How does a second-language learner acquire vocabulary? How does (s)he penetrate the complex web of differing meanings associated with a single item of vocabulary? How does (s)he organize around this single item synonyms, antonyms, metaphoric allusions, register levels and cultural references which come naturally in the native tongue? How do the multilayered meanings of a single word lodge themselves permanently in the learner's mind, or how do we remember terms of a second language so that they may be picked out from the memory as easily and automatically as if we had learnt them from our earliest childhood? Numerous volumes have been devoted to the topic, just as a welter of books have appeared which claim to increase our word power in a second language. Clearly, the real problem that presents itself to the learner of a second language is centered on the passage from first-time recognition of a term or expression to its firm retention in the memory so that it may be exploited meaningfully at a later date. In other words, the second-language learner must be encouraged to move from initial acquisition to a fixed and lasting grasp of words, and to their active and repeated use, in both oral and written discourse.

The present volume addresses these questions for those students who have already embarked on the study of Spanish since it offers a finely structured university course founded on the exploitation of semantic fields.