Vocabulary teaching and learning

1
Vocabulary teaching and learning

• Incidental vs. Explicit learning of vocabulary
• Depth of Processing Hypothesis (DOPH)
• (Taxonomies of) Vocabulary learning strategies
• (Memory strategies, e.g. the Keyword technique,
  using mental images)
• Guessing word meaning from the context
• Selecting, recording and revising vocabulary
• Relevant research studies

2
Discussion

• What is meant by incidental and explicit
  vocabulary learning?
• What do you think are the advantages and
  disadvantages of these approaches?
• What kind of words do you think should be learnt
  explicitly?
•  Given the limitations of both approaches, what
  do you think is the best approach to adopt in
  vocabulary teaching and learning?

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Incidental learning of vocabulary

• Natural exposure to language (through listening
  or reading)
• Upside useful for revisiting / consolidating
  words learnt before improve depth of vocab
  knowledge develop intuition for collocation
• Downside massive amount of input required
  intention to remember the language is usually
  absent
• To be accompanied by vocabulary-focussed
  exercises / quizzes / glosses

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Can incidental learning of vocabulary (alone)
lead to gains in vocabulary size (quantity) and
vocabulary knowledge (quality)???
Some instruction is needed

• A few pre-requisites
• L2 vocabulary size (95 coverage of texts)
• Knowledge about how to guess word meaning from
  context
• Reading / Listening material must be rich in
  contextual clues

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Vocabulary size and text coverage
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Pre-requisite for incidental learning of
vocabulary

• Before learners can begin learning a language
  through reading texts intended for adult native
  speakers, they need a threshold size of 3000-5000
  word families.
• Target Cumulative target
• KS1 (Pri 3) 1000 1000
• KS2 (Pri 6) 1000 2000
• KS3 (Sec 3) 1500 3500
• KS4 (Sec 6) 1500 5000

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Words that students should learn explicitly

• First 2,000 words
• 80 of text coverage
• First 2,000 words AWL
• 90 of text coverage
• First 2,000 words AWL Technical vocab
• 95 of text coverage of a text that a student
  would typically read
• First 2,000 words AWL Technical vocab most
  frequently used prefixes, roots and suffixes

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Most frequently used prefixes
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Graded readers

• Promises
• Fun pleasurable
• Increase exposure to language increase
  comprehension
• Exercises help practice new vocabulary and
  grammar
• Graded according to number of headwords (from
  most needed by students) word frequencies
  length
• Resource package exercises and keys ideas on
  how the readers can be used

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Explicit (Deliberate) learning of vocabulary

• Attention directly focused on learning of
  vocabulary
• Upside greatest chance for acquisition
• Downside time consuming laborious

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A balanced approach to vocabulary teaching
(Nation, 2008)

• Each component should take up a quarter of the
  curriculum
• Chapter One, Nation, I.S. P. (2008). Teaching
  vocabulary Strategies and techniques. Boston
  Heinle Cengage Learning.

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Depth of Processing Hypothesis (DOPH)

• Deeper analysis of stimulus ?
• More persistent memory trace ?
• Better recall
• Shallow and Deep language learning activities
• Can you think of some examples of vocab learning
  strategies that would involve shallow processing
  and strategies that would involve deeper
  processing?

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Shallow vs Deep Processing

• Considered to be shallow
• Rote memorisation of word lists
• Verbal / written repeitition
• Considered to be deeper
• Contextual guessing
• Association / Grouping
• Using newly learnt words in speaking / writing
  (activation of newly learnt words)

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Vocabulary Learning Strategies

• Important for independent learning of
  low-frequency words
• It is important to use a range of strategies
• The quality of strategy use counts for more than
  the quantity of strategies used
• It is important to choose strategies flexibly and
  appropriately according to context
• Strategies can be taught and weaker learners can
  benefit from strategy training

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Taxonomy of VLS by Schmitt (1997)

• Taxonomy of Language Learning Strategies (LLS) by
  OMalley Chamot, 1990 cognitive,
  metacognitive, socio-affective
• Oxfords (1990) LLS taxonomy direct (memory,
  cognitive, compensation) and indirect
  (metacognitive, affective, social)
• Nation (1990) discovery vs consolidation
  strategies
• Schmitts (1997) VLS taxonomy
• (1) Discovery discovering the meaning of unknown
  words
• Determination strategies (finding meaning without
  recourse to others)
• Social strategies (consulting or working with
  others to discover meaning)
• (2) Consolidation remembering words once their
  meaning has been discovered
• Social strategies
• Memory strategies (mnemonics)
• Cognitive strategies (similar to memory, but
  without the use of mnemonics)
• Metacognitive strategies (planning, monitoring,
  evaluation of learning)

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Schmitt (1997)

• 600 Japanese EFL college learners (junior high
  school / high school / university / adult ss)
• preferred using the bilingual dictionary to
  discover meaning of words
• Preferred verbal and written repetition
  (mechanical rehearsals) to remember the meanings
• As the Japanese learners matured, they tended to
  move away from shallow, mechanical repetition
  such as word lists and flash cards to deeper
  mental processing such as word association
  strategies

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Nations (2001) Taxonomy
General class of strategies Types of strategies
Planning choosing what to focus on and when to focus on it Choosing words to focus on Choosing aspects of word knowledge to focus on Choosing appropriate strategies to use and when to switch to another strategy Planning repetition (increasingly spaced repetition)
Sources finding information about the words Analysing word parts Using the context Consulting a reference source in L1 and L2 (e.g. dictionaries, glosses, concordancers) Comparing similarities and differences in L1 and L2 words (e.g. cognate words)
Processes establishing knowledge Noticing (seeing a word as an item to be learnt, e.g. keeping a notebook, using word cards, written and verbal repetition) Retrieving (recall of previously learnt/met items, e.g. meeting a word in a new context, covering parts of a word recorded in a notebook) Generating (generation of word knowledge, e.g. using a word in new contexts across the 4 skills, speaking, reading, writing or listening)
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VLS research on Chinese learners
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VLS research on Chinese learners

• Gu and Johnson (1996) -- China
• VLS and learning outcomes (vocab size and lg
  prof)
• Gu (2002) -- China
• VLS and vocab size, lg prof, gender, academic
  major
• Gu (2003) -- China
• VLS of two successful EFL learners (selected from
  11 learners who carried out think-aloud during
  a reading task, and were interviewed afterwards
  the notes they took during the reading task were
  studied)
• Wei (2007) -- China
• VLS and gender, major, lg prof (self-reported),
  problems in vocab learning
• Liao (2004) -- Taiwan
• VLS and major
• Fan (2003) -- HK
• Use of VLS (questionnaire frequency of use
  perceived usefulness)
• Wu (2008) -- HK
• LLS in vocational colleges

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Some conclusions based on these studies

• Positive correlation between strategy use and
  language proficiency / learning outcomes
• Successful learners use a wider range of
  strategies, use deeper processing strategies, and
  use strategies more skillfully / flexibly
• Importance of self-initiation, selective
  attention, guessing word meaning, activation of
  newly learned words
• Management, activation of newly learnt /known
  words, association, and social strategies seem
  under-used by Asian learners

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The positive effect of VLS trainingStrategies
that were reported to be used significantly more
frequently at the end of the course
Analyze the word parts that make up the word
Analyze any available pictures or gestures
Use (dental/medical) word lists
Use flash cards
Create or use a visual image about the word in my mind
Group words using a mind map

• Strategies introduced in the English (EAP)
  course for Dentistry students
• Source Loong Y Chan S W L, A Study of
  Vocabulary Learning Strategies Adopted by
  Dentistry Students in Hong Kong In Learning
  Specialized Dental Vocabulary, September 2012,
  Asian ESP Journal

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Guessing strategies

• Find the part of speech
• Identify familiar parts
• Examine immediate context
• Examine wider context
• Guess the meaning
• Check the guess

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Answers

• Arduous difficult / tiring
• Affability friendliness
• Saunter walk slowly
• Boisterous noisy / energetic
• Squander spend in a wasteful way
• Weave make cloth
• Remuneration payment
• Dusk early evening
• Toil work very hard

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Selecting vocabulary to focus on
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Recording vocabulary

• Take note of newly learnt words
• Semantic relations between newly learnt words and
  their antonyms or synonyms
• Newly learnt words and their collocations
• Verb forms (irregular verbs)
• Nouns (countable/ uncountable)
• POS
• Drawing

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Revising vocabulary

• Plan for spaced repetition
• Follow a particular topic reported in the media
  over a few days, e.g. reading about the
  development of an issue on the Internet or in
  newspapers over a few days so that you keep
  meeting the same words or synonyms of these words
• Use quizzes to test yourself regularly
• Revise the words recorded in your vocabulary
  notebook or cards regularly (e.g. cover up the
  word or definition and test yourself)
• Try to use the words you learnt before, e.g. by
  writing sentences or paragraphs using these words
• Ask a friend to test you / practice using words
  you learnt before with a friend
• Others??