Universität Bielefeld
Fakultät für Linguistik und Literaturwissenschaft
Wintersemester 2006/2007
Veranstaltung: Teaching Specific Domains of English Language Competence
Veranstalterin: Frau Brüning
Referentin: Mareen Hoepfner
The relationships among words in the lexical system of the English language
Word – world (link between meaning and world)
Denotative meaning : a word has reference to an object, action, or event [labelling system]
Connotative meaning : belongs to attitudes and emotions of a language user
Word – word(s) (sense relations among words)
Syntagmatic relations : relations between items in sentences

Collocations (e.g. a long road , *a tall road)

Idiomatic expressions (e.g. metaphors, similes, catch phrases, phrasal verb idioms,…)
Paradigmatic relations : complex relations between items in the whole lexical system
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Synonymy : a linguist item can be exchanged for another without changing the meaning
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Antonymy
 complementary : oppositions (e.g. male – female)
 converseness: one term implies the other (e.g. parent – child)
 gradable antonymy : scale of items which may or may not relate to a
similar scale in the learners L1 (e.g. boiling – hot – tepid – cold)
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Hyponymy : one word includes others within a hierarchy (computer

keyboard, mouse)
Acquisition of vocabulary
Active vocabulary : produced in speech and writing
Passive vocabulary : recognized when encountered
Vocabulary knowledge as a scale:
Recognition

words making greater sense

words in context

automatic production
Strategies for vocabulary learning
Cognitive (concrete mental operations )
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Keyword: word from L1 which sounds like new word from L2
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Learning words in groups
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Lexical inference: cover a word through morphology and/or context
Metacognitive (activities used to remember words)
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Collecting words from authentic contexts
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Making word cards
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Categorize words into lists
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Vocabulary notebook
Factor affecting vocabulary acquisition

input
Features of input
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Frequency

most frequent words in the English language are the most useful ones
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Pronunciation

recognizing correct word stress and syllabus patterns leads to facilitate quick comprehension
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Contextualization

words in context lead to better retention than isolated words

The relationship between input and storage

Depth of processing

active mental involvement and emotional response
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Building word networks

aim: categorize words systematically and build careful networks of meaning