1. 1 Enhancing Effectiveness of Vocabulary Learning and Teaching at Secondary Level October & November 2012 English Language Education Section Curriculum Development Institute Education Bureau

2. 2 Objectives of today’s programme To enhance teachers' understanding of effective vocabulary learning and teaching To develop and explore strategies for effective learning and teaching of vocabulary to promote the development of vocabulary building skills To introduce to teachers how to make effective use of the resource package ‘Enhancing English Vocabulary Learning and Teaching at Secondary Level’ to develop appropriate learning and teaching materials to improve the quality of vocabulary learning and teaching in the secondary English Language classroom.

3. 3 Evaluation on the lesson The teaching focuses mainly on meaning (direct Chinese translation) and the pronunciation of the target vocabulary. Reading aloud and being told the Chinese meaning of the vocabulary may not help students to retain the vocabulary learnt and retrieve for use it later. Does covering all vocabulary from the textbook/vocabulary book mean that we are helping students to strengthen their vocabulary power? Should students be taught mainly meaning and pronunciation of the vocabulary? How can we help students to retain and retrieve the vocabulary learnt for use? How can we help students to strengthen their vocabulary power?

4. 4 Understanding of effective vocabulary learning and teaching

5. 5 Why do we teach students vocabulary? Why do students learn vocabulary? Communicative purposes (tackling texts & expressing ideas) Inside Classroom (lesson activities) Outside Classroom (daily life exposure) Under teachers’ control Under students’ control

6. 6 How to enhance and strengthen students’ vocabulary power? Introducing vocabulary in context. Students learn and apply target vocabulary items purposefully and meaningfully. Purpose of communication The need to learn what they do not know The motivation to learn

7. 7 Dimensions of vocabulary knowledge Spelling Meaning Pronunciation Word families Hyponymy Lexical field Style & Register Homonymy Connotation Synonymy & Antonymy Word formation Word combination

8. 8 Meaning of words Literal meanings (Denotative meanings) Implicit meanings (Connotative meanings) –E.g.  “ blue ”  “ heart ”

9. 9 Lexical field, Hyponymy Semantical relations –E.g. Food : vegetables, meat, fruits, drinks, dessert … Vegetables : lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, tomato … Meat : pork, beef, lamb … Fruits : banana, orange, apple, durian, grape … Hyponyms ( lexical members, sub-categories )

10. 10 Word formation Affixation (e.g. cybercrime ) Blending (e.g. infotainment, email ) Clipping (e.g. ad, blog ) Giving a new meaning to an existing word (e.g. mouse, traffic ) Conversion (e.g. google, text )

11. 11 Word combination The patterns the words appear –E.g. multi-word units (formulaic expressions, idioms): a piece of cake, give me a hand, get cold feet … The ways words are used –E.g. word collocations: play badminton, go fishing, make my lunch, take up a post …

12. 12 The Mental Lexicon With proper use of vocabulary building skills, students can organise the words they learnt and build associative networks in their minds effectively.

13. 13 Key priorities in vocabulary teaching Promote cognitive ‘elaboration’ of the form-meaning relationship through instructional intervention Guide pupils in the development of vocabulary building skills Provide multiple exposures to target words using vocabulary-focused activities and create opportunities for vocabulary use

14. 14 Strategies for effective learning and teaching of vocabulary

15. 15 Some effective strategies Create associations by –Making use of lexical relations –Attending to word collocation (multi-word units) Teach word formation (e.g. affixation, blending, clipping …) Use graphic organizers Create multiple exposure to words taught / learnt

16. 16 Creating Associations Two Strands Topic Strand (associative networks) Collocation Strand (associative networks) focus on size (breadth) focus on word combinations (depth) paradigmatic approach syntagmatic approach help students expand the size of the vocabulary bank help students understand the usage of the vocabulary

17. 17 Paradigmatic approach Develops associative networks Associations are based on semantic categories Deliberate organisation of words into hierarchies Associates with receptive vocabulary

18. 18 flat bedroom bathroomkitchen stovesinkcupboard tap strainer Paradigmatic approach (cont.)

19. 19 Syntagmatic approach Develops associative networks Associations are based on collocations (word combinations) Focuses on: multi-word units (e.g. ‘See you later.’, ‘Have a good trip!’, ‘keep abreast of’ …) collocations (e.g. ‘go shopping’, ‘have a shower’, ‘play football’ …) Associates with productive vocabulary

20. 20 Some examples and links of graphic organisers for recording vocabulary http://www.educationoasis.com/curriculum/GO/voca b_dev.htm http://wvde.state.wv.us/strategybank/VocabularyGrap hicOrganizers.html http://freeology.com/graphicorgs/vocabulary- organizer/ Vocabulary Word Cluster Word Detective Adjective Organiser Synonyms & Antonyms

21. 21 Can we re-plan the teaching of food items? Teach the food items in discrete items Teach the food items in a context (E.g. introduce the target food items using a restaurant review) Focus on meaning / pronunciation Introduce synonyms, antonyms, homonyms, word formation, word collocation … Introduce lexical relations to help studetnts categorise the words Design a purposeful and meaningful task to allow students to apply / use the words learnt

22. 22 Multiple exposures to new words Teachers are always puzzled: Why do students fail to recognise words that have already been ‘taught’? Far more vocabulary is learned if the same text is read 6 to 20 times (Horst & Meara 1999) REMEMBER: Provide sufficient encounters with the target vocabulary Create ways of RECYCLING previously taught vocabulary

23. 23 Hands-on activities to develop students’ vocabulary building skills

24. 24 Hands-on activities to develop students’ vocabulary building skills Activity 1: Meeting friends for fun- Word pair race Activity 2: A trip to nature – Compound Uno Activity 3: A leaflet about Ocean Park

25. 25 Situation for Activity 1 Four exchange students from the US have recently joined an overseas exchange programme in your school. You and your classmates are selected as the ‘Student Ambassador’ who are responsible for planning various fun activities for them.

26. 26 Activity 1: Meeting friends for fun- Word pair race In three minutes, brainstorm different fun activities that you and your classmates could do with them in the coming weekend based on the following verbs and nouns/ noun phrases. Write down your answers in the table provided. VERBS dohavemake playgo NOUNS luncha partysurfingshopping sightseeinga drinkbadmintongolf tennisthe cookingswimminggymnastics

27. 27 Activity 1: Meeting friends for fun- Word pair race dohave gomake play

28. 28 In what ways can Activity 1 help students to develop vocabulary building skills? The use of word collocation to help students retain the target vocabulary

29. 29 Situation for Activity 2 You have joined an ‘English Uno Competition’ organised by English Club of your school and will compete with other classmates. Listen carefully to the procedures on how it will be conducted.

30. 30 Procedures of conducting Activity 2 1.Form groups of four and each gets a deck of word cards from the facilitator. 2.Each competitor takes four word cards after shuffling. The remaining cards can be put on the desk. 3.Take one card from the deck, turn it over and it becomes the starting card. 4.Decide who is going to start first. The starter should try to find if any of the word cards matches the starting card. He/ she can put it on the left/ right hand side of the starting card to form a compound noun. The turn will then go to the one on his/ her left who can continue by hitting any card to start another matching.

31. 31 Procedures of conducting Activity 2 5. However, if the starter does not have an appropriate word card that matches, he/ she has to take one word card from the deck. 6. If this happens, it is the next competitor ’ s turn to match a word card with the previous card on the desk. 7.As long as a competitor cannot match the word card with another one, he/ she needs to take a word card from the deck. 8.During the process of playing, all competitors should agree with the matching of the cards. 9.Each competitor can only hit one card in each round. 10. The first competitor who gets rid of all the word cards is the winner of the competition.

32. 32 In what ways can Activity 2 help students to develop vocabulary building skills? The use of word formation to help students’ form compound nouns and guess meanings of unfamiliar words

33. 33 Situation for Activity 3 You work as a summer intern in Hong Kong Tourism Board and one of your duties is to improve a short description about Ocean Park. Now, read the following draft.

34. 34 Activity 3: A leaflet about Ocean Park Let’s have fun in Ocean Park! Ocean Park is a must-see for both people in Hong Kong and tourists. Ocean Park is located in the southern part of Hong Kong Island and easily accessible. Ocean Park is an interesting place with lots of interesting things to see and do. For example, there are lots of sea animals such as dolphins, sea lions and seals. These sea animals can do lots of interesting tricks. In addition, there are exciting rides that will surely give you an exciting experience. Step 1: Underline the repeated ideas/vocabulary of the draft below.

35. 35 Activity 3: A leaflet about Ocean Park Repeated ideas/ vocabulary include: Subject (‘Ocean Park’) Adjectives describing Ocean Park (‘interesting’ & ‘exciting’) Quantifier (‘lots of’) Noun (‘Sea animals’)

36. 36 Activity 3: A leaflet about Ocean Park Step 2: lexical substitution Let’s have fun in Ocean Park! Ocean Park is a must-see for both people in Hong Kong and tourists. Ocean Park is located in the southern part of Hong Kong Island and easily accessible. Ocean Park is an interesting place with lots of interesting things to see and do. For example, there are lots of sea animals such as dolphins, sea lions and seals. These sea animals can do lots of interesting tricks. In addition, there are exciting rides that will surely give you an exciting experience.

37. 37 Activity 3: A leaflet about Ocean Park How to avoid repetition of vocabulary? Lexical substitution e.g. Use of pronouns & synonyms * Discuss, in groups, how the content of the draft could be improved with the application of lexical substitution.

38. 38 Activity 3: A leaflet about Ocean Park Step 3: lexical expansion Let’s have fun in Ocean Park! Ocean Park is a must-see for both people in Hong Kong and tourists. It is located in the southern part of Hong Kong Island and easily accessible. The amusement park is an amazing place with lots of interesting things to see and do. For example, there are various sea animals such as dolphins, sea lions and seals. These marine animals can do various funny tricks. In addition, there are exciting rides that will surely give you a thrilling experience.

39. 39 Activity 3: A leaflet about Ocean Park How to further enrich the draft? Lexical expansion Use of ‘ODSACROM’- the use of adjectives according to the following categories before a noun : Opinion, Dimension, Shape, Age, Colour, Religion, Origin, Material (ODSACROM) + Noun

40. 40 Activity 3: A leaflet about Ocean Park e.g. Application of ‘ ODSACROM ’ when describing a church 1.Opinion- A graceful cathedral 2.Dimension (i.e. size, length, width)- a big compound, a 45-metre tall tower, a thin layer 3.Shape- a cross-shaped church 4.Age- a modern/ classic building 5.Colour- a white house 6.Religion- a Catholic church 7.Origin- a Chinese temple 8.Material- wooden windows

41. 41 In what ways can Activity 3 help students to develop vocabulary building skills? - The application of ‘lexical substitution’ and ‘lexical expansion’ to enrich the content in writing - The use of ‘ODSACROM’ to expand and enrich the vocabulary when writing

42. 42 Vocabulary learning and teaching summary Step 1: Background of vocabulary learning and teaching Communicative purposes Teaching in context Inside classroom (daily lessons) Outside classroom (daily life exposure) Step 2: Introducing various vocabulary teaching strategies & vocabulary learning activities Instructional intervention Retaining of vocabulary Step 3: Retrieval and application of new vocabulary learnt by students in the future Teacher’s role- creating opportunities for retrieval of target vocabulary when designing tasks/ conducting class activities

43. 43 Wordlists for the English Language Curriculum

44. 44 Wordlists for the English Language curriculum A compilation of words with reference to the vocabulary content of the English coursebooks on the CDC Recommended Textbook List Provides teachers with a general indication as to what and how many words students should learn Four stages: KS1, KS2, KS3, SS Two categories: alphabetical and thematic Teachers are encouraged to design meaningful tasks and activities to help students to develop their vocabulary knowledge and skills; Mechanical memorisation not encouraged

45. 45 Wordlists in alphabetical order Select the required key stage of words and click ‘Show Wordlist’.

46. 46 Wordlists in alphabetical order Click the letters to select words. Words with different meanings are shown on the right column.

47. 47 Wordlists by category Select the required category/ categories, key stage(s) and click ‘Show wordlist’.

48. 48 Wordlists by category Words are shown by category.