1. Vocabulary teaching: Some current issues
Workshop for KMUTT MA (Applied Linguistics)
Vocabulary teaching: Some current issues
July 2018
Arthur McNeill
Graduate School of Human Studies
Assumption University

2. Growing global concern about inadequate vocabulary of L2 learners
“… there is mounting evidence that many learners, particularly in EFL contexts, are not developing their lexicons to levels that would permit them to communicate, read, or write adequately in English, despite years of formal study.” (Atay and Kurt 2006: 256)

3. L2 vocabulary learning at primary school is still largely un-researched
“… it seems likely that limited L2 vocabulary would affect elementary school EFL learners in carrying out the basic skills in English. Given the importance of vocabulary to oral and written language comprehension, it is astounding that have been few experimental studies on English vocabulary learning among elementary school children.” (Atay and Kurt 2006: 256)

4. Growing interest in students’ vocabulary in Hong Kong
Vocabulary Study
Growing interest in students’ vocabulary in Hong Kong
Evidence of inadequate vocabulary of HK university entrants.
Most CUHK freshmen knew between 2000 and 3000 English words only.
International research suggests that students need at least 5000 words to cope with university study in English.

7. Does L2 vocabulary teaching need to change?

8. Possible Pedagogical Problems
Over-reliance on reading as a source of vocabulary acquisition
Over-reliance on learner training and indirect learning (i.e. assuming that students will learn vocabulary by themselves provided they learn effective strategies)

9. How much vocabulary do L2 students learn from reading?
Finally some empirical evidence of the low extent of vocabulary gains from L2 reading.
Claims about number of encounters required to learn a new word vary between 6 and 20.
ESL learners in Canada learn 70 new words a year from reading, i.e words in 29 years. (Zahar, Cobb & Spada 2001)

10. Extensive reading revisited
Disappointing gains from reading of novels (Horst 2000)
Subjects able to select only one correct definition in 12 of the new words in text.
Far more vocabulary is learned if the same text is read several times (Horst & Meara 1999)

11. Learning new words from context revisited
Encouraging learners to infer the meaning of new words from context may be useful for their academic development.
However, inferring the meaning of new words from context does not lead to vocabulary acquisition. For words to remain in the memory, learners should confirm the guesses by referring to a dictionary or asking their teacher (Mondria & Wit de-Boer 1991).

12. Insights from genre: We need to selects texts carefully
Expository texts provide greater repetition of key lexis than narrative texts.
Success reported with primary learners who read more expository texts (Gardner 2004).

13. Key Priorities in Vocabulary Teaching
Providing multiple exposures to target words
Cognitive ‘elaboration’ of the form-meaning relationship
Activities which require students to focus on vocabulary appear to promote retention (e.g. “reading plus”, pre-task and post-task vocabulary focus).

14. Some Teaching Implications
Enhance L2 vocabulary acquisition through instructional intervention
More direct teaching of vocabulary
More vocabulary-focused activities
(PLUS, OF COURSE, A DEFINED VOCABULARY CURRICULUM)

15. Vocabulary now: Cinderella has arrived at the ball
Landmarks of the past two decades:
Lexical Syllabus (Willis)
Lexical Approach (Lewis)
Some excellent books for teachers about vocabulary teaching (e.g. Nation, Schmitt & McCarthy)
Vocabulary software (concordancing; frequency profiling)
Corpus linguistics
Enormous expansion in L2 vocabulary research

16. What has changed since vocabulary became “centre stage”?
Language teaching now attaches importance to:
Collocation:
“blond+girl”; “torrential+rain”; “rising+prices”
Multi-word units/formulaic language:
“see you later”; “have a nice day”
Word-building: compounding; affixation
Lexical relations such as antonyms:
“high/low”; “ancient/modern”

17. The quality of vocabulary use has improved.
But has the new interest in vocabulary taught students more words than before? NO
Awareness of lexis has definitely increased. Lexicalisation has been a particular interest (e.g. examining the lexical value of common words).
The quality of vocabulary use has improved.
However, learners’ vocabulary size remains a cause for concern.

18. Learners know more about words. But do they know more words?

22. Native/Non-native differences in vocabulary acquisition
Native English speaking students acquire about 3000 words per year at secondary school (ending up with about 17,000 word families in adulthood).
Hong Kong secondary pupils acquire about 300 words per year.

23. What challenges does L2 vocabulary present to teachers?
AREAS OF FOCUS
BREADTH
DEPTH

24. Productive Vocabulary What are the main vocabulary issues in students’ writing?

25. Text written by a primary school pupil in a HK exam
I have a rubber, an old, small rubber. Although it is so small that I can not use it anymore, I still keep it carefully in my drawer as it is so important for me.
That is a long, long time that I have my rubber. Four years ago, when I was still an eight-years-old child, my parents bought me a rubber as my birthday present. I put it into my pencil-box and brought it to school everyday.
We had an interesting game in the past. We used our rubber to play with in the game. We pushed our rubber one by one and tried not to be pushed out at the desk by another rubber. We pushed and pulled our rubbers, soon our rubbers became older and smaller one day than one day.

26. Vocabulary Profile (VP) provides the following breakdown (RANGE, 2002)
Word List
Tokens
Types
Families
1: 1st 1000
2: 2nd 1000
3: AWL
4: not in the above
Total

29. I have a rubber, an old, small rubber
I have a rubber, an old, small rubber. Although it is so small that I can not use it anymore, I still keep it carefully in my drawer as it is so important for me.
That is a long, long time that I have my rubber. Four years ago, when I was still an eight-years-old child, my parents bought me a rubber as my birthday present. I put it into my pencil-box and brought it to school everyday.
We had an interesting game in the past. We used our rubber to play with in the game. We pushed our rubber one by one and tried not to be pushed out at the desk by another rubber. We pushed and pulled our rubbers, soon our rubbers became older and smaller one day than one day.

30. Lexical characteristics of L2 student writing
Repetition of key words rather than lexical substitution
Under-use of super-ordination
Need for lexical enrichment (in particular, adjectives and adverbs)

31. What vocabulary skills are involved in developing lexical richness?
Avoiding repetition of words (e.g. by lexical and pronominal substitution)
Knowing and using synonyms
Ability to give definitions
Knowing the name of the immediate superordinate
Knowing the name of the member of the group (e.g. “item”, “piece”, “article”, etc.)
Use of metaphor (e.g. using known words in a metaphorical sense)

32. “General” superordinates can also help
EXAMPLES:
Stuff
Problem
Issue
Thing
Material
Business
Behaviour
Phenomenon
Trend
Pattern

33. Lexical expansion of a first draft
“My hobby is swimming. Every Saturday I go to the swimming pool near my home. I swim for one hour. At the end, I feel good. Then I go to McDonalds with my friend.”

34. Lexical feedback on a first draft
“My [adjective] hobby is swimming. Every Saturday I go to the [adjective] swimming pool [precise location] near my home. I swim [how exactly do you swim?] for one hour. At the end, I feel good [a better adjective?]. Then I go [better verb of movement] to McDonalds with my friend.”

35. 2. Pre-requisites for vocabulary building
Two Strands:
Topic
Strand
Collocation
focus on size
focus on
word combinations
paradigmatic
approach
syntagmatic

36. Paradigmatic approach (topic strand)
Deliberate organization of words into hierarchies
Develops associative networks
Encourages efficient vocabulary learning
Paradigms are fixed (but ‘open’)
Other associations are more personal (e.g. acoustic, visual, ‘linkword’)

37. Assumptions about paradigmatic arrangement
Allows for efficient vocabulary growth because the system is ‘open’ and allows for additions
Associated with receptive vocabulary knowledge in particular
Retrieval of words operates through the ‘cohort’ principle

38. Example One: FLAT LIVING ROOM BEDROOMS KITCHEN BATHROOM fridge cooker
saucepan
frying pan

39. Example Two: Vehicles car train bicycle handlebar wheel saddle tyre
spoke

40. Teaching the names of the superordinates?
horse
cow
tiger

41. Teaching the names of the superordinates
animals
horse
cow
tiger

42. What is the missing word?
football
tennis
basketball

43. What is the missing word?
desk
chair
cupboard

44. Paradigmatic
Association
Syntagmatic
Association

45. Paradigmatic
Association
Syntagmatic
Association

46. Receptive
Paradigmatic
Association
Syntagmatic
Association

47. Receptive
Paradigmatic
Association
Syntagmatic
Association
Productive

48. Syntagmatic approach (collocation strand)
E.g. Topic: transport
Car – drive – fast – wet – road
Brakes – skid – collide - accident
Develops associative networks
Word combinations are the key to productive use of English
Focus on multi-word units (e.g. ‘See you later.’, ‘Have a good trip!’)
Collocations (e.g. ‘go shopping’, ‘have a shower’, ‘play football’)

49. Assumptions about syntagmatic arrangement
Associated with productive vocabulary because it is based on the words which tend to occur together in sentences
The associations are based on collocations rather than semantic categories

50. From receptive to productive Providing opportunities to combine words
PEOPLE
ACTIONS
OBJECTS
PLACE

51. From receptive to productive Providing opportunities to combine words
PEOPLE
ACTIONS
OBJECTS
PLACE
Chef
cook
meals
restaurant
Teacher
Singer
Pilot

52. Helping learners to create useful word associations
ACTIVITY:
FINDING/CREATING PATTERNS IN A LEXICAL SET

53. KS2 (HK) Wordlist C5: Caring about our community and environment
Beggar
Energy
Pollution
Smoke
Care
Environment
Protect
Spit
Community
Flag
Recycle
Steal
Crime
Fund raising
Reduce
Volunteer
Donate
Government
Save
Vote
Electricity
Plastic
Serve
Waste

54. KS2 Wordlist C5: Caring about our community and environment
Possible Associations - Collocations (e.g. verb + noun)
Recycle waste
Reduce crime
Protect (the) environment
Serve (the) community

55. KS2 Wordlist C5: Caring about our community and environment
Possible Associations - Compounding (e.g. noun + noun)
Community care
Energy waste
Pollution crime
Government volunteer

56. KS2 Wordlist C5: Caring about our community and environment Finding semantic categories

57. KS2 Wordlist C5: Caring about our community and environment Finding semantic categories
SOLUTION
PROBLEM

58. PROBLEM Crime (steal, …) Pollution (smoke, spit, waste,..)
KS2 Wordlist C5: Caring about our community and environment Finding semantic categories
SOLUTION
PROBLEM Crime (steal, …) Pollution (smoke, spit, waste,..)

59. KS2 Wordlist C5: Caring about our community and environment Finding semantic categories
SOLUTION Save energy Reduce waste Community (volunteers, care, …)
PROBLEM Crime (steal, …) Pollution (smoke, spit, waste,..)

60. KS2 Wordlist C5: Caring about our community and environment Other categories?
People? Organisations?
Nouns? Abstract nouns? Concrete nouns?
Verbs?
Words which can be both nouns and verbs?
THE MAIN PURPOSE OF THIS ACTIVITY IS TO DEVELOP LEARNERS’ ASSOCIATIONS BY ENGAGING WITH THE WORDS.

61. Starting with a focus on word form. Activity: reading a postcard.
3. From Form to Meaning
Starting with a focus on word form.
Activity: reading a postcard.

62. Find the words which end in“-ing”
Dear Chris, This summer our family holiday is really interesting. We’re spending a week in a mountain hotel in Japan. The hotel activities include walking, mountain climbing and canoeing. The view is amazing. We can see wild birds flying around and hear the river flowing past. In the evening, we eat in the hotel dining room, then watch TV. The programmes are a bit boring, mostly singing contests and game shows. The trip is tiring but great fun. I’m looking forward to showing you the photos. Andy

63. Find the words which end in “-ing”
Dear Chris, This summer our family holiday is really interesting. We’re spending a week in a mountain hotel in Japan. The hotel activities include walking, mountain climbing and canoeing. The view is amazing. We can see wild birds flying around and hear the river flowing past. In the evening, we eat in the hotel dining room, then watch TV. The programmes are a bit boring, mostly singing contests and game shows. The trip is tiring but great fun. I’m looking forward to showing you the photos. Andy

64. Put each ‘-ing’ form into a category
Adjective
Verb in the continuous aspect
After “see”,
“hear”, etc.
Verb used as a noun (gerund)

65. Put each ‘-ing’ form into a category
Adjective
Verb in the continuous aspect
After “see”,
“hear” etc.
Verb used as a noun (gerund)
Interesting
Amazing
Boring
Tiring
Spending
Looking
Flying
Flowing
Walking
Climbing
Canoeing
Showing

66. Put each ‘-ing’ form into a category
Adjective
Verb in the continuous aspect
After “see”,
“hear” etc.
Verb used as a noun (gerund)
Interesting
Amazing
Boring
Tiring
(Dining
Singing)
Spending
Looking
Flying
Flowing
Walking
Climbing
Canoeing
Showing

67. Key Priorities in Vocabulary Teaching
Providing multiple exposures to target words
Cognitive ‘elaboration’ of the form-meaning relationship

68. Some Teaching Implications
GENERAL APPROACH
Enhance L2 vocabulary acquisition through instructional intervention
IN PRACTICAL TERMS WE NEED MORE:
Direct teaching of vocabulary
Development of learners own word associations
Vocabulary-focused activities
Process-writing with lexical feedback
Conscious reflection about words
Systematic re-cycling of target vocabulary (multiple exposures)