Abstract
The starting point of this paper is the design and implementation of an quasi-experimental case study on the lexicon available of a group of students who do not have Spanish as their mother tongue, in spite of being residents in Melilla and that they attend the last academic year of primary education (6.º). The language level that is required at the end of this stage is A2, according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). Our methodological approach is, above all, the design and development of a systematic planning of teaching and learning vocabulary in the study of Spanish as a second language in the context of the compulsory education, but this research is also useful for our university teaching, because we are trainers of future teachers and work with them also the development of vocabulary and their didactic applications.
Key words: multicultural contexts, Spanish, second Language, teaching and learning, vocabulary