Dealing with vocabulary in the
Japanese classroom
Rob Waring
Notre Dame Seishin University
waring_robert@yahoo.com
http://www1.harenet.ne.jp/~waring/vocabindex.html
ETJ Vocab 2007
-1
Some opening questions
1. How do you teach vocabulary?
2. What kinds of words do Japanese students
need?
3. What is the best way to deal with vocabulary
for Japanese learners?
ETJ Vocab 2007
-2
Typical vocabulary teaching
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Most vocab teaching is from context
Haphazard selection of materials
Too many words at once
Rare words are favoured over common words
Learning is focused on single words
All students learn the same words
Word teaching = definition and spelling
Teachers give meanings
Low recycling of vocab in coursebooks
Low recycling of vocab by teachers
Teachers leave vocab learning to learners
Vocab learning strategies are rarely taught
Vocab learning techniques are rarely taught
Vocabulary learning goals are rarely set
Dictionary skills are rarely taught
Vocab notebooks not encouraged
Words are kept in lists
Vocab exercises test not teach
Teachers trust the coursebook to deal with vocab
ETJ Vocab 2007
-3
Common sense stuff we know about
vocabulary learning
 Because we teach a word does not mean they learned it
(teaching does not cause learning)
 Because they finished the textbook does not mean they
know all the words in the book
 There are many things to learn about a word
*spelling *pronunciation *meaning *affixes
*register *collocation *frequency *topic area etc.
 There are 2 stages in word learning
1. the initial ‘form – meaning’ relationship (spelling
and sound)
2. deepening the knowledge of the word (collocations,
register, multiple meanings etc)
 Initial word knowledge is very fragile as memories of
new words that are not met again soon, are lost
 8-50 meetings (or more) to ‘learn’ a word
 They cannot guess new meaning from context if the
surrounding text is too difficult
 Not all words are equally frequent, or useful
 Students only need to learn the most frequent and useful
words first, later they can specialize
 Some words are more difficult to learn than others
 Words live with other words, not in isolation
(collocations)
 Written and spoken vocabulary are different
 Fewer words are needed for speaking than writing
ETJ Vocab 2007
-4
Stages in word learning and how
to develop word knowledge
Initial stage
To develop a ‘sight’
vocabulary
Deepening stage
To get a sense of how
the word lives with
Aim?
other words and
grammar
Spelling
meaning
pronunciation
Collocation,
colligation, register,
What?
usefulness, topic area
Word cards /
memorization
Lots of extensive
reading and listening
to develop
How?
automaticity and
fluency
ETJ Vocab 2007
-5
What does this mean for vocabulary
learning and teaching?
 We should teach words the students need (the 2000
most useful words come first)
 We don’t need to teach every word in the book
 There is not enough class time to teach everything
about a word
 Because time is limited, we have to teach students
how to deal with new words (independent
learning)
 They need extensive practice with words
 so they can meet them often
 to work out word relationships
 to build recognition automaticity
 Students need to learn word relationships
 They need chances
 to observe new things about words
 to hypothesize about their knowledge
 to experiment with their vocabulary
ETJ Vocab 2007
-6
How should we teach vocabulary?
 Focus on units larger than a single word
awful day
traffic jam
high season
blonde hair
clear conscience
beautiful woman
 Focus on basic concepts
fork
branch
 Demonstrate collocational differences
light
vs. light suitcase
light green
light rain
vs. heavy suitcase
vs. dark green
vs. heavy rain
rough
rough / calm sea
rough / smooth sandpaper
big surprise
big smile
big problem
big difference
large area
large family
large population
large volume
great success
great importance
great pleasure
great artist
 Concentrate on word grammar
give
vs.
borrow
vs.
ETJ Vocab 2007
give someone something
give something
give something to someone
borrow s/thg from s/one
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What do they need?
 Direct word learning activities focused on word
grammar (e.g. word cards) to get an initial ‘form –
meaning’ relationship
 Teach vocab learning strategies and memory techniques
 Learners try many methods to find ones they like
 Direct vocab exercises to broaden the collocational
knowledge / depth
 Recycle, recycle, recycle
 Extensive reading / extensive listening to build
recognition speed, fluency in understanding / depth
 Active use in speech and writing for experimenting /
testing hypotheses / confirming and rejecting their
own use
ETJ Vocab 2007
-8
Main principles
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Work against the forgetting curve
Let them do the work
Give them only what they can take in
Expect a lot of them
Set goals
Select words wisely
Teach dictionary skills
Work above the single word level
Perform a needs analysis
Teach something they are going to meet again soon
Words found in a wide range of texts (range) before
specialized vocab
Words with a wide meaning before sub-meanings
(e.g. teach go before travel)
Words that will be easy to learn (e.g. loanwords) to
build the start-up vocab and empower the learner
Teach culture-specific vocabulary
Teach the classroom vocabulary
Teach ‘instructions’ vocabulary
Teach the base meaning first
Work hard on common words with many meanings
ETJ Vocab 2007
-9
When looking at vocabulary activities
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Look for what the activity is trying to do
Single words or phrases?
Working with collocation?
Natural context?
Is the meaning given with the correct part of speech?
Is the meaning clear and unambiguous?
Do the opposites interfere with learning?
Are the words too similar? (Interference)
Are pictures clear and unambiguous?
Is the vocabulary relevant for the learners?
Is the exercise just a test?
What new connections can learners make?
Do definitions fit smoothly into the context?
If in doubt, try it out
ETJ Vocab 2007
-10