Cell Phones, iPods and PCs:

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 Cell Phones, iPods and PCs

• Building Bridges to Our Students' Futures
• Through Building Their Vocabulary

Dr. Charles Browne, Professor of
Linguistics Meiji Gakuin University, Tokyo
Japan browne_at_ltr.meijigakuin.ac.jp
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Outline of Presentation

• Basic facts regarding vocabulary research
• Introduction to problems faced by Japanese EFL
  learners related to vocabulary and reading
• Introduction to free online vocabulary reading
  development software

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The Importance of Coverage
Words known known Researcher 1 7 97
/100 West(53), Nation(90) 10 25 3/4 We
st(53), Nation(90) 100 50 1/2 West(53),
Nation(90), 1000 75 1/4 West(53),
Engles(68) 2000 85 1/7 West(53),
Nation(90) 5000 95 1/20 Hirsch
Nation(92) 8000 98 1/50 Laufer (92),
Coady(93) 350,000 100 100/100 Oxford
English Dictionary
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Coverage within the British National Corpus for
high frequency words (Leech, Rayson, Wilson,
2001)
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Problem 1 Asian EFL learners dont know enough
high frequency words
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How many words do L2 learners know? (2000
words 81-85)
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A text passage with words above the first 1000
omitted. (1000 words 75 Coverage)
Forestry If __ planting rates are
with planting __ ____ in each _ _
and the forests _ at the earliest
opportunity, the wood supplies could
further increase to about 36 million __ _
meters ____ in the __ __ 2001-2015. The
additional ____ wood supply should greatly
__ _____ ____ , even if much is
used for production.
15 missing words
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The same passage with words above the first 2000
omitted. (2000 words 85 Coverage)
Forestry If planting rates are
maintained with planting targets satisfied in
each and the forests milled at the
earliest opportunity, the wood
supplies could further increase to about 36
million meters in the period
2001-2015. The additional _ _ wood supply
should greatly exceed ___ ____ , even
if much is used for ___ _ production.
9 missing words
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The same passage including the first 2000 words,
and the 836 words in the University Word List.
(95 coverage)
Forestry If current planting rates are maintained
with planting targets satisfied in each annually
and the forests milled at the earliest
opportunity, the available wood supplies could
further increase to about 36 million __ ___
meters annually in the period 2001-2015. The
additional available wood supply should greatly
exceed domestic requirements, even if much is
used for energy production.
1 missing word
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Vocabulary Threshold Hypothesis
The vocabulary range of students studying EFL
literature in a variety of countries ranged from
300-3000. It is therefore surprising that very
often learners prefer working with a bad
translation of the literature to the almost
incomprehensible originals? A gap of 2000-4000
words between the amount of words they know and
they should know turns reading into mission
impossible. (Laufer, 1989)
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Problem 2 Reading materials used in Japan are
far too difficult
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Vocabulary Threshold Hypothesis

• Below 80, reading comprehension is almost
  impossible (Hu Nation, 2001)
• 95 coverage is the point at which learners can
  read without the help of dictionaries (Laufer,
  1989)

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Vocabulary Readability How do Japanese junior
and senior high schools measure up?

• Junior High
• Teaches first 1000 words fairly well
• Readability of texts seems good - short
  passages, easy vocabulary, lots of pictures to
  support texts
• Senior High
• Focus changes dramatically to teaching of low
  frequency words
• Many, many words from 1000-2000 are never taught
• Readability of texts is actually MORE difficult
  than unsimplified native speaker texts!

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The Compleat Lexical Tutor(www.lextutor.ca)
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Vocab Profile An Instant Online Vocabulary
Analysis Tool (www.lextutor.ca)
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Typical Graded Reader Results (1200 word level,
Penguin) (85 expected for 2000 words)
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Typical Japan Times Article (85 expected for
2000 words)
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Harry Potter Chapter 2 (85 expected for 2000
words)
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Typical Time Magazine Article (85 expected for
2000 words)
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Applied Linguistics Book Results (Ellis 2nd
Language Acquisition - 85 expected for 2000
words)
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Typical Japanese High School Textbook Results
(Spectrum Unit 16 85 expected for 2000 words)
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Summary of Vocab-Profile Results for Various Texts
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Are Japanese students studying the right
vocabulary?
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Are Japanese universities testing the right
vocabulary?
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Examples of Low Frequency Words Found in High
School Textbooks

• seedle
• prodigious
• lappilus
• whin
• pitchblende
• mazurka
• polonaise

• anemone
• hearth
• syncopate
• cockcrow
• neigh
• insularism
• cataclysm

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Stated Purpose of High School Reading Classes A
Gap?
Objective to further develop students abilities
to read passages and understand the writers
intentions, and to foster a positive attitude
toward understanding written English (Quote
from the New Ministry of English Course of Study
Guidelines)
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Remember This is what texts look like to
Japanese high school students If (1)
planting rates are (2) with planting
(3) (4) in each (5) and the
forests (6) at the earliest opportunity,
the (7) __ wood supplies could further
increase to about 36 million (8) meters
annually in the (9)_ 2001-2015. The
additional (10) _____ wood supply should
greatly (11) (12) ____ (13)
, even if much is used for (14) ______
production.
Remember These are the kinds of words Japanese
high school students are forced to study
seedle prodigious lappilus whin pitchblende
mazurka
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Solution Number OneFind out which high
frequency words learners dont know and then
teach them
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needs analysis involves the gathering of
information to find out how much the students
already know and what they still need to learn
(Brown, 1995)

• We can use word frequency and word difficulty to
  determine what students need to learn.
• How do we measure what they all ready know?

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V-Check an online vocabulary size test

• How can we identify WHICH HFW are known?
• Lexical Decision Task
• CAT
• Based on IRT
• Identifies both size and specific words known

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Lexical Decision Tasks

• Do you know these words? If you know the word
  fill in Y. If you dont know the word or you
  are not sure of the meaning, fill in N.
• 1. time Y N
• 2. ghart Y N
• 3. curve Y N
• 4. syce Y N

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V-Check How many words do you know? (cell phone
screen shot)
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Estimating Lexical Size
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IRT generates item difficulty for a specific
population
Easier ? ? More Difficult
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Word Difficulty ? Frequency
nickel dime T-L
freq 39 40
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Word Difficulty ? Frequency
nickel dime T-L
freq 39 40 Difficulty
.955 6.034
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Which is more difficult?
tulip lily snake
crow peanut onion
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Which is more difficult?
tulip lily snake
crow peanut onion
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An IRT regression line for Japanese students
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Sample V-Check Results Sheet
1) estimates vocabulary size2) Identifies
specific known/unknown words
Note the gaps in knowledge of high frequency words
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Solution Number TwoTime Interval Flashcard
Game SystemEfficiently learn large numbers of
high frequency vocabulary words
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The Forgetting Curve
100
0

• If material is only reviewed once, it tends to
  stay in short term memory and is soon forgotten

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The Forgetting Curve Ebbinhaus (1885), Leitner
(1972), Pimsleur (1967), Mondria, (1994)
3 days
30 days
1 day
10 days
100
0

• Computers allow us to automate the
  time-intervalled process

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Flashcards based on Time-Intervalled Learning
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SightWords! A game to help develop visual
automaticity
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SoundBubbles! A game to help develop aural
automaticity
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WordCheck! for visual automaticity (cell)
SoundCheck! for aural automaticity (cell)
POINTS
POINTS
ITEMS
WordCheck!
ITEMS
SoundCheck!
0
1
of 30
0
1
of 30
perpetual
1
1
???
???
2
2
????
????
3
3
?????
?????


QUIT
QUIT
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Solution Number ThreeGraded Online
ReadingUse reading materials at students 95
comprehension level
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Extensive Reading

• Graded Readers
• Oxford Bookworms
• Penguin Readers

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Large online database of short graded reading
materials
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Large online database of short graded reading
materials
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Large online database of short graded reading
materials
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Large online database of short graded reading
materials
Learners target vocabulary is highlighted and
linked to online dictionary
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Solution Number ThreeGraded PodcastsUse
listening materials at students 95
comprehension level
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Graded Readings are also Recorded as Graded
Listenings (podcasts)
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Go towww.lexxica.com

• To read or download our vocabulary research
• To use the free software
• To see links to other vocabulary sites
• To download this powerpoint

Dr. Charles Browne, Professor of
Linguistics Meiji Gakuin University, Tokyo
Japan browne_at_ltr.meijigakuin.ac.jp
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Limitations to a Paper-based TestN 385
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Limitations to a Paper-based TestN 30
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Counting Words via Word Families Where is the
line?...

• ABLE
• ABILITY
• ABLER
• ABLEST
• ABLY
• ABILITIES
• UNABLE
• INABILITY
• ACCEPT
• ACCEPTABILITY
• ACCEPTABLE
• UNACCEPTABLE
• ACCEPTANCE
• ACCEPTED
• ACCEPTING
• ACCEPTS

ACCORD ACCORDED ACCORDANCE ACCORDING ACCORDING
LY ACCORDS ACCOUNT ACCOUNTED ACCOUNTING ACCOU
NTS ACCOUNTANT ACCOUNTANTS ACCOUNTANCY
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Same word?
Our way of counting is data-driven rather than
theoretical