Transcript What word is that?

Vocabulary teaching and learning

Vocabulary Learning Strategies
Selecting, recording, revising
 Guessing word meaning from context

Explicit teaching of vocabulary – using
a range of methods
 Assessing vocabulary knowledge

1
Metacognitive Strategies
Discuss:
 What would you consider when deciding
whether to learn or pass a new word that you
encounter in reading / listening?
 How do you (or your students) usually record
and revise vocabulary?
2
Which words should you skip learning?
(Nation, 1990)
Recording vocabulary





Relate new words with old words (e.g. words
that look / sound similar, synonyms, antonyms
collocations
Grammatical behavior (e.g. prepositions, pos,
c/unc, regular/irregular verb)
use a drawing
Word cards? Portable devices?
4
Revising vocabulary







Plan for “spaced repetition”
Follow a particular topic reported in the media over a few days,
e.g. reading about the development of an issue on the Internet or
in newspapers over a few days so that you keep meeting the
same words or synonyms of these words
Use quizzes to test yourself regularly
Revise the words recorded in your vocabulary notebook or cards
regularly (e.g. cover up the word or definition and test yourself)
Try to use the words you learnt before, e.g. by writing sentences
or paragraphs using these words
Ask a friend to test you / practice using words you learnt before
with a friend
Others??
5
Guessing word meaning from context
6
How easy is it to guess the meaning of the underlined words?
The Nanu region is famous for its wonderful scenery, ancient temples and, above all, the
indigenous people of Sofa. In their remote village, reached after an arduous and
dusty drive, live the Sofans, with their welcoming smiles and warm affability.
Few visitors, however, make this trip as it is not on the normal itinerary of most
tour groups.
As I sauntered through the village, I stopped for a few moments on a bridge to watch
the boisterous children splashing each other with water. School hours are short
here and many of the teenagers seem to squander their daylight hours riding
around the square on noisy old motorcycles.
Groups of local women spend their days weaving coloured silk into stunning fabrics.
Their remuneration is only a few dollars although they may have worked for
several days to create each one. As dusk approaches, the men return from the fields
where they have been toiling all day, hungry and ready for a quiet evening with
7
their families.
Guessing strategies
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Study the word itself (what pos? any word
parts?)
Examine immediate context
Examine wider context
Make a guess
Verify your guess by using a dictionary
8
Strategies for guessing word
meaning from context (Nation, 1990)
Step 1:
What part of speech is it? Is it a noun, a verb, an adjective or an adverb?
Step 2:
Does it contain any familiar parts? (e.g. in-digest-ible)
Does it look similar to another word you already know?
Step 3:
Examine the immediate context. If the unknown word is a
Noun
Adjective
What adjectives describe it?
What verb does it go with?
What does it do and what is done to it?
What nouns go with it?
Does an adverb tell you more about it?
What noun does it go with?
Adverb
Which verb does it go with?
Verb
Step 4:
Examine the wider context. Look at the relationship between the clause or sentence
containing the unknown word and other sentences or paragraphs.
1. Sometimes this relationship is signalled by a linking word, e.g. but, because, if, when,
however, as a result.
2. Word like this, that and such as provide useful information.
3. Look for a definition or synonym in the wider context.
4. Make use of that / which clauses that give further information.
5. Look at punctuation for clues.
dashes brackets ( )
colons :
semi colons ;
Step 5:
Guess the meaning.
Step 6:
Substitute your guess. Does the sentence make sense? If you’re still unsure, look it
up in a dictionary.
Answers









Arduous – difficult / tiring
Affability – friendliness
Saunter – walk slowly
Boisterous – noisy / energetic
Squander – spend in a wasteful way
Weave – make cloth
Remuneration – payment
Dusk – early evening
Toil – work very hard
Presenting words in cotext

Better show students:


Rather than:


It was stifling in the room.
Better say:


It was so stifling in the room that I could hardly breathe.
There’s a word in the first line that means “huge”. What
word is that?
Rather than:

“Enormous” in the first line means huge.
Provide rich contextual clues answers







Carnivorous
Vehicles
Huge / enormous
Mean / stingy
Cut
Reduced / offset / compensated
Revenue / income; afford
Implicit vocab learning (e.g. Explicit vocab learning
thru extensive reading)
For
revisiting learnt words to
deepen word knowledge
Learning low-frequency words
Learning grammatical and
collocational patterns
Understanding the actual meaning
of the word / different senses of a
word
Very little deliberate attention on
the words > low retention
Students may not be able to guess
meaning from context
Focusing
students’ attention
Learning high-frequency words
(e.g. the GSL or AWL words)
(Nation, 1990)
Learning difficult, confusing
words (Sokmen, 1997)
Some research shows students can
learn a large amount of vocab using
word lists with L1 translations in a
short time (Nation, 1990), so
perhaps list-learning is good for
initial acquisition of high-frequency
words
Takes up class time
14
Helping students with confusing words
15
Confusing words


Complimentary vs complementary
Principal vs principle
16
Sökmen (1997): Explicit teaching of vocabulary


Build a large sight vocabulary (e.g. GSL, AWL)
Integrate new words with old (e.g. gradable antonyms on a
scale; more precise words to a general word; semantic maps)




Promote a deep level of processing**
Provide a number of encounters with a word (5-16 times;
successful recall leads to longer retention)
Facilitate imaging (e.g. mental pictures; mind maps)
Making new words “concrete” by connecting them to
student’s world in some way (e.g. personal feelings, personal
examples, current issues, pictures, videos, real objects & situations)

Use a variety of techniques** (e.g. dictionary work, word parts
activities, using rhymes, semantic grids, semantic maps, ...etc.)

Encourage independent learning strategies
17
Sight vocabulary



Words that students can recognize instantly in
reading
Do not need any decoding or pictorial clues
children with a large sight vocabulary can read
more fluently and comprehend texts more easily
18
For very young / elementary learners



The most basic / frequent words should be
taught by sight
Repeated encounters in reading / wall postings
E.g. McNally & Murray’s 200 High Frequency
words (http://abcprimaryteachingresources.co.uk/downloads/1046-200high-frequency-words-mcnally-murray.html)
19
The Ladybird Key Words Reading
Scheme (Peter and Jane books)

E.g. The first book uses the 12 key words
repeatedly ("Here is Peter", "Peter is here",
"Here is Jane", "Jane is here", "I like Peter", "I
like Jane").

http://www.theweeweb.co.uk/ladybird/key_wo
rds_reading_scheme.php
20
Using a variety of techniques in explicit teaching
21
Learning Word Parts
prefix
root
suffix
Trans / port / ation
1.
2.
3.
Prefix: added to the front
Root: carries main meaning
Suffix: changes part of speech
How many words can you make?
bene-
-scribe
-scient
Some word parts and their meaning
Reference: www.prefixsuffix.com
Some common suffixes that form
adjectives
Some common suffixes that form
nouns
Resources for learning word parts


www.prefixsuffix.com
Roots of English – downloadable software
27
Rhyming words in songs / poems
28
Rhyming words in songs / poems
Emphasize the combination of words
PEOPLE
ACTION
OBJECT
PLACE
doctor
examine
patients
health centre
restaurant
train station
park
Emphasize the combinability of
words
PEOPLE
ACTION
OBJECT
PLACE
doctor
examine
patients
health centre
customers
waiters
train driver
dine
serve
pull up
customers
train
train station
gardener
grow / trim
plants
park
restaurant
When recording vocabulary, note
collocation patterns…
Pattern
Examples
NOUN + VERB
people - slip / cars – skid
VERB + NOUN
abandon - ship, make – a wish,
catch – a bus
ADJECTIVE + NOUN
handsome – man,
beautiful - woman
To sum up…






Teach and consolidate the 2000 most
frequent words
Encourage students to become independent
learners
Provide students with a variety of vocabulary
building activities
Encourage students to read widely
Train students on using vocabulary learning
strategies
……
33
Vocabulary Assessment Tools


What sorts of vocabulary knowledge are being
tested in each of the tests?
Do you see any problems with some of the
tests?
34
Peer Discussion of Assignment
35