Content-based instruction is a favoured methodology for approaching L2 language instruction. Although vocabulary development is one language area where advanced learners could grow, there is little research focusing on vocabulary instruction in content-based Spanish L2 courses at US universities. This study analyses a corpus of 25 hours of…

Studies in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) indicate that the use of discourse markers (DMs) in the academic writing of second language learners improves the overall quality of these texts by contributing to their cohesion and comprehensibility (Saif Modhish 2012; Jalilifar 2008; Intaraprawat & Steffensen 1995). However, despite the…

Since the democratic opening of the country (the Dominican Republic), in past decades and the subsequent phenomena of Worldalization, Globalization and the Influences of the Knowledge Society and Computerization, our society and with it the national educational system at all levels has been undergoing a series of changes and influences not ignored…

This article reports on an exploratory study, which examines learners' rating of culture in relation to other concepts in advanced Spanish courses and their justification of the ratings attributed. Open-ended responses, elicited from a questionnaire completed by 179 respondents, were analysed line by line using an interpretive approach. Data…

This study reflects a social constructivist theoretical framework in which the zone of proximal development (ZPD) is a central element, as two teaching approaches, communicative language teaching (CLT) and explicit focus on form (FonF) are examined. Research questions include: Are CLT and explicit FonF conducive to reaching the ZPD? Is there a…

In line with recent critiques of communicative language teaching (Byrnes and Maxim 2004; Byrnes 2006), this paper considers how instances of spontaneous, creative language play can afford access to a range of linguistic practices that are often devalued or ignored in classrooms. To this end, it examines how university students in an advanced…

Describes an advanced, nonliterary Spanish course which can be adapted to high school classes. (EKN)

Reciprocal teaching, a method of teaching first language reading comprehension, is explained and three distinct applications of the method and materials in second language instruction are described. Reciprocal teaching is viewed as a three-level hierarchy of components and strategies, reflected in the organization of materials and activities. The…