Approaches to Grammar Instruction in Teaching Materials: A Study in Current L2 Beginning-level Spanish Textbooks

This study explores how grammar instruction is conceptualized and applied in published Spanish materials. It sought to answer the following questions: What are the approaches to grammar instruction in current, college-level, beginning Spanish textbooks? How do they reflect current perspectives on grammar teaching? Six widely adopted Spanish textbooks were examined. The chapters presenting the Spanish preterite were arbitrarily selected for the analysis, which examined the presentation of explicit information and language data as well as the types of activities offered for learners to begin the acquisition of the grammatical feature. The results showed that although most of the textbooks still follow traditional approaches to teaching grammar, there is evidence indicating that textbooks are incorporating teaching perspectives based on what is known about L2 acquisition. This article addresses the central role of the profession in the development of published materials that aim at the acquisition of grammar.