Teaching Vocabulary Chapter 14 Lesson 3 Teaching Vocabulary Chapter 14

Teaching Vocabulary How do students best learn new vocabulary? How do you teach vocabulary? What techniques/activities work and what don’t?

Long-Term memory vs. Short-Term memory Short-term memory = small storage capacity, holds information temporarily while it is being learned Long-term memory = unlimited amount of storage capacity, holds information indefinitely

Long-Term memory vs. Short-Term memory It is crucial for students to create a deep understanding of a word by manipulating it and thinking about it (activities) in order to transfer a word from short-term memory to long-term memory Requires meaningful recurring encounters with a word over time

Explicit vs. Implict Learning Explicit Vocabulary Learning Students engage in activities that focus on vocabulary Build recognition of words, integrate new words with old ones, numerous encounters with words, deep level of processing, imaging, independent learning strategies Global Service List of English Words 2000 most commonly used words Academic Word List 570 word families

Implicit vs. Explicit Learning Implicit Vocabulary Learning Incidental Learning when the mind is focused elsewhere, for example understanding a text or using language for communication purposes Multiple exposure is necessary Extensive reading and listening

Teaching Techniques & Activities New words should not be presented in isolation and learned by rote memorization New words must be seen in context to provide clues to meaning Multiple exposure is necessary

Teaching Techniques & Activities Word association Semantic mapping = helps illustrate relationships among words in a text “Vocabulary Network” “Word Match Lists” Word Families/Forms Helps students see how word forms change according to function

Teaching Techniques & Activities Language games help recycle vocabulary learned in a text -- fun! Scrabble Word Bingo Jeopardy Pictionary Taboo Crosswords

Collocations Patterns of pairs or groups of words that co-occur with high frequency “the meaning of a word has great deal to with the words with which it commonly associates” example

Collocations Fall into two main groups: Grammatical collocations - nouns, verbs, adjectives frequently occur with a grammatical item (usually a preposition) Ex: account for, by accident Lexical collocations - consist of combinations such as verb + noun, adjective + noun Spend money, dense fog

Collocations If not learned, can create odd irregularities in a student’s speaking & writing Examples: start/set a fire, but not begin/commence/initiate a fire Rancid butter/sour milk but not sour butter/rancid milk Fast train/fast food but not quick train/quick food Quick shower/quick meal but not fast shower/fast meal

Lexical Phrases “Chunks” of language that commonly occur and are more idiomatically determined -- central to communicative competence Ex: “How’s it going?”, “Do you speak X?”, “Thanks so much.”. “Where is X?” Lexical phrases must be classified according to function

Lexical Phrases Start with a fixed routine and expose learners to varied phrases Drill routine - builds confidence and fluency in students Ex: “What’s up?” --- “not much.” Ex: “How’s it going?” -- “not bad.”

Vocabulary Learning Strategies Guessing meaning from context Part of speech, relationship with surrounding words, relationship with surrounding sentences/paragraphs, overall context Dictionary Monolingual vs. Bilingual Learn how to use correctly Vocabulary Journals/Notebooks Keeping track of new words