Enhancing English Vocabulary Learning and Teaching at Primary Level English Language Education Section Curriculum Development Institute Education Bureau March 2012

Dimensions of Vocabulary Knowledge (e.g. paint, painter, painting) (e.g. look at the painting) (e.g. singulars/plurals: a painter, painters parts of speech: paint, painting, painted )

Key Strategies for Vocabulary Teaching Promote understanding of the form-meaning relationship and make associations Guide students in the development of vocabulary building skills Provide multiple exposures to target words using vocabulary-focused activities Create opportunities for vocabulary use 3

Why do we need to introduce vocabulary building skills to our learners? Learners need knowledge and strategies to decode and figure out the meaning of a large number of unknown words encountered in tasks and reading texts Vocabulary building skills can enhance self-learning of vocabulary items

Vocabulary Building Skills Word Formation Word Association Paradigmatic Approach Syntagmatic Approach

Vocabulary Building Skills Word Formation Affixation Compounding Conversion Derivation (e.g. unhappy, careless) (e.g. foot+ball=football) (e.g. cook a meal, a cook) (e.g. excite, exciting, excited, excitement) English Language Curriculum Guide (Primary 1-6)(2004), pp. 168-171 6 6

Vocabulary Building Skills Word Association Synonyms Antonyms Homonyms Collocations Lexical sets (e.g. happy = glad) (e.g. bright dark) (e.g. catch a bus, catch a cold) (e.g. make a wish, watch TV) (e.g. furniture – table, chair, desk, cupboard) English Language Curriculum Guide (Primary 1-6)(2004), pp. 168-171 English Language Curriculum Guide (Primary 1-6)(2004), pp. 168-171 7 7

Vocabulary Building Skills Paradigmatic Approach help students expand the size of vocabulary Syntagmatic Approach help students understand the use of the vocabulary 8

Paradigmatic Approach Deliberately organises words into hierarchies Develops associative networks Bases associations on semantic categories Associated with receptive vocabulary Encourages efficient vocabulary learning 9

Syntagmatic Approach Word combinations (the key to productive use of English) Develops associative networks Bases associations on collocations Focuses on: multi-word units (e.g. formulaic expressions such as ‘See you later.’, ‘Have a good trip!’) collocations (e.g. ‘go shopping’, ‘have a shower’, ‘play football’) Associated with productive vocabulary 10

Multiple Exposures to New Words How often do students need to meet a new word before they remember it? Research into the effectiveness of extensive reading for vocabulary uptake shows that the new vocabulary gains from reading of novels is disappointing. Participants were able to select only one correct definition in 12 of the new words in text (Horst 2000) Far more vocabulary is learned if the same text is read several times (Horst & Meara 1999) 6 to 20 times 11

Vocabulary-focused Games & Activities Games could be used in the instruction, practice and revision of vocabulary items to: - lower students’ anxiety - enhance students’ motivation in learning English Vocabulary items should be introduced in context and not just as a time filler

Introduction to the Resource Package on ‘Enhancing English Vocabulary Learning and Teaching at Primary Level’ Web version can be accessed at: http://cd1.edb.hkedcity.net/cd/eng/vocab09/index.htm

Contents Chapter 1: Theoretical Underpinnings of Vocabulary Learning and Teaching Chapter 2: Learning and Teaching Materials for Vocabulary Learning and Teaching Chapter 3: Vocabulary Games and Activities Chapter 4: References Appendix 1: Preamble to the Development of the Wordlists for the Primary English Language Curriculum Appendix 2: Learning Targets for KS1 & KS2

Development of Wordlists for the English Language Curriculum Background Recent evidence of inadequate vocabulary of HK university entrants Most 2004 entrants to CUHK knew between 2000 and 3000 English words only (Chiu 2005) International research suggests that students need at least 5000 words to cope with university study in English (Laufer 1989 and 1992)

Development of Wordlists for the English Language Curriculum A collaborative project with CUHK on Vocabulary Study to strengthen the vocabulary component of the English Language curriculum to propose vocabulary targets set for each key stage of learning to develop wordlists for schools’ or teachers’ reference

Vocabulary Targets Key Stage Stage Target Cumulative Target* KS1 KS2 1000 1000 1000 2000 1500 3500 1500 5000 *It should be stressed that the number is indicative rather than prescriptive.

Vocabulary Study – Sources of wordlists

Vocabulary Study References of the frequency-based wordlists General Service List (GSL) - West, 1953 Academic Wordlist (AWL) - Coxhead, 2000 British National Corpus (BNC)

Principles guiding final selection of words Relevance to learners Usefulness Combinability (collocations) Word class distribution Superordinates

Uses of the Wordlists for reference only the target number is indicative rather than prescriptive a general indication as to what words (and how many) words students should learn at different stages of learning

Uses of the Wordlists Do’s  design meaningful tasks and activities to help students develop their vocabulary knowledge and provide ample opportunities for vocabulary use  add words to the lists (or replace words) according to the topics and materials students have studied in their classes  provide students with the flexibility to develop a vocabulary that is personally meaningful Don’ts  ask students to memorise the words mechanically

Developing English vocabulary across stages of learning

Enquiries: English Language Education Section Ms Iris Chan 2892 6414 Ms Charmaine Kwok 2892 5855