Reading in Spanish language textbooks for immigrants

An SFL (Spanish as a foreign language) instructor’s job, as that of the textbooks for the teaching of a foreign/second language, should accelerate the process of acquiring the target language. Research has confirmed that reading is one of the most effective means to this goal as it exposes the language learner to a language model intended to be acquired in a natural and meaningful way. This article reviews the reading approach in Spanish textbooks for immigrants from two perspectives, by focusing on both theory and practice. The former introduces the theoretical foundations of the use and benefits of reading in a language program and reviews the factors that facilitate reading comprehension by noting what to do and how to do it in order for reading skills to become relevant and so that reading can promote the acquisition of the target language. In terms of practice, this article reports on a study that examines what is being done and how reading is implemented in three textbooks of current use in the classroom setting of immigrant learners who can read and write in their mother tongues but have no or little command of Spanish. Two of the analyzed titles are textbooks and one is material available online for open (and free) access. We thus review the approach to reading, as well as writing, in each case to conclude finally on how reading is implemented in each case in the areas that we consider as essential.