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6. research in teaching vocabulary - John Read (Introduction (Discussion…
6. research in teaching vocabulary - John Read
Introduction
research on second language vocabulary teaching and learning since 1999
Considers the distinction between incidental and intentional vocabulary learning
Discussion of how word frequency counts and information on word meaning from computer corpora can inform the selection of words to be studied
with a particular focus on spoken vocabulary
Classroom research on teaching vocabulary is discussed
another significant topic: the design of computer-based language learning programs to enhance opportunities for learners to expand their vocabulary knowledge
a summary of recent work on vocabulary testing is presented
Intro:
Second language learners are typically conscious of the extent to which limitations in their voacbulary hamper their ability to communicate effectively in the target language
language teachers are often unsure about how best to incorporate vocabulary learning into their teaching.
traditional teaching techniques of presenting new words in class or requiring students to memorize lists of vocabulary items seem old-fashioned
Intentional and Incidental learning
one distinction that has been influential in vocabulary studies is that between incidental and international learning
the basic issue: the extent to which learners can acquire word knowledge i
ncidentally, in the sense being the by-product of their main learning activity inside or outside the classroom
, rather than t
hrough activity that is primarily intended to enhance their vocabulary knowledge
Hulstijn argues that: in the classroom context, incidental and intentional learning should be seen as complementary activities.
this leads to two crucial implications for teaching:
if learners are to have the automatic access to a rich L2 lexicon that is the foundation of fluent communicative ability, it is neccessary to re-visit such unfashionable procedures as regular rehearsal of words, rote learning, training in automatic word recognition as one component of vocabulary learning. particularly for beginning and intermediate-level learners
where vocabulary learning is more incidental to classroom activity, learning tasks can be graded according to the level of vocabulary processing that they generate.
there are three factors in task-induced involvement:
the learners' need to achieve
a requirement that they search for information on the meaning or form of the word
evaluation of how the information obtained applied to the particular use of the word in question
Vocabulary Selection and coverage
High-frequency words
the first priority in direct vocab. teaching is to focus on which words are to be studied
a fundamental feature of the lexicon is the fact that a small proportion of the total number of the words in the language are highly frequent, and vice versa
there is an obvious payoff for learners of English in concentrating initially on the 2000 most frequent words
West's General Service List
words were included not purely on the criterion of frequency, but also to achieve efficient coverage of the meaning that learners were most likely to need to express
Most comprehensive and usable word frequency lists based on a modern computer corpus are those derived from the British National Corpus
cover the whole corpus as well as separate counts for the written and spoken components. also frequency counts for different word classes
The vocabulary of speech
spoken corpora tend to be much smaller than those based on written texts.
an important spoken corpus: the five-million-word Cambridge and Nottingham Corpus of Discourse in Engish
Specific Purpose Vocabulary
it is necesary to take into account of the needs and interests of specific groups of learners in selecting words for study
English for Academic Purposes
focus on subtechnical words, occuring frequently across a range of academic texts...
major contribution: Coxhead's Academic Word List
Learner dictionaries
apart from word lists, the basic reference source for teachers and learners alike is the dictionary, which is now available in a variety of forms
Increasing use of electronic dictionaries on the web
Huge resources are devoted to the development, production... of learner dictionaries
there is comparatively little evaluation of their effectiveness for vocabulary teaching
the amount of research on learners' preferences and their actual use of the dictionaries is remarkably limited
Nesi: conducted a series of studies in which students accessed dictionary entries as they performed either reading comprehension or sentence writing tasks
results showed: the comprehension scores were not affected by whether the participants looked up words or not
Vocabulary in the classroom
there is little research to report on methods of presenting and practicing vocabulary in the classroom
one common task that teachers set for more advanced learners: to select and record their own words to study, based on individual needs or interests
voacbulary notebook is a useful tool for this purpose
researchers found however, that learners tended to choose unsuitable words, which they learned by cramming...
Computer Applications
with the increasing use of computers to deliver language learning programs, there are new opportunities to enhance vocabualry acquisition, either directly through vocabulary learning activities, or more incidentally in the context of reading tasks
Computer Assisted Vocabulary Acquisition
designed to promote longer-term retention of useful words by presenting each one in numerous carefully selected sentences and short texts
learners are thus encouraged to induce the meanings of each word and to pay attention to its various properties
Groot found evidence of a better retention rate by this method
reading tasks undertaken on a computer