Dr. Charles Browne, Professor of Applied LinguisticsChair, EFL Teacher Education ProgramMeiji Gakuin University, Tokyo, Japanbrowne@ltr.meijigakuin.ac.jp

Outline of Presentation

1. Some basic findings of corpus linguistics

2. Introduction to problems faced by Japanese EFL learners related to vocabulary & reading

3. Introduction to online tools for identifying and teaching vocabulary from authentic videos

Why Focus on Vocabulary?

The seminal work in vocabulary instruction

Nation, I. S. P. (1990). Teaching and learning vocabulary. Boston: Heinle & Heinle Publishers.

Words % known # known Researcher

1 7% 97/100 West(53), Nation(90)

10 25% 3/4 West(53), Nation(90)

100 50% 1/2 West(53), Nation(90)

1000 75% 1/4 West(53), Engles(68)

2000 81% 1/7 West(53), Nation(90)

5000 95% 1/20 Hirsch & Nation(92)

8000 98% 1/50 Laufer (92), Coady(93)

350,000 100% 100/100 Oxford English Dictionary

The Importance of “Frequency”

Problem 1:

EFL learners don’t know enough high frequency

words…

How many words do L2 learners know? Minimum 5000 words needed for

independent learning(Laufer, 1989, 1992, Nation 2000, etc…)

Country Vocab. Size

Hours of Instruction

Reference

Japan (University) 2000-2300 800-1200 Shillaw (95), Barrow (99)

China (English Majors) 4000 1800-2400 Laufer (99)

Indonesia (University) 1220 900 Nurweni & Read (99)

Oman (University) 2000 1350 Hort et al (98)

Israel (HS graduates) 3500 1500 Laufer (98)

France (HS students) 1000 400 Arnaud et al (85)

Greece (age 15, HS) 1680 660 Milton & Meara (98)

Germany (age 15, HS) 1200 400 Milton & Meara (98)

Problem 2:

Reading and Listening materials in Japan (i.e.

INPUT) are too difficult…

Vocabulary & Readability: How do MEXT-approved EFL textbooks

measure up?

Junior High:

• Teaches first 1000 GSL words fairly well

• Readability of texts seems good - short passages, easy vocabulary, lots of pictures to support texts

Senior High:

• Focus changes dramatically to teaching of low frequency words

• Many, many words from 1000-2000 are never taught…

• Readability of texts is actually MORE difficult than unsimplified native speaker texts!

The Compleat Lexical Tutorwww.lextutor.ca

Vocab Profile: Online Vocabulary Analysis Tool

www.lextutor.ca

Typical Yomiuri Newspaper Article

85% expected for 2000 words

87.4%

Harry Potter Chapter 2 85% expected for 2000 words

94.1%

Typical Time Magazine Article 85% expected for 2000 words

80.9%

Japanese High School Textbook (Spectrum Unit 16)

85% expected for 2000 words

76.8%

Are Japanese students reading the right vocabulary? (Browne, 1996, 1998)

Text Coverage from 2000 High Frequency Words

Spectrum 71%

Milestone 78%

Unicorn 79%

Unsimplified Native Texts 85%

Are universities testing the right vocabulary? (Kikuchi, 2006, Browne & Kikuchi,

2008)

Text of Entrance Examinations for:

% Coverage from 2000 High Frequency Words

Keio Univ. 69%

Sophia Univ. 72%

Waseda Univ. 72%

Kyoto Univ. 77%

Nagoya Univ. 68%

Tokyo Univ. 80%

Summary of Vocab-Profile Results for Various Texts

20123

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Frequency

350,000

5,000

EFL Vocabulary Learning in Japan…

chaos

permission

andof

the

exasperate

digress

chaos

permission

andof

the

abstain

emigrate

torment

The Negative Effect of “Test English”

PROBLEM: Students NEED to learn the first 5000 words of English to use English in the real word…

But entrance exams and high school textbooks force students to memorize hundreds of low-frequency words…

RESULT? High school students can’t deal with real world English because they don’t know hundreds of the most important high frequency words…

sum

bid

ace

HFW2,289

2,566

4,441

14,641

23,371

25,537

42,024

84,168

Solution Number One:

COMPREHNSIBLE INPUT

authentic and motivating listening and reading materials

Graded Materials - Reading

• Cambridge

• Oxford• Penguin

• etc…

Graded Materials - Listening

(found materials on the internet)

Graded Materials - Listening

(recorded version of graded readers)

How to Grade a Reading or Listening Text..

http://www.lextutor.ca/vp/

http://www.lextutor.ca

Problem 3:Graded Content can be Boring….

Authentic content is what our student want, but….

But which is easy? Which is difficult?

Graded Authentic Videos

How can an “authentic” video be graded?....

Method 1: Teacher intuition

Method 2: Readability Formulas

Method 3: Vocabulary Frequency Formulas

Readability Formulas(Flesch-Kincaid, Flesch Reading Ease)

Readability Formulas(Flesch-Kincaid)

Readability Formulas(Flesch-Kincaid)

Readability Formulas(Flesch-Kincaid)

Readability Formulas(Flesch-Kincaid)

Readability Formulas(New Dale-Chall Formula)

Solution Number Two:

KEYWORD IDENTIFICATION

identifying the most important words to learn in a video

How to Identify Keywords

http://www.lextutor.ca/

How to Identify Keywords

http://www.lextutor.ca/

How to Identify Keywords

http://www.lextutor.ca/

Key Words for Dracula…

How to Identify Keywords

http://www.lextutor.ca/

How to Identify Keywords

http://www.lextutor.ca/

Key Words for Obama’s Education Speech...

Solution Number Three:

Scaffolding tools to help learners deal with videos above their

level

Scaffolding Tools…(Captioning, Repeat Function, Voice Speed

Contols)

EnglishCentral Scaffolding Tools…

(clickable dictionary, sample sentence, sound file)

100%

0%

Video Captioning(Google auto-captioning for YouTube videos…)

100%

0%

“Keyword” Captioning(“Automaticity” – decreasing cognitive load by deleting

less important/known vocabulary )

Problem 3:

The little vocabulary teaching that DOES go on is usually

decontexualized…

Classroom Flashcards Smart Phone Flashcards

Solution Number Four:

Concordancing

A corpus-based approach for teaching new words in context…

Concordancing for Language Learning

What do you do when you come across a word in an authentic video that your students don’t understand?...

Concordancing for Language Learning

Concordancing for Language Learning

Concordancing for Language Learning

Concordancing for Language Learning

Concordancing for Language Learning

Concordancing for Language Learning

Concordancing for Language Learning

Concordancing for Language Learning

Concordancing for Language Learning

Concordancing for Language Learning

Concordancing for Language Learning

Concordancing for Language Learning

Concordancing for Language Learning

Concordancing for Language Learning

Solution Number Five:

KEYWORD LEARNING

In-context, spaced-repetition vocabulary learning system

100%

Short-term memory loss

50%

0%

Time

100%

0%

The Forgetting Curve Ebbinhaus (1885), Leitner (1972), Pimsleur (1967), Mondria, (1994)

Repeated viewings foster long-term retention

Spaced Repetition is the science of long-term memory

Based on the research of Ebbinghaus, Pimsleur, Leitner, and Mondria, electronic flashcards automatically repeat each new word at spaced time intervals, and until the learner achieves long-term, instant-recall ability.

Spaced Repetition is the science of long-term memory

Spaced Repetition is the science of long-term memory

Spaced Repetition is the science of long-term memory

Spaced Repetition is the science of long-term memory

Spaced Repetition is the science of long-term memory

Spaced Repetition is the science of long-term memory

Spaced Repetition is the science of long-term memory

Spaced Repetition is the science of long-term memory

Spaced Repetition is the science of long-term memory

Spaced Repetition is the science of long-term memory

Vocabulary Flashcards: by corpus analysis of

videos

Quiz mode is based on Ebbbinghaus, Leitner and Pimsleur’s “spaced-repetition” approach

Vocabulary Flashcards: by corpus analysis of

videos

First, the meaning and context of 2-3 new words are introduced via video flashcards

Vocabulary Flashcards: by corpus analysis of

videos

Vocabulary Flashcards: by corpus analysis of

videos

Vocabulary Flashcards: by corpus analysis of

videos

Thank you !

For a copy of this Powerpoint, please contact:

Dr. Charles Browne, Professor of Applied LinguisticsChair, EFL Teacher Training ProgramMeiji Gakuin University, Dept. of Englishbrowne@ltr.meijigakuin.ac.jp