Gramática para la composición by M. Stanley Whitley, and Luis González (review)

Learning to write in a second language can be a frustrating enterprise since lexical difficulty and grammatical uncertainty compound the already challenging process of composition. Gramática para la composición aims to ease this frustration by offering a single text that serves as both course book and reference manual for undergraduate composition classes. In order to meet this two-part goal, the text thematically groups grammatical topics and vocabulary by the discourse contexts in which they occur most frequently. These structures and lexicon are then rehearsed through worksheets and in-class communication exercises that prepare students to apply the new material to a genre of writing that focuses on the same discourse context. This approach provides a detailed review of Spanish grammar that is directly applied to the study of different styles of composition. In addition to this explicit instruction, the clear, contemporary Spanish prose of the authors models the same composition principles. However, students at or below the intermediate level may have difficulty understanding the prose; consequently, the text is most appropriate for classes at the upper-intermediate level and above.

Because this review concerns the third edition, it is worth highlighting what has been changed in the new release, which falls into two categories. First, the presentation of grammatical material has been revised to improve clarity. Second, substantial online content has been added, which is available at books.quia.com/books/bookstore.html. This content streamlines the instructor's workflow and allows students access to exercises online.

The book contains six chapters, each of which is dedicated to a different genre of writing: la descripción, el reportaje, la narración, la narración compleja, la exposición and la argumentación. There are six sections in each chapter; the first five introduce grammatical material in order to prepare students for the sixth, which scaffolds the composition process and provides prompts for class writing assignments that draw on the material presented in the chapter.

Because each chapter follows the outline described above, the majority of the text is explanations of—and exercises for—thematically grouped vocabulary and grammar. In addition to lists and tables, the text makes judicious use of captioned drawings that provide easily understandable visual examples of challenging topics such as the difference between por and para, or reflexive and transitive verbs. Each section also contains clearly marked examples of characteristic errors from student work. While the analysis of these errors is highly informative, it is worth mentioning that the errors, as well as an extensive list of common lexical confusions included in one of the four appendixes, are designed for students whose L1 is English. While these sections are highly effective for this population, students from other linguistic backgrounds should not be expected to benefit from these features to the same degree as native speakers of English.

Furthermore, because of the comprehensive scope of the book, the early chapters include detailed coverage of material that students enrolled in an upper-intermediate course can reasonably be expected to know, such as basic prepositions and the syntax of verbs like gustar. While this level of detail is justifiable to the extent that the text is a reference manual, with regard to its utility as a course book, instructors would do well to adapt the sections they assign to the experience level of their class, especially during the first weeks of instruction.

In addition to the text itself, the third edition of Gramática para la composición includes access to a companion website through which the instructor can assign online exercises that support the material covered in each section. These exercises are similar to those found in a traditional workbook, with items like fill-in-the-blank questions and sentence scrambles. However, because they are completed online, dichotomously scored items are graded automatically. This feature facilitates using the preliminary test of each chapter as a diagnostic...