1. Teaching Vocabulary Chapter 14
Lesson 3
Teaching Vocabulary
Chapter 14

2. Teaching Vocabulary How do students best learn new vocabulary?
How do you teach vocabulary? What techniques/activities work and what don’t?

3. Long-Term memory vs. Short-Term memory
Short-term memory = small storage capacity, holds information temporarily while it is being learned
Long-term memory = unlimited amount of storage capacity, holds information indefinitely

4. Long-Term memory vs. Short-Term memory
It is crucial for students to create a deep understanding of a word by manipulating it and thinking about it (activities) in order to transfer a word from short-term memory to long-term memory
Requires meaningful recurring encounters with a word over time

5. Explicit vs. Implict Learning
Explicit Vocabulary Learning
Students engage in activities that focus on vocabulary
Build recognition of words, integrate new words with old ones, numerous encounters with words, deep level of processing, imaging, independent learning strategies
Global Service List of English Words
2000 most commonly used words
Academic Word List
570 word families

6. Implicit vs. Explicit Learning
Implicit Vocabulary Learning
Incidental
Learning when the mind is focused elsewhere, for example understanding a text or using language for communication purposes
Multiple exposure is necessary
Extensive reading and listening

7. Teaching Techniques & Activities
New words should not be presented in isolation and learned by rote memorization
New words must be seen in context to provide clues to meaning
Multiple exposure is necessary

8. Teaching Techniques & Activities
Word association
Semantic mapping = helps illustrate relationships among words in a text
“Vocabulary Network”
“Word Match Lists”
Word Families/Forms
Helps students see how word forms change according to function

9. Teaching Techniques & Activities
Language games help recycle vocabulary learned in a text -- fun!
Scrabble
Word Bingo
Jeopardy
Pictionary
Taboo
Crosswords

10. Collocations
Patterns of pairs or groups of words that co-occur with high frequency
“the meaning of a word has great deal to with the words with which it commonly associates”
example

11. Collocations Fall into two main groups:
Grammatical collocations - nouns, verbs, adjectives frequently occur with a grammatical item (usually a preposition)
Ex: account for, by accident
Lexical collocations - consist of combinations such as verb + noun, adjective + noun
Spend money, dense fog

12. Collocations
If not learned, can create odd irregularities in a student’s speaking & writing
Examples:
start/set a fire, but not begin/commence/initiate a fire
Rancid butter/sour milk but not sour butter/rancid milk
Fast train/fast food but not quick train/quick food
Quick shower/quick meal but not fast shower/fast meal

13. Lexical Phrases
“Chunks” of language that commonly occur and are more idiomatically determined -- central to communicative competence
Ex: “How’s it going?”, “Do you speak X?”, “Thanks so much.”. “Where is X?”
Lexical phrases must be classified according to function

14. Lexical Phrases
Start with a fixed routine and expose learners to varied phrases
Drill routine - builds confidence and fluency in students
Ex: “What’s up?” --- “not much.”
Ex: “How’s it going?” -- “not bad.”

15. Vocabulary Learning Strategies
Guessing meaning from context
Part of speech, relationship with surrounding words, relationship with surrounding sentences/paragraphs, overall context
Dictionary
Monolingual vs. Bilingual
Learn how to use correctly
Vocabulary Journals/Notebooks
Keeping track of new words