“The lexicon is the legs that allow everything to function.” Teacher cognition regarding vocabulary teaching in Spanish as a foreign language (ELE).

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.58859/resla.1273

Abstract

Most studies on teacher cognition have been conducted with English teachers and have focused on grammar. This study aims to investigate the beliefs and knowledge of ELE teachers regarding vocabulary teaching and learning. More specifically, we ask what importance they attach to vocabulary in their classes, how they select target words, and how they assess lexical knowledge. To this end, fifteen ELE teachers from different Spanish institutions were interviewed, and the interviews were analyzed using Theoretical Sampling. Several teachers recognize the centrality of vocabulary for communicative survival, and those who stated that they prioritize grammar attributed this decision to external impositions. In terms of lexical selection, the most important factors are intuition about the communicative needs of students and textbooks, and assessment is mainly carried out informally, although different ways of obtaining information about lexical knowledge are recognized.

 

 

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Portada RESLA 39.1

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Published

2026-04-01

How to Cite

Pérez, M., Robles-García, P., & Sánchez-Gutiérrez, C. H. (2026). “The lexicon is the legs that allow everything to function.” Teacher cognition regarding vocabulary teaching in Spanish as a foreign language (ELE). Revista Española De Lingüística Aplicada Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics, 39(1), 26–47. https://doi.org/10.58859/resla.1273

Issue

Vol. 39 No. 1 (2026): Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada/Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics

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Copyright (c) 2026 Mercedes Pérez, Pablo Robles-García, Claudia H. Sánchez-Gutiérrez

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