Previous research on second language vocabulary acquisition has shown that learning to use a new word is not a simple matter of making a form-meaning connection. Knowing a word instead requires mastery of as many as nine different aspects of vocabulary knowledge (Nation, 2001). The current study uses data from five beginning-level textbooks of German as a foreign language that are widely used at American universities to examine which of these aspects of vocabulary knowledge are addressed in textbook activities. The results show that activities in lower-level German textbooks focus overwhelmingly on form-meaning connections and grammatical functions while ignoring other aspects, such as collocations, word parts, and concept and referents. A pedagogical approach that takes the entire classroom ecology into account is suggested.