Teaching Vocabulary (2) LLT 307

L1 Vocabulary Development Native English speakers growing up acquire about 1,000 words/year A kindergartener starts school with about 5,000 words 5th graders, about 10,000 words. High school graduates, about 18,000 words (Nation, 2001)

What words do (English) learners need to know? [BIG Q: What vocabulary should be taught?] What words do (English) learners need to know? High-frequency words: The Dolch Sight Word list (Edward William Dolch, 1948) The First 2,000 words (Nation, 1990) Academic content words: occur less frequently but are crucial for learning science, math, history, literature, etc. Can we be more specific? Elementary ESL learners? Secondary ESL learners? Secondary/tertiary FL learners?

Learning the First 2000 Words (see Dolch and Fry lists) Different words Percent of word tokens in average text 86,741 100% 43,831 99% 6,000 89.9% 5,000 88.6% 4,000 86.7% 3,000 84% 2,000 79.7% 1,000 72% 10 23.7%

Learning the First 2000 words (Reading Q3)

[BIG Q: How can vocabulary be taught?] FORM  MEANING  USE

Teaching new vocabulary [BIG Q: How can vocabulary be taught?] Teaching new vocabulary Learners need to hear the pronunciation, practice saying the word, and see it written. Start by learning semantically unrelated words. Avoid learning words with similar forms and closely related meanings (e.g., affect and effect) (??) Study/teach words over several short sessions than for 1 o 2 longer sessions. Study five to seven words at a time, dividing larger numbers of words into smaller groups (see ‘Word Sorts’ below). Use activities or vocabulary learning strategies such as the keyword technique to promote deeper mental processing and better retention. Strategies on p. 290-292 / Reading Q7 Keyword method (see next slide) Newly met words can be consciously associated with other L2 words that the learner already knows (Reading Q1)

The Keyword Method shash soo chal maosi lit = bear = fish = frog = cat = smoke

The Keyword Method maosi lit soo shash chal = cat = smoke = fish = bear = frog

Some Vocabulary Teaching Strategies [BIG Q: How can vocabulary be taught?] Some Vocabulary Teaching Strategies Analogies Concept Definition Map The Frayer Model Word Sorts Imagery & Visual Cues Authentic materials Having students identify and explain new or unknown words WORD GAMES! (FORM  MEANING  USE)

[BIG Q: How can vocabulary be taught?] 1. Analogies

2. Concept Definition Map [BIG Q: How can vocabulary be taught?] 2. Concept Definition Map

[BIG Q: How can vocabulary be taught?] 3. The Frayer Model

[BIG Q: How can vocabulary be taught?] 4. Word Sorts (a)

[BIG Q: How can vocabulary be taught?] 4. Word Sorts (b) Most/least favorite (interesting, dangerous…): weather, seasons, foods, sports, occupations, chores, pastimes Associations: colors, seasons, clothing, classes, animals Groupings: positive/negative personal characteristics, (un)healthy foods/activities, large/small objects, concrete/abstract Personal identification: clothing, personal/physical attributes, Who has/will X?, animals, things we have/want Chronological order: travel, daily routine, getting a job, making lunch Hierarchies: government, army, church, office, school, family

5. Imagery & Visual Cues Showing pictures Drawing pictures Objects [BIG Q: How can vocabulary be taught?] 5. Imagery & Visual Cues Showing pictures Drawing pictures Objects Immediate surroundings Gestures

[BIG Q: How can vocabulary be taught?] 6. Authentic Materials

7. Students Identify/Explain Unknown Words [BIG Q: How can vocabulary be taught?] 7. Students Identify/Explain Unknown Words

8. Word Games Scrabble Password Word Web JeoParty Scattergories … [BIG Q: How can vocabulary be taught?] 8. Word Games Scrabble Password Word Web JeoParty Scattergories …

Idioms (p. 294 / Reading Q8) Ideas? Context Recycle Origin Examples! Discuss / break-down literal meaning Acting / role plays Imagery!

Corpus Linguistics and Teaching Vocab What is corpus? (Reading Q9) How can we apply corpus techniques and findings to vocab instruction? What about grammar? (Reading Q10) (Can we / do we want to separated the two?) “Where’s our cake?” (TMBG, “7”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9PNoJuP-mk) NYT article on Chunking Try out the Corpus of Contemporary English (COCA) http://www.americancorpus.org/ Collocations? burst? economy? take? Google? Up?

CLT and Vocab Teaching? (Post-reading Q1) Is vocab instruction as presented in DeCarrico (2001) compatible with what we know about CLT?

Create a Vocabulary Activity Some considerations Level, age, L1, L2, prior knowledge Subject? Form  meaning  use / Form  meaning  use Engagement! Additional skills needed? CLT? Objectives Pre-post framework Words taught together (as collocations) or separately? Assessment? The Maya / other materials

(If time) Loewen & Plonsky (in preparation) Incidental vs. intentional vocab acquisition in the L2 Spanish classroom Variables Frequency and recency Focus (intentionality?) Interaction / feedback Gains Pre-post design with instruction as treatment