Vocabulary 2010 rubena
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Transcript of Vocabulary 2010 rubena
Vocabulary: How Vocabulary: How
important is it in important is it in
language learning?language learning?
Rubena St. Louis,
Universidad Simon Bolivar
How can my students How can my students
become active become active
learners?learners?
Why do we need words?
Words play an enormous part in our lives and are therefore deserving of the closest study.
Aldous Huxley
Many people get unlimited mileage
out of a limited vocabulary.
Graffiti
Source: Word Info
How many words should a foreign language student know?
2000 most frequent word families and the Academic Word List ensures a coverage of 90% of an academic text.
Nation and Waring, 1977
What the researchers say….
Levels Conversation
%
Fiction
%
Newspapers
%
Academic text %
1000 84.3 82.3 75.6 73.5
2000 6 5.1 4.7 4.6
AWL 1.9 1.7 3.9 8.5
Other 7.8 10.9 15.7 13.3
The rich manby Franklin P. Adams, 1881-1960
The rich man has his ………………, His ………….and his town………….He smokes a hundred dollar ……………And jeers at Fate.He …………….through the livelong day.He knows not …………….her pinch.His lot seems…………, his heart seems…………, He has a cinch.Yet though my lamp …………….low and…………, Though I must ………….for livelihood—Think you that I would change with him? You ……………I……………..!
The rich manby Franklin P. Adams, 1881-1960
The rich man has his motor-car, His country and his town estate.He smokes a fify-cent cigar And jeers at Fate.He frivols through the livelong day.He knows not Poverty her pinch.His lot seems light, his heart seems gay, He has a cinch.Yet though my lamp burns low and dim, Though I must slave for livelihood—Think you that I would change with him? You bet I would!
What’s “knowing” a word?
Form
Meaning
Use
Factors involved.
Motivation
Motivation
Noticing Noticing
RepetitionRepetitionGenerative
use
Generative use
InvolvementInvolvement
How can I help them learn? What do I
have to do?
Make vocabulary a part of their lives.
• Teach vocabulary learning strategies– Find out about students’ learning strategies.– Model strategies– Help students find the best way to learn
• Teach correct use of the dictionary– Review grammar
• Incorporate vocabulary exercises in daily lesson plan.– Use a variety of different exercises every day.
Aren’t learners the same?
• Multi-media oriented– Less textual
• Multi-tasker• Extremely sociable• Collaboration and
relationships• Constant engagement
and active involvement
• Freedom of choice • Freedom of
expression• Customize,
personalize• Create and share• Strive to be
independent• Technology a need
Some characteristics of today’s learners
Today’s sources
• Newspapers• Journals• Ebooks• Television web sites• Museums and art
galleries• Educational sites• Social networks
Potential for use
Learning environment
Language learner
Learning objectives
Delivery
Tools
…Provide exposure to language• “…the outcome of
language learning depends on large measure on the amount and kind of exposure to the target language…”
Spolsky, (1989)
• “…learners are involved in a diversity of tasks with a variety of sources of language input…”
Krashen & Terrell (1983)
Provide opportunities for interaction
• Long's Interactionst theory requires students to engage in authentic communication, with negotiation of meaning and use of communicative strategies.
• Swain's Output hypothesis calls for learners to evaluate their output, reformulate hypothesis and reuse as input..
Have the potential to create authentic tasks…
Authentic tasks are those having the same types of cognitive challenges as complicated real-world tasks do.
• Egbert, Chin-chi Chao, & Hanson-Smith, (1999)
…a variety of tasks.
• Tasks which require students to process data at a deep semantic level. (Craik & Lockhart, 1972)
• Tasks which require students to focus on meaning and on form.
(Van Pattern, 2002)
• Tasks which involve students emotionally and are significant to the learner.
• Tasks which require negotiation of meaning.
Consider learner differences
• Age
• Individual learning styles
• Learning strategies
• Cognitive levels
• Linguistic level– Achievable
• Confidence
Consider learner needs
• Relevant to students
– Interest
– Attitude toward learning
– Culture
– Social group
• Stimulate learner creativity
• Promote cooperation among peers
• Foster learner autonomy– Student-centred– Student empowering
What tools are available?• Interactive exercise
generators– Hot potatoes– Word Learner– Discovery puzzle maker
• Communication tools– Chats– Blogs– Wikis– Social networking groups
• Creative tools– Podcasts– Videocasts– Comic creators– Mind mapping software– Survey tools
What aspects should I consider?– User friendly
– On or off line
– Cost effective
– Secure
– Effective
Create activites which permit:
Collaboration– Wikis, google docs,
• Exchange of information– chat or google docs
• Voicing of opinion– blogs, audio blogs, video blogs
• Personalised learning– wikis & blogs as learning porfolios
• Individualised learning – interactive exercise generators
Some examples
Word lists
Flash cards, word cards, personal glossary
Classroom activities 1
RecognitionScrambled words
Matching
Word games
Word formation
Bingo
Word challenge
Dictation
Oral and written
AssociationClassification
Semantic mapping
Classroom activities 2.
RecallDicto-gloss
Retelling stories
Use Research logs
Reading logs
Writing stories
Word research
Personal interest
Essential websites
Teaching tools
Examples with web profiler 1
Return
Online resources: Dictionaries
Meanings and origins of phrases and expressions.
Thesaurus, dictionary, translator
Word games, word of the day
Pronunciation
Meaning of the word in context.
Sample sentences.
Online resources: Dictionary 2
Meaning of the word in different contexts.
Words related to the target word and used in the same context.
Images associated with the word.
Audio pronunciation.
Allows you to hear the pronunciation of the word.
Let’s play!
Allows the retrieval of vocabulary in a fun way.
Encourages students to become autonomous learners by constructing their own vocabulary lists and then testing themselves.
Allows students to practice vocabulary and compete against themselves.
Some sites of interest. Teacher Tools• British National Corpus: http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/• Complete lexical tutor: http://www.lextutor.ca/• Vocabulary grabber: http://www.visualthesaurus.com/vocabgrabber/
Dictionaries• Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English: http://www.ldoceonline.com/• Dictionary.com:http://dictionary.reference.com/• The Phrase Finder:http://www.phrases.org.uk/
Learning sites• Gapfillers. Language on the go: http://www.gapfillers.co.uk/• Word learner:http://www.wordlearner.com/• Spelling city: http://www.spellingcity.com/• Wordgames: http://www.eastoftheweb.com/games/