PECULIARITIES OF TEACHING SPANISH AS THE FIRST AND THE SECOND FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Abstract

This article is dedicated to the peculiarities of teaching Spanish as the first and the second foreign language. The relevance of the study is determined by the growing role of this language in the modern world, as well as by its widespread use in education, culture, international communication, and professional activity. Spanish is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world and is used both in Spain and in Latin American countries; therefore, it is not surprising that an increasing number of people choose to study it as a foreign language. The reasons for this include the wide geographical distribution of Spanish, the rich and diverse culture of Spanish-speaking countries, the large number of printed and media resources available in Spanish, the similarity of Spanish to other Romance languages, its relatively simple phonetic system, and lexical similarities with the English language. However, Spanish also presents certain difficulties, such as a complex grammatical system of tenses and moods, categories of person, and personal verb endings, which may become obstacles in the learning process. This study focuses on university students learning Spanish, analyzing the peculiarities of teaching and mastering the language at the phonetic, lexical-semantic, and grammatical levels, and offering recommendations aimed at facilitating the learning of Spanish and overcoming typical errors. The paper provides a comparative analysis of learning Spanish as the first and as the second foreign language. When Spanish is taught as the first foreign language, particular attention is paid to the formation of basic communicative skills, phonetic competence, and the acquisition of grammatical structures and a core vocabulary. In contrast, learning Spanish as the second foreign language involves taking into account learners’ existing knowledge and experience of studying another foreign language and developing new competences through parallels with the previously learned language. The article also describes general recommendations for teaching Spanish as a foreign language and deals with issues related to the selection of teaching materials, the use of authentic texts, educational resources, interactive technologies, and the cultural component of Spanish-speaking countries in the learning process.