Even in this digital age, as educational technologies are increasingly integrated into teaching and learning, textbooks continue to play a significant role within language classrooms. Many textbooks maintain a traditional approach to presenting grammar, including using grammatical terminology. However, students seem to have little knowledge of these terms, which may make grammar explanations difficult to comprehend. This investigation examines data from eight widely-used beginning-level French textbooks to investigate how grammatical terminology is employed. The findings confirm that grammar explanations in beginning-level French textbooks feature a large number of grammatical terms and many of these terms are not defined. An instructional approach that allows for the use of a simplified set of grammatical terminology is proposed.