Teaching Vocabulary
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Transcript Teaching Vocabulary
Teaching Vocabulary
HARMER, CHAPTER 14
ATESL, 2009, #48A&B
I. Raising Awareness
“Vocabulary instruction encourages learners to
notice and focus on new vocabulary items (single
words as well as formulaic sequences) and links the
forms of new vocabulary to meanings, collocations,
and uses.” (ATESL, 2009, p.78, #48a)
Activities to
help learners
focus on and
notice
vocabulary
Explicit discussion of target vocabulary
(ATESL, 2009, p.78-79)
Much of what we do
when teaching reading
and listening assists
with vocabulary
development.
prior to listening, speaking, reading or
writing tasks.
Presenting new, thematically-related
items prior to a unit in which the theme is
explored through a variety of activities and
modes. (see Hammond, p.245, example 14)
The incorporation of target vocabulary in
pre-listening/reading activities to ensure
multiple recalls of the items.
Lexical elaborations (glosses) and textual
enhancement in both paper and electronic
readings.
The use of visuals, e.g., writing vocabulary
items on board, flip chart paper, etc.
Quick L1 translations.
Instruction in and allowance for
appropriate and judicious dictionary
use.
Using clues to determine vocabulary
meaning, and confirming guesses with
dictionaries, glosses or group
discussion.
Presenting vocabulary in thematically-
related clusters (e.g., frog, green,
pond), rather than in semantically
related clusters (e.g., red, yellow, blue,
green) that can cause confusion.
Knowing a word involves much more than
knowing a dictionary definition!
Connotations and sociolinguistic competence
Obese, fat, overweight, large, chubby, round, cuddly
Baby, little boy, big boy
Has a mental disability, mentally challenged,
mentally delayed, mentally handicapped, slow, (vs
inappropriate words that appear in translation
dictionaries: lack of intelligence, silly, stupid, moron,
dumb, freak, idiot, imbecile) (see
http://www.engvid.com/disability-vocabulary/ )
Collocations:
Grammatical collocations
When a lexical item commonly occurs with a particular
grammatical item (e.g., worried ___, reason ___, believe
____)
Lexical collocations
Common noun+verb, verb+noun/complement, or
adjective+noun combinations
E.g,.
Collocations for Environment
Verbs:
Protect/conserve/harm/damage/destroy/pollute/clean up the
environment
(Note: we are less likely to say “hurt” the environment)
Adjectives:
natural/marine environment
Phrases:
to be good/bad for, harmful to, protection/conservation of,
damage/harm to, the destruction of , pollution of, the
impact/effect on
Collocations for Regret
Adverbs
Deeply/greatly regret
Bitterly regret
Sincerely regret
Very much regret
(we don’t say: I very regret)
Phrase:
To live to regret
Example: NOISE
Noun + verb
NS
Diminish
Increase
NNS
Soften
Get bigger
Verb + noun
Make
Cause/have
Adjective + noun
Loud
Soft
Big/strong
Small/quiet
II. Retrieving and Using
“Vocabulary instruction provides multiple
opportunities to retrieve new vocabulary items;
provides opportunities for pushed output, in
which learners are encouraged to use new vocabulary
items in spoken and written communication; and
includes the explicit formal teaching of vocabulary
learning strategies.” (ATESL, 2009, #48b)
Multi-mode exposure to target
Maximize
exposure!
“Learners are
provided with
opportunities for
maximum
exposure to,
engagement with,
and retrievals of
the target
vocabulary and
meanings” (ATESL
2009)
vocabulary in thematic teaching
listening, speaking, reading, writing
Maximizing associations by using
different senses – pictures,
objects, movement, fieldtrips
Vocabulary exercises (matching,
cloze, collocation)
Narrow reading
Vocabulary quizzes, tests, games
(e.g., quizlet)
Explicit target vocabulary
Push learners
to USE!
“Learners are
pushed to use
target vocabulary
in speaking and
writing tasks,
facilitating longterm retention”
(ATESL, 2009)
instruction prior to speaking and
writing tasks.
Post-reading/listening vocabulary
practice – questions/tasks that
require use of new vocab.
Requiring the use of the target
vocabulary in speaking/writing
tasks
(e.g., “Choose 3 of the new statements
for expressing opinions and use them
during the debate” or “Choose 8 of the
new words to incorporate into your
paragraph”).
Stems/affixes
Teach skills
and strategies
Encoding/mnemonic techniques
“Learners are
enabled to manage
their own
vocabulary
learning through
deliberate
exposure to,
instruction in, and
sharing of
vocabulary
development
strategies”
(ATESL, 2009)
Rewarding self
Spaced repetition
Multiple and varied vocabulary
retrieval (see Harmer p.229-238)
Dictionary usage (Harmer, p.239246)
Quizlet
Use concordancing tools
www.lexTutor.ca
http://www.lextutor.ca/id/ (to create
quizzes)
http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/
Quizlet examples:
Flashcards:
https://quizlet.com/119010481/fl
ashcards
Scatter game:
https://quizlet.com/119010481/s
catter
Test:
https://quizlet.com/119010481/te
st
Worth
noting
A
question
Harmer 14: Teaching vocabulary
A
response
Examine a selection of activities in the chapter. Which of the
following do they do?
1. Encourage learners to notice and focus on new
vocabulary items (single words as well as formulaic
sequences) and link the forms of new vocabulary to
meanings, collocations, and uses.
2. Provide multiple opportunities to retrieve new
vocabulary items.
3. Encourage learners to use new vocabulary items in
spoken and written communication
4. Teach vocabulary learning strategies
Teaching
Vocabulary
Jigsaw activity
The excerpts you read
are from the “Roots and
Connections Tool Kit”,
p.30-32.
http://eslruralroutes.no
rquest.ca/resources.asp
x
Read the excerpt you’ve been
given on:
Strategies for a given learning style
Activities for teaching vocabulary
Consider additional strategies for
the learning style.
Re-group and complete handout:
Take turns sharing strategies for
vocabulary learning for the 3 different
learning styles
Take turns sharing the vocabulary
activities. Is it useful? Limited? Could it
be tweaked to be more useful?