Transcript Vocabulary teaching

Vocabulary teaching
Introduction
Objectives of the course
• Knowledge of the nature of vocabulary knowledge and
acquisition in an additional language
• Understanding of the place of vocabulary teaching
within the overall English syllabus
• Familiarization with some practical vocabulary-
teaching classroom procedures and their theoretical
underpinnings
Teaching methods
• Reading of background articles on various aspects of
vocabulary teaching
• Lectures
• Discussion of the research and theory and its application in
practice
• Experiential work: learning new vocabulary using various
means and strategies; trying out procedures in (school)
classrooms; textbook analysis
Requirements
• Participation in sessions
• Reading, supported by study questions
• Experiential assignments: vocabulary learning,
classroom practice
• Final paper
Assessment
• Participation and completion of ongoing
assignments: 30%
• Final paper: 70%
Ongoing assignments 1: Vocabulary
learning
There will be 10, of which you have to do 6.
Each item is worth 2 points, if done properly.
A bonus 3 points for doing them all!
= 15 points.
(Note that there is no possibility of late, or retroactive,
assignments: the Moodle will not accept after the closing
date)
Ongoing assignments 2: Article reading
assignments
There will be 10, of which you have to do 6.
Each item is worth 2 points, if done properly.
A bonus 3 points for doing them all!
= 15 points.
(Note that there is no possibility of late, or retroactive,
assignments: the Moodle will not accept after the closing
date)
Non-graded assignments
• It is recommended that you learn the words,
and read the articles, even if you don’t do the
accompanying tasks for assessment.
The final paper
• Choose two issues that we have studied in the course, and that you
feel have made a difference to your own understanding and
professional practice.
• Describe the issues, with reference to the appropriate literature.
• Discuss how they are (or are not) implemented in practice
(teaching, materials-design, assessment), including any problems.
• Suggest how, in the future, they might be used to enrich practice.
• Each essay should be about 500 words long, and include at least
two references to the research literature.
Final paper: allocation of points
• Description of issues 20 points
• Present implementation in practice, and any problems
25 points
• Recommendations for future application 15 points
• Organization, style, formatting of bibliography 10
points.
Topics
PART 1: CONCEPTS, FACTS AND
FIGURES
• Unit 1: Preliminary definitions
• Unit 2: What do learners need to know about a
vocabulary item? What are the priorities?
• Unit 3: How important is vocabulary?
• Unit 4: Selection and ordering of lexical items
• Unit 5: How many lexical items do students need to
know?
PART 2: ISSUES IN VOCABULARY
TEACHING
• Unit 6: Lexical sets
• Unit 7: Inferencing as a strategy to access meaning of
new words
• Unit 8: Inferencing as a basis for longer-term learning
• Unit 9: Translation
• Unit 10: Incidental versus focused learning of
vocabulary
• Unit 11: Deep processing
PART 3: PRACTICAL CLASSROOM
ISSUES
Unit 12: Vocabulary teaching in our textbooks
Unit 13: Teaching new items
Unit 14: Reviewing and consolidating
Unit 15: Summary, feedback
UNIT 1: PRELIMINARY
DEFINITIONS
Reviewing terminology
• word
• lexeme
• morpheme
• denotation
• connotation
• collocation
• Lexical chunks (also called lexical phrases, memorized
sequences, formulaic utterances, idioms etc.)
Defining vocabulary
• The lexical items of a language; including words and lexical chunks,
but not grammatical items.
• Lexical words, composed of one morpheme big, man, chair, dog or
more than one happy, going, beautiful, unhappy
• lexical chunks (also called lexical phrases, memorized sequences,
formulaic utterances, idioms etc.) be compositional summer
vacation, outdoor activity… or non-compositional father-in-law, ice
cream, of course, windshield
a) Fixed expressions
• compound words: hyphenated swimming-pool, high-school, co-pilot
English-speaking or not bookcase, signpost, homework
• phrases strictly speaking, call it a day, in any case, by the way, as a matter
of fact, once upon a tim
• clauses or sentences What’s the matter, as I was saying, How are you?
How do you do? Excuse me!
• Note: Proverbs and some idioms are a particular class of fixed expressions
• A proverb: All’s well that ends well, No news is good news, Practice makes
perfect
• A fixed idiom draw the line, up in the air, raining cats and dogs
b) Semi-fixed expressions
take [something] into account, hold [someone]
responsible, [have] a good time, [make] the right
decision
Sub-sets of these are phrasal verbs take up, get away
with, put up with, bring about, look up
Idioms may be semi-fixed: [cost/pay] an arm and a leg,
[lose] [one’s] head
c) Collocations: words which tend to
go together
• verb or adjective + preposition: angry (with), afraid (of), wait
(for);
• adjective + noun: : a tall person / a high building, initial
encounter / first impression; quick response / fast runner, rosy
cheeks, fair hair
• verb + noun: to wage a war, to tell the truth, make a mistake, do
homework, to commit [a crime]; raise money, draw a pension
• verb + adverb: work hard, sleep soundly, cry bitterly
A young emperor penguin took a wrong turn from the Antarctic and ended up stranded on a
New Zealand beach – the first time in 44 years the aquatic bird has been sighted in the
south Pacific country.
Local resident Christine Wilton was taking [her dog] [Millie] for a walk on [Peka Peka] beach
on the [North Island's western] coast when she discovered the bird. "It was out of this world
to see it ... like someone just dropped it from the sky," Wilton said.
Conservation experts say the penguin is about [10 months] old and stands [about 80cm (32
inches)] high. Emperor penguins are the tallest and largest species of [penguin] and can
grow up to [122cm] high and weigh more than 34kg (75lbs).
Colin Miskelly, a curator at Te Papa, the Museum of New Zealand, said the bird was likely to
[have been born] during the [last Antarctic winter]. He said emperor penguins can spend
[months] at a time in the ocean, but did not know what might have caused this particular
one to become disoriented. Miskelly said the penguin appeared healthy and well fed, with
plenty of body fat, and probably came ashore for a rest.
Peter Simpson, a programme manager for New Zealand's department of conservation, said
officials are asking people to stand back [about 10m ]from the creature and to avoid [lett]ing
dogs near it.
UNIT 2: WHAT DO LEARNERS NEED
TO KNOW ABOUT A LEXICAL ITEM?
WHAT ARE THE PRIORITIES?
Aspects of lexical knowledge:
receptive and productive
Form:
• spoken
• written
• grammatical variations
Meaning:
• denotation
• connotation
• L1 equivalent
Use
• grammatical links
• collocational links
• frequency
• register, appropriateness
Other items with associated
meanings
• synonyms
• antonyms
• co-hyponyms (lexical sets)
• hyponyms
• superordinates
Discussion
How important is each for a learner to know
productively?
• = essential
• =important
• ?= less important, can be postponed
• x= not necessary
Form and meaning
• Frequency (in HS)
• spoken form  
• register, appropriateness (in HS)
• written form   (production
slightly less important at
Associated meanings
elementary / JH)
• Synonyms x
• grammatical variants  ()
• Antonyms x
• Denotation   
• co-hyponyms (lexical sets) ?
• Connotation ?
• Hyponyms?
• L1 equivalent(s) 
• Superordinates?
Use
• grammatical links 
• collocational links 