Lexical Availability and Foreign Language Teaching: Main Contributions of a Growing Field

Abstract

Teaching vocabulary presents a significant challenge in foreign language instruction. This article discusses the advantages that the results obtained in studies on lexical availability offer for foreign language teaching. The methodology of lexical availability, which involves extracting vocabulary that is closely associated with specific lexical categories, was first developed in France in the 1950s, and since then, it has been predominantly used for teaching Spanish as a first language. More recently, in the past 15 years, it has also been employed for teaching Spanish as a foreign language. This article examines the origins and methodology of lexical availability, with a particular focus on two significant applications related to teaching Spanish as a foreign language. From a cognitive standpoint, the article discusses studies analysing the configuration of the mental lexicon using available vocabulary data. From a didactic perspective, the article explores how lexical availability can be used to improve the selection of vocabulary in teaching materials for Spanish as a foreign language.