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2058 results in ELT Applied Linguistics

Page 8 of 103

  • 6 - Specialised uses of vocabulary

  • I. S. P. Nation
  • Book:
    Learning Vocabulary in Another Language
    Published online:
    15 February 2018
    Print publication:
    31 October 2013, pp 289-325

  • Summary

    When learners have mastered the 2,000–3,000 high-frequency words of general usefulness in English, it is wise to direct vocabulary learning to more specialised areas, depending on the aims of the learners. First, it is possible to specialise by learning the shared vocabulary of several fields of study, for example academic vocabulary. Next the specialised vocabulary of one particular field or part of that field can be studied. Because many courses focus on learners who will do academic study in English, we will look first at academic vocabulary.

    What is academic vocabulary?

    Academic vocabulary is variously known as ‘generally useful scientific vocabulary’ (Barber, 1962), ‘sub-technical vocabulary’ (Anderson, 1980; Cowan, 1974; Yang, 1986), ‘semi-technical vocabulary’ (Farrell, 1990), ‘specialised non-technical lexis’ (Cohen et al., 1988), ‘frame words’ (Higgins, 1966), and ‘academic vocabulary’ (Coxhead, 2000; Martin, 1976). The division of the vocabulary of academic texts into three levels of general service, or basic vocabulary, sub-technical vocabulary and technical vocabulary, is a commonly made distinction (although it ignores mid-frequency and low-frequency vocabulary which has no technical or sub-technical features). Dresher (1934) made such a three-part distinction when looking at mathematics vocabulary for native speakers. Other writers have independently made a similar distinction. Typically, academic vocabulary lists include words like accumulate, achieve, compound, complex and proportion which are common in academic texts and not so common elsewhere.

  • 12 - Finding and learning multiword units

  • I. S. P. Nation
  • Book:
    Learning Vocabulary in Another Language
    Published online:
    15 February 2018
    Print publication:
    31 October 2013, pp 479-513

  • Summary

    What are multiword units?

    There are four major kinds of multiword units: (1) A multiword unit can be a group of words that commonly occur together, like ‘take a chance’; (2) it can be a group of words where the meaning of the phrase is not obvious from the meaning of the parts, as with ‘by and large’ or ‘be taken in’ (be tricked); (3) it can simply refer to all the combinations of a particular word or type of word and its accompanying words whether they are highly frequent, strongly associated, or not; and (4) it can refer to word groups that are intuitively seen as being formulaic sequences, that is, items stored as single choices (see Durrant and Schmitt, 2009: 159, for an excellent discussion of these four types).

    These different kinds of multiword units are based on a variety of criteria – frequency of co-occurrence, compositionality (do the parts make the whole?), form and storage, and so it is not too surprising that there is a large and growing list of terms to cover multiword units. Wray (2000) lists around 50 terms including composites, conventionalised forms, idiomatic phrases, routine formulae, phrasal expressions, and stock utterances, just to describe formulaic sequences, and there are at least as many again to describe multiword units more generally (lexical bundles, collocations, phrasal units, multiword units). The large number of terms reflects the different purposes for looking at multiword units, and the fragmented nature of research in this area. Walker (2011) suggests that the definition of what is a multiword unit affects what appears in learners' dictionaries. A major issue in research on multiword units is the need to set clear criteria and, where possible, develop standard terminology to describe the different types of multiword units.

  • Series editors' preface

  • I. S. P. Nation
  • Book:
    Learning Vocabulary in Another Language
    Published online:
    15 February 2018
    Print publication:
    31 October 2013, pp xiii-xiii

  • Summary

    Over ten years ago, when the first edition of Learning Vocabulary in Another Language was published, vocabulary learning was characterised by the then series editors as an area studied by only a few pioneers, Paul Nation being one of them. In part due to the tremendous impact of the first edition of Nation's book, today research and teaching of second language vocabulary learning is no longer the preoccupation of just a few. On the contrary, throughout applied linguistics, vocabulary, formulaic expressions, word patterns and lexical bundles are centre stage in the study of how learners develop the ability to make meaning. With the importance of the lexical dimension of language development recognised, the research basis for understanding vocabulary teaching and learning has grown to be substantial. A second edition of Paul Nation's seminal work was needed.

    The second edition of Learning Vocabulary in Another Language possesses the same qualities that made the first edition so popular. It is organised around issues relevant to readers needing a solid understanding of vocabulary in order to improve practices in second language vocabulary teaching and assessment. For example, chapters outline the goals of vocabulary learning, teaching and explaining vocabulary, vocabulary and listening and speaking, as well as vocabulary and reading. The book presents and interprets a comprehensive pool of research on second language vocabulary acquisition, and in so doing it provides research-based recommendations for practice.

  • 4 - Vocabulary and listening and speaking

  • I. S. P. Nation
  • Book:
    Learning Vocabulary in Another Language
    Published online:
    15 February 2018
    Print publication:
    31 October 2013, pp 161-203

  • Summary

    This chapter looks at opportunities for vocabulary learning through the oral skills of listening and speaking. With careful thought and planning, listening and speaking can be important means of vocabulary growth.

    What vocabulary knowledge is needed for listening?

    Learning vocabulary through listening is one type of learning through meaning-focused input. Learners would need at least 95% coverage of the running words in the input in order to gain reasonable comprehension and to have reasonable success at guessing from context. Van Zeeland and Schmitt (In press) found that 95% coverage was adequate for listening to informal narratives. Staehr (2009) found 98% coverage was needed for academic listening. A coverage of 98% (one unknown word in every 50 words, or about two or three unknown words per minute) is not surprisingly better than less coverage (Bonk, 2000; Hu and Nation, 2000; Schmitt et al., 2011; van Zeeland and Schmitt, 2012). Studies of spoken language, especially colloquial spoken language used in informal situations, indicate that a vocabulary of around 3,000 word families is needed to provide around 95% coverage (Adolphs and Schmitt, 2003, 2004; Webb and Rodgers, 2009a, 2009b). Around 5,000–6,000 words are needed to get 98% coverage. More formal academic spoken language makes more use of the vocabulary in the Academic Word List, which provides around 4% coverage of university lectures. Typically, as vocabulary size increases, so does written comprehension (Schmitt et al., 2011).

  • 2 - Knowing a word

  • I. S. P. Nation
  • Book:
    Learning Vocabulary in Another Language
    Published online:
    15 February 2018
    Print publication:
    31 October 2013, pp 44-91

  • Summary

    Words are not isolated units of the language, but fit into many related systems and levels. Because of this, there are many things to know about any particular word and there are many degrees of knowing. One of the major ideas explored in this chapter is the relationship and boundaries between learning individual items and learning systems of knowledge. For example, it is possible to learn to recognise the form of a word simply by memorising its form. It is also possible to learn to recognise the form of a regularly spelled word by learning the systematic sound–spelling correspondences involved in the language. Recognition of the word then involves the application of some of the spelling rules. The relationship between item knowledge and system knowledge is complex and there has been enormous debate about certain aspects of it, for example, as it affects young native speakers of English learning to read. For each of the aspects of what it means to know a word, we will look at the item–system possibilities. A second major idea explored in this chapter is what some see as the receptive–productive scale of knowledge and how it applies to each aspect of vocabulary knowledge.

    The aims of this chapter are to examine what could be known about a word, to evaluate the relative importance of the various kinds of knowledge, to see how they are related to each other, and to broadly suggest how learners might gain this knowledge.

  • 3 - Teaching and explaining vocabulary

  • I. S. P. Nation
  • Book:
    Learning Vocabulary in Another Language
    Published online:
    15 February 2018
    Print publication:
    31 October 2013, pp 92-160

  • Summary

    The main message of this chapter is that vocabulary teaching has only a limited role to play in the learning of vocabulary (about one-quarter of one of the four strands of a course), and teachers need to be careful not to overplay this role at the expense of the time available for the deliberate and incidental learning of vocabulary.

    What is involved in vocabulary teaching and what role should teaching play?

    Many first language researchers question the value of spending teaching time on particular words, especially using rich instruction. The arguments used against the direct teaching of vocabulary for first language learners include the following:

  • There are too many words to teach. Research on the vocabulary size of native speakers shows that, even by the most conservative estimates (D'Anna et al., 1991; Nation, 1993), native speakers know tens of thousands of word families. Direct teaching could only have a very trivial impact on such knowledge.

  • There is a lot to learn about each word (Nagy, 1997). Chapter 2 of this book outlined the various aspects of what is involved in knowing a word. Nagy challenges the idea of a word family, showing that for many complex and compound forms of words there is substantial extra learning required, and this increases the number of words to be learned.

  • To have an immediate effect on vocabulary knowledge, substantial time has to be spent on teaching each word.

  • […]

  • 5 - Vocabulary and reading and writing

  • I. S. P. Nation
  • Book:
    Learning Vocabulary in Another Language
    Published online:
    15 February 2018
    Print publication:
    31 October 2013, pp 204-288

  • Summary

    Reading and the four strands

    When looking at language learning in general, or the learning of a particular skill like listening, speaking, reading or writing, it is useful to look at what can make up such a course across the four strands of meaning-focused input, meaning-focused output, language-focused learning and fluency development. About half the time in a reading course should be spent on meaning-focused input which should largely be done through extensive reading, although there are other meaning-focused reading activities which can contribute to this strand (Nation and Yamamoto, 2011). Reading can also contribute to meaning-focused output when learners talk about what they have read or write about what they have read. Meaning-focused output can contribute to reading, when learners gain background knowledge through speaking and writing which can make subsequent reading easier. There are also language-focused learning elements to improving the reading skill, as in intensive reading, the deliberate study of reading strategies, and the deliberate learning of vocabulary for reading. The fluency development strand has a major role to play in a reading course and this fluency development can occur through easy extensive reading, a focused speed reading course and activities like repeated reading. Fluency development should make up about one-quarter of the reading course.

    In the reading section of this chapter, we look at how much vocabulary is needed to gain meaning-focused input through reading unsimplified material, how learners can increase their reading vocabulary, the value of reading unsimplified text and simplified text for vocabulary learning, and the value of reading simplified text for improving skill in reading.

  • 1 - The goals of vocabulary learning

  • I. S. P. Nation
  • Book:
    Learning Vocabulary in Another Language
    Published online:
    15 February 2018
    Print publication:
    31 October 2013, pp 9-43

  • Summary

    The idea behind this chapter is that it is helpful to use frequency and range of occurrence to distinguish several levels of vocabulary. Distinguishing these levels helps ensure that learners learn vocabulary in the most useful sequence and thus gain the most benefit from the vocabulary they learn. Making the high-frequency / mid-frequency / low-frequency distinction ensures that the teacher deals with vocabulary in the most efficient ways.

    Counting words

    There are several ways of counting words, that is, deciding what will be counted.

    Tokens

    One way is simply to count every word form in a spoken or written text and if the same word form occurs more than once, then each occurrence is counted. So, the sentence, It is not easy to say it correctly, would contain eight words, even though two of them are the same word form, it. Words which are counted in this way are called tokens, and sometimes running words. If we try to answer questions like ‘How many words are there on a page or in a line?’, ‘How long is this book?’, ‘How fast can you read?’ or ‘How many words does the average person speak per minute?’, then our unit of counting will be the token.

    Types

    We can count the words in the sentence It is not easy to say it correctly another way. When we see the same word occur again, we do not count it again. So the sentence of eight tokens consists of seven different words or types.

  • 8 - Learning words from context

  • I. S. P. Nation
  • Book:
    Learning Vocabulary in Another Language
    Published online:
    15 February 2018
    Print publication:
    31 October 2013, pp 348-388

  • Summary

    Incidental learning from context is the most important of all the sources of vocabulary learning. This is particularly true for native speakers learning their first language. It should also be true for second language learners, but many do not experience the conditions that are needed for this kind of learning to occur. A major goal of this chapter is to look at these conditions and see how they can be established. We will look at how successful learners can be at guessing from context, how much and what kind of learning can occur from this guessing, and the kinds of clues available for guessing. We will then look at how learners can be helped to become skilful at guessing from context.

    Which is best: intentional or incidental learning?

    Learning vocabulary from context is often seen as something opposed to the direct intentional learning and teaching of vocabulary (Kelly, 1990). This is an unfortunate viewpoint and the position taken in this book is that they are complementary activities, each one enhancing the learning that comes from the other. A well-balanced language-learning programme has an appropriate range of opportunities to learn from message-focused activities and from direct study of language items, with direct study of language items occupying no more than a quarter of the total learning programme.

    In this chapter, learning from context is taken to mean the incidental learning of vocabulary from reading or listening to normal language use while the main focus of learners' attention is on the message of the text.

  • 7 - Vocabulary-learning strategies

  • I. S. P. Nation
  • Book:
    Learning Vocabulary in Another Language
    Published online:
    15 February 2018
    Print publication:
    31 October 2013, pp 326-347

  • Summary

    Vocabulary-learning strategies are a part of language-learning strategies which in turn are a part of general learning strategies. In general, the findings of research on vocabulary-learning strategies agree with studies of more general language-learning strategy use. Schmitt (1997) provides a very useful overview of the rise in importance of strategy use in second language learning, noting that it grew out of an interest in learners' active role in the learning process.

    It is not easy to arrive at a definition of what a strategy is, but to deserve attention from a teacher, a strategy would need to:

  • involve choice, that is, there are several strategies to choose from and one choice could be not to use the strategy;

  • be complex, that is, there are several steps to learn;

  • require knowledge and benefit from training; and

  • increase the efficiency and effectiveness of vocabulary learning and vocabulary use.

    • There are numerous strategies which have these features. Learners not only need to know about these strategies, but need to have skill in using them.

    What vocabulary learning strategies are there?

    Gu (2003a) provides an excellent review of research on a wide range of strategies for vocabulary learning, making the point that ‘the choice, use, and effectiveness of vocabulary learning strategies depend on the task, the learner, and the learning context’ (p. 1). Gu's review covers the task-dependent strategies of learning from context, dictionary use, vocabulary notetaking, rote rehearsal, encoding (the processing), word formation, semantic networks and vocabulary in use.

Page 8 of 103