -- Sounding natural in a foreign language / Jesús Fernández González -- Perspective and meaning in pedagogical descriptions of Spanish as a foreign language / Alejandro Castañeda Castro -- The subjunctive in a single concept: teaching on operational approach to mood selection in Spanish / José Plácido Ruiz Campillo.