Abstract

The process of developing material with the goal of enhancing language

appropriation, is a little trodden field in the area of linguistics (at UMSA?). Even though a
lot of information about how to teach language is provided in the Applied Linguistics
books, very little information is given to the development of the material. The following
project intends to be an example of how the elements and characteristics of a language can
be structured to prepare material for students of a foreign language.

The Spanish language has had an increasing popularity as a second language, and
thus become a more important tool for communication, in recent years. For this reason a lot
of people come to Bolivia to study the language, and one of the institutions that provide
Spanish courses is Centro de Enseanza y Traduccin de Idiomas (CETI), a language
department (dependent?) of UMSA. The product of this project is intended to be used at the
institution as a 'supporting learning-material' or also as a guide specifically about the
Spanish verb-grammar, that is to say, the conjugation and the proper usage in its different
tenses. (There (where?), the Spanish verb grammar is active (how?) so that the learner is
able to communicate through the language (this sentence is confusing). We focused on the
situation of the Spanish-course at CETI, their mission and vision in relation to this course,
the teaching and learning materials that they rely on, as well as the Common European
Framework of Reference of languages.

All the activities suggested on (or in?) the textbook are theoretically supported -
even the additional activities at the end of each textbook level. They provide practice on the
different tenses with the four skills (which four skills?) that every learner must have for a
proper communicative competence. As content for the practice of the four skills we apply
different texts from different parts around Latin America. These activities are also an
example of how we can adapt different resources as material for language learning and
teaching. We also give an example of how different technologies can be used to prepare
(transfer?) the material from the Internet, Office, until (on to?) text-to-speech technology by
creating audio files (Publisher, loquendo and)

In conclusion, the present project promotes the area of development of materials for
appropriation of Spanish as a second language, at the Linguistics Department, UMSA.