paulnationnotes.doc

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Teaching Vocabulary: Strategies and Techniquesby Paul Nation. Heinle, Cengage Learning. 2008

(Notes by Christine Scharf many of these notes are taken word for word or near word for word for Paul Nation with page numbers writtenat the end of lines)

The goals of this book are (1) to show teachers ways they can evaluate their own vocabularyprograms from a teaching and learning perspective, and (2) to make informed changes totheir programs so that vocabulary growth is more likely to occur.

The Big Picture

n order of importance, the teachers jobs are planning, strategy training, testing, andteaching vocabulary. 1

Planning: Vocabulary should be divided into fourequal parts:1. Meaning-focused input reading and listening learners need to focus on

understanding and enjoyment. There should be no more than one unknown word inevery 50 running words. Extensive reading, listening to stories, listening to lectures,talking part in conversation, and reading for study purposes.

2. Meaning-focused output speaking and writing push learners to usevocabulary, but do not overload them. Get them to focus their attention on giving

prepared talks, discussing and writing about what has been read, taking part inconversation, doing ranking, problem-solving, role play, retelling, and splitinformation activities.

3. Language-focused learning deliberately learn new words and study more aboutpreviously encountered vocabulary, and teachers should pay special attention tovocabulary and vocabulary strategies. Make sure students get intensive readingpractice, always getting feedback on their speaking and writing progress, learningand practicing strategies, and doing vocabulary exercises.Strategies include: guessing from context, using word cards, using word parts, andusing a dictionary.

4. Fluency development students become more proficient with words they already

know. There should be no unknown vocabulary. Speed reading deals withextensive reading of easy material, the 4/3/2 activity, linked skills activities, whendiscussion leads to reading which leads to writing, repeated listening and repeatedreading, and 10 minute writing.

Strategy training - guessing from context, using word cards, using word parts, andusing a dictionary.It takes a few months and several minutes each week for learners to get really good atusing each strategy. A strategy is not learned in one training session. 3

Testing: Teachers need to be able to test their learners and to interpret those tests todetect when learners are in their vocabulary development stage in order to plan futureteaching and to continue motivating learning.

Teaching -Teachers need to limit the scope of a word. They cannot teach everything there is toknow about it. Teachers need to known the meaning, form and use of a word. Themost difficult of the three generally deserves the most teaching time.

1. High Frequency/AWL vocabulary deserves the teachers attention anddeserves direct instruction. Low frequency vocabulary does not deserveteaching time this is where strategy teaching comes in.

2. The amount of strength of learning depends on the quality of the mentalprocessing. To increase the mental processing, involve more aspects ofknowing a word. 5

3. There are many ways of communicating word meanings. The best way is to beclear, simple, and brief. Wherever possible, the first-language translationshould be given.


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4. The meaning given should describe the underlying meaning that includes mostof the words usages and its different senses.

5. Words should not be taught with others that belong to the same lexical set,such as near synonyms, or opposites

6. There should be repeated opportunities for increasingly spaced retrieval ofeach word. A future encounter with a word is more important than the initialpresentation.

7. Direct teaching is only one part of the four strands that a word should be metin, and is only one way of giving specific attention to it.

8. Learners should take control of their own vocabulary learning. Learnersshould be taught how to learn vocabulary and how to choose the vocabularythey wish to learn.

The learners job1. Need to practice deliberately learning vocabulary word car, mark dictionary lightly

with pencil.2. Take responsibility for their own learning.

Testing -Receptive knowledge vs. productive knowledge

Vocabulary and Listening95% of a movie such as Shrek comes from the first 4,000 words. Native speakers learnroughly 1000 words a year. Simplified texts can be used for non-native speakers. 17

Native speakers learn most of their useful vocabulary through listening, but it must be easyenough for them to be able to do the following:

1. to focus on message of input2. to become interested in what is being listened to3. to become familiar with 98% of the input4. to have the support and skill to guess the remaining 2%

5. to have plenty of input that should provide repeated opportunities to deal withnew words and establish confidence in themselves to face unknown vocabulary.

Dictation level test page 18

Activities: Remember the Word 19, What is it 20, Feel the Objects, Word Detectives21-22,Listening to Stories 23, Unexploded Dictation 25, Controlling the teacher 26 Quizzes 27,Information gap activities label the picture, find the difference, put them in order 31,perform the action 32, listening using an information table 33, notetaking 34-35,

Oxford Bookworms

Vocabulary and SpeakingSpeaking and writing vocabulary are distinct. (e.g. well, right, actually)Learning a word for productive use requires more learning than for receptive use. If learnershave a reasonably large receptive vocabulary, but are unable to put enough of this toproductive use, then the teacher needs to concentrate on activities that enrich the learningof known words and improve the access to them. 44

Same or Different 39, 40, Saying known or partly known words 41, Kims game 41,Remember the pictures 42, The paraphrasing strategy 44, Communicative crosswords 45,twenty questions 46, describe it! 46, beating the odds 47, split information problems 49-53,headlines 53, where should the prison be built 55, 4/3/2 56

Vocabulary Learning and Intensive Readingntensive reading is the assisted careful reading of texts with the goal of understanding thetext and learning language items from the text. Typically the text is something the studentswould need assistance with to understand. 59


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ways of dealing withwords reasons explanationsPreteach 1 4 Before the learners read the text, the teacher

spends some time explaining the meaning of somewords and focusing on their form, meaning, anduse.

Replace it in the textbefore giving the text tothe learners

3 4,5 The text is simplified by replacing some unknownwords with known synonyms or removing part of thetext.

Put in a glossary 1,2 4,5 Some unknown words are listed with their meaninggiven in L1 or L2.

Put it in an exerciseafter the text

1,2 4,5 6 Some unknown words are put in cloze, wordbuilding, or other types of exercises after the text.

Quickly give themeaning

1,2,3

4 The teacher gives a quick L1 translation or L2explanation of the meaning.

Do nothing about it 3 5 7,8 Help the learners usethe context to guess

1,2,3

4,5 7 The teacher guides the learners through a guessingstrategy to work out the meaning.

Help the learners use

the dictionary

1,2,

3

4,5 7 The teacher guides the learners in using the

dictionary to look up and learn about a word.Break it into parts 1,2,

34,5 6 The teacher helps the learners practice a word

analysis strategy relating the word parts to thewords meaning.

Spend time looking at itsrange of meanings andcollocations

1,2 4,5 6 The teacher interrupts the reading to spend timeexplaining the meaning of a word and aspects of itsform, meaning, and use. 60

1 high frequency word will occur in other texts, 2 useful technical word, 3 low frequency, 4mportant for the message of the text, 5 not important for message of the text, 6 has usefulparts, 7 is easy to guess from text, 8 cognate of or like an L1 word 66

Vocabulary Learning Through Extensive ReadingReading is a source of learning and a source of enjoyment. It can be a goal in its own rightand a way of reaching other goals. It can be a way of gaining knowledge about the world. Asearners acquire skill and fluency in reading, their pleasure in this activity will increase. 69Reading requires considerable knowledge and skill which includes: recognizing words, idiomsand expressions, having a large vocabulary and substantial grammatical and textualawareness being able to bring knowledge of the world to the reading task, and developing adegree of fluency with reading skill.Learning through extensive reading is largely incidental learning, where the learnersattention is focused on the story and not on the items to learn. As a result, the learning

process tends to be weak, and thus it is important to have a substantial input with plenty ofopportunities for vocabulary repetition. 70

Learners should be interested in what they are reading and their attention should be on themeaning of the text rather than on learning the language features of the text. Largequantities of varied, self-selected, enjoyable reading at a reasonably fluent speed areneeded. 70As time goes by, some of the vocabulary acquired may be lost, so it is important to have

repeated exposure to the words. Large amounts of reading need to occur continuously overong periods of time. 71

Extensive reading can only occur if 95%-98% of the running words in a text are alreadyfamiliar to the learner so the learner is not burdened with the load of heavy vocabulary tasks.No more than 2 words out of a hundred should be unfamiliar. Graded readers are needed.Silent Sustained Reading - they can read a book in English from beginning to end and canenjoy it.One graded reader is recommended every two weeks.


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Generally the learners are required to keep track of their progress by writing the name of thebook, how long it took to read, a brief comment about the quality of the book (Was it a goodstory? Would you recommend it to others?) The less time the forms take, the more time theyhave to read.Activities: Perhaps placing a sheet of paper at the back of each book, so the student has theopportunity to write comments and make suggestions. Oral book reports should encourageothers to read.

Training Learners in Guessing from Context

Draw from sources of information including:1. the clues that are in a phrase or sentence in which an unknown word occurs2. the clues that are nearby the phrase or sentence3. the information that has been built up so far from all the previous parts of the text4. knowledge of the nature of such texts5. background content information from outside the text6. the readers common sense knowledge of the world7. the morphological form of the unknown word

Checklist for younger learners to guess from context:___ This word makes sense in the story___ Everybody knows that these things go together.___ I already know this story.___ The sentence with the word tells us the answer.___ Part of the word looks like a word I already know. 75

Older learners can1. Look at the unknown word and decide on its part of speech.2. Look carefully at the clause containing the unknown word. This can involve the What

does what? Technique where learners are given a word from the text and they haveto put it in the simplest context possible using the information from the text.

3. Work out the relationship between the adjoining clauses and the clause containing theunknown word. What conjunction marker words are used or could be used? Because cause and effect, or alternatives, etc.

4. Have a guess.5. Check the guess. 76

The Nature of Strategy TrainingWeek 1 The teacher demonstrates the strategy to the learners working on a reading text.This is done several times for a few minutes a day for a week or so. The teacher writes thestrategy on the board.Week 2 The teacher encourages the learners to work cooperatively with her goingthrough the steps of the strategy while guessing some unknown words in a text.Week 3 The teacher and learners work together on guessing the goal being to learn thesteps in the strategy. The teacher spends a little extra time focusing on step 1, deciding thepart of speechWeek 4-6 The teacher and learners continue to work together on guessing. The teacherspends more time on step 2, using clues in the same clause as the unknown word.Week 7-9 The teacher and learners continue to work together. The teacher spends sometime focusing on step 3, using conjunction relationships. Occasionally the teacher gets theearners to work in pairs without her guidance. They can report back on the steps theyfollowed.


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Weeks 10-12 Most of the guessing is now done in pairs with feedback on their guesses.The teacher focuses on step 5 of the strategy, checking the guess.Weeks 13-14 The learners do some guessing individually and report back to theirclassmates. The teacher has some sessions where the strategy is discussed and learnerscomment on their difficulties and successes using the strategy. 78

Deliberate attentionBoosting vocabulary learning through extensive reading

1. Before reading a text, the learner quickly skims it and selects 5 or 6 words to focus on

while reading. This has the effect of raising awareness about some words and thusenhancing the words when they come across them in the text once again.

2. While reading the learner can make a list of new words that are repeated in the textand put on word cards for later deliberate study

3. A more formal follow up to this technique is for learners to report to the class on aword that they found while reading, explaining what it means, how it was used in thetext, its word parts, its etymology, and any unusual features about it.

4. The use of a dictionary while reading can also have positive effects, though it increasesthe risk of dependency and over usage of the same. 79

Vocabulary and WritingFor students with academic aims, this type of vocabulary must be learned not onlyreceptively but also productively, because the ability to use academic vocabulary is a way ofbecoming a member of the academic community. 85

Teaching vocabulary for writing purposes includes spelling, the use of words in sentences,and using vocabulary to signal the organization of a written text.Spelling dictation, spelling by analogy, sound-spelling correspondences, look and recall 86Ten minute writing learners write as much as they can on an easy topic. The teacherdoesnt correct spelling or grammatical errors, but responds to the content of the text,encouraging the learners to write more. The speed of writing is kept in words per minute on a

personal graph by each learner and their goal is to see if their speed increases. This is donethree times per week. 88

Reading texts in the same genres as the learners are required to write in is importantpreparation for the writing process. Analyzing these texts and finding useful expressions tomemorize are also helpful procedures.

Using a dictionary - it may be necessary to use both a bilingual as well as a monolingualdictionary. 89Learners dictionaries are better because they include syllabification, meaning, grammar,collocations, register appropriateness, frequency, and advice on common errors.

Linking skill activities work on the same theme using different skills read, discuss, write91; speak, listen and write; reading like a writer, semantic mapping 95

The Deliberate Teaching and Learning of VocabularyDeliberately teaching vocabulary is one of the least efficient ways of developing the learnersvocabulary knowledge, but nonetheless it is an important part of a well-balanced vocabularyprogram.The best results occur in the context of message-focused activities involving listening,

speaking, reading, and writing, and where the teaching deals with items that learners see asbeing totally relevant for that activity. 98

Decide if the word is worth spending time on.


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n general, time should be spent on high frequency words in order to satisfy the learnersneeds..

1. For low priority words: use L1 translation, use an L2 synonym or definition, show objector picture, give quick demo, diagram, break the word into parts, give several examplesof the word 98

2. Draw attention to the form of the word, or the grammar of the word3. Keep it simple and clear. Relate present teaching to past knowledge. Use both oral and

written presentations. give attention to words that are already partly known, dont usewords from same lexical sets 99

Getting to know a word

Discovering the learning burden what needs to be taught about the word

Vocabulary learning exercises that require little or no preparationWord Meaning

Find the core meaning The learners look at dictionary entries and find the shared meaningn the various senses of the word.Word Card Testing The learners work in pairs. Each learner gives their pack of cards totheir partner who tests them on their recall of the meanings given about the word andgetting them to give the translation. This can also be done by giving the translation andgetting them to recall the word form.Using the dictionary When a useful word occurs in a reading text, the teacher trainsearners in the strategy of using a dictionaryGuessing from context Whenever a guessable word occurs in a reading text, the teachertrains the learners in guessing from contextWord Form

Spelling dictation Teacher says words or phrases and the students write them.Pronunciation The teacher writes words on the board and the learners pronounce themgetting feedback from the teacher. Each learner chooses a word to say from the list.Word parts The teacher writes words on the board and the learners separate them intoparts and give the meanings of the parts.Word UseSuggest collocates The learners work together in pairs or small groups to list collocates fora given word.Word Detectives A learner reports on a word he or she has found in their reading. They talkabout the meaning, spelling, pronunciation, word parts, etymology, collocates and grammar

of the word. ** 102

Prepared exercises

Meaning Word and meaning matching,. Labeling, sentence completion, crossword puzzles,semantic analysis, completing lexical sets

Meaning

Form andmeaning

Concepts andreferentsAssociations

Is the word a loan word in L1?Is there an L1 word with roughly the same meaning?

Does the word fall into the same structure as an L1 wordwith a similar meaning?

Form Spoken formWritten formWord parts

Can the learners repeat the word accurately when they hearit?Can the learners write the word correctly when they hear it?Can the learners identify known affixes in the word?

Use GrammaticalfunctionsCollocationsConstraints onuse

Does the word fit into predictable grammar patterns?Does the word have the same collocations as an L1 word ofsimilar meaning?Does the word have the same restrictions on its use as anL1 word of similar meaning? 100


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Form Following spelling rules, recognizing word parts, building word family tablesUse Sentence completion, collocation matching, collocation tables, interpreting dictionaryentries

A good vocabulary exercise does the following:1. It focuses on useful words, preferably high frequency words that students are familiar

with.2. It focuses on a useful aspect of the learning task. That is, it has a useful learning goal.3. It gets learners to meet or use the word in ways that establish new mental connections

for the word. It sets up useful conditions involving generative use.4. It involves the learners in actively searching for and evaluating the target words in the

exercise.5. It does not bring related unknown or partly known words together. It avoids

interference.

Giving repeated attention to vocabulary1. Spend time on a word by dealing with several aspects of the word, such as spelling,

pronunciation, parts, derivatives, meaning, collocations, grammar, and restrictions onits usage.

2. Get learners to do graded reading and listening to stories at the appropriate level.3. Get learners to do prepared activities that involve testing and teaching vocabulary,

such as same or different, find the difference, word and picture matching.4. Set aside time each week for word by word revision of the vocabulary that occurred

previously. List the words on the board and do the following:a. Go around the class getting each learner to say one of the words.b. Get learners to break the words into parts and label the meanings of the partsc. Get learners to suggest collocations for the wordsd. Get learners to recall the sentence where the word occurred and suggest another

context.

e. Get learners to look at derived forms of the words.Dont try and deal with all the complexities of a word in one session.

The amount of time spent on deliberate teaching needs to be balanced against the othertypes of language-focused learning such as intensive reading, deliberate learning, andstrategy training, and needs to be balanced against the other three strands of meaning-focused input, meaning focused-output and fluency development. 104

A good program has a balance of both deliberate and incidental learning. The two types oflearning should be complementary.

The most effective deliberate strategy is Word Cards 106-110Word Part Strategy 110-112Dictionaries 114-117In order to use a monolingual learners dictionarylearners need to have a vocabulary ofat least 2,000 words. This is because the most accessible of the dictionaries use acontrolled defining vocabulary of around 2,000 words. If learners have less vocabularythan that, they will have great difficulty in understanding definitions. Thus beginning andintermediate learners are better off using a bilingual dictionary or bilingualizeddictionary.

Multi-word units117-122

Testing Vocabulary KnowledgeThe vocabulary level test is a diagnostic test. For each level each word represents 33words. A score of 20 out of 30 would mean that a learner knows approximately 667 wordsat that level. 143


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Making testsConsider:Why do you want to test vocabulary?What vocabulary knowledge do you want to test? (recognition, receptive, productive)How difficult should the test be? 144

1. If the course focuses heavily on reading, it should be a receptive test, if it focusedon writing and speaking, then it should be a productive test

2. The degree of difficulty should be in accordance with the difficulty of the level ofthe learners. Difficult words require easier tests to show that some learning has

taken place.3. If the exam time is long, an easy test may be required to show that some

learning has taken place.4. Knowing a word is not an all-or-nothing state. The knowledge can consist of

different aspects, such as grammar, its collocates, and its word parts. It can alsoconsist of different strengths of knowledge, that is, how well particular aspectsare known. Learners should have plenty of experience with a word before havingto produce it. Learners should be given credit for what they have learned, andshould have the chance to show how well they have learned it. 150

A good vocabulary test should be valid, reliable, and easy to follow. 153-4

Self evaluation to encourage students to focus on their individual needs and shortcomings.Make note of the words you know, the words you know well, and the words you dontknow.

See chart on 145

Planning the Vocabulary Component of a Language Course

1. Find the present vocabulary level of the learnersThe vocabulary Levels Test but doesnt check production2. Find what use the learners need to make of the language.

Do they need the AWL or specific technical vocabulary?3. Decide on what and how much vocabulary they need to learn.

Remember that learning a word is cumulative; learning rates from differentactivities are not equal.

4. Divide the learning time equally between the four strands of meaning-focused input,meaning-focused output, language-focused learning, and fluency development needs to be balanced among these four

a. Set up a substantial extensive reading program and use the listening to stories

activity on a regular basisb. Provide opportunities for receptive vocabulary for learners to become productive

in speaking and writingc. Train learners in deliberate learning using words cards and word parts.d. Do intensive reading on a regular basis.e. Give fluency practice through the four skills by regularly doing Speed reading,

4/3/2, Ten minutes writing, and using English for classroom management.5. Decide how progress through the course will be tested.

a. Diagnosticb. Testing should encourage learningc. Check for reliability, validity, and practicalityd. Teachers may not wish to use vocabulary knowledge as a partial measure of the

final grade for a program, preferring to let measures of language use such asreading comprehension, spoken production, or writing skill indirectly give accountof the vocabulary acquired.. 160

6. Decide how the vocabulary component of the course will be evaluated.a. Does the course achieve its goals?


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b. Do the learners like the course?c. Does the course apply state-of-the-art knowledge about teaching and learning?d. Does the course attract learners to enroll in it?e. Does the course make money?f. Does the course satisfy the teachers?g. Does the course run smoothly? 161

Principles for evaluation a course1. Make sure vocabulary development occurs across the 4 strands of meaning-focused

input, meaning-focused output, language-focused learning, and fluency development.2. Have clear vocabulary learning goals based on information about learners present

knowledge and their future use of English.3. Spend time on high frequency words.4. Spend time on the strategies for high and low frequency words. Guessing from

context, using word cards, the known-to unknown imaging strategy, and dictionary use.5. Take strategy learning seriously. Plan for it and give each strategy repeated attention

until learners can use it well.6. Make sure words get increasingly spaced repeated attention.7. Encourage thoughtful processing of vocabulary, at least retrieval and preferably

generative use.8. Avoid interference.9. Monitor learners present knowledge and progress through the course.10. Encourage learners to take responsibility for their own learning and make sure that

they understand the principles described here and can apply them. 161

Courses can also be evaluated by getting information from the learners. This information canbe the result of regular testing, surveys of their attitudes to the course, as well as theearners self-assessment of their progress. 162

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