Teaching the Spanish passive and impersonal se-constructions to students of Spanish as a foreign language. How many distinctions are necessary?

Abstract

This article suggests a new approach to the teaching of the two grammatical constructions the pasiva refleja and the “se” impersonal in the classrooms of Spanish as a second language at university level. Concretely, it is argued that both constructions should be treated as a passive construction, based on an LFG-analysis of them that focuses on contrastive linguistics. A contrastive approach is recommended also for the instruction of Spanish as a second language, where meta-linguistic contemplation as well as linguistic competence is emphasized. Specifically, the use of a linguistic corpus in the classroom is an integral part of the instruction. The use of a corpus stimulates the student’s curiosity; it exposes him/her to authentic linguistic material, and promotes independent, inductive reasoning.