摘要：This empirical study researches the treatment given to vocabulary in current textbooks published for teaching English as a foreign and/or second language (EFL/ESL). The article starts with a description of some of the strengths and weaknesses of L2 textbooks. It continues with different aspects related to the introduction of new vocabulary such as ways of organizing it and the main presentation techniques. It moves on to vocabulary practice and factors that influence L2 vocabulary retention in long term memory. Furthermore, the importance of other lexical aspects such as vocabulary recycling, vocabulary learning strategies and the presence of glossaries with L1 translation equivalents at the end of textbooks is discussed. The rest of the article is devoted to the empirical study which consisted of (a) an analysis of 12 textbooks for teaching English in Spain and (b) a questionnaire distributed among 116 Spanish EFL teachers in order to assess their views of the treatment of vocabulary in EFL textbooks they were using. The analysis of the data from both sources, that is, the textbooks under scrutiny and the responses to the questionnaire reveals that the treatment of vocabulary in current EFL textbooks is rather traditional and economic benefits are given preference over pedagogical ones
