Vocabulary: How Vocabulary: How

important is it in important is it in

language learning?language learning?

Rubena St. Louis,

Universidad Simon Bolivar

slrubena2003@yahoo.com

How can my students How can my students

become active become active

learners?learners?

Why do we need words?

Words play an enormous part in our lives and are therefore deserving of the closest study.

Aldous Huxley

Many people get unlimited mileage

out of a limited vocabulary.

Graffiti

Source: Word Info

How many words should a foreign language student know?

2000 most frequent word families and the Academic Word List ensures a coverage of 90% of an academic text.

Nation and Waring, 1977

What the researchers say….

Levels Conversation

%

Fiction

%

Newspapers

%

Academic text %

1000 84.3 82.3 75.6 73.5

2000 6 5.1 4.7 4.6

AWL 1.9 1.7 3.9 8.5

Other 7.8 10.9 15.7 13.3

The rich manby Franklin P. Adams, 1881-1960

The rich man has his ………………, His ………….and his town………….He smokes a hundred dollar ……………And jeers at Fate.He …………….through the livelong day.He knows not …………….her pinch.His lot seems…………, his heart seems…………, He has a cinch.Yet though my lamp …………….low and…………, Though I must ………….for livelihood—Think you that I would change with him? You ……………I……………..!

The rich manby Franklin P. Adams, 1881-1960

The rich man has his motor-car, His country and his town estate.He smokes a fify-cent cigar And jeers at Fate.He frivols through the livelong day.He knows not Poverty her pinch.His lot seems light, his heart seems gay, He has a cinch.Yet though my lamp burns low and dim, Though I must slave for livelihood—Think you that I would change with him? You bet I would!

What’s “knowing” a word?

Form

Meaning

Use

Factors involved.

Motivation

Motivation

Noticing Noticing

RepetitionRepetitionGenerative

use

Generative use

InvolvementInvolvement

How can I help them learn? What do I

have to do?

Make vocabulary a part of their lives.

• Teach vocabulary learning strategies– Find out about students’ learning strategies.– Model strategies– Help students find the best way to learn

• Teach correct use of the dictionary– Review grammar

• Incorporate vocabulary exercises in daily lesson plan.– Use a variety of different exercises every day.

Aren’t learners the same?

• Multi-media oriented– Less textual

• Multi-tasker• Extremely sociable• Collaboration and

relationships• Constant engagement

and active involvement

• Freedom of choice • Freedom of

expression• Customize,

personalize• Create and share• Strive to be

independent• Technology a need

Some characteristics of today’s learners

Today’s sources

• Newspapers• Journals• Ebooks• Television web sites• Museums and art

galleries• Educational sites• Social networks

Potential for use

Learning environment

Language learner

Learning objectives

Delivery

Tools

…Provide exposure to language• “…the outcome of

language learning depends on large measure on the amount and kind of exposure to the target language…”

 Spolsky, (1989)

• “…learners are involved in a diversity of tasks with a variety of sources of language input…”

Krashen & Terrell (1983)

Provide opportunities for interaction

• Long's Interactionst theory requires students to engage in authentic communication, with negotiation of meaning and use of communicative strategies.

• Swain's Output hypothesis calls for learners to evaluate their output, reformulate hypothesis and reuse as input..

Have the potential to create authentic tasks…

Authentic tasks are those having the same types of cognitive challenges as complicated real-world tasks do.

• Egbert, Chin-chi Chao, & Hanson-Smith, (1999)

…a variety of tasks.

• Tasks which require students to process data at a deep semantic level. (Craik & Lockhart, 1972)

• Tasks which require students to focus on meaning and on form.

(Van Pattern, 2002)

• Tasks which involve students emotionally and are significant to the learner.

• Tasks which require negotiation of meaning.

Consider learner differences

• Age

• Individual learning styles

• Learning strategies

• Cognitive levels

• Linguistic level– Achievable

• Confidence

Consider learner needs

• Relevant to students

– Interest

– Attitude toward learning

– Culture

– Social group

• Stimulate learner creativity

• Promote cooperation among peers

• Foster learner autonomy– Student-centred– Student empowering

What tools are available?• Interactive exercise

generators– Hot potatoes– Word Learner– Discovery puzzle maker

• Communication tools– Chats– Blogs– Wikis– Social networking groups

• Creative tools– Podcasts– Videocasts– Comic creators– Mind mapping software– Survey tools

What aspects should I consider?– User friendly

– On or off line

– Cost effective

– Secure

– Effective

Create activites which permit:

Collaboration– Wikis, google docs,

• Exchange of information– chat or google docs

• Voicing of opinion– blogs, audio blogs, video blogs

• Personalised learning– wikis & blogs as learning porfolios

• Individualised learning – interactive exercise generators

Some examples

Word lists

Flash cards, word cards, personal glossary

Classroom activities 1

RecognitionScrambled words

Matching

Word games

Word formation

Bingo

Word challenge

Dictation

Oral and written

AssociationClassification

Semantic mapping

Classroom activities 2.

RecallDicto-gloss

Retelling stories

Use Research logs

Reading logs

Writing stories

Word research

Personal interest

Essential websites

Teaching tools

Examples with web profiler 1

Return

Online resources: Dictionaries

Meanings and origins of phrases and expressions.

Thesaurus, dictionary, translator

Word games, word of the day

Pronunciation

Meaning of the word in context.

Sample sentences.

Online resources: Dictionary 2

Meaning of the word in different contexts.

Words related to the target word and used in the same context.

Images associated with the word.

Audio pronunciation.

Allows you to hear the pronunciation of the word.

Let’s play!

Allows the retrieval of vocabulary in a fun way.

Encourages students to become autonomous learners by constructing their own vocabulary lists and then testing themselves.

Allows students to practice vocabulary and compete against themselves.

Some sites of interest. Teacher Tools• British National Corpus: http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/• Complete lexical tutor: http://www.lextutor.ca/• Vocabulary grabber: http://www.visualthesaurus.com/vocabgrabber/

Dictionaries• Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English: http://www.ldoceonline.com/• Dictionary.com:http://dictionary.reference.com/• The Phrase Finder:http://www.phrases.org.uk/

Learning sites• Gapfillers. Language on the go: http://www.gapfillers.co.uk/• Word learner:http://www.wordlearner.com/• Spelling city: http://www.spellingcity.com/• Wordgames: http://www.eastoftheweb.com/games/