SLAT7830 The lexicon and L2 learning

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SLAT7830 The lexicon and L2 learning

• Week 12
• Semester 1, 2005

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Two approaches to vocabulary teaching

• Research-based Traditional

Teachers carefully consider the words students
need to know. Instruction is tailored to
individual students learning styles
etc. Learners are taught how to continue to
improve their vocabulary learning on their
own. Emphasis placed on learning
strategies. Vocabulary words are taught through a
variety of contextualised and partially
contextualised words. Decontextualised activities
generally not used.
Vocabulary instruction is haphazard. All students
receive the same instruction. Teachers leave
vocabulary learning to the students. No effort
made to teach learning strategies. Vocabulary
words primarily taught through decontextualised
activities.
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Needs analysis

• the process of determining the needs for which a
  learner or group of learners require a language
  and arranging the need according to priorities
• Information is sought on
• gt the learning situation (who the language will
  be used with)
• gt the purposes for which the language will be
  used
• gt the types of communication (written, spoken,
  formal, etc.)
• gt the level of proficiency required
• Richards, Platt Weber (1985)

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Needs analysis (2)

• Only those words which students are expected to
  understand and/or use frequently or which serve
  as particularly good models or examples are
  taught.
• Oxford Scarcella (1994, p 235)

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Personalized instruction

• instruction is tailored to the students
  learning styles, needs and goalsOn a regular
  basis, students experience a set of unknown words
  in a meaningful context. They are required to
  figure out and use these words in meaningful,
  fully communicative waysThey are encouraged to
  read extensivelyIn addition they are given
  training designed to increase their awareness of
  what it means to know words and the processes
  involved in learning new words.
• Oxford Scarcella, p236

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Variety of activities

• Decontextualized
• Partially contextualized
• Fully contextualised

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Decontextualized activities

• Those activities that remove the word as
  completely as possible from any communicative
  meaningful context that might help the learner
  remember the word.
• E.g. word lists
• flashcards
• dictionary use p237

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Partially contextualized activities

• Vocabulary learning activities that provide some
  degree of contextual support.
• Word grouping
• Word or concept association
• Visual imagery
• Aural imagery
• Keyword
• Semantic mapping
• Etc.

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Fully contextualised activities

• Vocabulary learning activities that involve all
  four language skills in authentic communication.
• incidental vocabulary learning

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Is L2 vocabulary teaching neglected?

• Effect of linguistic theory
• Perceived centrality of grammar in syllabus

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Metacognitive attitudes toward teaching and
learning L2 vocabulary (adapted from Coady 1997)

• 1. Learners feel that words are very important
  and are eager to learn them.
• 2. Teachers feel that words are easy to learn --
  grammar is the challenge.
• 3. Many teachers and researchers feel that
  teaching vocabulary is a low-level intellectual
  activity unworthy of their attention.
• 4. Both teachers and students feel that
  productive skills are harder than receptive
  skills.
• 5. Words are learned naturally from reading and
  do not need to be taught.

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Four current positions on vocabulary instruction
(Coady, 1997)

• Context only
• Strategy instruction
• Development plus explicit instruction
• Classroom activities

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Context only

• Exposure alone is sufficient
• Input Hypothesis versus the Skill-Building
  Hypothesis and the Output Hypothesis

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Strategy instruction

• Emphasis on teaching learning strategies so that
  students can make better use of context.

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Development plus Explicit Instruction

• Explicit teaching of certain types of vocabulary,
  especially at the early stages of learning.

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Classroom activities

• Traditional textbook-based vocabulary activities.

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A question.

• How does the Oxford Scarcellas three-way
  activities framework (decontextualized, partially
  contextualized, and fully contextualized)
• map onto Coadys four positions (context only,
  strategy instruction, development plus explicit
  instruction, and classroom activities)?
• ( Another question Is this a fair comparison?)

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Principles for developing an autonomous
vocabulary learner (Nation, pp 395-403)

• 1.Learners should know what vocabulary to learn,
  what to learn about it, how to learn it, how to
  put it to use, and how to see how well it has
  been learned and used.
• 2. Learners should continue to increase their
  vocabulary size and enrich the words they already
  know.
• 3. Learners should use word frequency and
  personal need to determine what words to learn.
• 4. Learners should be aware of what is involved
  in knowing a word, and should be able to find
  information about that word.
• 5. Learners should be familiar with the
  generalisable language systems that lie behind
  language use.
• 6. Learners should know how to make use of
  direct, decontextualised learning activities.
• 7. Vocabulary learning needs to operate across
  the four strands of meaning-focused input,
  language-focused learning, meaning-focused output
  and fluency development.
• 8. Learners should be aware of, and excited by,
  their progress in language learning.

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End of slides Week 12 SLAT7830