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Taxonomy of VLS by Schmitt (1997) Taxonomy of Language Learning Strategies (LLS) by O’Malley & Chamot,

1990: cognitive, metacognitive, socio-affective Oxford’s (1990) LLS taxonomy – direct strategies: involving the target

language directly and require mental processing of the language (memory, cognitive, compensation) and indirect strategies: (metacognitive, affective, social)

Nation (1990) – discovery vs consolidation strategies

Schmitt’s (1997) VLS taxonomy: (1) Discovery: discovering the meaning of unknown words

Determination strategies (finding meaning without recourse to others) Social strategies (consulting or working with others to discover meaning)

(2) Consolidation: remembering words once their meaning has been discovered Social strategies Memory strategies (mnemonics) Cognitive strategies (similar to memory, but without the use of mnemonics) Metacognitive strategies (planning, monitoring, evaluation of learning)

The positive effect of VLS training:The positive effect of VLS training:Strategies can be taught and acquiredStrategies can be taught and acquired

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Analyze the word parts that make up the word *

Analyze any available pictures or gestures

Use (dental/medical) word lists*

Use flash cards

Create or use a visual image about the word in my mind*

Group words using a mind map*

*Strategies introduced in the English (EAP) course for Dentistry students

Source: Loong Y & Chan S W L, A Study of Vocabulary Learning Strategies Adopted by Dentistry Students in Hong Kong In Learning Specialized Dental Vocabulary, September 2012, Asian ESP Journal

Strategies that were reported to be used significantly more frequently at the end of the course than at the beginning of the course:

Schmitt (1997)Schmitt (1997) 600 Japanese EFL college learners (junior high 600 Japanese EFL college learners (junior high

school / high school / university / adult ss)school / high school / university / adult ss) preferred using preferred using the bilingual dictionary to discover the bilingual dictionary to discover

meaning of wordsmeaning of words Preferred verbal and written repetition (mechanical Preferred verbal and written repetition (mechanical

rehearsals) to remember the meaningsrehearsals) to remember the meanings As the Japanese learners matured, they tended to As the Japanese learners matured, they tended to

move away from shallow, mechanical repetition move away from shallow, mechanical repetition such as word lists and flash cards to deeper mental such as word lists and flash cards to deeper mental processing such as word association strategiesprocessing such as word association strategies

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Nation’s (2001) Nation’s (2001) TaxonomyTaxonomyGeneral class of

strategiesTypes of strategies

Planning: choosing what to focus on and when to focus on it

Choosing words to focus on

Choosing aspects of word knowledge to focus on

Choosing appropriate strategies to use and when to switch to another strategy

Planning repetition (increasingly spaced repetition)Sources: finding information about the words

Analysing word parts

Using the context

Consulting a reference source in L1 and L2 (e.g. dictionaries, glosses, concordancers)

Comparing similarities and differences in L1 and L2 words (e.g. cognate words)

Processes: establishing knowledge

Noticing (seeing a word as an item to be learnt, e.g. keeping a notebook, using word cards, written and verbal repetition)

Retrieving (recall of previously learnt/met items, e.g. meeting a word in a new context, covering parts of a word recorded in a notebook)

Generating (generation of word knowledge, e.g. using a word in new contexts across the 4 skills, speaking, reading, writing or listening) 4

Memory Strategy – Using Mental Images

(Adapted from forthcoming “Loong Y & Chan S W L, A Study of Vocabulary Learning Strategies Adopted by Dentistry Students in Hong Kong In Learning Specialized Dental Vocabulary, September 2012, Asian ESP Journal”)

Memory Strategy – The Keyword Technique

(Adapted from Brahler, C. J. & Walker, D. (2008). Learning scientific and medical terminology with a mnemonic strategy using an illogical association technique. Advances in Physiology Education, 32, 219-224.)

Step One: Think of a word that you know that has a similar sound (audionym “Keyword” )Step Two: Create a mental image to link up the Keyword with the target word

The “keyword” techniqueJapanese word and meaning

English word that has a similar sound

Link and visual image created

kurai (dark)

karada (body)

The “keyword” techniqueJapanese word and meaning

English word that has a similar sound

Link and visual image created

kurai (dark) cry A baby cries when it is dark

karada (body) colored a colored body

Kurai - Cry

Imagine the visual of a baby crying when it’s dark

Karada - colored

a colored body

How easy is it to guess the meaning of the How easy is it to guess the meaning of the underlined words?underlined words?

The Nanu region is famous for its wonderful scenery, ancient temples and, above all, the indigenous people of Sofa. In their remote village, reached after an arduous and dusty drive, live the Sofans, with their welcoming smiles and warm affability. Few visitors, however, make this trip as it is not on the normal itinerary of most tour groups.

As I sauntered through the village, I stopped for a few moments on a bridge to watch the boisterous children splashing each other with water. School hours are short here and many of the teenagers seem to squander their daylight hours riding around the square on noisy old motorcycles.

Groups of local women spend their days weaving coloured silk into stunning fabrics. Their remuneration is only a few dollars although they may have worked for several days to create each one. As dusk approaches, the men return from the fields where they have been toiling all day, hungry and ready for a quiet evening with their families. 11

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Guessing strategies

1. Study the word itself (what pos? any word parts?)

2. Examine immediate context3. Examine wider context4. Make a guess5. Verify your guess by using a

dictionary

Strategies for guessing Strategies for guessing word meaning from context word meaning from context

(Nation, 1990)(Nation, 1990)Step 1:Step 1:

What What part of speechpart of speech is it? Is it a noun, a verb, an adjective or an adverb? is it? Is it a noun, a verb, an adjective or an adverb?

Step 2:Step 2:

Does it contain any Does it contain any familiar partsfamiliar parts? ? (e.g. (e.g. in-digest-ible)in-digest-ible)

Does it look Does it look similar to another wordsimilar to another word you already know? you already know?

Step 3:Step 3:

Examine the Examine the immediate contextimmediate context. If the unknown word is a . If the unknown word is a

NounNoun What adjectives describe it? What adjectives describe it?

What verb does it go with? What verb does it go with?

What does it do and what is done to it? What does it do and what is done to it?

VerbVerb What nouns go with it?What nouns go with it?

Does an adverb tell you more about it?Does an adverb tell you more about it?

AdjectiveAdjective What noun does it go with?What noun does it go with?

AdverbAdverb Which verb does it go with? Which verb does it go with?

Step 4:Step 4:Examine the Examine the wider contextwider context. Look at the relationship between the . Look at the relationship between the

clause or sentence containing the unknown word and other clause or sentence containing the unknown word and other sentences or paragraphs. sentences or paragraphs. 1.1. Sometimes this relationship is signalled Sometimes this relationship is signalled by a linking word, by a linking word,

e.g. e.g. but, because, ifbut, because, if,, when when, , however, as a resulthowever, as a result. . 2.2. Word like Word like this, thatthis, that and and such assuch as provide useful information. provide useful information. 3.3. Look for a Look for a definitiondefinition or or synonymsynonym in the wider context. in the wider context.4.4. Make use of Make use of that / which clausesthat / which clauses that give further that give further

information.information. 5.5. LookLook at at punctuationpunctuation for clues. for clues.

dashesdashes - - brackets brackets ( )( ) colonscolons : : semi colonssemi colons ; ; Step 5Step 5:: Guess the meaningGuess the meaning.. Step 6:Step 6: Substitute your guess. Does the sentence make sense? Substitute your guess. Does the sentence make sense? If If

you’re still unsure, look it up in a dictionary.you’re still unsure, look it up in a dictionary.

Answers Arduous – difficult / tiring Affability – friendliness Saunter – walk slowly Boisterous – noisy / energetic Squander – spend in a wasteful way Weave – make cloth Remuneration – payment Dusk – early evening Toil – work very hard

Selection Strategies:Which words should you skip

learning? (Nation, 1990)

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Recording vocabulary

Relate new words with old words (e.g. words that look / sound similar, synonyms, antonyms

collocations Grammatical behavior (e.g.

prepositions, pos, c/unc, regular/irregular verb)

use a drawing Word cards? Portable devices?

Revising vocabularyRevising vocabulary Plan for “spaced repetition” Use quizzes to test yourself regularly Follow a particular topic reported in the media over a few

days, e.g. reading about the development of an issue on the Internet or in newspapers over a few days so that you keep meeting the same words or synonyms of these words

Try to use the words you learnt before, e.g. by writing sentences or paragraphs using these words

Revise the words recorded in your vocabulary notebook or cards regularly (e.g. cover up the word or definition and test yourself)

Ask a friend to test you / practice using words you learnt before with a friend

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Importance of RevisionImportance of Revision

Spaced / Distributed Spaced / Distributed RepetitionRepetition

VLS research on Chinese learners

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VLS research on Chinese learners

Gu and Johnson (1996) -- China VLS and learning outcomes (vocab size and lg prof)

Gu (2002) -- China VLS and vocab size, lg prof, gender, academic major

Gu (2003) -- China VLS of two successful EFL learners (selected from 11

learners who carried out “think-aloud” during a reading task, and were interviewed afterwards; the notes they took during the reading task were studied)

Wei (2007) -- China VLS and gender, major, lg prof (self-reported), problems

in vocab learning Liao (2004) -- Taiwan

VLS and major Fan (2003) -- HK

Use of VLS (questionnaire – frequency of use & perceived usefulness)

Some conclusions based on Some conclusions based on these studiesthese studies

Positive correlation between strategy use and language proficiency / learning outcomes

Successful learners use a wider range of strategies, use deeper processing strategies, and use strategies more skillfully / flexibly

Importance of self-initiation, selective attention, guessing word meaning, activation of newly learned words

Management, activation of newly learnt /known words, association, and social strategies seem under-used by Asian learners 23

Use of ConcordancersUse of Concordancers

A corpus – a large collection of texts, written or spoken, stored on a computer.

A concordancer – a computer programme used to search this database

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Considerations

General English / Academic English / Specialised English (e.g. medical and law corpora on Compleat Lexical Tutor)?

Written / Spoken? Size? Currency? Free of charge?

Corpus SizeCorpus Size

“I don’t think there can be any corpora, however large, that contain information about all of the areas of English….that I want to explore [but] every corpus that I’ve had a chance to examine, however small, has taught me facts that I couldn’t imagine finding out about in any other way.” (Fillmore, 1992, p. 35)

Use of CorporaUse of Corpora Word lists and dictionary entries

(different senses of a word / typical examples of usage / frequency information) are compiled by computational linguists using a corpus of the language. E.g. In the 1980s, Collins started to use a computerised corpus

(then called the COBUILD corpus) with John Sinclair of University of Birmingham; now the Collins Cobuild Corpus has 2.5 billion words (part of which is the Bank of English Corpus (http://www.collinslanguage.com/collins-elt-learners-of-english/cobuild & http://www.mycobuild.com/about-collins-corpus.aspx)

E.g. Macmillan Dictionary: http://www.macmillandictionary.com/corpus.html 27

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Major corpus: BNC

100 million words Written (90%) and spoken (10%)

samples British English from the 1980’s to

1993 General English http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/

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Major corpus: Bank of English 450 million words by 2005 75% written and 25% spoken 70% British, 20% American and 10%

others Contemporary English http://www.titania.bham.ac.uk/

docs/svenguide.html

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Major corpus: Brown corpus 1 million words American English One of the earliest corpora / compiled in

1960s 500 text samples from 15 text categories Searchable through Compleat Lexical

Tutor at http://www.lextutor.ca/concordancers/concord_e.html

Major Corpus: The Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) Contemporary American English

containing about 450 million words from 1990 to present http://www.americancorpus.org/

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Major corpus: MICASE

Michigan Corpus of Michigan Corpus of Academic Academic Spoken Spoken EnglishEnglish

started in 1997started in 1997 contains transcripts and audio files contains transcripts and audio files

of academic speechof academic speech http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/micase/

Some Some user-friendlyuser-friendly concordancersconcordancers

1. Word Neighbors (developed by University of Science and Technology)

2. www.just-the-word.com3. COCA (needs registration)

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Tasks - answers

The public have expressed concern about … / … are of great concern to the public

Sufficient / clear / strong evidence Improve / increase / promote efficency Substitute for Sheer ( volume / numbers / rates /

amount / number )

How can corpora be used in How can corpora be used in the classroom?the classroom?

Among these suggestions by Nicholas Medley, which ones are applicable in your classroom?

How can corpora data be How can corpora data be used to facilitate vocabulary used to facilitate vocabulary

learning/teaching?learning/teaching?1. Study words in context and increase

depth of processing2. Check grammatical behaviour of

words e.g. what prepositions to use after a verb

3. Check collocations and lexical patterns4. Find out about the frequencies of

words / word combinations5. Find out about usage of a word in

different text types (e.g. fiction vs academic / spoken vs written)

Submission of Submission of AssignmentAssignment

Deadline: October 28 Hard copy to Cecilia Soft copy via www.turnitin.com

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Preparation for next Preparation for next classclass

Give an oral outline of your assignment

Can consider: Conference abstracts of JALT

Vocabulary Symposium (2012) (post-session 4 reading)

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