Developing Student Vocabulary:Fun Ways to Learn Words
Katie Bainwww.elfellowkbain.wordpress.com
ObjectiveParticipants will learn, interact
with, and apply new ways of learning and teaching English
vocabulary.
How do you teach vocabulary?
What are the challenges for teaching vocabulary?
Challenge 1: The large number of words
1. The number of words that students need to know. • 2,000 – 3,000 word families to understand spoken
communication• 8,000 – 9,000 word families for reading authentic texts!• 4,500 – 5,000 word families for a C2 Level of proficiency!
Example of Word Family:• stimulate• stimulated• stimulates• stimulation• Stimulative
(Schmidtt, 2008)
Challenge 2:Depth of Knowledge Needed
• Students must know a lot about a word in order to understand it well and use it correctly.
• What is involved in knowing a word?– Form– Meaning – Use
(Schmidtt, 2008)
Form – Meaning – Use suburbs
Form – Spelling– Pronunciation (stressed syllables)– Word parts (roots, prefixes, suffixes)
Meaning– definition, part of speech, connotation
Use – How do you use it in a sentence?– What other words usually come near this word in sentences (collocation)?
InstructedSecondLanguageVocabularyLearningSchmittNorbert.pdf
Five Types of Vocabulary Learning
1. Single Words2. Set Phrases3. Variable Phrases4. Phrasal Verbs5. Idiomatic Expressions
(Folse, 2008)
Single Words
Single words express one single concept.
roomliving roombedroom
(Folse, 2008)
Set Phrases
Set phrases consist of more than one word and cannot be changed at all.
Example: “On the other hand”
NOT
“On the other hands”“On the other fingers”
(Folse, 2008)
Variable PhrasesIn Variable Phrases, most of the phrase stays
the same, but some parts may change.
Examples:“It has come to our attention.”“It has come to my attention.”
(Folse, 2008)
Phrasal Verbs
Phrasal Verb = verb + particle
put uptake downcome onmake upgo awayget over
(Folse, 2008)
Idioms(Idiomatic Expressions)
In an idiom, the meaning of the whole phrase is different than the meaning of the
individual words
Example:“Who let the cat out of the bag?”
means
“Who told the secret?”
(Folse, 2008)
Multiple Meanings(Polysemy)
• Hammer (noun or verb?)
• Table– furniture– set of numbers– action of stopping conversation– description (table cloth)
(Folse, 2008)
Connotation
Positive Neutral Negative
purebred dog mutt
youngster child kid
pass away die kick the bucket
(Folse, 2008)
Part of Speech
noun – amazementverb – to amaze
adjective – amazingadverb - amazingly
(Folse, 2008)
Frequency
usualcommon• “Smith” is a common last name.
discardthrow away* I’m going to discard my old books.
(Folse, 2008)
Collocation
co = togethertogether + location
Collocation has to do with a word or phrase that naturally or frequently occurs near another word in context.
• squander….money/resources• commit… murder, suicide, fraud, grand larceny
(Folse, 2008)
How do we select words to teach?
• What are my students’ ability levels?• What words are most frequently used?• Which words are necessary for communication?• Which words are relevant to my students’
contexts or lives?• What are the demands of the class or course?• What are my students’ language goals and/or
needs?
Tools to Help You Determine Which Vocabulary Words to Teach
• West General Service List• Academic Word Lists• Lextutor Vocabulary Profiler• Readability Score
Lextutor Key
• Blue – K1 – Top 1 – 1,000 most-frequently used words in English
• Green – K2 – Top 1001 – 2,000 most-frequently used words in English
• Yellow – Academic Word List• Red - Offlist
K-2 Level Words
advice, attended, borders, delivery, disappointed, discussions, firm, flood, government, hospital, inside, inside,
international, international, lessons, programs, relief, risked, solution
Academic Words
access, achieve, affected, aid aid aid aid aid, approaching, assembly, assessment, assistance,
citing, civil, commissioner commissioner, commitment, comprehensive, conference
conference, conflict conflict conflict conflict, consult, convene, debate, economic, established, eventually, finance, financial, impact, institutions, intervention,
involvement, major, released, remove, response, security, shift shift, significance, significantly, vision
Readability Score
K-2 Words
asleep brain brain brain brain brain brain brain brain brain brain brain brain brain brain brains brains brains brains brains brains connected connections connections cure drum electrical electrical electrical electricity electricity
formal frequency frequency fun health information information instrument instrument instrument instrument instrument instrument instrument instrument instrument instrument lessons lessons lessons lock locking lot noisy noisy program programs purple pushing quick restaurant
sadder screen screen screen smoke sports urges wires worse
Academic Words
administrators adults affects affects analogy areas automatically benefits challenging classical classical communication communication complex computer
computer computer computer computer confer devices domain economic elements elements energy function
fundamental fundamental identifying inherently instance instruction investigates major major minor participated
passively physically physically processed processed research researchers researchers respond respond responded responding response responses responses task task
volunteer volunteers volunteers volunteers volunteers volunteers
Readability Score
So what do we do?
• Successful vocabulary activities help students to …– Focus on the vocabulary– Experience the words many times– Develop good learning strategies
(Folse, 2008)
Goal 1: Focus on the Vocabulary
• How do we make students NOTICE words? – write them on the board– keep a section of the board or chart paper for
vocabulary– word walls– Students mark key vocabulary
(Folse, 2008)
Goal #2: Experience the Word Many Times
• Students have to see, hear, and use a word multiple times to understand and know it well.– matching– writing– spelling– naming/identifying– writing it in a sentence
(Folse, 2008)
Goal #3: Develop Successful Vocabulary Learning Strategies
• Teachers show students many different ways to acquire and memorize vocabulary.
• Students eventually pick and choose what works best for them.
(Folse, 2008)
Activities and Ideas1. Keep a running list of words2. Vocabulary Cards3. Ranking Vocabulary Items4. Scrambled vocabulary envelopes5. Word Sorts (Lexical Sets)6. Dialogues7. What’s missing8. Erase9. Smack10. Listen and Draw11. Taboo12. Collocations Matching13. Word Comparisons (Folse, 2008) (Schindler, 2006)
#1: Keep a Running List of Words
(Folse, 2008) (Schindler, 2006)
#2: Vocabulary Cards
(Folse, 2008) (Schindler, 2006)
#3: Ranking Vocabulary Items
(Folse, 2008) (Schindler, 2006)
#4: Scrambled Vocabulary Envelopes
(Folse, 2008) (Schindler, 2006)
#5: Word Sorts(Lexical Sets)
(Folse, 2008) (Schindler, 2006)
#6: Dialogues
(Folse, 2008) (Schindler, 2006)
#7: What’s Missing?
(Folse, 2008) (Schindler, 2006)
#8: Erase!
(Folse, 2008) (Schindler, 2006)
#9: Smack!
(Folse, 2008) (Schindler, 2006)
#10: Listen and Draw
(Folse, 2008) (Schindler, 2006)
# 11: Taboo
#12: Collocations Matching
#13: Comparing Words
• Positive and Negative Connotation Scale
#13: Comparing Words
• Synonyms and antonyms• Discuss how certain words have different “hidden
meanings” (Use examples from Spanish!).– He’s frugal.– He’s cheap.
• When you encounter words in various different readings or contexts, make note of it! Make connections between readings and discuss how words were used in a previous reading compared to a current reading.
What are your ideas?
Sources• Folse, Keith S. "Myths about Teaching and Learning Second Language Vocabulary: What Recent Research
Says." TESL Reporter. 37.2 (2004): 1-13. Web. 14 May. 2013. <http://api.ning.com/files/6jocxzFU7kaIe5Zr-7tGPjFfR4UU882*VrN2OvUu3k5McnMv0n1TAtnyYhSkyQ21XFaralZovXUY4qI0hxyOmdLfCywAVFtB/MythsaboutTeachingandLearningSecondLanguageVocabularyFolseKeith.pdf>.
• Folse, Keith. "Six vocabulary activities for the English language classroom." English Teaching Forum. 1.3 (2008): n. page. Web. 15 May. 2013.
• "Lexical Profiler." Compleat Lexical Tutor: VocabProfile. N.p.. Web. 14 May 2013. <http://www.lextutor.ca/>.• Nan, Yao, and Zuo Mingfang. "Using VOA Special English To Improve Advanced English Learners’ Productive Use of
High Frequency Words." English Teaching Forum. 1.3 (2009): 26-37. Web. 14 May. 2013.• Readabilityscore.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.readability-score.com/• Ryan, Katie. "Activating Vocabulary: Creating a Way With Words." Shaping the Way We Teach English Webinar
Series. U.S. Department of State. Washington, DC. 17 Oct 2012. Lecture.• Schindler, Andrea. "Channelling Children's Enercy Through Vocabulary Activities." English Teaching Forum. 1.2
(2006): 8-12. Web. 14 May. 2013. • Schmitt, Norbert. "Review article Instructed second language vocabulary learning." Language Teaching Research.
12.3 (2008): 329–363. Web. 14 May. 2013. <http://api.ning.com/files/NYB1ymk6ME*n7N5NiQMFl5p5BS0MMK8z-B-8b0SIA9bcKlAHL3R53TTqMlUe7q7l8QF1IGOmSjbZ24cdlQ9vPhiahGW7Qkas/InstructedSecondLanguageVocabularyLearningSchmittNorbert.pdf>.
• Schmitt, Norbert. "Six vocabulary Activities for the English Language Classroom." English Teaching Forum. 1.3 (2008): 12-21. Web. 14 May. 2013.