| Abstract | The focus of this study was to examine how foreign language teachers develop the second language vocabulary of their students in the classroom. The literature on this topic includes a wide variety and large history of approaches and theories related to learning a language and its vocabulary. However, this study aimed to understand how these theories are carried out by teachers within the confinements and challenges of the foreign language classrooms in the U.S. realistically on an everyday basis. Through interviews with three Spanish as a Foreign Language teachers, the researcher questioned them about their own experience learning a second language, their personal beliefs on how students learn vocabulary, how they make meaning of vocabulary for their students, and what challenges they face when teaching vocabulary. The results indicate that participants emphasized a belief in implicit and natural instruction of vocabulary; however, because of limitations such as time and motivation of the students, participants tended to use a large repertoire of strategies in order to help their students learn vocabulary. |
