BEYOND DEFINITIONS:
METHODS FOR VOCABULARY
BUILDING, RETENTION, AND
APPLICATION
Rita McDermott
May 2011
Rate the Following Terms by Holding up the Number of
Fingers that Correspond with your Rating
Sight words
Incidental Learning
Explicit Instruction
Lexical Phrases
Collocations
Multimodal
Word Family
Exposure
Cloze Passage
Connotations
1
2
3
4
never
knew this
word
existed
heard it
before or looks
like another
word from
which I can
guess its
meaning
know what it
means when I
read/hear it
use it
often
WHY RATE THE TERMS?





Activates background knowledge and exposes
students to words
Helps the students learn how to take control of
their own learning and assessing.
Gives the teacher an idea of how to proceed/
where to focus.
Students can revisit the ratings frequently
throughout the unit to assess progress.
Can be interactive – number each corner of the
room 1, 2, 3, or 4 and have students
walk/skip/shuffle/slide/crabwalk to the
corresponding corner for each word.
QUESTIONS IN VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION

How important is vocabulary instruction?

Are goals and strategies the same for all
proficiency levels?

What does it mean to “know” a word?

Which words do learners need to know?

How many words do learners need to
know?

What strategies will I use to teach them?
HOW IMPORTANT IS VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION?




Reading
Writing
Listening/Speaking
Grammar
Vocabulary?
Previous schools of thought believed
emphasis should first be on grammar and
phonetics, and then vocabulary should be
learned later to ¨fill in the blanks.¨
Many current schools of thought believe ¨lexical
competence is at the very heart of communicative
competence¨ (Coady and Huckin qtd. in Decarrico)
ARE GOALS AND STRATEGIES THE SAME
FOR ALL PROFICIENCY LEVELS?
Beginners:
Focus on vocabulary until students reach a working
base of 2,000 words, including sight words.
Justification:
- Basic vocabulary accounts for about 80% of words
we regularly see or hear, thus opening up a
reasonable range of workable texts.
- It is very difficult to use context clues without a
two or three thousand word base.
- Beginners expect to have to learn vocabulary.
(Meara qtd. in Decarrico)
See Word Lists in Resources
SIGHT WORDS:
WORDS THAT ARE
KNOWN BY A
READER
AUTOMATICALLY
ARE GOALS AND STRATEGIES THE SAME
FOR ALL PROFICIENCY LEVELS?
Intermediate and Advanced:
Move for more balance between explicit strategies
and implicit/incidental learning.
Teach strategies for self-study.
Teach collocations and idioms.
Justification:
- Students already have a base in vocabulary and
grammar to focus on atypical and varied uses.
(Decarrico)
See Word Lists in Resources
EXPLICIT VOCABULARY
INSTRUCTION
ACTIVITIES THAT
FOCUS ON THE
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE OF
IMPROVING LEXICAL
COMPETENCE
(D
286)
IMPLICIT/INCIDENTAL
LEARNING
ECARRICO
LEARNING WHEN THE
MIND IS FOCUSED ON
OTHER TASKS, SUCH AS
IDENTIFYING MAIN IDEA
OR COMMUNICATING.
(DECARRICO 289)
COLLOCATIONS
PATTERNS OF PAIRS OR
GROUPS OF WORDS
THAT APPEAR
TOGETHER IN HIGH
FREQUENCY.
¨Hypothesis of Transferability¨
Put attention/ Pay Attention
Take a decision/ Make a decision
Dream with/ Dream about
Count with/ Count on
Lexical collocations:
pay attention, laugh
loudly, heartfelt
apologies, deeply
concerned.
Grammatical collocations:
rely on, afraid of, by
accident, in retrospect
*Research shows words that are naturally associated in a
text are more easily committed to memory. (Decarrico 293)
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO KNOW A WORD?
For beginner to intermediate:
Definition
Part of speech
noun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition,
conjunction
* changes with context
Word family
Additions of prefixes, suffixes
Typical Use
Illustrations
Examples
Nonexamples
Associated Words Often opposites and pairs – short/tall, table/chair
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO KNOW A WORD?
For Intermediate to Advanced
Connotations
Emotions associated with word. Bossy is much
more negative than assertive.
Collocations
School of thought, school of fish, elementary school
Varied Use
School is also a group of fish, a group of people
with a unifying belief, and can be used as a verb.
DO THESE STUDENTS KNOW THESE WORDS?
I was thirsty because I didn´t breakfast.
A donut is not a fit breakfast.
Definition and
Part of speech
Lexical Collocation
Illustration
Typical Use, Example and Grammatical Collocation
I ate cereal and a banana for breakfast.
A healthy breakfast is often considered more
important than lunch or dinner.
Lexical
collocation and
associations
Varied Use and Grammatical Collocation
I was thirsty for a challenge, so I signed up for a marathon.
When I am thirsty, I drink Gatorade quench my thirst.
Lexical collocation and Part of speech
WHICH WORDS DO LEARNERS NEED TO KNOW?
SELECTING VOCABULARY

GSWL, AWL, and BNL - Word Lists in Resources

Most common method for EFL – thematic groups


Ex…Greetings, School vocabulary, Travel vocabulary,
Environment
Possible method for pronunciation – phonetically
themed groups
(Incidental Learning)
WHICH WORDS DO LEARNERS NEED TO KNOW?
SELECTING VOCABULARY FOR WRITING/SPEAKING

Task-based words
Daily routines for simple present.
 Character and personality traits for describing a person
 Medical vocabulary for a dialogue at a doctor´s office
 Synonyms for ¨say¨ for reported speech – to write
newspaper article or report an interview

Sample Writing Workshop for Newspaper Article - Advanced
THE BIG 2 (+1)
FOR SELECTION FROM TEXTS
1. Usefulness
to Students
2. Frequency in Other
Situations
+
1. Significance in Passage
WHICH WORDS DO LEARNERS NEED TO KNOW?
SELECTING VOCABULARY FROM TEXTS

Which words are frequently used?

Which words will be useful to the students in the future?

In future communicative situations?

To decipher other words from common prefixes, suffixes, or roots?
Not frequently used or useful?



Research suggests letting students learn them incidentally if
they are not critical to understand the text. .
Not frequently used or useful, BUT critical to the text?

Provide students with the definition BEFORE or DURING
reading, but do not waste time with activities.
WHICH WORDS DO LEARNERS NEED TO KNOW?
SELECTING VOCABULARY
How do you know the frequency of words in a text?
ONLINE ANALYSIS OF TEXTS ACCORDING TO
WORD LISTS
 Using GSL and AWL: http://conc.lextutor.ca/vp/eng/
 Using BNL: http://conc.lextutor.ca/vp/bnl/
Analysis of ¨A May Day for Mom¨ from Time for Kids
++
+-
-+
--
Useful/ Critical
Useful/ Not
Critical
Not Useful /
Critical
Not Critical / Not
Useful
Celebrate
 dedicate
 suggest
Include
 honor
Dedicate
Deserve
 appreciate
Country  campaign  hymn
names
 springtime
 servant
Sales
 definitely
 probably
certainly
HOW MANY WORDS DO LEARNERS NEED TO KNOW?
A base of 2,000 to 3,000 (Decarrico)
How many should I teach at a time?
Depends on the goal…
Beginner? Experts range between up to 12 and up to 20 in
a group.
And the relationship between the words…
Choose thematic or associated words to teach more at once
For deeper understanding…
To really ¨know the word,¨ as is appropriate for
intermediate and advanced levels, choose smaller
lists…depth over breadth - 8 suggested.
WHAT STRATEGIES WILL I USE TO TEACH THEM?
BUILDING VOCABULARY

Student-led or Teacher-led?

Begin with teacher led activities to teach students
how to control their own vocabulary learning.
In beginning classes, the teacher´s main role will be
to expose students to words, repeat, and help
students master the typical use of common words.
 In intermediate, the teacher begins to emphasize
correct use, varied uses, word building, and skills to
be independent.
 In advanced classes, the teacher´s primary role is to
teach intricacies of words, such as collocations and
connotations.

STUDENT LED
Rate your own progress
Circle any word you don´t know on quizzes/handouts
Vocabulary Notebooks for all-levels
 What structure works for you and your students?
3 Column Charts? Definition/Sentence, Word
parts/examples
 Free Vocab Assignment

Define, then choose two 1. Context Clues
2. Word parts
3. Illustrate.
4. Original sentence.
5. Word Family
6. Collocations and
Connotations
7. Google the word and
copy three sentences in
which it appears.
BUILDING VOCABULARY
CONTEXT CLUES
Types:
 Synonyms (key words…this, that, such)
 Antonyms (contrast words…this, that, such)
 Pictures
 Gestures
 Facial expressions
 Word parts
 Experience in similar situations
 Cognates (beware false cognates)
 Location in sentence to figure out part of speech
THE BLICKER GRUPED FRIZLY IN THE ROON.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
What did the blicker do?
How did it do it?
Where did it do it?
Use blicker in a sentence.
What other things grupe?
Show me how to walk frizly.
Draw a roon.
HAVE TROUBLE?
Blicker, grupe, frizly, and roon are made-up words.
Point…
Students can’t use context clues if they don’t have
the background level of vocabulary.
Context clues aren’t always in the sentence –
sometimes you have to go to the paragraph or
pictures.
Students can use grammar clues to help answer
questions without a full understanding of the word.
Background knowledge and repetition are key.
BUILDING VOCABULARY
WORD FAMILIES
Celebrate Celebrations, celebratory
 dedicate Dedications, dedicated, undedicated,
dedication
 suggest Suggestion, suggestedly
Include
Inclusion
 honor
honorary, honored, dishonor, honest,
dishonest, honesty, dishonesty,
dishonestly, honestly
Deserve
Serve, service, disservice, servant,
servile, servitude, undeserving
BUILDING VOCABULARY
CONCEPT MAPS
Animals
Animals
Mammals
Birds
Fish
cats
parrot
Goldfish
dogs
horse
eagle
Trout
Pets
Wild
Examples of
Word Circle and
Tree
THE BIG 3
FOR RETENTION
1. Repetition
2. Context
3. Emotion
Flashcards are appropriate for sight words.
REPETITION
Exposure to words before explicit instruction
How? As implicit words, directly defined, or through pretests.
Research states that it can take up to 40 encounters with
a word before committing it to memory.
Post words in the room so
students look at them frequently
too!
Make sure the activities aren´t
overly repeated, just the words.
CONTEXT
When is the word used?
Is it formal or informal?
Is it mostly spoken or written?
What other words and situations are associated with the
word? (Collocations and Connotations)
Show the word in context as often as possible.
For instance, instead of providing students with the word
and definition, provide the students with a context rich
sentence or a pre-reading question that uses the word.
EMOTION
What memories do you have from elementary or high school?
Do you remember the exact moment you learned a specific
word in English?
MULTIMODAL ACTIVITIES FOR RETENTION:
CONTEXT AND EMOTION
Concept Maps
Charades
Writing Stories
What’s this word? (practice classroom questions)
Songs
Cloze passages
Word Sorts
Fortune Tellers
Posters
Flashcard Games
Bingo
Jeopardy
Word Scavenger Hunts
Opinionaires
Word Wall Games – Guess My Word, Word Call
Out
Interviews
Skits/Role Plays
Dialogues
Comics
Find your Mate
Foldables
Find Someone Who…
To Lexical Phrases
NOT YOUR GRANDMOTHER´S FLASHCARDS
Use cut paper if you don´t have index cards.
 Ask students to put more than definitions.
 Keep flashcards in an envelope.

Each student randomly draws a card
and has to use that word in a class
created story. Pass paper(s) around
the room, each person adding a
sentence to the story with their word.
Have students use their
flashcards to arrange concept
maps or categories on their desk.
Write a cloze passage on the
board and have students tape
their index cards in the blank.
Have students sit back to back, each with
their index cards. One student draws two
and has to explain the relationship
between the two words. The other person
guesses the two chosen words.
WORD WALLS
MORE THAN JUST FOR LOOKING
Word Walls can be written on posters or on a designated section of your
whiteboard. They can be just the words, or words with pictures, etc.

Guess my word


Teacher picks a word and used whatever types of
clues appropriate. Students race to guess her word.
Word Call Out

Teacher calls out a word students race to either use it
in a sentence, give an example, act it out, or do
whatever response the teacher finds appropriate.
Students can also lead these games.
English Classroom Survival Questions:
WHAT’S THE WORD?
1. What does ______ mean?
2. How do you pronounce ______?
3. How do you say _____ in English?
4. How do you spell _______?
5. Is this correct?
Have common questions
posted in the classroom for
“English classroom survival.”
 Spell a word out loud for the students, repeating
each letter 3 times for beginners.
 Students write down the word as you spell.
 When you are finished spelling, call on a student
and ask “What’s the word?”
 Then, choose the same or different students to
answer: How do you spell the word? What does
the word mean?
 Ask the class, Is that correct?
 For an added challenge, ask students to also use
the word in a sentence.

FIND YOUR MATE
Each student is given a slip of paper. The paper
either has a question on it, or an answer.
 Students get up out of their seat and walk around
looking for their match. Students with a question
much find their answer. Students with an answer
must find their corresponding question.
 Once every one has found the correct mate, each
pair reads their question and answer.

How are you?
This can also be done with fill-inthe-blank sentences and
vocabulary words. Use word
forms to increase difficulty.
I’m from ______, Colombia.
My name is ____.
I’m ______ years old.
How old are you?
Where are you from?
What is your name?
I’m fine, thanks.
OPINIONAIRES
Present students with a list of opinion questions on
paper or the board.
 Students agree or disagree with the statements
 A discussion in pairs, groups, or whole class follows.

Professions Unit
Teachers are paid too little.
Doctors can help patients commit suicide
if they are dying already and in lots of
pain.
There are more corrupt politicians than
honest politicians.
It is better if men are doctors and
women are nurses.
Lawyers deserve their bad reputation.
Agree
Disagree
Why?
PARTS OF SPEECH WORD SORT
Nouns
Honor
Honesty
Dishonesty
Verbs
Honor (-s,-ed,
-ing)
Dishonor (-s,
-ed, -ing)
Adjectives
Honest
Dishonest
Honorary
Honored
Honorable
Adverbs
Honestly
Dishonestly
¨Knowing one form of a word does not in any way indicate that
students are likely to know all or even most of the forms of a word. In
other words, even though forms may look very similar, it is important
for learners to see the and practice different forms. ¨ (Folse)
WORD SCAVENGER HUNT




Give students a list of no more than 10 words.
Their goal, in the allotted amount of time (most
will be homework), is to find a picture of the word
or the word used in context.
Students will put their findings either on a poster
or on the back of their flashcards.
Students may work with partners and/or this
could be a competition. Students share results
(more emotion and repetition!)
DIALOGUES


Student Created or Teacher Created
Use the vocabulary in a dialogue to show context,
work on reading comprehension, and audio/oral
skills.
Example of Teacher Written Dialogue
FORTUNE TELLERS
Students use paper to create a fortune teller.
Video with instructions:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbA29zfEAZk

Students can write any words on the flaps,
depending on your unit. Inside, you can use
questions or statements.
Students using
Fortune Tellers
FOLDABLES

Foldables are basically graphic organizers
created from folding and/or cutting paper.
Click for Ideas for Foldables in the EFL Classroom
Click for
Foldables Website
CLOZE PASSAGES
Basically cloze passages are fill in the blank
paragraphs.
 I find them more effective if they focus only on
one part of speech or on one word family.
 Teachers can write them, create them from
existing passages in books, or let students write
and exchange them.

Cloze passage for adjectives:
blue
little
annoying
favorite
mad
My _________ brother, Sam, is 5 years old. He has a lot of energy
and can be very _____________. His __________ thing to do is
draw. My brother always uses a __________ crayon because it is
the color of the sky. But, he doesn’t draw on paper; he draws on
my bedroom walls! I love him, but he makes me so _______
sometimes I could scream!
CONTEXT FOR ALL LEARNERS
LEXICAL PHRASES
Lexical phrases are ¨chunks¨ of language. They are often fixed
expressions and rather idiomatic. They fit well into
dialogues and skits.
Examples: A _____ ago. Gotta run now. If you please.
Thanks so much. How much is…? As _____ as….
Why teach lexical phrases?
For beginners, they can help promote fluency beyond what
they can create alone and ease frustration.
The associations with social situations make them
memorable.
After being learned as wholes, they can be broken down for
more vocabulary study.
(Decarrico 297-297)
CONTEXT FOR ADVANCED LEARNERS
COLLOCATION ACTIVITIES
From Decarrico
CONTEXT FOR ADVANCED LEARNERS
COLLOCATION ACTIVITIES
From Decarrico
Looking at the Mother´s Day article again…
An advanced vocabulary quiz…
A beginner vocabulary quiz…
RESEARCH ON THE MASTERY OF
VOCABULARY
A conscious grasp of lexical concepts requires
understanding not often gained through
practice exercises alone
 Traditional teaching of vocabulary often
produces errors in writing situations
 Concepts must be taught and re-taught in
different ways
 Students will continuously need guidance in
applying what they have already learned

(Decarrico)
EFFECTIVE VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION
Work words casually into verbal or reading vocabulary
in the weeks before assigning.
 Assess and access background knowledge.
 Introduce in context.
 Introduce words in purposefully chosen groups.
 Use multimodal activities.
 Give many opportunities to work with the words –
speaking, writing, reading, hearing.
 Access students´ emotions.
 Post words in the room.

It takes time and planning, but the returns are worth it!
RESOURCES
COLLOCATION DICTIONARIES:
Free online dictionary and trial option to download
http://www.collinslanguage.com/shop/CobuildESL-dictionary-landing.aspx
Most Famous – LTP Dictionary of Selected Collocations.
There are also a variety of choices now available on Amazon.com.
BEGINNING AND INTERMEDIATE NONFICTION READING MATERIAL:
Time Magazine for Kids
http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/kids/news
Scholastic News Online
http://www2.scholastic.com – Student Activities – Scholastic News
BBC Learn English – podcasts, videos, grammar, vocabulary, quizzes, and more!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/teachingenglish/howto/
RESOURCES
WORD LISTS
General Service List of English Words - 2,000 most common words
http://jbauman.com/gsl.html
Academic Word List –
http://simple.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Academic_word_list
BNL – updated word list with both common and academic words
http://lextutor.ca/vp/bnl/display_lists/
Transition Words
http://www.somers.k12.ny.us/intranet/reading/signalwords.html
ONLINE ANALYSIS OF TEXTS ACCORDING TO WORD LISTS
Using GSL and AWL: http://conc.lextutor.ca/vp/eng/
Using BNL: http://conc.lextutor.ca/vp/bnl/
Rerate the Following Terms
Sight words
Incidental Learning
Explicit Instruction
Lexical Phrases
Collocations
Multimodal
Word Family
Exposure
Cloze Passage
Connotations
1
2
3
4
never
knew this
word
existed
heard it
before or
looks like
another word
from which I
can guess its
meaning
know what it
means when I
read/hear it
use it
often
THANK YOU!
Email me if you have any
questions or need
materials!
ritajmcdermott@yahoo.com
WORKS CITED
Decarrico, Jeannette S. "Vocabulary Learning and Teaching." Teaching
English as a Second or Foreign Language. Ed. Marianne Celce-Murcia.
3rd ed. Boston: Heinle & Heinle, 2001. 285-99. Print.
Fisher, Douglas, William Brozo, Nancy Frey, and Gay Ivey. 50 Content Area
Strategies for Adolescent Literacy. Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Merrill/Pearson, 2007. Print.
Folse, Keith S. Intermediate Reading Practices: Building Reading and
Vocabulary Skills. 3rd ed. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 2004. Print.
O'Malley, J. Michael., and Lorraine Valdez Pierce. Authentic Assessment for
English Language Learners: Practical Approaches for Teachers. Reading,
MA: Addison-Wesley Pub., 1996. Print.