Reflexiones en torno a la enseñanza del vocabulario en L2.

Resumen

Up until recently the teaching of vocabulary has not received the treatment it deserves. Everybody would agree that communication is quite unlikely to take place if the would-be communicators do not possess a minimum lexical inventory of the target language, as well as a sufficient mastery of its structures. The results of an experimental study undertaken with secondary school students in Malaga seem to suggest that most of the students tested do not possess the vocabulary that would be expected at their relevant levels of learning.

A follow-up study of the vocabulary used in a representative number of course-books shows that the selection, gradation and distribution of the lexis have not been conveniently accomplished. As a result of this, various suggestions are made as a way to emphasise the role of vocabulary in the learning of L2, and sorne techniques, exercises, tasks and activities are recommended so as to improve the lexical competence of students, both quantitatively and qualitatively.