1. Oranim Academic College Graduate Studies M.Ed Focus on form in second language vocabulary learning Batia Laufer University of Haifa 2005

2. Background Laufer, (2005) differentiates between two different terms (approaches) for teaching vocabulary : 1. Focus on Form (FonF) best defined by Long (1996), to incidentally draw learners’ attention to liguistic elements during a communicative activity whose ultimate aim is to focus on meaning or communication. Form is referred to as the function that one particular form represents, i.e. ‘form’-ed implies the assumption that –ed signals an action completed in the past.

3. 2. Focus on Forms (FonFs),first used by Long, implies teaching isolated grammatical rules and items in a systematic way, i.e. to teach linguistic structures in separate lessons in a determined sequence. Ellis (2001), states that students, in a FonFs approach, view themselves as learners of a language and in this case language is viewed as the object of study. On the other hand, in FonF approach, learners are language users and language is viewed as a tool for communication and interaction. 2. Focus on Forms (FonFs),first used by Long, implies teaching isolated grammatical rules and items in a systematic way, i.e. to teach linguistic structures in separate lessons in a determined sequence. Ellis (2001), states that students, in a FonFs approach, view themselves as learners of a language and in this case language is viewed as the object of study. On the other hand, in FonF approach, learners are language users and language is viewed as a tool for communication and interaction.

4. Purpose of the study The main objective of Laufer’s paper “focus on form in second language vocabulary learning” is to examine the relevance of FonF and FonFs to L2 vocabulary learning

5. Methodology The researcher first critiques the claim that words are best acquired from input, from reading in particular. Then she gives data on the purpose of comparing vocabulary acquisition (learning) from input and from focused tasks. She then examines the FonFs approach on the base of the nature of lexical competence. Laufer then supplies empirical evidence on word acquisition in the light of various FonFs activities in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of FonFs.

6. Long suggests that FonF be incidental and is employed only when a language learner’s need arises. However, he later refers to the same concept as planned FonF which implies the use of focused tasks. FonF was modified to include explicit as well as implicit teaching for forms.

7. Most FonF proponents emphasize the fact that all learning must occur within a communicative task environment. And learners should consciously notice forms and meanings these forms imply.

8. On the other hand,

9. FonFs proponents believe that L2 acquisition is very much like acquiring any other skill. Thus grammatical rules and items should be explained systematically and learners of the language should be exposed to frequent opportunities that provide these structures in both communicative and non-communicative activities.

10. Is L2 vocabulary really acquired by purely meaning focused instruction? In uninstructed situation, when a learner encounters an unfamiliar word he notices it as a word he does not know. He then tries to infer its meaning from context and might make the right or wrong guess. Several encounters with the same word increases the possibility of retaining it later. Regular reading is believed to be a good tool for acquiring and retaining vocabulary.

11. Laufer and Yano (2001) investigated the learner’s awareness of their ability to understand unknown words in text context. They found out that learners overestimated their understanding of words by more than 60%. One elaboration of this overestimation is that learners do not pay attention to specific words, especially if they understand the overall message of the text. Another reason is that learners mix their knowledge of specific words with confusing synforms. e.g. adapt/ adopt counsel/council

12. Laufer states that learners who rely on their ability to infer words from context may not find the right clues or the clues may be misleading. This situation happens when the learner’s lexical coverage is lower than 98%. Thus words that are easily guessed will be easily forgotten and vice versa. Laufer supports the claim that vocabulary acquisition is a cumulative process. The more the learner is exposed to a word the better he remembers it. Nation and Wang suggest 10 as an ideal number of encounters with a word in order to be remembered.

13. In the short term, a reader may recall (1-5) word gains per text after a reading activity. Laufer suggests that reading input alone is unlikely to be the best source of second language acquisition. On the other hand, vocabulary instruction should incorporate a FonF component. Laufer gives evidence from different studies to support the argument against learning vocabulary in uninstructed situation.

14. * learners who read a text and looked up difficult words in a dictionary remembered them better than learners who read without a dictionary. * students who paid attention to new words learned more than those engaged in reading only. * words that were negotiated for meaning were better remembered than non-negotiated ones.

15. Is L2 vocabulary best acquired without focus on forms? Long (1988) and Lightbown (1998) recommends FonF as incidentally arises in a communicative activity rather than teaching grammar in separate lessons because it will be then useless. On the other hand, Laufer sees great relevance of FonFs to L2 vocabulary acquisition.

16. Vocabulary size Since reasonable comprehension of a text requires the understanding of abou 98%of its vocabulary, Laufer recommends 5000 word families as a sufficient number that guarantees 98% understanding of any text. Laufer assumes that the more words we teach, the greater the number of low frequency words will be and it will take a long time till the learner encounters less frequent words in other texts

17. Passive and active knowledge Most researchers acknowledge the distinction between passive-active knowledge. Passive (receptive) knowledge is associated with listening and reading and implies that learners are able to understand the input, perceive the form of the word and retrieve its meaning. Active knowledge is associated with speaking and writing and implies that learners are able to retrieve the appropriate spoken or written word form of the meaning we want to express.

18. Active knowledge is harder to achieve and learners’ score on productive knowledge are much lower than on receptive tests. Because, in order to use a word, a learner has to learn many properties about it: pronunciation spelling collocations register And because students practice words less than they encounter them.

19. What is word knowledge? Ideally, it means the word’s spoken and written form, morphological and grammatical features and its relations with other words. How to develop this knowledge? The more one knows about the word the deeper the knowledge will be. It requires rich instructions (Nation 2001).Learners need to go beyond the requirements of the context. Making activities that increase the relations with a word and strengthen the network connections between related words and not to focus on words as required by the communicative task but as the object of learning.

20. Learning burden of words!!! High learning burden, Words that present a special difficulty to the learner. They represent unfamiliar patterns and knowledge (Nation 2001). The more the learners are familiar and exposed to these patterns and knowledge the lighter its learning burden.

21. What are the factors of difficulty? 1. Lack of semantic overlap between L2 and L1 words and their translation. Words are mapped onto the L1 concepts. (question and problem translated into wenti in Chinese) 2. Synforms-Similarity of form within L2. anonymous/ unanimous, lunch/ launch. 3. Different collocations. Make a decision. As a result, the instructional intervention plays a crucial role in developing learners’ semantic knowledge in L2.

22. How do learners choose vocabulary in spoken and written production? Learners choose vocabulary that is familiar to them, frequently encountered, and easily accessed. They avoid using some words when the choice is up to them. This happens as a result of interlingual and intralingual difficulties. They avoid using: Phrasal verbs, Idioms, Low frequency words and words that they miss some features of it. So, revisions and instructions make students start using them in a better way and they will show up in a high percentage in spoken and written contexts.

23. Speed of access It is the way the learners access to the knowledge of the words in order to make reading or conversation more efficient. The learners’ speed can be increased through four types of exercises: sentence completion, choosing the word that makes the sentence incorrect, choosing the word that will correct a given sentence and translation an L1 word into an L2 sentence context.

24. Strategic competence The learners are able to use dictionaries to infer meaning of words from the text. The look –up activity to examine the meaning, grammatical features and examples makes the words as the object and not the tools to understand the context.

25. What is the empirical evidence? This article is based on three studies that compare Focus on form and focus on forms conditions: These studies were conducted by different researchers in different places in the world. The following table describes the three studies:

26. studyFocus on form Focus on forms Number of words LearnersTests 1 Reading +glosses in text Sentence writing 10 unfamiliar low frequent words EFL university learners( two groups) Immediatel y after the task and two weeks later. 2 Reading + electronic dictionary Word selection from options 12 target words 96 ESL university learners Immediatel y after the task and two weeks later. 3 Reading + dictionary use List + word focused tasks 12 unfamiliar words 158 high school learners (two groups) At the end of the task.

27. Findings of the studies The three studies highlighted the superiority of Focus On Forms for vocabulary learning. The results according to Focus On form were a little bit different in the different studies whereas the results in focus on forms were similar. When words are decontextualized for the purpose of FonFs tasks, it contributes for better memorization than in the FonF.

28. To sum up : This paper examines different approaches of teaching vocabulary in L2. Focus on form is considered as insufficient for acquiring vocabulary. Whereas, focus on forms is a necessary and beneficial element of vocabulary learning. FonFs approach intervenes in inferring words’ meaning from context, developing strategic competence and the use of dictionary. Exclusively communicative context is unacceptable in vocabulary learning. Depth of word knowledge, especially high learning burden words demands rich instruction.

29. Continue… Number of exposures’ occurrences increases the vocabulary size. Active knowledge requires special rehearsal regime and activities. Speed of access can be developed through fluency activities where the focus is not on communicative content. In spite of the superiority of FonFs, they both play a crucial role in building the learner’s lexical competence.

30. Reflection : We believe that vocabulary acquisition plays a key role in successful second language learning. Therefore it requires careful consideration and systematic instructional approaches. “Vocabulary is essential in l2. This makes it so important”

31. Thank You Widad & Iman