Cover -- Table of Contents -- Foreword (Debra Myhill) -- Introduction ([Teresa Ribas] [Xavier Fontich] [Oriol Guasch]) -- Grammar study at school: Theoretical underpinning -- Teaching and learning first and additional languages -- Psycho-pedagogical and psycholinguistic studies -- Linguistic studies -- An instructional model -- The research approach: Observations and perspectives -- Regarding schoolchildren's knowledge of grammar -- Regarding the kind of reasoning that is accessible to students -- Regarding epistemological questions -- Regarding the Grammar Instructional Sequences model -- This volume -- Conclusions -- References -- Metalinguistic activity in language learning (Anna Camps) -- Introduction -- The concept of "metalinguistic" -- Metalinguistic activity in written composition processes -- The grammar concepts of secondary school students -- Towards grammar teaching models based on metalinguistic reflection -- a) Obstacles related to the object of knowledge and its structure -- b) Obstacles related to the teaching processes, that is, methodological obstacles -- c) Obstacles related to the ways of reasoning that are accessible to students -- Conclusion -- References -- Working on grammar at school (Marta Milian) -- General overview. Focusing on the problem of teaching grammar -- Grammar and language -- Didactic transposition -- An intervention model to work on grammar at school -- Grammar instructional sequences (GIS) -- Motivation / Objective / Situated purpose -- Importance of the process -- Collaboration (diversity of interests) -- Language as a mediating instrument -- Formative assessment / Learning -- GISs to communicate -- GISs to be aware of the language system and its use -- GISs to analyse language use -- In conclusion -- References.

Evaluative analysis of the instructional approach to studying syntactic coordination in ten secondary school textbooks (Ricardo Coronas) -- Introduction -- Theoretical framework -- Methodology -- Analysis and results -- A. Analysis of the textbooks' explicit approaches -- 1) Kind of definition of coordination provided in the books (semantic, syntactic and/or morphological) -- 2) Kind of identification provided in the books of the five kinds of coordination (copulative, disjunctive, adversative, explanatory and distributive) -- 3) Inclusion of controversies or debates from linguistic theories in the definitions -- Evaluative conclusions of section A -- B. Analysis of the definitions and the examples used in the instructional explanations, with a comparative study between the examples and the real usage of coordination in the instructional texts themselves -- 1) How the textbooks define copulative coordination -- 2) Contrastive analysis between the examples cited in the instructional explanation and the real usages of copulative coordination from the definitions in the books -- C. Alternative proposal for working with the materials available in the textbooks -- 1) Criteria of the proposal -- 2) Instructional proposal -- Conclusions and discussion -- References -- Appendix 1. List of the textbooks analysed -- Appendix 2. Tables of analyses of definitions -- Appendix 3. Table analysing the nuances and controversies in the definitions -- Appendix 4. Tables analysing examples and real usage (copulative coordination) -- Appendix 5. Original text in Spanish. Maleducar y mal-tratar -- Verb tenses in primary school textbooks (Mireia Torralba) -- Introduction -- Objectives and research questions -- The theoretical framework -- The grammatical notions in the textbooks -- Teaching verb tenses in primary school -- Verb tenses in two pedagogical grammars.

Grammaire pour enseigner (Vargas, 1999) -- Pour enseigner la grammaire (Tomassone, 1996) -- The textbook study -- Space, organisation and content of the grammar section within each unit -- Description of the sections on verbs and verb tenses -- Description of the contents on verb tenses -- (a) Declarative information -- (b) The semantic information -- (c) The formal information -- Description of the activities on verb tenses -- Kinds of activities -- Presentation of the activities -- Final comments and considerations to be borne in mind when dealing with verb tenses in textbooks -- Considerations that should be taken into account regarding how verb tenses are dealt with in textbooks -- References -- The use of metalinguistic terms in writing activities in early primary school classrooms ([Rosa Gil] [Montserrat Bigas]) -- Introduction -- Objectives and research questions -- Theoretical framework -- Methodology -- Source of the data -- Data analysis -- Results -- School A -- Grammatical terminology used by the teacher and students -- Other terms and other strategies used by the teacher -- Verbalisations which promote grammar reflection -- School B -- Grammatical terminology used by the teacher and the children -- Other terms and other strategies used by the teacher -- Verbalisations which promote grammar reflection -- Conclusions -- References -- The notion of verb mood in students in compulsory secondary education (Carme Durán Rivas) -- Starting point -- Theoretical framework -- Metalinguistic activity and teaching grammar -- The subjunctive mood: A ball of yarn with many layers wound together -- Methodology -- Design and implementation of the study -- Data processing and analysis -- Results and discussion -- Students' knowledge of the subjunctive: Relationships between knowledge of use and conceptualisation -- a. Interpretation of the sentences.

b. The pragmatic criterion in the construction of meaning -- c. Judgements of ungrammaticality: From use to reflection on use -- d. Multiplicity of criteria -- e. Attention to form -- f. Description of verb mood: The construction of the notion -- Metalinguistic activity in a language reflection task -- a. The influence of instructional intervention on the emergence of students' metalinguistic activity -- b. The levels of metalinguistic activity -- The construction of metalinguistic discourse and the use of metalanguage -- Implications of the results -- References -- "When does that happen?" Recognition of the retrospective usage of the present tense among primary school students (Mariona Casas) -- Introduction -- Theoretical framework of the research: From linguistics to language teaching -- Linguistics -- Teaching -- Design and methodology of the research -- Results -- Course of the conversations in the 3rd grade pairs -- Example 1: Semantic manipulation -- Example 2: Morphological fragility -- Course of the conversations in the 6th grade pairs -- World knowledge strategy -- Semantic strategy -- Morphological strategy -- Metalinguistic strategy -- Conclusions -- Classroom implications -- References -- Reflexive knowledge of the past tenses in Spanish (Carmen Rodríguez Gonzalo) -- Introduction -- Spontaneous and formal uses of past verb tenses in Spanish -- A model of classroom intervention for instructional research -- The macro-context of the study. A GIS on past verb tenses -- The micro-context of the study: From conceptualisation to reflective use -- Task 4: A poster -- Tasks 5 and 7: Writing a story on a life experience -- The data -- The tasks analysed -- The perspective of analysis -- Results and discussion -- Conceptualisation: Achievements and difficulties when explaining the past verb tenses (Task 4: Making an explanatory poster).

The reflective use of the verb tenses: The importance of revision (Tasks 5 and 7: Writing and revising a story on a life experience) -- Text analysis (product) -- Analysis of the interactions (process) -- Interactions during the planning phase of the story -- Interactions during the revision -- Final conclusions: Teaching grammar and the reflective use of language -- References -- Grammar and language reflection at school: Checking out the whats and the hows of grammar instruction (Xavier Fontich) -- Introduction -- Research question -- The contents of grammar teaching -- Teaching grammar: Morphosyntax and beyond -- A new approach to grammar contents -- Grammar teaching methodology -- Teacher-guided induction and speaking in the classroom -- Speaking in the classroom to learn grammar, as well -- Speaking to be understood: The importance of finding common ground -- The need for grammar contents and teaching procedures to be interrelated -- A grammar learning sequence based on oral interaction and a functional perspective of the grammar contents -- Grammar learning objective: "The verb is the core of the sentence" -- Learning target linked to interaction: Reflecting on grammar together -- Task: To identify the parts of the sentence -- Analysis procedure -- Analysis and results -- Dialogue 1: "En l'ecologisme? Hi crec bastant" (Ecologism? I believe quite a lot in it) -- Analysis of the interaction -- Analysis of the metalinguistic content -- Dialogue 2: "Dalí va pintar aquell retrat de Lincoln" (Dalí painted that portrait of Lincoln) -- Analysis of the interaction -- Analysis of the metalinguistic content -- Conclusions -- Implications: Grammar study as part of language education -- References -- Authors.