1. 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.

2. 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

3. About the study
Participants: Adult students ( 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

4. About the study
Students were given instruction in a number of vocabulary learning strategies
Each week, learners were required to choose 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

6. 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.

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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”

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