1. Dr. Rob Waring Notre Dame Seishin University
Dealing with Vocabulary in the Foreign Language Classroom Okayama May
Dr. Rob Waring
Notre Dame Seishin University

2. Typical vocabulary teaching
Most vocab teaching is from context
Haphazard selection of materials
Different vocab topic in each unit
Too many words at once
Rare words are favoured over common words
Focus on single words not multi-word units and combinations
All students learn the same words
Word teaching = definition and spelling
Teachers give meanings

3. Typical vocabulary teaching II
Low recycling of vocab in course books and teachers
Teachers leave vocab learning to learners
Vocab learning strategies are rarely taught
Vocab learning techniques are rarely taught
Vocabulary learning goals are rarely set
Dictionary skills are rarely taught
Vocab notebooks not encouraged
Words are kept in lists
Vocab exercises test not teach
Teachers trust the course book to deal with vocab

4. Two states of vocabulary learning
Form-meaning relationship - matching the spelling and/or sound to a meaning The ‘deeper’ aspects of vocabulary learning - multiple meaning senses / nuances of use - frequency, usefulness etc. - use in context - domain (lexical set) - restrictions on use / pragmatic values - register (polite, casual, rude), spoken, written, formal, informal - lexical access speed, fluency, automaticity - collocation and colligation - etc.

5. Types of vocabulary
Individual words: book, table, life, chance, walk, airplane… Affixes: used, user, usefulness, user-friendly, disuse… Multi-part words: traffic jam, the day after tomorrow, lunch box… Lexical phrases: by the way, to and fro, a kind of,… Idioms: let the cat out of the bag, raining cats and dogs Sentence heads: Do you mind if I…, If I were you,.. Could you…? Collocations: High season, mild cheese, blonde hair… Colligations: agree to do x, agree on X, rely on someone, have an effect on x, x affects y... Others: SONY, Paul, twenty-seven, etc. , UNESCO…

6. What's a collocation?
Collocations are words which often appear together. We say We don't (usually) say beautiful girl handsome girl blonde hair yellow hair mild cheese weak cheese big surprise large surprise go to work go to job catch fire do fire / go fire high cost expensive cost demand a response ask a response make a mistake do a mistake

7. How much to learn: collocations
fast / quick meal train food shower yellow / blonde hair car flower strawberry regular / normal guy fries day exercise a round / circle of friends drinks golf wagons Types Adverb + Adjective: completely satisfied (NOT downright satisfied) Adjective + Noun: excruciating pain (NOT excruciating joy) Noun + Noun: a surge of anger (NOT a rush of anger) Noun + Verb: lions roar (NOT lions shout) Verb + Noun: commit suicide (NOT undertake suicide) Verb + Expression with Preposition: burst into tears (NOT blow up in tears) Verb + Adverb: wave frantically (NOT wave feverishly)

8. Which collocations?
Transparent 'weak' collocations – easy to learn – don't teach
Beautiful flower, look out of a window, read a book, play a game
Specialized collocations – teach only if needed
Insolvency act, habeas corpus, spaghetti bolognese
Infrequent collocations – don't bother teaching
Rancid butter, a glimmer of hope, circle of friends, by and large
Those that need attention
Highly frequent collocations (not too many of these)
make/do + noun
False friends
weak tea, *thin tea; meet friends / *play with friends

9. What’s a colligation?
Colligations are words which often appear together grammatically We say We don’t (usually) say depend on someone depend of someone be good at something be good on something ask for something ask on something give something to someone give something someone

10. They need thousands of Expressions, Idioms and Phrases
traffic jam lunch box by and large get along with put back set out on the day before yesterday How's things? If you don't mind, would you…? I'd rather not … I'd like to … If it were up to me, I'd … So, what do you think? What's the matter?

11. How frequently do lexical phrases occur (BNC)?
Raw Rank
Word
Per million words
177
out of
490
222
per cent
382
272
such as
321
285
of course
309
378
for example
238
1538
in front of 65
1725
all right 58
2159
as soon as 47
2491
in general 41
2970
in addition to 34
3307
next to 30
3755
on top of 26
4378
instead of 21
5409
in charge of 17
5987
just about 15
7396
provided that 11
7885
as good as 10
9125
with a view to 8
Raw Rank
Word
Per million words
11459
in between 6
13507
by and large 5
14369
at random 4
16684
per se
19505
old fashioned 3
22060
grown up 2
28441
matter of fact
43572
sq m 1
48241
fait accompli
51717
straight forward
58511
habeas corpus
74321
self-same
76170
haute cuisine
82928
a good deal
83882
laissez faire
89371
persona non grata

12. Most multi-word units aren't worth teaching individually
Collocations will always occur less frequently than the words that make them up In the British National Corpus (100m words) Strong occurs 213 times / 1m words Wind occurs 73 times / 1m words Strong wind occurs 3.06 times / 1m words The 'difficult' word compromise occurs 31 times Most collocations aren't worth teaching individually But we must teach the prepositions in colligates

13. How much needs learning?
2000 basic words to be intermediate level
2,000
Each family has 2-3 derivatives
5,000
Each word has 2-3 meaning senses
12,500
We need to meet each one 10 times to learn it
125,000
Each word has collocations
Each word is part of 4-5 phrases or idioms
It’s impossible to teach all of this….
We need plan B….

14. How much to learn: Grammar
He walked to the station Did he see the man? Who did he go with? He ate with his mother He didn't buy anything She wasn't given anything Were they seen? Why did he mistrust them? You bought it, didn't you? They were being shown the …. If I were you, I'd… If I won the lottery, I'd … Could I have that? Was he going to be there at 12? What were you doing when the phone rang?

15. They need to master grammatical patterns
The grammar systems (e.g. the present perfect tense)
A government committee has been created to …
He hasn't seen her for a while, has he? No, he hasn't.
Why haven't you been doing your homework?
There's been a big accident in Market Street.
Have you ever met a ghost?
It's very hard to see the patterns – there are many forms:
Statement, negative, yes/no and wh- question forms,
Simple or continuous
Active or passive
Short answers and questions tags (Yes, I have. …… hasn't he?)
Regular and irregular - has vs. have walked vs. bought
Present perfect for 'announcing news', PP for 'experiences', etc. etc.

16. The Balanced Curriculum
Receptive
Productive
Language Study
Explicit teaching
Dictionary work
Studying from a vocab book
Intensive reading
Language awareness activities
Conscious word learning
Controlled language production activities.
Language and pronunciation drills
Gap fill exercises
Memorized dialogs
Sentence completion tasks
Tests
Fluency Practice
Extensive reading
Extensive listening
Watching movies
Browsing the Internet
Listening to the radio or music
‘Free’ language production
activities.
Casual conversations
Debates and discussions
, and online chat
Diary writing
Essays

17. The Balanced Curriculum
Receptive
Productive
Language Study
Fluency Practice
Build language knowledge and get control over it
Develop learning strategies
Develop a sense of how the language works
Build autonomy
Build pragmatic and cultural knowledge

18. Balance in Language Teaching
Receptive
Productive
Language Study
Fluency Practice
- provides new knowledge about language features
-raises awareness of how the language works
- raises awareness of learning strategies
-gives practice in checking
whether something is known
- allows learners to actively
construct language
- focuses on accurate control over language features
- Learners get a feel for how the language works
- consolidates the discretely learned language features
- allows learners to meet huge amounts of text
- gives real time opportunities to experiment with language use
- gives feedback on the success of language use
- builds fluency of language production

19. What happens if they don’t do these things?
Receptive
Productive
Language Study
Fluency Practice
- Fewer chances to notice new things
- Hard to add new knowledge
- Can’t check the accuracy of what they learnt
- Not enough input
- Few chances to develop automatic processing
- Can’t develop fluent eye movements
- Can’t experiment with their knowledge fluently

20. How much to learn: vocabulary
Learners need words to know 98% of the vocabulary in native novels, magazines and most general reading Intermediate learners need at least a vocabulary of 2000 words receptively and 1000 productively to be able to build fluency rapidly Advanced learners will need words An average high frequency word has about 8-15 common collocations There are common phrasal verbs There are common idioms There are hundreds of common sentences heads and formulaic phrases

21. What do we know about vocabulary?
Because we teach a word does not mean they learned it (i.e. teaching does not cause learning). Note* our text books assume this. Because they finished the textbook does not mean they know all the words in the book
Written and spoken vocabulary are different. Fewer words are needed for speaking
Initial word knowledge is very fragile. Memories of new words that are not met again soon.

22. What do we know about vocabulary? II
Some words are more difficult to learn than others
Learners cannot guess new meaning from context if the surrounding text is too difficult. About 98% coverage needed.
Words live with other words, not in isolation
Not all words are equally frequent. There is a core useful vocabulary everyone needs (about 2000 word families). Not everyone needs the other 90% of the words in English.
Students should learn the most frequent and useful words first, later they can specialize.

23. Intentional / Incidental
Intentional - aim to directly teach / learn something - e.g. textbook presentation, dictionary use, wordcards Incidental - aim to hope them pick up or notice the target from exposure - students are doing something else (e.g. reading a passage for meaning) but notice something new as they do it.

24. Deductive vs Inductive presentation
Deductive – ‘telling’ telling / explaining the rule e.g. on the board, in a text or handout Inductive presentation – ‘discover the rule’ A: What are your plans for the weekend? B: I’m meeting my brother on Friday at 7, and then I’m playing tennis in Yokohama on Saturday. And you? A: I’m not sure maybe I’ll stay home.

25. Intentional vs. Incidental learning
Intentional learning
Incidental learning
Direct focus on learning when the focus is to learn words
FOCUS
Learning 'by accident' - as a result of focusing on something else
wordlists, word cards, vocabulary exercises, dictionary use
E.G.
from reading or listening, watching movies, listening to songs, casual conversation
Can be learnt systematically
Meanings are learnt 16 times faster than with incidental learning
Retention high if learnt well
Decontextualized or 'local' learning level
LEARNING
Slow and fragile learning
Input tends to be random and unpredictable, unsystematized
Contextualized (chances for integrative learning)
Best for 'form-meaning' level learning
USE
Best for 'deeper aspects' of vocabulary learning

26. How are we going to teach what?
Intentional learning e.g word cards
Incidental learning e.g extensive reading
Individual words
Important lexical phrases
False friends
Loanwords
Important collocations and colligations
Basic grammatical patterns
Important phrasal verbs, idioms etc.
Word, phrase and sentence level awareness
Register, Genre
Pragmatic knowledge
Restrictions on use
Most collocations and collocations
A 'sense' of a word's meaning and use
A 'sense' of how grammar fits with lexis - the tenses, articles etc.
Discourse level awareness
Selection issues – what do we teach?
Sequence issues – in what order?
Scaffolding issues – how do we consolidate previous learning?
Presentation issues – what method?
Rough grading
Ensuring recycling
Engaging text
Matching input text to intentionally learnt materials

27. Get more input (feedback)
The Cycle of Learning
Notice something
Add to our knowledge
Get more input (feedback)
Try it out

28. What happens to things we learn?
We forget them over time unless they are recycled and memories of them strengthened
Our brains are designed to forget most of what we meet - not to remember it
Knowledge
The Forgetting Curve
Time

29. Leitner’s Memory System
Spaced, expanded retrieval
Image source:

30. A linear structure to our syllabuses
Unit 1
Be verb
Simple adjectives
Unit 2
Simple present
Daily routines
Unit 3
Present continuous
Sporting activities
Unit 4
can
Abilities
Unit 5 ….
…..
Each unit has something new Little focus on the recycling of vocabulary, grammar and so on The theory is “We’ve done that, they have learnt it, so we can move on.” i.e. teaching causes learning

31. What will naturally happen to the learning?
Unit 1
Be verb
Simple
adjectives
Unit 2
Simple present
Daily routines
Unit 3
Present continuous
Sporting activities
Unit 4
can
Abilities
Unit 5 ….
…..

32. Course work and Graded Readers work together
Unit 1
Be verb
Unit 2
Simple present
Unit 3
Present continuous
Unit 4
can
Unit 5 ….
Introducing language
Consolidating and deepening language knowledge
Extensive Reading

33. What does this imply?
A linear course structure -is focused on introducing new words and grammatical features -does not fight against the forgetting curve -by its very design cannot provide enough repetitions of words and grammar features for long-term acquisition to take place -is not focused on deepening and consolidating older knowledge because the focus is always on new things This is NOT a criticism of course books. They can’t do everything even though we might expect them to. Course books are only part of what students need.

34. How well are our courses presenting the language students need?
Research suggests a typical language courses:
do not systematically recycle the grammatical forms outside the presentation unit / lesson
have an almost random vocabulary selection (mostly based on topic) without much regard to frequency or usefulness
rarely, if ever, recycle taught words either later in the unit, the book, or the series
provide little additional practice in review units or workbooks
have an overwhelming focus on new material in each lesson

35. Typical Japanese reading texts
In Junior High School -teaches the first 1000 most useful words quite well - readability seems adequate – short passages, easy vocabulary, picture support In Senior High School - radical change to low frequency vocabulary - hundreds of the most important 2,000 most useful words aren't met

36. Research 1: words in Japanese Senior High Textbooks
Research by Chujo, Yoshimori, Hasegawa, Nishigaki and Yamazaki 中條清美・吉森智大・長谷川修治・西垣知佳子・山﨑淳史, 高等学校英語教科書の語彙,日本大学生産工学部研究報告B, 2007 年６ 月第40 巻

37. Research 2 Types Tokens Horizon 1, 2, 3 (Junior High) 1,124 9,440
Powwow I, II, Reading (Senior High)
2,857
27,221
Centre tests (680 types / 3000 tokens average per test) x 4
1,000
12,000
College Entrance tests (590 types / 1600 tokens average per test) x4
6,400
A total of approximately 55,000 running words will be met (not counting juku and self-study).
A generous estimate is 100,000 words and about 3,500 types over 6 years.
Listening input would be approximately 10% of this.

38. Research 3 Lexical coverage of some reading texts
% inside the top 2,000 most frequent words
Typical beginner level graded readers
Typical elementary level graded readers
Typical advanced level graded readers
Typical unsimplified native texts
Typical Daily Yomiuri article
Harry Potter Chapter 2
Typical Time magazine article
Japanese High School text (Spectrum U16)
Japanese High School text (Milestone)
Japanese High School text (Unicorn)
99%
97-98%
92-94%
85%
87.4%
94.1%
80.9%
76.8%
78%
79%
Source: Browne, C. ECAP Conference, 2008

39. Lexical coverage of some exams
% inside the top 2000 most frequent words
Keio University
Sophia University
Waseda University
Kyoto University
Nagoya University
Tokyo University
69%
72%
77%
68%
80%
Source: Browne, C. ECAP Conference, 2008

40. Research 4 (Waring 2013) Aim: 1. Find out which words are in textbooks
2. Find out how many words students can learn from them
6 Japanese Junior High texts
21 Japanese High school texts
18 Korean Middle School texts
15 Korean High School texts
5 Mexican Middle and Senior High texts
Middle School
High School
Total
Japan (Average)
14,066
20,977
35,043
Korea (Average)
23,483
37,950
61,433
Mexico
126,043
106,493
232,536

41. Course books plus reading
Likely uptake (words met more than 10 times from reading 30 texts at each level)
Japan
Korea
Mexico
Course books only JH
147
184
854
JH & SH
476
925
1,276
Course books plus reading % % %
1, %
1, %
1, %

42. How long will it take to teach them?
An average word needs 8-50 meetings for it to be learnt receptively from reading (more for productive use)
An average word's meaning takes meetings to learn from word cards or word lists
To learn the collocations and 'deeper' aspects of language learning takes MUCH longer.
There's little research into the rate learning of collocation, colligation or lexical phrases from reading
We know nothing at all about how long it takes to master a particular grammatical form e.g. a tense, the comparatives, relative clauses

43. Short texts
Many exercises
A Typical Reading Text
Many difficult words
Definitions given

44. How are students typically taught to read?
From textbooks with short difficult texts Doing lots of exercises to practice the grammar and vocab, reading skills and strategies Teacher leads the students All students read the same teacher-selected material All students read at the same pace All students read at the same difficulty level The text may or may not interest all learners It's hard to develop fluent eye movements – fluency and reading speed – too many 'reading speed bumps' This is called INTENSIVE READING or STUDY READING

45. 'Study Reading' is good
Provides good opportunities for the teaching of discrete language points (e.g. vocabulary and grammar)
But….
There is no skills practice
The 'grammar' in the texts is not like actual spoken grammar
They can't develop reading speed
It's hard to learn the patterns in the language because the student doesn't read much
Not everyone is reading at their own ability level
The text book may not interest everyone

46. Intensive Reading (course books for example)
Provides good opportunities for the teaching of discrete language points (e.g. vocabulary and grammar)
Few chances for the development of fluent eye movements
Few chances to learn the patterns in the language because the student doesn't read much
Little allowance for student interest in what is read
Little allowance for reading at their own ability level
Often difficult for students to add new language to the existing store of language because the material is too difficult

47. Features of Extensive Reading
All the students read different books Student selected material Wide variety of material (genres) The reading will probably interest the student Longer texts Very few difficult words Reading at the student's fluent reading ability level Mostly out-of class reading Emphasis on the skill of reading All reading is in the second language – no Japanese needed New words are often met in later chapters Emphasis on reading for comprehension / enjoyment Provides input for speaking and writing

48. When reading extensively, students should READ
It is CRUCIAL that learners read at the RIGHT level
Read something quickly and
Enjoyably with
Adequate comprehension so they
Don't need a dictionary
If they need a dictionary, it's too hard and they will read slowly, get tired and stop
Their aim is fluency and speed, not learning new language
Typically students read at home or out of class- it doesn't take much class time for HUGE benefits
We add the reading to our existing program, we don't replace it.

49. Extensive Reading is easy because …
The students 'just read'
Once the library is ready, there's little to do
Get the students to manage the library
Online assessment if you wish -
It doesn't take much class time – they can read at home
EASY is GOOD – it builds fluency, speed and confidence

50. Reading at the right level

51. How do Intensive and Extensive Reading fit together?
Pain
(too hard, poor comprehension,
high effort,
de-motivating)
Intensive reading
(Instructional level, can learn new words and grammar)
Extensive reading
(fast, fluent, adequate comprehension, enjoyable)
Speed reading practice
(very fast, fluent, high comprehension, natural reading, enjoyable)
90%
98%
100%
Low
% of known vocabulary
Slow
High
Reading speed
Low
High
Comprehension

52. What's the balance?
Language focus activities- learning the grammar and vocabulary, reading skills, pronunciation etc. (i.e. coursework) PLUS Massive amounts of easy fluent reading with graded readers Massive amounts of fluent listening The focus should be on deepening and consolidating knowledge of things they learnt in their course books

53. Build strategic competence
Students are not born knowing how to use dictionaries We should teach them to learn words well and systematically Spend a LOT of time on building ‘guessing from context’ abilities

54. Translation line by line reading – effect on language development
Total dependence on the teacher – no student independence Teacher selected material – no respect for student interests No respect for different ability levels No respect for reading skills development Input is not recycled in the next lesson – a linear structure No fluency practice Slow and tedious – likely to be boring Very little text is read Rarer words get more focus than more useful words Often (far too) difficult Retention is notoriously low Knowledge gains are temporary only Restricts learners to ‘word by word’ analysis Often used as an excuse for a linguistics lesson

55. Translation line by line reading – effect on learning
Language input is reactive, not planned Language input is not systemized – there’s no syllabus or curriculum at all Not meaning centered (form centered) – thus little will be remembered Little or no discourse level instruction / practice Translating one sentence does not mean whole text comprehension Sentence level translating does not mean there is an understanding of the sentence Checking one student can translate does not mean the others can Each student only worries about her sentences Only two brains are working on each sentence Often used as an excuse to improve the students’ Japanese! If this is the only method of instruction:- Students likely to die from boredom Excellent way to kill a love for English

56. Why can’t Japanese students read, listen, speak and write well?
Their language knowledge is often abstract, separated, discrete and very fragile so they forget There’s too much work on “the pieces-of-language” and not enough comprehensible, meaningful , connected discourse They haven’t met the words and grammar enough times to feel comfortable using them They CANNOT speak until they feel comfortable using their knowledge They haven’t developed a ‘sense’ of language yet

57. So what needs to happen?
We have to ensure our curriculums and courses:
build in recycling and repetition of words and grammar structures
give students chances to see how the grammar and vocabulary are used together in real discourse
give students chances to deepen and consolidate the language they learn in their course books (or they forget it)
allow students to develop their own ‘sense’ of how the language works
give students chances to use language rather than just study it

58. Principles of Vocabulary Learning
There is not enough class time to teach everything about a word
We don’t need to teach every word in the book
Select the vocabulary carefully - Useful and frequent words first
Single words as well as phrases and collocations
Learners must be set vocabulary learning goals
They need massive input to build vocabulary knowledge to deepen vocabulary connections
We should teach words the students need
Forgetting will happen - > revise, use it or lose it
We should not expect things we teach to be known tomorrow
The most important vocabulary to teach is yesterday’s vocabulary

59. Principles II
Because time is limited, we have to teach students how to deal with new words (independent learning) thus they need vocabulary learning strategies
Give opportunities for guessing words from context
Teach them to use a dictionary properly
Teach word learning strategies
Work at both levels of vocabulary knowledge
Use a systematic approach (set realistic goals) – build on old learning
Intentional and incidental learning

60. Principles III Language focus work needed
Give opportunities for developing fluency and automaticity
Not everything can be learn intentionally
Initial meetings should be followed by deeper level processing
Opportunities for elaborating word knowledge
Let them experiment (force them to think)
We do not need to teach all words to be available for use
Concept check understanding
Understand the task requirements of vocabulary exercises
Give opportunities to develop the pronunciation