Vocabulary projects conducted by EMB
Projects
Vocabulary
Study
Participants
Focus Group
Seed Project Seed school &
on the
Network
effective L/T schools
of vocabulary
Expected Outcomes
wordlists for KS1,
KS2, KS3 & KS4
effective pedagogies
to make good use of
the wordlists
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Vocabulary Study
Growing interest in students’
vocabulary
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Recent evidence of inadequate vocabulary of
HK university entrants
Most 2004 entrants to CUHK 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
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Vocabulary Study
Aims of the study

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EMB collaborative project with CUHK to
develop wordlists for schools’/teachers’
reference
To strengthen the vocabulary components of
the English Language curriculum
Proposed vocabulary targets set for each KS
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Sources of the wordlists
for HK schools
FrequencyBased
wordlists
Draft
wordlists
Topics and
Functions
in CGs
Approved
textbooks
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Vocabulary Study
References of the frequency-based
wordlists


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General Service List (GSL) - West, 1953
Academic Wordlist (AWL) - Coxhead,
2000
British National Corpus (BNC)
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Vocabulary targets
Key Stage
Stage Target
Cumulative
Target
KS1
1000
1000
KS2
1000
2000
KS3
1500
3500
KS4
1500
5000
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Developing English vocabulary
Specialist/technical
vocabulary
(post-secondary)
Vocabulary base
(primary)
Vocabulary expansion
and academic vocabulary
(secondary)
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Wordlists

In alphabetical order

By category
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Features of Hong Kong student
writing

Repetition of key words (need for
lexical substitution)

The need for lexical enrichment
(adjectives and adverbs)
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Too
many
pianos? “ piano”
Lexical
substitution:
“I had learnt piano for five years. My
mother encouraged me to take piano
examinations until I was ten.
Sometimes I was tired of touching the
piano… After a bad experience, I
never learned piano any more. I do
not dare to play the piano even now.”
10
Too many pianos?
“I had learnt piano for five years. My mother
encouraged me to take _______
Grade 3 examinations
until I was ten. Sometimes I was tired of
touching the ________…
keyboard After a bad experience,
I never learned ____________
the instrument any more. I do
not dare to play the ___________
horrible thing even now.”
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Lexical expansion of a first draft
“Every Sunday we visit the home of my
grandparents. They live in an apartment
in a housing estate in Shatin. My
grandmother cooks lunch. After lunch we
walk in the park.”
What activities can you design to
enrich the above text?
12
Lexical expansion of a first draft
“Every Sunday we visit the (adj.) home of
my (adj.) grandparents. They live in an
(adj.) apartment in a (adj.) housing estate
in Shatin. My grandmother (adv.) cooks
lunch. After lunch we walk (adv.) in the
park.”
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Size
vs.
Quality
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Pre-requisites for
vocabulary building
Two Strands:
Topic
Strand
focus on size
Collocation
Strand
focus on
word combinations
paradigmatic
approach
syntagmatic
approach
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Paradigmatic approach (topic strand)
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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’)
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Assumptions about
paradigmatic arrangement
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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
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Example One:
FLAT
LIVING ROOM
BEDROOMS
fridge
KITCHEN
BATHROOM
cooker
saucepan
frying pan
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Example Two:
Vehicles
car
train
bicycle
handlebar
wheel
saddle
tyre
spoke
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Teaching the names of the
superordinates
Musical instrument
piano
trumpet
flute
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What is the missing word?
?
ruler
pencil
rubber
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What is the missing word?
?
hammer
screwdriver
pliers
How many superordinates could
teachers introduce at the primary level?
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Focus on vocabulary size?
“In my neighbourhood there is a library, a
hospital, a swimming pool, a health centre,
a cinema, a police station, a railway station
and a bus station.”
Good vocabulary, but how are learners
supposed to USE these words?
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More ideas on expanding
pupils’ vocabulary


Exploring the familiar words:
- different parts of speech (e.g. ‘shoulder’
as the noun and the verb)
- other meanings of a word (e.g. ‘head’ as
a body part, the school head)
- metaphorical use of a word (e.g. moving)
Using specific words (e.g. shout, whisper)
Can you think of other words?
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Syntagmatic approach
(collocation strand)
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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’)
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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
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From receptive to productive
PEOPLE
Doctor
ACTIONS OBJECTS
examine
patients
PLACE
health
centre
railway
station
park
library
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Teaching implications
Raising pupils’ awareness of how words
are related:

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Knowledge of word formation and word
association
Giving definitions and details
Using the name of the superordinate (e.g. flat)
Using the names of the member (e.g. living
room, bedroom, kitchen)
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Vocabulary building skills
recommended in CG
Word formation

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Affixation (e.g. unhappy, careless)
Compounding (e.g. foot+ball=football)
Conversion (e.g. cook a meal, a cook)
Derivation (e.g. excite, exciting,
excited, excitement)
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Vocabulary building skills
recommended in CG
Word association
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Synonyms (e.g. happy, glad)
Antonyms (e.g. bright, dark)
Homonyms (e.g. catch a bus, catch a cold)
Collocation (e.g. make a wish, watch TV)
Lexical sets (e.g. furniture – table, chair,
desk, cupboard)
*please refer to CG (CDC, 2004): pp. 168-171
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The use of mini-activities / games in
vocabulary learning and teaching
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Adding fun elements
Designed to integrate newly acquired
words into the learner’s mental lexicon
The mini-activities / games should be
incorporated into meaningful tasks
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Incorporating mini-activities / games
into meaningful tasks
Exemplar 4 – “Buying Things” (Primary 1-3)

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Use noun / noun phrases to
- identify items to buy in a shopping centre, e.g. rain boots,
waterproof watch
- identify shops in a shopping centre, e.g. toy shop, clothes shop
Read a story about a boy called Charlie, who went shopping with
his family, and learn or revise the names of the shopping items in
context…
Task: design a poster for an imaginary shopping centre, with
information on the types of shops, the products available and the
prices
*please refer to CG (CDC, 2004): pp. E20-23 for details of the exemplar
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Examples of classroom
mini-activities / games
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Word hunt
Odd one out
Pelmanism (locating pairs)
Go fishing
Hangman
Analogies
Word slap
Pass the sentence
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Odd One Out
e.g. trousers
robot
jeans T-shirt
Analogies
e.g. - easy is to simple as hard is to ________
- top is to bottom as front is to ________
- fruit shop is to banana as
bookshop is to ________
Can you suggest some more
items for the analogies?
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Word Slap




One – two – three – pencil!
Players take turns, clockwise, to shout out
a different word from a pre-selected lexical
set (e.g. things in a bookshop) on every
fourth beat.
Players who either repeat a word already
used, or break the rhythm – or say
nothing – are ‘out’.
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Ideas on vocabulary
learning and teaching
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Input from various sources
Present and practise in context
Repetitive exposure overtime in multiple
and varied contexts
Work on vocabulary building skills and
strategies
Print-rich environment
Bridging from receptive to productive
Have fun!
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Useful Links Online
Games for children and resources for
teachers and parents:

PBS Kids
http://pbskids.org/lions/games/

FunBrain Kids Center
http://www.funbrain.com/words.html
Games as well as Tool Box for creating word games :

Wordgames
http://www.eastoftheweb.com/cgibin/top_scores.pl?game=wordsearch

Interactive Wordplays
http://www.wordplays.com/p/index
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THANK YOU!
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