Teaching Vocabulary and Ways to Retain It Khmelnytskyi National
University February 21, 2012 Carol A. Haddaway, Sr. English
Language Fellow, Ukraine Slide 2 Vocabulary forms the biggest part
of the meaning of any language, and vocabulary is the biggest
problem for most learners (McCarthy as cited in Fan. 2003, p. 222).
In communication, vocabulary is often more important then grammar
(Davies, 2000, p.59). Learning new words and how to use them is not
a simple matter and can be quite challenging but working with words
can and should be enjoyable and fun for learners (Davies, 2000).
Slide 3 Outline What is Vocabulary A balanced vocabulary program
How to teach vocabulary Some teaching techniques Vocabulary
development strategies Academic words Slide 4 What is Vocabulary?
Words/items (mother-in-law, post office, ice cream) Word families
(base words and their derived forms) child, children, childhood,
childish; teach, teacher, teaching, taught Phrasal verbs take away,
put on, figure out, look up, pick up Collocation digital
photograph, hot summer Idioms call it a day, hot under the collar,
cold shoulder, hit the road running, piece of cake Slide 5 Layers
of Word KnowledgeExamples Meaning Denotation Connotation Degree
(strength of a word) Dictionary e.g. dog - domestic animal dog to
British or Arabic people The conflict annihilated
/destroyed/damaged. the city. Collocation Fixed phrases (word
partners)forth and back; tall, handsome, and dark Grammar, Spelling
(look)Pronunciation (sound) Verbs Nouns Adj. or verbs with
prepositions Think, thought Mouse, mice, information, advice
Responsible for, remind someone of Word Parts Prefixes/suffixes
sub, un, ableSubstandard, ungrateful Appropriate Forms
Formal/informal Direct/euphemistic Weep or cry, variant/variety,
dinner I heard that your uncle died/passed away What does it mean
to Know a word ? Slide 6 What Vocabulary Should We Teach?
Vocabulary Items that are: Frequent (West General Service List
first 2000 head words of English) Important (Academic Word List 570
word families) Needed for Classroom Tasks & Activities Regular
(common patterns or features) Easy to learn (cognates) Must
consider level & needs/interests of learners Must answer
students vocabulary questions (Richards, Nation, Genesee) Slide 7
How Should We Divide Our Time in Teaching Vocabulary? Teach each of
these for about the same amount (25%) of time: (Nunan, 2004. Online
course on Teaching Vocabulary Slide 8 Learning from Input (L, R)
The content has a message that students want to focus on. listening
to a story, having a conversation, following instructions,
extensive reading, watching TV The man and the mango tree Slide 9
Learning from Output (S, W) Opportunity to use the words Repetition
Attention to vocabulary, accuracy, and appropriateness. Focus on
communicating messages Say/shout the word first- Playing Cards
Slide 10 PLAYING CARDS - OUTPUT PLAYING CARDS - OUTPUT FORUM VOL
48/4 2010, P. 28 Turn the card over and the first player to
say/shout the corresponding word collects that card Slide 11
Language-Focused (Deliberate) Learning Looking for patterns,
dictionary work Vocabulary strategies Word cards Intensive reading
Focus on vocabulary and aspects of grammar and discourse features,
while learner get to practice language-learning strategies. Slide
12 Fluency (speed + skill) All 4 skills Use known words &
grammar Encourage lots of use Time pressure to perform faster Focus
on communicating a message as they'd have to in real life, Tell
------ - Dice game 4/3/2 Slide 13 VOCABULARY DICE GAME FLUENCY Sit
in groups of 4 Role the dice. The highest number starts Take turns
asking each other questions. e.g. you roll 6, the person to your
left says, tell me 6 things about yourself Then person who asked
the question rolls the dice and continues like this. Slide 14 Vocab
Dice Game - examples English words 1 thing about yourself 2 things
about your family 3 things about your best friend 4 things about
your hobbies 5 things you wish you had 6 of your favorite movies 4
things about money, food, restaurants, things you like to do
Adjectives that describe you Your favorite website Reasons why you
like Facebook How you plan to make money Favorite childhood
memories What are you good at Slide 15 How Should We Teach
Vocabulary? Focus on important words General Service List, Academic
Word List Give simple, clear explanations & translation as
needed Use concept-checking questions to check meaning Provide
repetition over time Slide 16 Teaching Problem (1) Teacher: The new
word is important. The stress is on the second syllable. OK, repeat
important Silence Learner: What means? Teacher: OK just repeat
important appraisal (Thaine, 2010) Slide 17 Teaching Problem (2)
Teacher: OK, our 12 th new word for today: who knows what we call
someone whose job it is to take care of a building? Slide 18
Teaching Problem (3) Teacher: So here on the board is the new word
Ive written up wallet. So what does it mean? leverage The player's
popularity has given him a great deal of leverage with the owners
of the team. Slide 19 Teaching Problem (4) Teacher: Right, the word
is jump. For example: He likes to jump. Foliage The foliage was
think and I couldnt see the sun. Slide 20 Teaching Problem (5)
Sissors. Does everyone understand the meaning of this word?
(Silence) Teacher: Do you understand? Anya? Learner: Yes.
peripheral Slide 21 SOME TEACHING TECHNIQUES Slide 22 IDENTIFYING
WORDS WE KNOW The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Slide 23
Lexical Sets A cluster or group of related words Words can be
related in several ways By topic: furniture, clothes, family
relationships In pairs opposites: hot/cold, old/new In pairs
synonyms: slip/slide, booklet/brochure By superordinate: FRUIT
Hyponym of FRUIT: orange, apple, banana, kiwi Word families: paint,
painter, painting Slide 24 Things that are cold Slide 25 Things
that are boring Slide 26 Opposites Example: hot/cold old/new Slide
27 Word families KNOW: knowledge, knowing, known, knowledgeable
ACCURATE FRIEND POLITE HAPPY Slide 28 Adjectives beautiful Slide 29
Phrasal verbs get up Slide 30 Idioms piece of cake brainstorm Slide
31 Why are lexical sets important? We probably dont store words in
our brain in alphabetical order like a dictionary does. Memory: We
apparently store words in or brain in groups of related words (or
lexical sets) If a new word can be hooked to words which are
already stored, it might be easier to remember it Slide 32 Word
Associations Cough Grass Red Salt Puppy coffee Blue Pepper Tea
Kitten Sneeze Green Connect the matching words Slide 33 cy
Collocations words that co- occur with high frequency Grammatical
Reason for Account for Rely on By accident In retrospect Lexical
Spend money Inflict a wound Dense fog Deeply absorbed Dead
fatigued? Thematically related Slide 34 VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT
STRATEGIES Slide 35 Extensive ((joyful) reading Read constantly!
The more you see new words used in context, the more you will be
able to recognize, spell and use them. Is one way to become
familiar with low- frequency words Slide 36 Using Context To guess
words in context, one must know 95% of the words in the text, i.e.
19 out of 20 words. Knowing 98% (one unknown word in 50) is
considered an independent reading level Since there is no time like
the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
(Laufer, 1989; Nation & Waring, 1997) Slide 37 Prefixes and
Root words Many academic words have Latin or Greek roots so if you
understand the prefix and root meaning, you can often guess the
word meaning. For example: Sub = under Marine = water Submarine = a
boat that can dive under the ocean Word Building Slide 38 Selective
Dictionary Use 1. Do I need the word? Can I understand the text
without it? Is it a word I may find valuable later? 2. Does the
context help? 3. Do the word parts help? 4. Does it help to
pronounce it? Does it sound like a word that I know?
http://www.thefreedictionary.com http://www.dictionary.com Slide 39
Academic Vocabulary Academic vocabulary must be taught simply
because it does not occur in daily interactions and conversational
exchanges Academic Word List (most frequent university academic
words across several disciplines)
http://www.victoria.ac.nz/lals/resources/academicwordlis t/ Slide
40 Practice with Academic Words Emphasis Estimate Injure Predict
Rational Relax Relevant Find your match Accurate Attach Analyze
Conclude Reluctant Define Display Economy Slide 41 Effective
Strategies SPACED REPETITION Review words learned 2 weeks ago, 1
week ago, 2 days ago, yesterday REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW FLASHCARDS
FLASHCARDS FLASHCARDS Slide 42 Convincing students to be
independent learners, responsible for their own vocabulary learning
represents the single most effective teaching strategy. (Hinkle,
Tesol 2009) Slide 43 Learning vocabulary can be fun
http://www.vocabulary.co.il/ 200 vocabulary exercises
http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/200/vocab/index.htm
Interactive vocabulary games
http://pbskids.org/arthur/games/unmatching/index.html
http://esl.fis.edu/vocab/index-fp.htm Interactive puzzles
http://vlc.polyu.edu.hk/XWord/xword.htm Dictionary.com
http://dictionary.reference.com/ VOCABULARY WEBSITES Vocabulary
Activities Slide 44 Vocabulary quizzes/activities
http://www.geocities.com/pccprep/qz.htm#vocab Interactive
vocabulary matching exercises
http://www.eslbears.homestead.com/matching.html Vocabulary and
grammar activities http://english-zone.com/index.php Vocabulary and
other activities for young learners
http://www.abcteach.com/sitemap.htm Vocabulary website from Ohio
University http://www.ohiou.edu/esl/english/vocabulary.html
VOCABULARY ACTIVITIES Slide 45 General Service Word List (most
frequent 2000+ words) http://jbauman.com/aboutgsl.html Academic
Word List (most frequent university academic words across several
disciplines) www.vuw.ac.nz/lals/research/awl/
http://www.uefap.com/vocab/select/awl.htm (Coxheads Academic Word
List) Word Lists & Frequency Lists Slide 46 Crandall, J. &
Bickel, B. Whats in a Word? The Importance of Vocabulary & Some
Ways to Teach It presentation (UMBC) Davies, P. & Pearse, E.
(2006). Success in English Teaching. Oxford. Decarrico, J.S. (2001)
Vocabulary Learning and Teaching. In Teaching English as a Second
or Foreign Language, 3 rd ed., edited by M. Celce-Murcia. Heinle.
Hinkle, E. Teaching Academic Vocabulary and Helping Students Retain
It. TESOL 2009, Denver, CO. Nation, P. (2005). Teaching Vocabulary.
Asian ELT Journal Nunan, D. (2003). Practical English Language
Teaching. McGraw Hill. Thaine, C. (2010). Teacher Training
Essentials. Cambridge Zimmerman, C. (2009). Word Knowledge. Oxford.
Zimmerman, C. (2011). Academic Vocabulary and School Success
presented at the 2011 TESOL Academy. Refererences
