Current research and practice in teaching vocabulary Chapter 24

Incidental learning learning through extensive reading and listening Nagy, Herman, and Anderson (1985) concluded that learning vocabulary from context is a gradual process, estimating that given a single exposure to an unfamiliar word, there was about a 10 % chance of learning its meaning from context

Coady (1997) indicated that the role of graded readers is to build up the students’ vocabulary and structures until they can graduate to ore authentic materials. Low-proficiency learners can benefit fro graded readers because they will be repeatedly exposed to high frequency vocabulary Sustained Silent Reading (SSR)

Explicit instruction Knowing approximately 3,000 high- frequency and general academic words Coady’s (1997) solution is to have students supplment their extensive reading with study of the 3,000 words most frequent words until the words’ form and meaning become automatically recognized. Intentional learning of vocabulary

Receptive knowledge: recognize one of the aspects of knowledge through reading and listening Productive knowledge: being able to use it in speaking and writing Teachers should be selective when deciding which words deserve deeper receptive and/or productive knowledge. Two thousand words or other lists would be good for exercises

Exercises 1.sorting lists of words and deciding on the categories 2. Making semantic maps with lists 3. Generating derivatives, inflections, synonyms, and antonyms of words 4. making trees that show the relationships between superordinates, coordinates, and specific examples

Providing opportunities for developing fluency with known vocabulary-fluency building activities For example, developing sight vocabulary through extensive reading and studying high-frequency vocabulary Timed and paced reading: reading speed Reading with a group of words

Independent strategy development Guessing fro context Using dictionaries Hulstijn, Hollander, and Greidanus (1996) showed that, compared to incidental learning, repeated exposure to words combined with marginal glosses or bilingujal dictionary use leads to increased learning for advanced learners.