Teaching Vocabulary

Without grammar, little can be conveyed; Without grammar, little can be conveyed; without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed. ----D.Wilkins without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed. ----D.Wilkins

Ask yourself before taking action: 1. Do you expect most learning to occur during or outside class? 1. Do you expect most learning to occur during or outside class? 2. Which skills-listening, speaking, reading or writing-will involve most of your vocabulary learning program? 2. Which skills-listening, speaking, reading or writing-will involve most of your vocabulary learning program? 3. Will you be aiming at quality of vocabulary learning or quantity? 3. Will you be aiming at quality of vocabulary learning or quantity? 4. Will your focus be on particular words or on strategies? 4. Will your focus be on particular words or on strategies? 5. How much emphasis will be give to decontextualized vocabulary learning? 5. How much emphasis will be give to decontextualized vocabulary learning?

Age in years Vocabulary size investigator 9.66,620Kirkpatrick 10.77,020Kirkpatrick 11.77,860Kirkpatrick 12.88,700Kirkpatrick ,600Kirkpatrick ,000Kirkpatrick ,600Kirkpatrick

Type of Voca Numbe r of words FrequencyCoverageimplications High- frequency words 2000 Occur frequently in all kinds of texts About 87% of the running words in a text. Spend a lot of time on these words. Make sure they are learned Academic vo 800 Occur frequently in most kinds of academic texts About 8% of the running words in academic texts In upper secondary school or in tertiary education, spend a lot of time on these words Technical vo About 1,000 to 2,000 for each subject Occur, sometimes frequently in specialized texts About 3% of the running words in a specialized text Learning the subject involves learning the vo.English teacher can help with learning strategies Low- frequency words About 123,000 Do not occur very frequently About 2% or more of the words in any text Do not deserve teaching time.

Issues concerning learning and teaching Repetition Repetition Different parts of speech Different parts of speech Context Context Form of word Form of word Word collocation Word collocation

Corpus Corpus( 语料库，尸体 ): –(pl. corpora or corpuses): a collection of text, now usually in machine-readable form and compiled to be representative of a particular kind of language and often provided with some kind of annotation （标注）. – 按照一定的采样标准采集而来的、能代表一种 语言或者某语言的一种变体或文类的电子文本 集。

Corpus Linguistics 语料库语言学 立足于大量真实的语言数据，主要通 过概率统计方法，对语料库做系统 而穷尽的观察和概括得出结论。从 本质上来讲，是实证性的 （ empirical ）. 为何要建立语料库？为何要用语料库 方法研究语言并将其运用于语言学 习？

Example ： Start or begin ？在口语中哪个更常用？ Start or begin ？在口语中哪个更常用？ 我们的老师经常说 Let ’ s begin ！之类的话，对 吗？

但在 BNC 等语料库中查到，在口语中， start 更常用。 但在 BNC 等语料库中查到，在口语中， start 更常用。 语料库的方法基于真实的语言使用情况， 事实胜于雄辩 语料库的方法基于真实的语言使用情况， 事实胜于雄辩

A corpus can be analyzed using software tools, much like those used to find key words on the Internet, but with greater sophistication. By evaluating the results of these searches, it is possible to see how language is really used, and to find answers to questions like these: What are the most frequent words and phrases in English? What are the most frequent words and phrases in English? Which tenses do people use most often? Which tenses do people use most often? What prepositions follow particular verbs? What prepositions follow particular verbs? How do people use words like can, may, and might? How do people use words like can, may, and might? How many words must a learner know in order to participate in everyday conversation? How many words must a learner know in order to participate in everyday conversation? Materials developed with a corpus can therefore be more authentic and can illustrate language as it is really used.

AntConc AntConc Laurence Anthony Laurence Anthony

Major corpus Google N-Grams Corpus - Largest English corpus at 155 billion words. Also has corpora for other languages. ( Google N-Grams Corpus - Largest English corpus at 155 billion words. Also has corpora for other languages. ( American National Corpus American National Corpus American National Corpus American National Corpus Bank of English Bank of English Bank of English Bank of English British National Corpus British National Corpus British National Corpus British National Corpus Corpus Juris Secundum Corpus Juris Secundum Corpus Juris Secundum Corpus Juris Secundum Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) 425 million words, Freely searchable online. Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) 425 million words, Freely searchable online. Corpus of Contemporary American English Corpus of Contemporary American English Brown Corpus, forming part of the "Brown Family" of corpora, Brown Corpus, forming part of the "Brown Family" of corpora, Brown Corpus Brown Corpus International Corpus of English International Corpus of English International Corpus of English International Corpus of English Oxford English Corpus Oxford English Corpus Oxford English Corpus Oxford English Corpus Scottish Corpus of Texts & Speech Scottish Corpus of Texts & Speech Scottish Corpus of Texts & Speech Scottish Corpus of Texts & Speech

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