SUMMARY
Since oral expression in a foreign language is known to be the most difficult communicative competence to master, the purpose of this paper is to analyse textbooks used for teaching Spanish as a foreign language in Slovenian high schools. The aim is to analyse the typology and the quantity of textbook activities designed to develop oral expression in Spanish. We compared activities that originate from two different communication approaches and are designed for various language levels.The results show that all of the analysed textbooks are designed to encourage the active role of students, especially their oral expression. They differ however in the number of activities designed to develop oral expression, types of activities and the dynamics needed for their execution. These differences not only provide a larger and more diverse range of activities, but also enable the teacher to choose the textbook that best addresses their needs and those of their students.The analysis also shows that even lower level textbooks encourage independent oral production in students, regardless of the communication approach that they were designed for, since the share of activities that only encourage reproduction is relatively low.A much bigger emphasis in the textbooks is given to tasks and activities that include various dialogues, comments and conversations through which the books aim to develop independent speakers, well-equipped with different language strategies, tools and skills that enable efficient, fluent and accurate oral expression in Spanish.