Teaching Vocabulary

Teaching Vocabulary 30 January 2007 TESOL Virtual Seminar

Complex Items
A word is not fully learned through one meeting with it …
even if this meeting involves
substantial deliberate teaching.

Complex Items
there are numerous things to know about
a word, namely
its form
spoken, written, and its component affixes and stem
its meaning
underlying concept, particular instantiations, and associations
its use
collocations, grammatical patterns, and constraints on its use

A Range of Ways Form
Spoken form
Written form
Word parts
Pronounce the words
Read aloud
Word and sentence dictation
Finding spelling rules
Filling word part tables
Cutting up complex words
Building complex words
Choosing a correct form

A Range of Ways Meaning
Form-meaning connection
Concept and reference
Matching words and definitions
Discussing the meanings of phrases
Drawing and labeling pictures
Peer teaching
Riddles
Finding common meanings
Choosing the right meaning
Semantic feature analysis
Answering questions
Word detectives

A Range of Ways Meaning (cont.)
Associations
Finding substitutes
Explaining connections
Making word maps
Classifying words
Finding opposites
Suggesting causes or effects
Suggesting associations
Finding examples

A Range of Ways Use
Grammar
Collocates
Constraints on use
Matching sentence halves
Putting words in order to make sentences
Matching collocates
Finding collocates
Identifying constraints
Classifying constraints

Limited Effects
There are several strands through which knowledge of a word needs to develop:
1. meaning-focused input (listening & reading)
2. meaning-focused output (speaking & writing)
3. language-focused learning (vocabulary
teaching & studying)
4. fluency development (listening, speaking,
reading, writing)

Limited Effects
In summary:
Teaching can usefully deal with only a limited amount of information at a time
Too much confuses

In Summary
We should expect only limited learning from single meetings with a word.
We should bear this in mind when we plan or carry out those meetings
We should not spend too much time on vocabulary teaching.

What can we do?
The teacher’s job (in order of importance):
Plan
Train
Test
Teach

Plan
Insure that opportunities for vocabulary learning occur in all the four equally balanced strands.

Train
Help learners develop skill in the four strategies of:
Guessing from context
Learning using word cards
Learning using word parts
Learning from dictionary use

Test
Use the results of vocabulary tests to
see where learners are in their vocabulary development
plan future learning
motivate learning

Teach
Give attention to high frequency words and academic words where appropriate.

How do we teach words?

Teaching Words
Only high frequency vocabulary (the first 2000 words and the AWL) and vocabulary learning strategies should be systematically taught.
Teachers should know where the learners are in their knowledge of these words.

Teaching Words
The amount and strength of learning depends on the quality of mental processing.
The quality of mental processing can be increased by:
giving attention to a range of aspects involved in knowing a word
retrieval, generative use and instantiation
giving attention to word parts and helpful etymology

Teaching Words
There are many ways of communicating word meanings.
The best are clear, simple and brief.
Where possible, the first language translation should be given.

Teaching Words
First language translation can be given by:
- performing actions
showing objects
showing pictures or diagrams
defining in the first language (translation)
defining in the second language
providing language context clues

Teaching Words
The meaning given should describe the underlying meaning that includes most of the word’s uses and senses.
e.g. region
large area of land
areas outside the capital
field of knowledge
part of the body
(in the region of) approximately

Teaching Words
Words should not be taught with others that belong to the same lexical set, are near synonyms, or are opposites.
frog, hop, slimy, pond, croak, green
paint, funeral, recipe, market, uncle, ice
apple, pear, nectarine, peach, apricot, plum
never, sometimes, often, always
danger, dark, run, building, hide
north, south, east, west
travel, tour, journey, expedition, visit
glance, peer, stare, examine, scrutinize

Teaching Words
There should be repeated opportunities for increasingly spaced retrieval of each word.
Later meetings with a word are more important than the initial presentation and teaching may be more useful then.

Teaching Words
Direct teaching is only part of one of the four strands that a word should be met in.
It is only one way of giving deliberate attention.

Teaching Words
Learners should take control of their own vocabulary learning.
Learners should be taught how to learn vocabulary.
Learners should be taught how to choose vocabulary to learn.

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Teaching Vocabulary

by Irina K on Jan 29, 2009

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