Abstract

The study analyzed activities of Spanish Level 1 textbooks used in high school to determine the extent to which they incorporate some of the most respected theories of communicative language learning, in particular the theories of Krashen, Swain, Long and Nunan. Five well known Spanish books were chosen: Realidades, Exprésate, Así se dice, Avancemos, and Aventura. For each book, Chapter 2 and Chapter 5 were chosen to be evaluated by two raters. The activities in these chapters were analyzed according to four criteria derived from the abovementioned theories. Results suggest that textbooks may not be in alignment with major theories of how language is acquired. The majority of the activities may fall under the category of meaningless drills, which it is claimed do not contribute to acquisition of a second language.

Degree

College and Department

Humanities; Spanish and Portuguese

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