teaching vocabulary
seminar taSKS
introduction
Vocabulary is an essential element of any language. However, teachers usually prefer teaching grammar over vocabulary. As a consequence, learners face problems to communicate when they do not know a specific word for a particular context. Therefore, teachers should focus their practice on providing appropriate activities for students to develop their receptive knowledge through reading and listening, and productive knowledge through writing and speaking. Additionally, teachers should be aware of the fact that knowing a word involves not only its most frequent meaning but also all its features. So, teaching vocabulary more effectively requires the teacher to consider the word frequency, the context in which it may be found, and the features or aspects related to knowing a word. The teacher also needs to think in advance about the interaction among students to make an acquisition happen, the amount and quality of learners’ involvement, the receptive and productive knowledge involved, the teaching methodology, and the tasks through which vocabulary is going to be made more comprehensible and meaningful for EFL learners.
Frequency
Since vocabulary is necessary for both understanding and using a language, it represents an essential component in English teaching. However, there have been many myths about second language vocabulary that have hindered the development and use of teaching methodology that enhances vocabulary acquisition. The claim that “the more vocabulary a learner knows, the better s/he can perform with the language” needs to be reconsidered because it is not only knowing more words but knowing all the aspects related to those words (see below what knowing a word involves). Nation (2004) suggests, for example, teaching first the most frequent words and as the learner progresses in her/his level of language, s/he may continue to learn the least frequent words. Nation bases his argument on research that shows that a small number of words occur very frequently and if the learner acquires them, s/he can understand and interact accurately well with texts and people. However, in an EFL setting that hardly provides real communicative opportunities beyond the classroom, both the teacher and students may not know some words for particular contexts, such as the specific food or ingredients that are offered in a restaurant and that appear in the menu. Then, they are obliged to learn these words in order to be able to understand and perform well in class and later in the context, when using a real menu to order food. Therefore, it is important to start teaching the most frequent vocabulary in a contextualized way so that students can store it in their memory and retrieve it for later use in communicative interactions.
Context
We learn words better when they are acquired in a meaningful context. Firth (in Widdowson, 1995) states that “the study of meaning was the study of language use” (p. 9) and he suggests a convincing definition of context as a suitable construction to apply to language events and that includes participants with their non-verbal and verbal actions, relevant objects, and the effects of verbal actions. According to this definition, vocabulary must be immersed in a context for students to make meaningful connections to their previous knowledge and to be able to acquire those words and use them in future situations. When food is ordered at a restaurant, for example, there is a need and also a response to that need. So, knowing in advance the words necessary for that kind of context and what people are involved in this context will give students the opportunity to be prepared for a challenging and real experience. Then, teachers must understand that “the context is determined by setting or place and people involved in the communication” (Lee & VanPatten, 2007, p.246). So, if the teacher is discussing a laboratory, the teacher and students are expected to study words like Bunsen burner and beaker (Blachowicz & Fisher, 2002, p.19).
Interaction and Involvement
Interaction through group work is another aspect the teacher has to take into consideration when teaching vocabulary. Widdowson (1995) suggests group work because “it allows learners to adopt addresser and addressee roles in co-operative endeavor in the negotiation of meaning” (p.17) and he also recommends instead of exercises to use tasks for solving problems by means of language. For teaching vocabulary, we need also to analyze Laufer and Hulstijn’s (2001) Involvement Load Hypothesis in which they claim that three motivational and cognitive dimensions are involved: need, search, and evaluation. They refer to need as the motivational factor that can make people direct their effort to achieve their goals. This need or motivation may be directed toward the language, to the people who speak the language, and also to the context in which language is spoken. Search is the attempt to find the meaning of an unknown word by using a dictionary or asking another person who knows the meaning such as another peer or the teacher. Lastly evaluation refers to the fact of choosing among many words the most appropriate one that fits into a specific context. The more the teacher includes these dimensions in his/her activities, the more involved students will become and the better they will acquire the target vocabulary. Therefore, “…words which are processed with higher involvement load will be retained better than words which are processed with lower involvement load” (Laufer & Hulstijn, 2001, p.15).
Knowing a Word
The process of vocabulary acquisition is complex. Knowing a word goes beyond knowing only its more frequent meaning. According to Nation (2001), “there are many things to know about any particular word and there are many degrees of knowing” (p.23). Nation (1990) and Richards (1976) claim that for knowing a word it is necessary to know its orthographical and phonological form, meaning, grammatical aspect, associations, collocations, frequency and register (in Schmidt & McCarthy, 1997, p.4). Folse (2007) adds other aspects that include polysemy (several meanings for the same word), connotation (actual meaning) and denotation (an idea suggested in a context). So, anytime the teacher wants to present a new word, s/he has to do further research about all of the features of that word or set of words before planning the lesson. For example, Anderson and Baddeley (in Laufer & Hulstijn, 2001) claim that paying careful attention to the word’s features will lead to higher retention than processing new lexical information of only one or two of the features.
Receptive and Productive Knowledge
This distinction depends on the skills involved in each case. For developing receptive knowledge, learners usually use their listening and reading skills, whereas for productive knowledge, they use their speaking and writing skills. Nation (2001) provides a set of aspects of what is involved in knowing a word regarding: form (spoken, written, and word parts), meaning (form and meaning, concept and referents, and associations), and use (grammatical functions, collocations, and constrains of use). Table 1 provides more information. Thus, if the teacher wants her/his students to know a word, then s/he has to consider all the features of the word and design tasks that enhance both types of knowledge.
Receptive and Productive Knowledge
Focused Tasks for Teaching Vocabulary to EFL Students
1. Word webs
Task B Opinion Exchange. After students finish their prediction task, they are asked to share their results with other teams in order to give and receive feedback and have their word webs as complete as possible. After that, one group is asked to give their answers and the rest of the class can provide corrections or suggestions. This task is also called jigsaw because it requires students to share all their outcomes to complete one in common. In this task the focus is on teaching word form because students pay attention to spelling so they can write the words to complete the web. Since the web refers to words related, students can see the relationship among the words and have a general classification of new vocabulary.
2. Opinion exchange of word webs
Example 2 Cooperative Dictionary Search
Task A. Jigsaw. A jigsaw task is also called a split-information task in which a person or group in the class has some information that the other students do not have but need. In order to complete the task they have to put their information together. The main purpose of this task is to have all students communicating and exchanging information (Willis & Willis, 2007). This task focuses on meaning of the words by looking the meaning at the dictionary and providing a simpler description of the word that can provide the other students with more details about the words and recognize some of their features even without a picture. For doing so, each student is given a word from the list of twenty (maybe written on a piece of paper) and asked to look up its definition at the dictionary. After having the meaning, the student has to write a description of the word using a simple sentence next to the word and share it with the rest of the class. The goal is to complete the chart below by collecting all the information from the rest of the class.
Example 1 Interactive Glossary
Task A Information Gap (one-way). Students get into groups of four and each one is given a set of five words (in total twenty in the group). They face the cards down (see below examples) and whenever someone in the group needs to know a new word, the student who has it, reads the description for the others to guess the word. Another option is to give hints about the use, color, odor, or other characteristics that help his partners identify the word. For example:bacon: “is a kind of meat that you usually eat with eggs”.
This task is called one-way information gap because one person has the information and shares it with another when required (see Figure 3). The advantage of this task is that students have to do something with the word before using it. The pictures facilitate the owner to understand the meaning and be able to establish some connections with the context and other target words.
In-Tasks
Example 2 Model to Hear and Pronounce
Task A Information Gap. This task “works on the idea that learning to produce new sounds may improve the learners’ ability to hear them correctly” (Nation & Newton, 2009, p.87). However, instead of the teacher being the model who says the words and asks learners to repeat after the teacher, the students have to pronounce the words and the teacher reinforces or corrects them. The task is a lottery game in which students are asked to make a grid (4 x 4 squares) on a piece of paper. The teacher writes the twenty target words on the board and asks students to choose sixteen and write one on each square randomly. The teacher brings flashcards of the target words with the picture on one side and the spelling on the other and tokens or beans to the class. The teacher explains that every time they listen to a word they put a token/bean on the corresponding square until they complete the card. But, instead of calling out the words, the teacher elicits their pronunciation from students and provides reinforcement or correction if necessary. Task B Information Gap. The students are asked to form groups of four and exchange their lottery cards with their teammates (see Figure 4). They are given a set of small flashcards to continue with the game. Each student takes turns flipping over one card at a time and saying the word out loud for the others to fill in their lottery card. This task is useful for practicing pronunciation and matching pictures, spelling, and sounds. Students will repeat the new words with a purpose and the teacher may walk around to provide help or to check mispronunciation. The advantage of having a game as a task is that it adds a fun factor that can catch learners’ attention and enhance acquisition.
Example 2 Model to Hear and Pronounce
Task; Decision Making.
Task; Decision Making.
Task A Discussion.The teacher is planning a party and needs to know students’ preferences so that he can decide on what food could be appropriate to include in the celebration. Students are given individually the table below and are asked to choose three items they like and three they do not like from the list of twenty target words (including name and picture). They are asked to include their reasons for choosing the items. Then they compare their answers in pairs and try to convince each other to have the same options. The final goal is to have only one table that includes only three good and three bad options. The following chart would be used.
Task B. Problem Solving.
Students express their opinion in the class and try to convince the others of the best choices. The final goal is to have five items they can have at the party and five they definitely do not want to eat.
Post-Tasks
Example 1 Vocabulary Logs. A vocabulary log is a chart or a list of new words that learners found throughout the lesson. They write them down including some information about the words to facilitate future revision. One sample of this log is provided by Newton (2001).
Problem solving task 3:
- Select a text to read
- Identify three vocabulary approaches/strategies you would use with the text
- Develop two activities for using the strategies
Problem solving task 4:
-
Present you activities to the class
- Give book title
- Identify age/grade level
- Briefly summarize the text
- Identify your strategies
- Provide a rationale for using the strategies
- Briefly describe your activities
Problem solving task 6: ANSWER TO THE QUESTIONS
What do you think is the system of exercises to teach vocabulary? What are the components of the system? What is the principle the system is built on? Why is it necessary to work with vocabulary systematically?
References
Blachowicz, C. & Fisher, P. (2002). Teaching Vocabulary in all Classrooms. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. Ellis, R. (2003). Task-Based Language Learning and Teaching. New York: Oxford University Press.
Folse, K. (2007). Vocabulary Myths. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.
Laufer, B. & Hulstijn, J. (2001). Incidental vocabulary acquisition in a second language: The construct of task-induced involvement. Applied Linguistics, 22(1), 1-26. Lee, J. & VanPatten, B. (2007). Making Communicative Language Teaching Happen. Chicago: McGraw-Hill.
Nation, I.S.P. (2001). LearningVocabulary in Another Language. New York: Cambridge University Press. Nation, I.S.P. & Newton, J. (2009). Teaching ESL/EFL Listening and Speaking. New York: Routledge.
Newton, J. (2001). Options for vocabulary learning through communication tasks. ELT Journal, 55(1), 30-37. Schmidt, N. & McCarthy, M. (1997). Vocabulary, Description, Acquisition and Pedagogy. New York: Cambridge University Press. Skehan, P. (1996). A framework for the implementation of task-based instruction. Applied Linguistics, 17(1), 38-62. Widdowson, H.G. (1997). The context of the classroom. BELLS Barcelona English Language and Literature Studies, 8, 9-21. Willis, D. & Willis, J. (2007). Doing Task-Based Teaching. New York: Oxford University Press.
THANKS
teaching vocabulary tasks
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Transcript
teaching vocabulary
seminar taSKS
introduction
Vocabulary is an essential element of any language. However, teachers usually prefer teaching grammar over vocabulary. As a consequence, learners face problems to communicate when they do not know a specific word for a particular context. Therefore, teachers should focus their practice on providing appropriate activities for students to develop their receptive knowledge through reading and listening, and productive knowledge through writing and speaking. Additionally, teachers should be aware of the fact that knowing a word involves not only its most frequent meaning but also all its features. So, teaching vocabulary more effectively requires the teacher to consider the word frequency, the context in which it may be found, and the features or aspects related to knowing a word. The teacher also needs to think in advance about the interaction among students to make an acquisition happen, the amount and quality of learners’ involvement, the receptive and productive knowledge involved, the teaching methodology, and the tasks through which vocabulary is going to be made more comprehensible and meaningful for EFL learners.
Frequency
Since vocabulary is necessary for both understanding and using a language, it represents an essential component in English teaching. However, there have been many myths about second language vocabulary that have hindered the development and use of teaching methodology that enhances vocabulary acquisition. The claim that “the more vocabulary a learner knows, the better s/he can perform with the language” needs to be reconsidered because it is not only knowing more words but knowing all the aspects related to those words (see below what knowing a word involves). Nation (2004) suggests, for example, teaching first the most frequent words and as the learner progresses in her/his level of language, s/he may continue to learn the least frequent words. Nation bases his argument on research that shows that a small number of words occur very frequently and if the learner acquires them, s/he can understand and interact accurately well with texts and people. However, in an EFL setting that hardly provides real communicative opportunities beyond the classroom, both the teacher and students may not know some words for particular contexts, such as the specific food or ingredients that are offered in a restaurant and that appear in the menu. Then, they are obliged to learn these words in order to be able to understand and perform well in class and later in the context, when using a real menu to order food. Therefore, it is important to start teaching the most frequent vocabulary in a contextualized way so that students can store it in their memory and retrieve it for later use in communicative interactions.
Context
We learn words better when they are acquired in a meaningful context. Firth (in Widdowson, 1995) states that “the study of meaning was the study of language use” (p. 9) and he suggests a convincing definition of context as a suitable construction to apply to language events and that includes participants with their non-verbal and verbal actions, relevant objects, and the effects of verbal actions. According to this definition, vocabulary must be immersed in a context for students to make meaningful connections to their previous knowledge and to be able to acquire those words and use them in future situations. When food is ordered at a restaurant, for example, there is a need and also a response to that need. So, knowing in advance the words necessary for that kind of context and what people are involved in this context will give students the opportunity to be prepared for a challenging and real experience. Then, teachers must understand that “the context is determined by setting or place and people involved in the communication” (Lee & VanPatten, 2007, p.246). So, if the teacher is discussing a laboratory, the teacher and students are expected to study words like Bunsen burner and beaker (Blachowicz & Fisher, 2002, p.19).
Interaction and Involvement
Interaction through group work is another aspect the teacher has to take into consideration when teaching vocabulary. Widdowson (1995) suggests group work because “it allows learners to adopt addresser and addressee roles in co-operative endeavor in the negotiation of meaning” (p.17) and he also recommends instead of exercises to use tasks for solving problems by means of language. For teaching vocabulary, we need also to analyze Laufer and Hulstijn’s (2001) Involvement Load Hypothesis in which they claim that three motivational and cognitive dimensions are involved: need, search, and evaluation. They refer to need as the motivational factor that can make people direct their effort to achieve their goals. This need or motivation may be directed toward the language, to the people who speak the language, and also to the context in which language is spoken. Search is the attempt to find the meaning of an unknown word by using a dictionary or asking another person who knows the meaning such as another peer or the teacher. Lastly evaluation refers to the fact of choosing among many words the most appropriate one that fits into a specific context. The more the teacher includes these dimensions in his/her activities, the more involved students will become and the better they will acquire the target vocabulary. Therefore, “…words which are processed with higher involvement load will be retained better than words which are processed with lower involvement load” (Laufer & Hulstijn, 2001, p.15).
Knowing a Word
The process of vocabulary acquisition is complex. Knowing a word goes beyond knowing only its more frequent meaning. According to Nation (2001), “there are many things to know about any particular word and there are many degrees of knowing” (p.23). Nation (1990) and Richards (1976) claim that for knowing a word it is necessary to know its orthographical and phonological form, meaning, grammatical aspect, associations, collocations, frequency and register (in Schmidt & McCarthy, 1997, p.4). Folse (2007) adds other aspects that include polysemy (several meanings for the same word), connotation (actual meaning) and denotation (an idea suggested in a context). So, anytime the teacher wants to present a new word, s/he has to do further research about all of the features of that word or set of words before planning the lesson. For example, Anderson and Baddeley (in Laufer & Hulstijn, 2001) claim that paying careful attention to the word’s features will lead to higher retention than processing new lexical information of only one or two of the features.
Receptive and Productive Knowledge
This distinction depends on the skills involved in each case. For developing receptive knowledge, learners usually use their listening and reading skills, whereas for productive knowledge, they use their speaking and writing skills. Nation (2001) provides a set of aspects of what is involved in knowing a word regarding: form (spoken, written, and word parts), meaning (form and meaning, concept and referents, and associations), and use (grammatical functions, collocations, and constrains of use). Table 1 provides more information. Thus, if the teacher wants her/his students to know a word, then s/he has to consider all the features of the word and design tasks that enhance both types of knowledge.
Receptive and Productive Knowledge
Focused Tasks for Teaching Vocabulary to EFL Students
1. Word webs
Task B Opinion Exchange. After students finish their prediction task, they are asked to share their results with other teams in order to give and receive feedback and have their word webs as complete as possible. After that, one group is asked to give their answers and the rest of the class can provide corrections or suggestions. This task is also called jigsaw because it requires students to share all their outcomes to complete one in common. In this task the focus is on teaching word form because students pay attention to spelling so they can write the words to complete the web. Since the web refers to words related, students can see the relationship among the words and have a general classification of new vocabulary.
2. Opinion exchange of word webs
Example 2 Cooperative Dictionary Search Task A. Jigsaw. A jigsaw task is also called a split-information task in which a person or group in the class has some information that the other students do not have but need. In order to complete the task they have to put their information together. The main purpose of this task is to have all students communicating and exchanging information (Willis & Willis, 2007). This task focuses on meaning of the words by looking the meaning at the dictionary and providing a simpler description of the word that can provide the other students with more details about the words and recognize some of their features even without a picture. For doing so, each student is given a word from the list of twenty (maybe written on a piece of paper) and asked to look up its definition at the dictionary. After having the meaning, the student has to write a description of the word using a simple sentence next to the word and share it with the rest of the class. The goal is to complete the chart below by collecting all the information from the rest of the class.
Example 1 Interactive Glossary Task A Information Gap (one-way). Students get into groups of four and each one is given a set of five words (in total twenty in the group). They face the cards down (see below examples) and whenever someone in the group needs to know a new word, the student who has it, reads the description for the others to guess the word. Another option is to give hints about the use, color, odor, or other characteristics that help his partners identify the word. For example:bacon: “is a kind of meat that you usually eat with eggs”. This task is called one-way information gap because one person has the information and shares it with another when required (see Figure 3). The advantage of this task is that students have to do something with the word before using it. The pictures facilitate the owner to understand the meaning and be able to establish some connections with the context and other target words.
In-Tasks
Example 2 Model to Hear and Pronounce
Task A Information Gap. This task “works on the idea that learning to produce new sounds may improve the learners’ ability to hear them correctly” (Nation & Newton, 2009, p.87). However, instead of the teacher being the model who says the words and asks learners to repeat after the teacher, the students have to pronounce the words and the teacher reinforces or corrects them. The task is a lottery game in which students are asked to make a grid (4 x 4 squares) on a piece of paper. The teacher writes the twenty target words on the board and asks students to choose sixteen and write one on each square randomly. The teacher brings flashcards of the target words with the picture on one side and the spelling on the other and tokens or beans to the class. The teacher explains that every time they listen to a word they put a token/bean on the corresponding square until they complete the card. But, instead of calling out the words, the teacher elicits their pronunciation from students and provides reinforcement or correction if necessary. Task B Information Gap. The students are asked to form groups of four and exchange their lottery cards with their teammates (see Figure 4). They are given a set of small flashcards to continue with the game. Each student takes turns flipping over one card at a time and saying the word out loud for the others to fill in their lottery card. This task is useful for practicing pronunciation and matching pictures, spelling, and sounds. Students will repeat the new words with a purpose and the teacher may walk around to provide help or to check mispronunciation. The advantage of having a game as a task is that it adds a fun factor that can catch learners’ attention and enhance acquisition.
Example 2 Model to Hear and Pronounce
Task; Decision Making.
Task; Decision Making.
Task A Discussion.The teacher is planning a party and needs to know students’ preferences so that he can decide on what food could be appropriate to include in the celebration. Students are given individually the table below and are asked to choose three items they like and three they do not like from the list of twenty target words (including name and picture). They are asked to include their reasons for choosing the items. Then they compare their answers in pairs and try to convince each other to have the same options. The final goal is to have only one table that includes only three good and three bad options. The following chart would be used.
Task B. Problem Solving.
Students express their opinion in the class and try to convince the others of the best choices. The final goal is to have five items they can have at the party and five they definitely do not want to eat.
Post-Tasks
Example 1 Vocabulary Logs. A vocabulary log is a chart or a list of new words that learners found throughout the lesson. They write them down including some information about the words to facilitate future revision. One sample of this log is provided by Newton (2001).
Problem solving task 3:
Problem solving task 4:
Problem solving task 6: ANSWER TO THE QUESTIONS
What do you think is the system of exercises to teach vocabulary? What are the components of the system? What is the principle the system is built on? Why is it necessary to work with vocabulary systematically?
References
Blachowicz, C. & Fisher, P. (2002). Teaching Vocabulary in all Classrooms. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. Ellis, R. (2003). Task-Based Language Learning and Teaching. New York: Oxford University Press. Folse, K. (2007). Vocabulary Myths. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press. Laufer, B. & Hulstijn, J. (2001). Incidental vocabulary acquisition in a second language: The construct of task-induced involvement. Applied Linguistics, 22(1), 1-26. Lee, J. & VanPatten, B. (2007). Making Communicative Language Teaching Happen. Chicago: McGraw-Hill. Nation, I.S.P. (2001). LearningVocabulary in Another Language. New York: Cambridge University Press. Nation, I.S.P. & Newton, J. (2009). Teaching ESL/EFL Listening and Speaking. New York: Routledge. Newton, J. (2001). Options for vocabulary learning through communication tasks. ELT Journal, 55(1), 30-37. Schmidt, N. & McCarthy, M. (1997). Vocabulary, Description, Acquisition and Pedagogy. New York: Cambridge University Press. Skehan, P. (1996). A framework for the implementation of task-based instruction. Applied Linguistics, 17(1), 38-62. Widdowson, H.G. (1997). The context of the classroom. BELLS Barcelona English Language and Literature Studies, 8, 9-21. Willis, D. & Willis, J. (2007). Doing Task-Based Teaching. New York: Oxford University Press.
THANKS