Getting to know each other

MAAL6018 Vocabulary Teaching And Learning Course Outline Session 1Building blocks and dimensions of vocabulary knowledge - What is a word? What is meant by knowing a word? - Some research in teaching vocabulary (John Read) Session 2 (CRT6.32)Vocabulary size, frequency, word lists Computer applications – Are some words “more important” than others? - Websites for learning word lists, assessing vocab size and profile Session 3 Vocabulary teaching -Indirect vs. direct vocabulary teaching -Vocabulary assessment - the lexical approach to vocabulary teaching Session 4Vocabulary learning -Vocabulary learning strategies Session 5 (CRT6.32)Use of concordancers Session 6The mental lexicon – How L1 and L2 speakers store and retrieve words in their brains Assignment due October 28

Course website Assignment Sessions and Readings List of Useful readings Dissertations in HKU Library Resources on the Web Password protected / copyrighted

Warming Up 1. How many words do you think there are in the English language? 2. How many words do you know? 3. What is the longest word you know? 4. What is the most frequently used word in the English language? 5. What do you think is the best way to learn vocabulary?

The longest word in English Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanocon iosis (45 letters; longest word in Oxford Dictionary) a lung disease caused by silica dust, mostly suffered by miners a lung disease caused by silica dust, mostly suffered by miners Or smiled

Why vocabulary learning is important and challenging “Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed” (Wilkins, 1972:111) A finite number of grammar items (about 300 in English), but an infinite number of vocabulary items for a typical learner

Grouping words

Grammatical / Function words Lexical / Content words Multi-word lexical items InflectionsDerivatives because offamousraining cats and dogs bringoccasion whysingercatch upbringingoccasional cannotrainedday in and day outbroughtoccasionally theheavilynow and thenbrings

What is meant by “a word”? 1. Matching 2. Pair activity

Word Family Do you think speech and unspeakable should be included in the same word family as speak? How about bespoke?

How much do you know about the word “agree”? Again, agony, agonize, agonistic, age, aging, agent, agency, aglow, agile, aggressive, aggregate, aggravate 3. Both (intransitive: I agree; transitive: I agree with you on this issue) 4. No (It is agreed that…) 5. on 6. Agreement 7. Agreeable, agreed 8. Pleasant, acceptable 9. Disagree (Ungradable) 10. Yes (dis)

How much do you know about the word “agree”? 11. No 12. yes 13. No (We did not agree to go to the cinema) 14. Consent, concur, assent, accede, side with 15. Compromise (agree unwillingly) 16. Consensus (of a group of people) 17. Yes 18. She goes to school / much water 19. Accept that we have different opinions 20. More (totally agree); less (totally disagree)

Aspects of word knowledge 1. Knowing how to pronounce the word. 2. Knowing the meaning of the word either as an L1 equivalent or as defined in L2. 3. Knowing how to spell the word and how its spelling differs from words that are pronounced similarly. 4. Knowing the grammatical word class of the word. 5. Knowing the grammatical patterns in which the word is typically used. 6. Knowing the collocational patterns in which the word typically fits and its any constraints upon the use of the word (concerned with, e.g. frequency, register, formality). 7. Knowing the morphology of the word and the forms and meanings of its inflections and derivatives. 8. Knowing the different senses of the word (polysemy) and the senses of its derivatives. 9. Knowing the antonyms of the word. 10. Knowing the synonyms of the word. 11. Knowing how the sense and usage of the word differs from that of near synonyms. 12. Knowing idioms that consist of the word.

Pedagogical Implications?

The incremental nature of vocabulary acquisition our knowledge of a particular word is often partial & incremental our knowledge of a particular word is often partial & incremental Recycling of words is important Recycling of words is important Focusing on different dimensions of word knowledge at different times / when meeting the word in different contexts Focusing on different dimensions of word knowledge at different times / when meeting the word in different contexts

Pre-session 1 reading 1. Research in teaching vocabulary (John Read, 2004) Focus on the research aspects 2. The big picture (Paul Nation, 2008) Different types of vocabulary (e.g. high-frequency / low-frequency / academic / technical ) A balanced approach to teaching vocabulary (4 parts in a curriculum)

Preparation for the next session (in CRT6.32) Please bring along a few pieces of your own writing of no less than 300 words each, and a few other texts of different genres, e.g. journalistic, academic, technical, literary, etc. (soft copies saved on a USB or your account). We are going to do some analysis of word choice in different kinds of writing. Please print off handouts for Session 2 (all available on the course website – “Course Materials”) Go over the pre-session reading