Dr. Charles Browne, Professor of Applied Linguistics Chair, EFL Teacher Education Program Meiji Gakuin University, Tokyo, Japan

Outline of Presentation 1.Some basic findings of corpus linguistics 2.Introduction to problems faced by Japanese EFL learners related to vocabulary & reading 3.Introduction to online tools for identifying and teaching vocabulary from authentic videos

Why Focus on Vocabulary?

The seminal work in vocabulary instruction Nation, I. S. P. (1990). Teaching and learning vocabulary. Boston: Heinle & Heinle Publishers.

Words% known# knownResearcher 17%97/100West(53), Nation(90) 1025%3/4West(53), Nation(90) 10050%1/2West(53), Nation(90) %1/4West(53), Engles(68) %1/7West(53), Nation(90) %1/20Hirsch & Nation(92) %1/50Laufer (92), Coady(93) 350,000100%100/100Oxford English Dictionary The Importance of “Frequency”

Problem 1: EFL learners don’t know enough high frequency words…

How many words do L2 learners know? Minimum 5000 words needed for independent learning (Laufer, 1989, 1992, Nation 2000, etc…) CountryVocab. Size Hours of Instruction Reference Japan (University) Shillaw (95), Barrow (99) China (English Majors) Laufer (99) Indonesia (University) Nurweni & Read (99) Oman (University) Hort et al (98) Israel (HS graduates) Laufer (98) France (HS students) Arnaud et al (85) Greece (age 15, HS) Milton & Meara (98) Germany (age 15, HS) Milton & Meara (98)

Problem 2: Reading and Listening materials in Japan (i.e. INPUT) are too difficult…

Vocabulary & Readability: How do MEXT-approved EFL textbooks measure up? Junior High: Teaches first 1000 GSL words fairly well Readability of texts seems good - short passages, easy vocabulary, lots of pictures to support texts Senior High: Focus changes dramatically to teaching of low frequency words Many, many words from are never taught… Readability of texts is actually MORE difficult than unsimplified native speaker texts!

The Compleat Lexical Tutor

Vocab Profile: Online Vocabulary Analysis Tool

Typical Yomiuri Newspaper Article 85% expected for 2000 words 87.4%

Harry Potter Chapter 2 85% expected for 2000 words 94.1%

Typical Time Magazine Article 85% expected for 2000 words 80.9%

Japanese High School Textbook (Spectrum Unit 16) 85% expected for 2000 words 76.8%

Are Japanese students reading the right vocabulary? (Browne, 1996, 1998) TextCoverage from 2000 High Frequency Words Spectrum71% Milestone78% Unicorn79% Unsimplified Native Texts 85%

Are universities testing the right vocabulary? (Kikuchi, 2006, Browne & Kikuchi, 2008) Text of Entrance Examinations for: % Coverage from 2000 High Frequency Words Keio Univ.69% Sophia Univ.72% Waseda Univ.72% Kyoto Univ.77% Nagoya Univ.68% Tokyo Univ.80%

Summary of Vocab-Profile Results for Various Texts Type of Text% Coverage for 2000 High Frequency Words Native Speaker Texts85% Graded Reader (1200 words)99% Yomiuri Newspaper87% Harry Potter94% Time Magazine81% Japanese HS textbook77%

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・ Frequency 350,000 5,000 EFL Vocabulary Learning in Japan… chaos permission and of the exasperate digress chaos permission and of the abstain emigrate torment The Negative Effect of “Test English” PROBLEM: Students NEED to learn the first 5000 words of English to use English in the real word… But entrance exams and high school textbooks force students to memorize hundreds of low-frequency words… RESULT? High school students can’t deal with real world English because they don’t know hundreds of the most important high frequency words… sum bid ace HFW 2,289 2,566 4,441 14,641 23,371 25,537 42,024 84,168

Solution Number One: COMPREHNSIBLE INPUT authentic and motivating listening and reading materials

Graded Materials - Reading Cambridge Oxford Penguin etc…

Graded Materials - Listening (found materials on the internet)

Graded Materials - Listening (recorded version of graded readers)

How to Grade a Reading or Listening Text..

Problem 3: Graded Content can be Boring…. Authentic content is what our student want, but….

But which is easy? Which is difficult?

Graded Authentic Videos How can an “authentic” video be graded?.... Method 1:Teacher intuition Method 2:Readability Formulas Method 3:Vocabulary Frequency Formulas

Readability Formulas (Flesch-Kincaid, Flesch Reading Ease)

Readability Formulas (Flesch-Kincaid)

Readability Formulas (New Dale-Chall Formula)

Solution Number Two: KEYWORD IDENTIFICATION identifying the most important words to learn in a video

How to Identify Keywords

Key Words for Dracula…

How to Identify Keywords

Key Words for Obama’s Education Speech...

Solution Number Three: Scaffolding tools to help learners deal with videos above their level

Scaffolding Tools… (Captioning, Repeat Function, Voice Speed Contols)

EnglishCentral Scaffolding Tools… (clickable dictionary, sample sentence, sound file)

100% 0% Video Captioning (Google auto-captioning for YouTube videos…)

100% 0% “Keyword” Captioning (“Automaticity” – decreasing cognitive load by deleting less important/known vocabulary )

Problem 3: The little vocabulary teaching that DOES go on is usually decontexualized… Classroom FlashcardsSmart Phone Flashcards

Solution Number Four: Concordancing A corpus-based approach for teaching new words in context…

Concordancing for Language Learning What do you do when you come across a word in an authentic video that your students don’t understand?...

Concordancing for Language Learning

Solution Number Five: KEYWORD LEARNING In-context, spaced-repetition vocabulary learning system

100% Short-term memory loss 50% 0% Time

100% 0% The Forgetting Curve Ebbinhaus (1885), Leitner (1972), Pimsleur (1967), Mondria, (1994) Repeated viewings foster long-term retention

Spaced Repetition is the science of long-term memory Based on the research of Ebbinghaus, Pimsleur, Leitner, and Mondria, electronic flashcards automatically repeat each new word at spaced time intervals, and until the learner achieves long-term, instant-recall ability.

Spaced Repetition is the science of long-term memory

Vocabulary Flashcards: by corpus analysis of videos Quiz mode is based on Ebbbinghaus, Leitner and Pimsleur’s “spaced- repetition” approach

Vocabulary Flashcards: by corpus analysis of videos First, the meaning and context of 2-3 new words are introduced via video flashcards

Vocabulary Flashcards: by corpus analysis of videos

Progress is recorded at the end of each session…

Thank you ! For a copy of this Powerpoint, please contact: Dr. Charles Browne, Professor of Applied Linguistics Chair, EFL Teacher Training Program Meiji Gakuin University, Dept. of English