2. Roadmap of Presentation
• Definition of vocabulary
• Types of Vocabulary
• Role of context in vocabulary
• Steps in learning vocabulary
• Research findings about vocabulary
3. What is Vocabulary
• “Vocabulary is commonly defined as "all the words known and used
by a particular person". Knowing a word, however, is not as simple
as merely being able to recognize or use it.”
• A person's vocabulary is the set of words within a language that are
familiar to that person. A vocabulary usually develops with age, and
serves as a useful and fundamental tool
for communication and acquiring knowledge.
• vocabulary is the glue that holds stories, ideas, and content
together…making comprehension accessible for one and all.”
4. Conti…..
• “Words are the starting point. Without words, no one can talk about
people, places, or things, about actions, relations, or states.”
• Therefore acquiring an extensive vocabulary is one of the largest
challenges in learning a language.
5. Types of Vocabulary
• Reading vocabulary
A literate person's vocabulary is all the words he or she can recognize
when reading. This is generally the largest type of vocabulary simply
because a reader tends to be exposed to more words by reading than by
listening.
• Listening vocabulary
A person's listening vocabulary is all the words he or she can recognize
when listening to speech. People may still understand words they were
not exposed to before using cues such as tone, gestures, the topic of
discussion and the social context of the conversation.
6. Conti….
• Speaking vocabulary
A person's speaking vocabulary is all the words he or she uses in speech.
It is likely to be a subset of the listening vocabulary.
• Writing vocabulary
Words are used in various forms of writing from formal essays to Twitter
feeds. Many written words do not commonly appear in speech. Writers
generally use a limited set of words when communicating: for example
if there are a number of synonyms, a writer will have his own
preference as to which of them to use.
he is unlikely to use technical vocabulary relating to a subject in
which he has no knowledge or interest.
7. Role of Context
Directive Context
• Gives clues, hints, synonyms to determine an approximate word
meaning in the context.
Non-Directive Context
• Mentions the word without giving any clues to determine word
meaning.
Mis-Directive Context
• Gives clues that lead readers to false word meaning
construction.
9. Step One:
presenting new words
Using visual images
Using gestures
and actions
Showing lexical relations
Words in context
Guessing/predicting
Other techniques
11. Step Three:
By making the new words of your
own
Vocabulary record system
Personalizing the new words
12. Research findings about Vocabulary
• “Word knowledge is essential for comprehension”
“Davis, 1944”
• “Oral interactions and wide reading in a variety of text types is to be
encouraged and supported “
“Nagy & Herman, 1987”
• “Learning new concepts requires active involvement rather than
passive definition memorization”
“Stahl, 1986”
13. Conti….
• “Multiple exposures to a word is necessary to learn it well –
conceptual, contextual, & definitional”
“Miller, 1996”
• “Writing definitions from dictionaries is not a recommended
practice”
“Miller, 1996”
• “Relate new words to students’ prior knowledge and to other related
words when possible “
“U.S. Dept of Education, 1987”
• “Use direct instruction to teach “Tier 2” and passage or selection
critical words”
“Snow, Burns & Griffin, 1998”
14. Conclusion
• Word learning is definitely a complicated process that deserves
attention.
• There are a variety of opportunities to connect words, analyze
structure, understand multiple meanings, and discover words in a
variety of contexts.
• The goal for one should be to build independent learning strategies
that will reciprocate into reading comprehension.
