Dealing with Vocabulary
Matsuyama May 2014
www.robwaring.org/presentations/
Dr. Rob Waring
Notre Dame Seishin University
Quiz
How many words do students need to read to learn enough
English so they can get into a good university?
a) 800,000
b) 1,000,000
c) 2,000,000 d) 5,000,000
How many different words are in a typical Junior High textbook
series?
a) 1,000
b) 2,000
c) 2,500
d) 3,000
How many total words will they meet by the end of high school if
they only read textbooks?
a) 100,000
b) 300,000 c) 500,000 d) 1,000,000
1/50th!!!!!
Typical vocabulary teaching
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Most vocab teaching is from context
Haphazard selection of materials
Different vocab topic in each unit
Too many words at once
Rare words are favoured over common words
Focus on single words not multi-word units and combinations
All students learn the same words
Word teaching = definition and spelling
Teachers give meanings
Typical vocabulary teaching II
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Low recycling of vocab in course books and 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 course book to deal with vocab
Principles of vocabulary teaching
Two states of vocabulary learning
Form-meaning relationship
- matching the spelling and/or sound to a meaning
The ‘deeper’ aspects of vocabulary learning
- multiple meaning senses / nuances of use
- frequency, usefulness etc.
- use in context
- domain (lexical set)
- restrictions on use / pragmatic values
- register (polite, casual, rude), spoken, written, formal, informal
- lexical access speed, fluency, automaticity
- collocation and colligation
- etc.
Principles of vocabulary teaching
Two stages of word learning
Types of vocabulary
Individual words:
Affixes:
Multi-part words:
Lexical phrases:
Idioms:
Sentence heads:
Collocations:
Colligations:
Others:
book, table, life, chance, walk, airplane…
used, user, usefulness, user-friendly, disuse…
traffic jam, the day after tomorrow, lunch box…
by the way, to and fro, a kind of,…
let the cat out of the bag, raining cats and dogs
Do you mind if I…, If I were you,.. Could you…?
High season, mild cheese, blonde hair…
agree to do x, agree on X, rely on someone,
have an effect on x, x affects y...
SONY, Paul, twenty-seven, etc. , UNESCO…
What's a collocation?
Collocations are words which often appear together.
We say
We don't (usually) say
beautiful girl
handsome girl
blonde hair
yellow hair
mild cheese
weak cheese
big surprise
large surprise
go to work
go to job
catch fire
do fire / go fire
high cost
expensive cost
demand a response
ask a response
make a mistake
do a mistake
How much to learn: collocations
fast / quick
yellow / blonde
regular / normal
a round / circle of
meal
hair
guy
friends
train
car
fries
drinks
food shower
flower
day
exercise
golf
wagons
Types
Adverb + Adjective: completely satisfied (NOT downright satisfied)
Adjective + Noun: excruciating pain (NOT excruciating joy)
Noun + Noun: a surge of anger (NOT a rush of anger)
Noun + Verb: lions roar (NOT lions shout)
Verb + Noun: commit suicide (NOT undertake suicide)
Verb + Expression with Preposition: burst into tears (NOT blow up in tears)
Verb + Adverb: wave frantically (NOT wave feverishly)
How many collocations do they need to learn?
Verb uses of one word - Idea… “Abandon an idea.”
abandon, absorb, accept, adjust to, advocate, amplify, advance,
back, be against, be committed/dedicated/ drawn to, be obsessed
with, be struck by, borrow, cherish, clarify, cling to, come out/up
with, confirm, conjure up, consider, contemplate, convey, debate,
debunk, defend, demonstrate, develop, deny, dismiss, dispel,
disprove, distort, drop, eliminate, encourage, endorse, entertain,
explode, explore, expound, express, favor, fit, fit in with, follow up,
form, formulate, foster, get, get accustomed/used to, get rid of,
give up, go along with, grasp, hammer out, have, hit upon, hold,
implement, imply, impose – on sb, incorporate, inculcate, instill, jot
down, keep to, launch, meet, modify, negate, oppose, pick up,
pioneer, plant, play with, popularize, present, promote, propose,
put an end to, put forward, put – into practice, raise, refute,
reinforce, reject, relish, resist, respond to, revive, ridicule, rule out,
spread, squash, stick to, subscribe to, suggest, support, take to,
take up, test, tinker with, toy with, turn down, warm to …
How many collocations do they need to learn? II
Adjective uses. “An idea is ………...”
abstract, absurd, advanced, ambitious, arresting, basic, bizarre,
bold, bright, brilliant, classical, clear, common, commonsense,
confused, controversial, convincing, crazy, diabolical, disconcerting,
elusive, enlightened, entrenched, exaggerated, extravagant,
extreme, false, familiar, fantastic, far-fetched, feasible, feeble, fixed,
flexible, foolish, grotesque, hazy, heretical, imaginative, inflated,
ingenious, ingrained, innovative, instinctive, intriguing,
irresponsible, mad, misconceived, mistaken, monstrous, newfangled, novel, original, old-fashioned, outdated, out-of-date,
outrageous, peculiar, persuasive, preconceived, preposterous,
prevalent, provocative, (un)real, (un)realistic, remarkable,
revolutionary, ridiculous, risky, sensible, silly, splendid, strange,
striking, superficial, untenable, useful, vague, valid, well-defined …
Which collocations?
Transparent 'weak' collocations – easy to learn – don't teach
Beautiful flower, look out of a window, read a book, play a game
Specialized collocations – teach only if needed
Insolvency act, habeas corpus, spaghetti bolognese
Infrequent collocations – don't bother teaching
Rancid butter, a glimmer of hope, circle of friends, by and large
Those that need attention
–Highly frequent collocations (not too many of these)
make/do + noun
–False friends
weak tea, *thin tea;
meet friends / *play with friends
What’s a colligation?
Colligations are words which often appear together grammatically
We say
depend on someone
be good at something
ask for something
give something to someone
We don’t (usually) say
depend of someone
be good on something
ask on something
give something someone
They need thousands of Expressions, Idioms and
Phrases
traffic jam
lunch box
by and large
get along with
put back
set out on
the day before yesterday
How's things?
If you don't mind, would you…?
I'd rather not …
I'd like to …
If it were up to me, I'd …
So, what do you think?
What's the matter?
Which of these would you teach?
out of
per cent
such as
of course
for example
in front of
all right
as soon as
in general
in addition to
next to
on top of
instead of
in charge of
just about
provided that
as good as
with a view to
in between
by and large
at random
per se
old fashioned
grown up
matter of fact
sq m
fait accompli
straight forward
habeas corpus
self-same
haute cuisine
a good deal
laissez faire
persona non grata
How frequently do lexical phrases occur (BNC)?
Raw Rank
177
222
272
285
378
1538
1725
2159
2491
2970
3307
3755
4378
5409
5987
7396
7885
9125
Word
out of
per cent
such as
of course
for example
in front of
all right
as soon as
in general
in addition to
next to
on top of
instead of
in charge of
just about
provided that
as good as
with a view to
Per million
words
490
382
321
309
238
65
58
47
41
34
30
26
21
17
15
11
10
8
Raw Rank
11459
13507
14369
16684
19505
22060
28441
43572
48241
51717
58511
74321
76170
82928
83882
89371
Word
Per million
words
in between
6
by and large
5
at random
4
per se
4
old fashioned
3
grown up
2
matter of fact
2
sq m
1
fait accompli
1
straight forward
1
habeas corpus
1
self-same
0
haute cuisine
0
a good deal
0
laissez faire
0
persona non grata
0
Most multi-word units aren't worth teaching
individually
Collocations will always occur less frequently than the words
that make them up
In the British National Corpus (100m words)
Strong occurs 213 times / 1m words
Wind occurs 73 times / 1m words
Strong wind occurs 3.06 times / 1m words
The 'difficult' word compromise occurs 31 times
Most collocations aren't worth teaching individually
Principles of vocabulary teaching
Two stages of word learning
Let them pick up most phrases, collocations, colligations
Example Activities
Receptive
Language
Study
Fluency
practice
•
•
•
•
•
Productive
Explicit teaching
Dictionary work
Studying from a vocab book
Intensive reading
Language awareness
activities
• Conscious word learning
• Controlled language production
activities.
• Language and pronunciation
drills
• Gap fill exercises
• Memorized dialogs
• Sentence completion tasks
• Tests
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Extensive reading
Extensive listening
Watching movies
Browsing the Internet
Listening to the radio or
music
‘Free’ language production
activities.
Casual conversations
Debates and discussions
Email, and online chat
Diary writing
Essays
The Balanced Curriculum
Receptive
• Explicit teaching
• Dictionary work
Language Study • Studying from a vocab
book
• Intensive reading
• Language awareness
activities
• Conscious word learning
Fluency
Practice
•
•
•
•
•
Extensive reading
Extensive listening
Watching movies
Browsing the Internet
Listening to the radio or
music
Productive
• Controlled language production
activities.
• Language and pronunciation drills
• Gap fill exercises
• Memorized dialogs
• Sentence completion tasks
• Tests
• ‘Free’ language production
activities.
• Casual conversations
• Debates and discussions
• Email, and online chat
• Diary writing
• Essays
The Balanced Curriculum
Receptive
Language Study
Productive
Build language knowledge and get control over it
Develop learning strategies
Develop a sense of how the language works
Fluency
Practice
Build autonomy
Build pragmatic and cultural knowledge
Balance in Language Teaching
Language Study
Fluency
Practice
Receptive
Productive
- provides new knowledge
about language features
-raises awareness of how
the language works
- raises awareness of
learning strategies
-gives practice in checking
whether something is known
- allows learners to actively
construct language
- focuses on accurate control over
language features
- Learners get a feel for
how the language works
- consolidates the
discretely learned
language features
- allows learners to meet
huge amounts of text
- gives real time opportunities to
experiment with language use
- gives feedback on the success of
language use
- builds fluency of language
production
What happens if they don’t do these things?
Receptive
Language Study
Fluency
Practice
Productive
- Fewer chances to
notice new things
- Hard to add new
knowledge
- Can’t check the accuracy
of what they learnt
- Not enough input
- Few chances to
develop automatic
processing
- Can’t develop fluent
eye movements
- Can’t experiment with their
knowledge fluently
Principles of vocabulary teaching
Two stages of word learning
Word, phrases, collocations, colligations
Understand the need for a balanced curriculum
How much to learn: vocabulary
Learners need 8000-9000 words to know 98% of the vocabulary
in native novels, magazines and most general reading
Intermediate learners need at least a vocabulary of 2000 words
receptively and 1000 productively to be able to build fluency
rapidly
Advanced learners will need 4000-6000 words
An average high frequency word has about 8-15 common
collocations
There are 1000-1200 common phrasal verbs
There are 1000-1500 common idioms
There are hundreds of common sentences heads and formulaic
phrases
What do we know about vocabulary?
• Because we teach a word does not mean they learned it (i.e.
teaching does not cause learning). Note* our text books
assume this. Because they finished the textbook does not
mean they know all the words in the book
• Written and spoken vocabulary are different. Fewer words are
needed for speaking
• Initial word knowledge is very fragile. Memories of new words
that are not met again soon.
What do we know about vocabulary? II
• Some words are more difficult to learn than others
• Learners cannot guess new meaning from context if the
surrounding text is too difficult. About 98% coverage needed.
• Words live with other words, not in isolation
• Not all words are equally frequent. There is a core useful
vocabulary everyone needs (about 2000 word families). Not
everyone needs the other 90% of the words in English.
• Students should learn the most frequent and useful words
first, later they can specialize.
Principles of vocabulary teaching
Two stages of word learning
Let them pick up most phrases, collocations, colligations
Understand the need for a balanced curriculum
Lots to learn – it’s going to take time and effort
railway
jump
help
sad
b
e
weather
likes
say
ask
when
pretend
whale
few
carry
allow
hand
kindly
parent
wishes
during
Many students think learning English is like building a wall
The …est
Logarithmic
Centralize
Culture
As … as
Might
Eyebrow
Ought
Wise
Couldn't
Yellow
Smile
See
In
Book
Be
Deceiver
Hair
By
Should
Tennis
Special
Going to
Go
Out of
Buy
TV
Government
Car
Can
Monument
Need to
May
Watch
Radiate
Eraser
Must
Apple
Statue
Justice
Kitchen
Churlish
Container
Get
Window
Have to
Not only
but…
Thermostat
Diverse
Holdall
Blonde
Dog
Happy
Bus
Will
But what happens to the wall when …
… the wind comes …..?
… or the earthquake comes…?
… or the teacher asks a difficult question..?
… or they need to read a difficult text?
… or they need to talk to someone in English?
They can't put words together easily
Communication stops
Apple
Book
Be
Buy
Tennis
Will
There‘s no cement
The …est
Logarithmic
Centralize
Culture
As … as
Might
Ought
Wise
Eyebrow
Couldn't
Yellow
Smile
Not only
but…
Thermostat
Diverse
Have to
TV
Deceiver
Photo
By
Should
Tennis
Special
Going to
Go
Out of
Buy
Monument
Government
Car
Can
Be
Need to
May
In
Watch
Radiate
Hair
Must
Apple
Book
Container
Get
Window
Churlish
Statue
Justice
Kitchen
See
Holdall
Blonde
Dog
Happy
Bus
Will
Students need to see how words go together
The …est
Logarithmic
Centralize
Culture
As … as
Might
Ought
Wise
Eyebrow
Couldn't
Yellow
Smile
Not only
but…
Thermostat
Diverse
Have to
TV
Deceiver
Photo
By
Should
Tennis
Special
Going to
Go
Out of
Buy
Monument
Government
Car
Can
Be
Need to
May
In
Watch
Radiate
Hair
Must
Apple
Book
Container
Get
Window
Churlish
Statue
Justice
Kitchen
See
Holdall
Blonde
Dog
Happy
Bus
Will
Students need to see how words go together
The …est
Logarithmic
Centralize
Culture
As … as
Might
Ought
Wise
Eyebrow
Couldn't
Yellow
Smile
Not only
but…
Thermostat
Diverse
Have to
TV
Deceiver
Photo
By
Should
Tennis
Special
Going to
Go
Out of
Buy
Monument
Government
Car
Can
Be
Need to
May
In
Watch
Radiate
Hair
Must
Apple
Book
Container
Get
Window
Churlish
Statue
Justice
Kitchen
See
Holdall
Blonde
Dog
Happy
Bus
Will
Students need to see how words go together
The …est
Logarithmic
Centralize
Culture
As … as
Might
Ought
Wise
Eyebrow
Couldn't
Yellow
Smile
Not only
but…
Thermostat
Diverse
Have to
TV
Deceiver
Photo
By
Should
Tennis
Special
Going to
Go
Out of
Buy
Monument
Government
Car
Can
Be
Need to
May
In
Watch
Radiate
Hair
Must
Apple
Book
Container
Get
Window
Churlish
Statue
Justice
Kitchen
See
Holdall
Blonde
Dog
Happy
Bus
Will
Students need to see how words go together
The …est
Logarithmic
Centralize
Culture
As … as
Might
Ought
Wise
Eyebrow
Couldn't
Yellow
Smile
Not only
but…
Thermostat
Diverse
Have to
TV
Deceiver
Photo
By
Should
Tennis
Special
Going to
Go
Out of
Buy
Monument
Government
Car
Can
Be
Need to
May
In
Watch
Radiate
Hair
Must
Apple
Book
Container
Get
Window
Churlish
Statue
Justice
Kitchen
See
Holdall
Blonde
Dog
Happy
Bus
Will
Students need to see how words go together
The …est
Logarithmic
Centralize
Culture
As … as
Might
Ought
Wise
Eyebrow
Couldn't
Yellow
Smile
Not only
but…
Thermostat
Diverse
Have to
TV
Deceiver
Photo
By
Should
Tennis
Special
Going to
Go
Out of
Buy
Monument
Government
Car
Can
Be
Need to
May
In
Watch
Radiate
Hair
Must
Apple
Book
Container
Get
Window
Churlish
Statue
Justice
Kitchen
See
Holdall
Blonde
Dog
Happy
Bus
Will
Students need to see how words go together
The …est
Logarithmic
Centralize
Culture
As … as
Might
Ought
Wise
Eyebrow
Couldn't
Yellow
Smile
Not only
but…
Thermostat
Diverse
Have to
TV
Deceiver
Photo
By
Should
Tennis
Special
Going to
Go
Out of
Buy
Monument
Government
Car
Can
Be
Need to
May
In
Watch
Radiate
Hair
Must
Apple
Book
Container
Get
Window
Churlish
Statue
Justice
Kitchen
See
Holdall
Blonde
Dog
Happy
Bus
Will
To teach or not to teach?
Yes
No
Intentionally
Deductively
Inductively
Incidentally
Intentional / Incidental
Intentional
- aim to directly teach / learn something
- e.g. textbook presentation, dictionary use, wordcards
Incidental
- aim to hope them pick up or notice the target from
exposure
- students are doing something else (e.g. reading a passage
for meaning) but notice something new as they do it.
Deductive vs Inductive presentation
Deductive – ‘telling’
telling / explaining the rule e.g. on the board, in a text or
handout
Inductive presentation – ‘discover the rule’
A: What are your plans for the weekend?
B: I’m meeting my brother on Friday at 7, and then I’m
playing tennis in Yokohama on Saturday. And you?
A: I’m not sure maybe I’ll stay home.
Intentional vs. Incidental learning
Intentional learning
Incidental learning
Direct focus on learning when the
focus is to learn words
FOCUS
wordlists, word cards, vocabulary
exercises, dictionary use
E.G.
•Can be learnt systematically
•Meanings are learnt 16 times faster
than with incidental learning
•Retention high if learnt well
•Decontextualized or 'local' learning
level
Best for 'form-meaning' level learning
Learning 'by accident' - as a result
of focusing on something else
from reading or listening,
watching movies, listening to
songs, casual conversation
LEARNING •Slow and fragile learning
•Input tends to be random and
unpredictable, unsystematized
•Contextualized (chances for
integrative learning)
USE
Best for 'deeper aspects' of
vocabulary learning
How are we going to teach what?
Intentional learning e.g word cards
Incidental learning e.g extensive reading
Individual words
Important lexical phrases
False friends
Loanwords
Important collocations and colligations
Basic grammatical patterns
Important phrasal verbs, idioms etc.
Word, phrase and sentence level
awareness
Register, Genre
Pragmatic knowledge
Restrictions on use
Most collocations and collocations
A 'sense' of a word's meaning and use
A 'sense' of how grammar fits with
lexis - the tenses, articles etc.
Discourse level awareness
Selection issues – what do we teach?
Sequence issues – in what order?
Scaffolding issues – how do we
consolidate previous learning?
Presentation issues – what method?
Rough grading
Ensuring recycling
Engaging text
Matching input text to intentionally
learnt materials
Principles of vocabulary teaching
Two stages of word learning
Let them pick up most phrases, collocations, colligations
Understand the need for a balanced curriculum
Lots to learn – it’s going to take time and effort
Intentional vs incidental study?
The Cycle of Learning
Notice
something
Add to our
knowledge
Get more
input
(feedback)
Try it out
Principles of vocabulary teaching
Two stages of word learning
Let them pick up most phrases, collocations, colligations
Understand the need for a balanced curriculum
Lots to learn – it’s going to take time and effort
Intentional vs incidental study?
Go through the cycle of learning
What happens to things we learn?
We forget them over time unless they are recycled and
memories of them strengthened
Our brains are designed to forget most of what we meet - not to
remember it
Knowledge
The Forgetting Curve
Time
Leitner’s Memory System
Spaced, expanded retrieval
Image source: www.lexxica.com
Principles of vocabulary teaching
Two stages of word learning
Let them pick up most phrases, collocations, colligations
Understand the need for a balanced curriculum
Lots to learn – it’s going to take time and effort
Intentional vs incidental study?
Go through the cycle of learning
Fight the Forgetting Curve
A linear structure to our syllabuses
Unit 1
Unit 2
Unit 3
Unit 4
Unit 5
Be verb
Simple
present
Present
continuous
can
….
Simple
adjectives
Daily
routines
Sporting
activities
Abilities
…..
Each unit has something new
Little focus on the recycling of vocabulary, grammar and so on
The theory is “We’ve done that, they have learnt it, so we can move
on.”
i.e. teaching causes learning
What will naturally happen to the learning?
Unit 1
Unit 2
Unit 3
Unit 4
Unit 5
Be verb
Simple
present
Present
continuous
can
….
Simple
adjectives
Daily
routines
Sporting
activities
Abilities
…..
Course work and Graded Readers work together
Unit 1
Unit 2
Unit 3
Unit 4
Unit 5
Be verb
Simple
present
Present
continuous
can
….
Introducing
language
Consolidating and deepening language knowledge
Extensive Reading
What does this imply?
A linear course structure
-is focused on introducing new words and grammatical features
-does not fight against the forgetting curve
-by its very design cannot provide enough repetitions of words and
grammar features for long-term acquisition to take place
-is not focused on deepening and consolidating older knowledge
because the focus is always on new things
This is NOT a criticism of course books. They can’t do everything even
though we might expect them to. Course books are only part of
what students need.
Principles of vocabulary teaching
Two stages of word learning
Let them pick up most phrases, collocations, colligations
Understand the need for a balanced curriculum
Lots to learn – it’s going to take time and effort
Intentional vs incidental study?
Go through the cycle of learning
Fight the forgetting curve
We need to scaffold the learning vs linear delivery
How well are our courses presenting the language
students need?
Research suggests a typical language courses:
• do not systematically recycle the grammatical forms outside
the presentation unit / lesson
• have an almost random vocabulary selection (mostly based on
topic) without much regard to frequency or usefulness
• rarely, if ever, recycle taught words either later in the unit, the
book, or the series
• provide little additional practice in review units or workbooks
• have an overwhelming focus on new material in each lesson
words met vs number of words probably learnt
(>10 meetings) in various course books
Japanese
#
meetings
50+
31-49
20-30
10-19
5-9
1-4
50+
31-49
20-30
10-19
5-9
1-4
JH
24
20
23
81
182
792
1122
Korean
Mexico
SH
39
39
57
159
266
713
1273
Both
68
72
75
261
380
792
1648
JH
37
39
53
207
422
802
1560
SH
64
55
71
282
686
1225
2383
Both
124
93
172
536
685
996
2606
JH
310
127
138
279
291
497
1642
2.1% 3.1%
1.8% 3.1%
2.0% 4.5%
7.2% 12.5%
16.2% 20.9%
70.6% 56.0%
100% 100%
4.1%
4.4%
4.6%
15.8%
23.1%
48.1%
100%
2.4%
2.5%
3.4%
13.3%
27.1%
51.4%
100%
2.7%
2.3%
3.0%
11.8%
28.8%
51.4%
100%
4.8%
3.6%
6.6%
20.6%
26.3%
38.2%
100%
18.9%
7.7%
8.4%
17.0%
17.7%
30.3%
100.0%
476
925
SH
271
131
1276
139
348
393
625
1907
14.2%
6.9%
7.3%
18.2%
20.6%
32.8%
100.0%
Both
492
191
199
394
409
567
2252
21.8%
8.5%
8.8%
17.5%
18.2%
25.2%
100.0%
Number of words met
Japan
Korea
Mexico
Course books
only
JH
JH & SH
14,066
35,043
23,483
61,433
126,043
232,536
Course books
plus reading
JH
JH & SH
35,989
219,242
45,405
245,632
147,966
416,735
Course book plus a book a week = ?
Japan
# meetings
50+
Korea
Mexico
Middle &
Middle and
JH & SH
Middle
SH course Middle course SH course
JH course book course books course books books plus books plus
books plus
Plus ERF1-3
Plus ERF 1-6 Plus ERF1-3
ERF 1-6
ERF1-3
ERF 1-6
(90 Books)
(180 books) (90 Books) (180 books) (90 Books) (180 books)
101
523
121
568
354
780
31-49
63 1187
182
90
1468
229
165
1677
258
20-30
77
182
103
204
149
228
10-19
162
300
288
467
291
411
5-9
267
372
368
593
323
404
1-4
564
771
767
824
562
605
1234
2330
1737
2885
1844
2686
50+
8.2%
22.4%
7.0%
19.7%
19.2%
29.0%
31-49
5.1%
7.8%
5.2%
7.9%
8.9%
9.6%
20-30
6.2%
7.8%
5.9%
7.1%
8.1%
8.5%
10-19
13.1%
12.9%
16.6%
16.2%
15.8%
15.3%
5-9
21.6%
16.0%
21.2%
20.6%
17.5%
15.0%
1-4
45.7%
33.1%
44.2%
28.6%
30.5%
22.5%
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
Likely uptake (words met more than 10 times
from reading 30 texts at each level)
Japan
Korea
Mexico
Course books
only
JH
JH & SH
147
476
184
925
854
1,276
Course books
plus reading
JH
JH & SH
403 +174%
1,187 +149%
602 +227%
1,468 +59%
959 +12%
1,677 + 31%
How long will it take to teach them?
An average word needs 8-50 meetings for it to be learnt
receptively from reading (more for productive use)
An average word's meaning takes 10-15 meetings to learn from
word cards or word lists
To learn the collocations and 'deeper' aspects of language
learning takes MUCH longer.
There's little research into the rate learning of collocation,
colligation or lexical phrases from reading
We know nothing at all about how long it takes to master a
particular grammatical form e.g. a tense, the comparatives,
relative clauses
Principles of vocabulary teaching
Two stages of word learning
Let them pick up most phrases, collocations, colligations
Understand the need for a balanced curriculum
Lots to learn – it’s going to take time and effort
Intentional vs incidental study?
Go through the cycle of learning
Fight the forgetting curve
We need to scaffold the learning vs linear delivery
Textbooks can’t do everything - Massive exposure needed
Why can’t Japanese students read, listen, speak
and write well?
Their language knowledge is often abstract, separated, discrete and
very fragile so they forget
There’s too much work on “the pieces-of-language” and not enough
comprehensible, meaningful , connected discourse
They haven’t met the words and grammar enough times to feel
comfortable using them
They CANNOT speak until they feel comfortable using their knowledge
They haven’t developed a ‘sense’ of language yet
So what needs to happen?
We have to ensure our curriculums and courses:
• build in recycling and repetition of words and grammar structures
• give students chances to see how the grammar and vocabulary are
used together in real discourse
• give students chances to deepen and consolidate the language they
learn in their course books (or they forget it)
• allow students to develop their own ‘sense’ of how the language
works
• give students chances to use language rather than just study it
Principles of Vocabulary Learning
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
There is not enough class time to teach everything about a word
We don’t need to teach every word in the book
Select the vocabulary carefully - Useful and frequent words first
Single words as well as phrases and collocations
Learners must be set vocabulary learning goals
They need massive input to build vocabulary knowledge to
deepen vocabulary connections
We should teach words the students need
Forgetting will happen - > revise, use it or lose it
We should not expect things we teach to be known tomorrow
The most important vocabulary to teach is yesterday’s vocabulary
Principles II
• Because time is limited, we have to teach students how to deal
with new words (independent learning) thus they need
vocabulary learning strategies
• Give opportunities for guessing words from context
• Teach them to use a dictionary properly
• Teach word learning strategies
• Work at both levels of vocabulary knowledge
• Use a systematic approach (set realistic goals) – build on old
learning
• Intentional and incidental learning
Principles III
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Language focus work needed
Give opportunities for developing fluency and automaticity
Not everything can be learn intentionally
Initial meetings should be followed by deeper level processing
Opportunities for elaborating word knowledge
Let them experiment (force them to think)
We do not need to teach all words to be available for use
Concept check understanding
Understand the task requirements of vocabulary exercises
Give opportunities to develop the pronunciation
Thank you for your time
www.robwaring.org/presentations/
The components of a language focus lesson
Engagement – get the students interested in the topic
Contextualization – embed the forms within a larger context
Check understanding – of the context
Presentation – to notice the new form and its behaviour
Assess – to assess they understand the new form
Activate – controlled production
Integrate and personalize – freer production and personalization
Engagement
Aim:
To motivate students to become interested in the topic
To prime them for the topic reading / listening
Example activities:
Discussions of the topic – general or personal
Watching a short video about the topic
Researching the topic before class
Brainstorm vocabulary that might be used
Guess information that might occur in the text
Make questions you want answered in the text
Contextualization
Aim:
To embed the target language within a context so students
can be primed to notice it
To create (help them notice) a gap in their knowledge
To raise interest in the topic
Example activities:
A reading text containing the target
A listening text containing the target
Checking understanding of the context for use
Aim:
To ensure the context within which the target form is
embedded is understood
‘Comprehension first’
Example activities:
Comprehension questions
Give a short summary of the text
Check with a partner
True and false questions
etc.
Presentation
Aim:
To ensure students notice both
a) the form and
b) the use
Example activities:
Teachers explain the rules / behavior of the past simple
tense
Teachers elicit the rule from the students
Teach guides the students to discover the rule
Students read the rule from their textbook
Assess
Aim:
To assess in controlled, decontextualized ways whether the
students have understood the rule for both
a) the form and
b) the use of the target
No aim to be communicative
Example activities:
A short quiz
Gap-fill activities
Complete the sentence
Sentence transformation
Integrate and personalize
Aim:
To get learners to express themselves (rather than just
communicate) while using the new target
Example activities:
Discussion of the topic with questions aimed at eliciting the
target language
Reformulation into a different skill (e.g. extend a roleplay to
where students create new situations around the target
language)
Pre
Pre-teaching
-teaching
Engagement
Contextualization of
the target form
Check comprehension
of the context for use
Presentation of
the form
Presentation of the
concept
Checking the form
is understood
Checking the concept
is understood
Controlled productive
persoanlization
How do they fit the Balanced Curriculum?
Engagement – get the students interested in the topic
Contextualization – embed the forms within a larger context
Check understanding – of the context
Presentation – to notice the new form and its behaviour
Assess – to assess they understand the new form
Activate – controlled production
Integrate and personalize – freer production and personalization
How do they fit the Balanced Curriculum?
Receptive
Contextualization
Language Study Presentation
Productive
Check understanding of the text
Assess understanding of the form
Controlled activation
Engagement
Contextualization
Fluency
Practice
Integration and personalization
Lower Elementary
Aim: Consolidation of the basics
Receptive
Language
Study
Fluency
Practice
Alphabet
Flashcards
Word study
Some grammar
Study skills
Reading very
simple stories
Listening to simple
stories
Productive
Spelling
Writing simple sentences
Fun tests to check
understanding
Simple memorized dialogs
Read aloud
Elementary / Lower Intermediate
Aim: Initial fluency
Receptive
Language
Study
Fluency
Practice
Word building
Grammar
Intensive reading
Intensive listening
Extensive reading
Extensive listening
Speed reading
Productive
Complex spellings
Some tests
Controlled production
Role-plays
Topic controlled
conversation
Free chatting
Journals / diaries
Emails
Intermediate
Aim: Fluency and speed
Receptive
Language
Study
Fluency
Practice
Productive
Intensive reading
Collocation
Colligation
Lexical chunks
Control over complex
discourse markers
Cohesion, coherence
Extensive Reading
Extensive Listening
Simple movies
Simple songs
Speed reading
Debates
Essays
Pushed output
Speeches
Discussions
Advanced
Aim: High level language control
Receptive
Productive
Controlled production
Language
Study
Intensive reading
Colligations
Idioms etc.
High level lexis
Fluency
Practice
Native texts
Native movies
Songs
Radio, TV shows
Debates
Formal Essays
Pushed output
Complex discourse
Advantages of Deductive
Disadvantages of Deductive
Potentially fast, effective and more
direct
Little cognitive effort for students
Controlled and planned
Not always sure everyone understood
More fragile knowledge
Advantages of Inductive
Disadvantages of Inductive
More cognitive effort – better learning
Takes time
Better chance for longer learning
Harder to prepare / plan for teacher
Controlled Activities
Controlled Activities
Controlled Activities
Controlled Activities
Controlled Activities
Activate
Aim:
To move the discrete knowledge from controlled receptive
understanding to controlled productive use
Example activities:
Embed the form in a role-play situation leading to extension
Semi-controlled production
Semi-controlled production
Principles of vocabulary
Receptive
Productive
Form-meaning focus
Language Study
Fluency
Practice
Building depth of
knowledge
Scaffolding the learning
Massive input
Experimentation with language