Developing Student Vocabulary: Fun Ways to Learn Words Katie Bain

Objective Participants will learn, interact with, and apply new ways of learning and teaching English vocabulary.

How do you teach vocabulary?

What are the challenges for teaching vocabulary?

Challenge 1: The large number of words 1.The number of words that students need to know. – To function in English, students need 8,000 – 9,000 word families for reading! 5,000 – 7,000 word families for speaking/listening! Example of Word Family: stimulate stimulated stimulates stimulation Stimulative (Folse, 2008)

Challenge 2: Depth of Knowledge Needed Students must know a lot about a word in order to understand it well and use it correctly. What is involved in knowing a word? – Form – Meaning – Use (Folse, 2008)

Five Types of Vocabulary Learning 1.Single Words 2.Set Phrases 3.Variable Phrases 4.Phrasal Verbs 5.Idiomatic Expressions (Folse, 2008)

Single Words Single words express one single concept. room living room bedroom Learners need to know 2,000 to maintain a conversation. Learners need to know 3,000 single word families to read authentic texts. (Folse, 2008)

Set Phrases Set phrases consist of more than one word and cannot be changed at all. Example: “On the other hand” NOT “On the other hands” “On the other fingers” (Folse, 2008)

Variable Phrases In Variable Phrases, most of the phrase stays the same, but some parts may change. Examples: “It has come to our attention.” “It has come to my attention.” (Folse, 2008)

Phrasal Verbs Phrasal Verb = verb + particle putup takedown comeon makeup goaway getover (Folse, 2008)

Idioms (Idiomatic Expressions) In an idiom, the meaning of the whole phrase is different than the meaning of the individual words Example: “Who let the cat out of the bag?” means “Who told the secret?” (Folse, 2008)

Multiple Meanings (Polysemy) Hammer (noun or verb?) Table – furniture – set of numbers – action of stopping conversation – description (table cloth) (Folse, 2008)

Connotation PositiveNeutralNegative purebreddogmutt youngsterchildkid pass awaydiekick the bucket (Folse, 2008)

Part of Speech noun – amazement verb – to amaze adjective – amazing adverb - amazingly (Folse, 2008)

Frequency usual common “Smith” is a common last name. discard throw away * I’m going to discard my old books. (Folse, 2008)

Collocation co = together together + location Collocation has to do with a word or phrase that naturally or frequently occurs near another word in context. squander….money/resources commit… murder, suicide, fraud, grand larceny (Folse, 2008)

So what do we do? Successful vocabulary activities help students to … – Focus on the vocabulary – Experience the words many times – Develop good learning strategies (Folse, 2008)

Goal 1: Focus on the Vocabulary How do we make students NOTICE words? – write them on the board – keep a section of the board or chart paper for vocabulary – word walls – Students mark key vocabulary (Folse, 2008)

Goal #2: Experience the Word Many Times Students have to see, hear, and use a word multiple times to understand and know it well. – matching – writing – spelling – naming/identifying – writing it in a sentence (Folse, 2008)

Goal #3: Develop Successful Vocabulary Learning Strategies Teachers show students many different ways to acquire and memorize vocabulary. Students eventually pick and choose what works best for them. (Folse, 2008)

Activities and Ideas 1.Keep a running list of words 2.Vocabulary Cards 3.Ranking Vocabulary Items 4.Scrambled vocabulary envelopes 5.Word Sorts (Lexical Sets) 6.Dialogues 7.What’s missing 8.Erase 9.Smack 10.Listen and Draw (Folse, 2008) (Schindler, 2006)

#1: Keep a Running List of Words (Folse, 2008) (Schindler, 2006)

#2: Vocabulary Cards (Folse, 2008) (Schindler, 2006)

#3: Ranking Vocabulary Items (Folse, 2008) (Schindler, 2006)

#4: Scrambled Vocabulary Envelopes (Folse, 2008) (Schindler, 2006)

#5: Word Sorts (Lexical Sets) (Folse, 2008) (Schindler, 2006)

#6: Dialogues (Folse, 2008) (Schindler, 2006)

#7: What’s Missing? (Folse, 2008) (Schindler, 2006)

#8: Erase! (Folse, 2008) (Schindler, 2006)

#9: Smack! (Folse, 2008) (Schindler, 2006)

#10: Listen and Draw (Folse, 2008) (Schindler, 2006)

Sources Folse, Keith S. "Myths about Teaching and Learning Second Language Vocabulary: What Recent Research Says." TESL Reporter (2004): Web. 14 May Folse, Keith. "Six vocabulary activities for the English language classroom." English Teaching Forum. 1.3 (2008): n. page. Web. 15 May "Lexical Profiler." Compleat Lexical Tutor: VocabProfile. N.p.. Web. 14 May Nan, Yao, and Zuo Mingfang. "Using VOA Special English To Improve Advanced English Learners’ Productive Use of High Frequency Words." English Teaching Forum. 1.3 (2009): Web. 14 May Ryan, Katie. "Activating Vocabulary: Creating a Way With Words." Shaping the Way We Teach English Webinar Series. U.S. Department of State. Washington, DC. 17 Oct Lecture. Schindler, Andrea. "Channelling Children's Enercy Through Vocabulary Activities." English Teaching Forum. 1.2 (2006): Web. 14 May Schmitt, Norbert. "Review article Instructed second language vocabulary learning." Language Teaching Research (2008): 329–363. Web. 14 May Schmitt, Norbert. "Six vocabulary Activities for the English Language Classroom." English Teaching Forum. 1.3 (2008): Web. 14 May

THANK YOU! Katie Bain elfellowkbain.wordpress.com