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This paper analyzes the properties of the image as a tool for the description of grammar phenomena and peeks into its pedagogical potential through an application to the controverted dichotomy between ser and estar in Spanish. The use of visual language as a device for the analysis and presentation of grammar has been one of the Cognitive Linguistics’ most characteristic traits. Nevertheless, the application of this powerful tool in the Spanish Language classroom is still scant, despite the description potential that the experts grant to it. This paper shows an analysis of some approaches to ser and estar through Cognitive Grammar and the metalinguistic image, and proposes another possible interpretation based in those principles and aiming to be exportable to the Spanish as a Foreign Language classroom.

Resumo: Este trabalho tem, por objetivo, analisar a multimodalidade e o letramento visual de alunos do curso de Espanhol do Núcleo de Línguas da Universidade Estadual do Ceará (UECE), ao ressignificarem um texto multimodal selecionado para a compreensão em produções escritas. O corpus coletado consiste de 18 (dezoito) textos escritos por alunos de língua espanhola e foi analisado à luz dos pressupostos teóricos da multimodalidade e do letramento visual de Kress e van Leeuwen (1996, 2006), no que diz respeito às metafunções e à análise da imagem, segundo a Gramática do Design Visual. Nesse sentido, almejamos mostrar como a produção dos textos pode revelar indícios de letramento visual dos alunos no contexto de ensino e aprendizagem nas aulas de Língua Espanhola. Abstract: This paper aims to analyze the multimodality and visual literacy of Spanish language students enrolled at the Language Center from the State University of Ceará (UECE), Fortaleza-CE, Brazil, by making meanings in written productions based on a selected multimodal text for comprehension. The corpus consists of eighteen texts written by students studying Spanish, and the texts were analyzed in the light of theoretical principles of multimodality and visual literacy theory proposed by Kress and Van Leeuwen (1996, 2006) regarding to metafunctions and image analysis, as set forth in The Grammar of Visual Design. In this regard, we intend to show how the production of texts may reveal signs of students' visual literacy in the contexts of teaching and learning in Spanish language classes.

Based on a corpus of ego-documents (private letters, diaries, memoirs) from the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries, this paper presents a variationist comparative study to determine the fate of the modal periphrasishaber de + infinitive in the history of modern Spanish. Detailed analysis of the envelope of variation enables us to show that, despite an abrupt decline in the selection ofhaber derelative totener que, both ‘to have to’, grammatical environments that favor its use remain in the mid-20th century. Many of the factor groups and the hierarchy of constraints during this period are similar to those that operated in previous periods. Nevertheless, a generalized decrease in the explanatory power of these factor groups, as well as some divergent patterns within several of these groups are also observed, mainly as a result of the fact thathaber de + infinitive is increasingly relegated to some restricted areas of the grammar and lexicon. Based on these results, some theoretical implications for changing rates and constraints in language change and grammaticalization are discussed.

In the instruction of composition skills in both English and Spanish, teachers need to address language features at the text level, not just at the sentence level.1 Many times students may master the vocabulary and the grammar of a language and still be unable to produce acceptable compositions because of problems due to conflicting discourse patterns-that is, the organization and development of text via the logical arrangement of ideas. This paper will analyze discourse features of compositions written in Spanish by secondaryschool students in Mexico, will draw comparisons with those written in English by Anglo-American students in the United States, and will discuss the implications of the results of this research for teaching and evaluating composition skills in Spanish language programs.

teaching of a foreign language.1 With this focus on communication as a route for language learning has come a reevaluation of the role of grammar instruction. Most new textbooks now offer communication-focused activities as well as traditional giammar-focused exercises. Communication activities ask the student to convey information, ideas, opinions, to participate in a game, to role-play, or to hear and discuss information about the speakers of the target language. Grammar exercises offer the opportunity to hear and produce specific forms and structures of the target language. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a framework for describing methodological trends in current beginning level Spanish texts for colleges and universities.2 The framework consists of five parameters