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Vocabulary projects conducted by EMB
Projects Participants Expected Outcomes
Vocabulary Study
Focus Group wordlists for KS1, KS2, KS3 & KS4
Seed Project on the effective L/T of vocabulary
Seed school & Network schools
effective pedagogies to make good use of
the wordlists
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Growing interest in students’ vocabulary
Recent evidence of inadequate vocabulary of HK university entrants
Most 2004 entrants to CUHK knew between 2000 and 3000 English words only
International research suggests that students need at least 5000 words to cope with university study in English
Vocabulary Study
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Vocabulary Study
EMB collaborative project with CUHK to develop wordlists for schools’/teachers’ reference
To strengthen the vocabulary components of the English Language curriculum
Proposed vocabulary targets set for each KS
Aims of the study
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Sources of the wordlists for HK schools
Topics andFunctions
in CGs
Approvedtextbooks
Frequency-Based
wordlists
Draft wordlists
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Vocabulary Study
General Service List (GSL) - West, 1953 Academic Wordlist (AWL) - Coxhead,
2000 British National Corpus (BNC)
References of the frequency-based wordlists
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Vocabulary targets
Key Stage Stage TargetCumulative
Target
KS1
KS2
KS3
KS4
1000 1000
1000 2000
1500 3500
1500 5000
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Developing English vocabulary
Vocabulary base(primary)
Vocabulary expansion and academic vocabulary
(secondary)
Specialist/technical vocabulary
(post-secondary)
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Wordlists
In alphabetical order
By category
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Features of Hong Kong student writing
Repetition of key words (need for lexical substitution)
The need for lexical enrichment (adjectives and adverbs)
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Lexical substitution: “ piano”
“I had learnt piano for five years. My mother encouraged me to take piano examinations until I was ten. Sometimes I was tired of touching the piano… After a bad experience, I never learned piano any more. I do not dare to play the piano even now.”
Too many pianos?
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Too many pianos?
“I had learnt piano for five years. My mother encouraged me to take _______ examinations until I was ten. Sometimes I was tired of touching the ________… After a bad experience, I never learned ____________ any more. I do not dare to play the ___________ even now.”
Grade 3
keyboardthe instrument
horrible thing
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Lexical expansion of a first draft
“Every Sunday we visit the home of my grandparents. They live in an apartment in a housing estate in Shatin. My grandmother cooks lunch. After lunch we walk in the park.”
What activities can you design to enrich the above text?
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Lexical expansion of a first draft
“Every Sunday we visit the (adj.) home of my (adj.) grandparents. They live in an (adj.) apartment in a (adj.) housing estate in Shatin. My grandmother (adv.) cooks lunch. After lunch we walk (adv.) in the park.”
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Sizevs.
Quality
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Pre-requisites for vocabulary building
Two Strands:
TopicStrand
CollocationStrand
focus on sizefocus on
word combinations
paradigmaticapproach
syntagmaticapproach
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Paradigmatic approach (topic strand)
Deliberate organization of words into hierarchies
Develops associative networks Encourages efficient vocabulary learning Paradigms are fixed (but ‘open’) Other associations are more personal (e.g.
acoustic, visual, ‘linkword’)
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Assumptions about paradigmatic arrangement
Allows for efficient vocabulary growth because the system is ‘open’ and allows for additions
Associated with receptive vocabulary knowledge in particular
Retrieval of words operates through the ‘cohort’ principle
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FLAT
LIVING ROOM BEDROOMS KITCHEN BATHROOM
fridge cooker
saucepan
frying pan
Example One:
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Vehicles
car train bicycle
handlebar wheel saddle
tyre
spoke
Example Two:
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Teaching the names of the superordinates
Musical instrument
piano trumpet flute
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What is the missing word?
?
ruler pencil rubber
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?
hammer screwdriver pliers
What is the missing word?
How many superordinates could teachers introduce at the primary level?
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Focus on vocabulary size?
“In my neighbourhood there is a library, a hospital, a swimming pool, a health centre, a cinema, a police station, a railway station and a bus station.”
Good vocabulary, but how are learners supposed to USE these words?
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More ideas on expanding pupils’ vocabulary
Exploring the familiar words:
- different parts of speech (e.g. ‘shoulder’
as the noun and the verb)
- other meanings of a word (e.g. ‘head’ as
a body part, the school head)
- metaphorical use of a word (e.g. moving) Using specific words (e.g. shout, whisper)
Can you think of other words?
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Syntagmatic approach (collocation strand) E.g. Topic: transport
Car – drive – fast – wet – road
Brakes – skid – collide - accident Develops associative networks Word combinations are the key to productive
use of English Focus on multi-word units (e.g. ‘See you
later.’, ‘Have a good trip!’) Collocations (e.g. ‘go shopping’, ‘have a
shower’, ‘play football’)
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Assumptions about syntagmatic arrangement
Associated with productive vocabulary because it is based on the words which tend to occur together in sentences
The associations are based on collocations rather than semantic categories
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PEOPLE ACTIONS OBJECTS PLACE
Doctor examine patients health centre
railway station
park
library
From receptive to productive
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Teaching implications Raising pupils’ awareness of how words
are related:
Knowledge of word formation and word association
Giving definitions and details Using the name of the superordinate (e.g. flat) Using the names of the member (e.g. living
room, bedroom, kitchen)
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Vocabulary building skills recommended in CG
Word formation
Affixation (e.g. unhappy, careless) Compounding (e.g. foot+ball=football) Conversion (e.g. cook a meal, a cook) Derivation (e.g. excite, exciting,
excited, excitement)
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Vocabulary building skills recommended in CG
Word association Synonyms (e.g. happy, glad) Antonyms (e.g. bright, dark) Homonyms (e.g. catch a bus, catch a cold) Collocation (e.g. make a wish, watch TV) Lexical sets (e.g. furniture – table, chair,
desk, cupboard)
*please refer to CG (CDC, 2004): pp. 168-171
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The use of mini-activities / games in vocabulary learning and teaching
Adding fun elements Designed to integrate newly acquired
words into the learner’s mental lexicon The mini-activities / games should be
incorporated into meaningful tasks
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Incorporating mini-activities / games into meaningful tasks Exemplar 4 – “Buying Things” (Primary 1-3) Use noun / noun phrases to
- identify items to buy in a shopping centre, e.g. rain boots,
waterproof watch
- identify shops in a shopping centre, e.g. toy shop, clothes shop Read a story about a boy called Charlie, who went shopping with
his family, and learn or revise the names of the shopping items in context…
Task: design a poster for an imaginary shopping centre, with information on the types of shops, the products available and the prices
*please refer to CG (CDC, 2004): pp. E20-23 for details of the exemplar
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Examples of classroommini-activities / games
Word hunt Odd one out Pelmanism (locating pairs) Go fishing Hangman Analogies Word slap Pass the sentence
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Odd One Out
Analogies
e.g. trousers robot jeans T-shirt
e.g. - easy is to simple as hard is to ________ - top is to bottom as front is to ________ - fruit shop is to banana as bookshop is to ________
Can you suggest some more items for the analogies?
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Word Slap
Players take turns, clockwise, to shout out
a different word from a pre-selected lexical set (e.g. things in a bookshop) on every fourth beat.
Players who either repeat a word already used, or break the rhythm – or say nothing – are ‘out’.
One – two – three – pencil!
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Ideas on vocabulary learning and teaching
Input from various sources Present and practise in context Repetitive exposure overtime in multiple
and varied contexts Work on vocabulary building skills and
strategies Print-rich environment Bridging from receptive to productive Have fun!
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Useful Links Online
Games for children and resources for teachers and parents: PBS Kidshttp://pbskids.org/lions/games/ FunBrain Kids Centerhttp://www.funbrain.com/words.html
Games as well as Tool Box for creating word games : Wordgameshttp://www.eastoftheweb.com/cgi-bin/top_scores.pl?game=wordsearch Interactive Wordplayshttp://www.wordplays.com/p/index
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THANK YOU!THANK YOU!