Vocabulary and good language learners Jin Ah Kim As we have experienced, vocabulary is one of the most common element that our students have difficulties with.

Vocabulary in Language learning Needs to be learned both receptively and productively: become part of their communities by productive use of vocabulary Learner-focused view of education How they take control of their vocabulary learning -what to learn, what kind of strategies, how to assess and monitor Not only how we should teach or what is being learnt but also how the learners themselves think and approach learning vocabulary So knowing how they take control of their vocabulary learning is important in order to see the essense of their vocabulary learning

About the study Participants: Adult students (3000-5000 receptive vocabulary) enrolled in an intensive English course Vocabulary program- designed to increase learner awareness of what is involved in vocabulary learning and to improve productive vocabulary To inspect how much learners were willing to personalize their own approach to tasks within a curriculum and how much they were successful in their vocabulary learning endeavors

About the study Students were given instruction in a number of vocabulary learning strategies Each week, learners were required to choose 30-40 words of their own choosing- suit their own needs & increase motivation to learn Used a given vocabulary notebook with same columns to complete Progress in learning was monitored through a weekly test : test knowledge of the words they chose to study

Approaches to vocabulary learning Assessed aspects Word selection procedure Aspects of vocabulary knowledge How vocabulary was learned and memorized Revision practices How learning was monitored and self-evaluated Most of the students showed a similar pattern (5-6 h a week) One student, Abdi, had the most effective approach (4h a week) The result of general pattern they show is not limited to this participants but shows how most of our students are doing or might do.

Selection of words Most of the learners The effective learner Demonstrated the least ability to personalize the task Selected words of limited use or little personal interest only from sources presented in class Focused on academic or difficult words that they don’t know the ‘meaning’ Little value on the selection of words, more value on saving time for test preparation Personalized selection of his own needs Selected interesting, useful words for him from wide range of sources Always chose partially known words and words he want to improve

Aspects of word knowledge Most of the learners The effective learner Had preoccupation with meaning rather than other aspects Believed learning L1 translation is sufficient to enable effective use Lack of interest in depth of word knowledge – other aspects are just to fulfill course requirements Unwillingness to personalize the task by creating sentences of their own Had awareness of the complexity of knowing a word Regularly tried to find more about the items and to use words appropriately Aware of the impact that multiple meanings could have on his language use

Learning and memorizing words Most of the learners The effective learner Most commonly used rote learning or memorizing Self-tested by covering translations Veered away from using new strategies, relying on the tried and tested strategy of rote learning Words were only learned short term for the test- no long term goal Used a greater range of strategies with some re-reading and memorizing Made flash cards and carried with him to revise at every possible opportunity Made a direct effort to use those words at every chances, in a variety of contexts

Revision Most of the learners The effective learner No revision, though some recognized the importance of revision for long-term memory Reason was lack of time for preparing next test Believed that teachers should allocate class time to revise and to develop vocabulary by requiring learners to use the new words No regular revision but revised vocabulary that was marked incorrect Made consistent effort to use learned words in language use- reinforced understanding of words and ability to use them

Self-evaluation and monitoring Most of the learners The effective learner Believed they were not learning effectively Many of the words forgotten and had limited ability to use them Said that the words were not useful or relevant to their own lives But no attempt to alter their selection –failure to alter personal learning behavior Believed the program was effective Confident about knowing the vocabularies he had learned and using them productively

Findings How depth of vocabulary knowledge contribute to ability to use the items both productively and receptively The failure to alter personal learning behavior indicate that learners were not taking responsibility for their own learning, or personalizing the task to meet their own needs- passive, constrained by teachers Ineffective approach was not due to low motivation or laziness Lack of awareness of what is involved in learning a language (vocabulary), effect of teacher and course expectations Accustomed to passivelearning

Implications for the teaching/learning More time to help learners decide why they are learning vocabulary , what kind of vocabulary they need to learn, what knowing a word really mean. Learners should reflect on and question their own learning behavior Direct teaching about vocabulary learning can raise awareness Learners need to be fluent and comfortable using vocabulary learning strategies through practice “helping the student to learn how to learn a language”

Thank you References: Moir, J. & Nation, P. (2002). Vocabulary and good language learner s. In C. Griffiths (Ed.), Lessons from Good Language Learners (pp. 159-173). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press