Teaching

vocabulary
Why is Vocabulary so Important?

Content-based language Instruction

Corpus linguistics and collocations
Frequency lists (ex: Academic Word
List)
Learner and teacher experiences
 What Is Vocabulary?
Words
Word families
cared, careful, carefully, careless, caring, cares,
carelessly
Phrasal verbs
turn off, put on, figure out, look up, run off
Collocations
ice cream, digital photograph, hot summer
Idioms
couch potato, Valley girl, hot under the collar, cold
shoulder, hit the road, on track
 What Vocabulary
Should We Teach?
Vocabulary Items That Are:
Frequent (West General Service List)
Important (Academic Word List)
Needed for Classroom Tasks &
Activities
Regular (common patterns or
features)
Easy to learn (cognates)
Must consider level & needs/interests of learners
Must answer students’ vocabulary questions
(Richards, Nation,
Genesee)
What Does It Mean to “Know” a
Word?
Different contexts of use
Different meanings (connotations)
Different word partners or
collocations

Students’ receptive vocabulary will

exceed their productive one.
(Carter, Ellis)
How Should We Teach Vocabulary?

Focus on important words

General Service List of first 2000
Academic Word List

Give simple, clear explanations &

translations

Provide repetition over time

How Should We Teach Vocabulary?

Provide both extensive & intensive

instruction
R & L to “pick up” vocabulary AND
direct instruction of key vocabulary
Help learners develop vocabulary
learning strategies
personal dictionaries; memory
strategies
How Should We Divide Our Time
in Teaching Vocabulary?
Teach each of these for about the same
amount (25%) of time: (Nation)
Learning from Input (L, R)
Most common 2000-3000 words
These are stored as one unit
Together they account for 80-90%
Learning from Output (S, W)
Opportunity to use the words;
repetition
How Should We Divide Our Time?

Focused Language Learning

Looking for patterns; dictionary work; etc,
The 100,000 + most infrequent words
These are rebuilt each time we use them
ex: Ungovernable = govern + able
+ un
Fluency Activities
All 4 skills; use known words & grammar
Encourage lots of use
 What Are Some Activities for
Teaching & Learning Vocabulary ?
For Children and Lower English Levels:
Word walls/mobiles/blocks/bulletin
boards
Charades/Act out meaning
Draw/point to items that match
definition
Alphabet books
Word games
 What Are Some Activities for
Teaching & Learning Vocabulary ?
For Older Students
Word Grids
Wordsplash
Personal Dictionaries & Vocabulary Notebooks
Word Analysis (Roots, Suffixes, Prefixes)
Find words with the same root
Change words from 1 part of speech to
another
(compose-composition)
Underline words known; circle unfamiliar
ones Word games (especially with
technology) Bingo/Concentration/Word
search Crossword puzzles
VOCABULARY WEBSITES
Vocabulary Activities

Learning vocabulary can be fun

http://www.vocabulary.co.il/

200 vocabulary exercises

http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/200/vocab/index.htm

Interactive vocabulary games

http://pbskids.org/arthur/games/unmatching/index.html

http://esl.fis.edu/vocab/index-fp.htm

Interactive puzzles
http://vlc.polyu.edu.hk/XWord/xword.htm
VOCABULARY ACTIVITIES
Vocabulary quizzes/activities
http://www.geocities.com/pccprep/qz.htm#vocab

Interactive vocabulary matching exercises

http://www.eslbears.homestead.com/matching.html

Vocabulary and grammar activities

http://english-zone.com/index.php

Vocabulary and other activities for young learners

http://www.abcteach.com/sitemap.htm

Vocabulary website from Ohio University

http://www.ohiou.edu/esl/english/vocabulary.html
 Dictionaries, Word Lists &
Frequency Lists
School-related idioms/vocabulary
http://www.idiomconnection.com/education.html#A

Little explorers’ dictionary. Click on letter

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Bisfor.shtml
The Internet picture dictionary
http://www.pdictionary.com/
Like a dictionary for intermediate or advanced Ss,
simple and clear definitions of words
http://www.englishpage.com/vocabulary/vocabulary.html
 Dictionaries, Word Lists &
Frequency Lists
Voice of America ESL dictionary
http://esl.about.com/library/vocabulary/blv
oa_a.htm
General Service Word List (most frequent
2000+ words)
http://jbauman.com/aboutgsl.html
Academic Word List (most frequent
university academic words across
several disciplines)
www.vuw.ac.nz/lals/research/a
wl/
 For Further Reading
Carter, R. (1998). Vocabulary. 2nd ed. New York:
Routledge.
Cobb, T. (2005). The complete lexical tutor.
http://132.208.224.131/
(Links to West List, Academic Word List, Vocabulary Profiler,
Concordancer, and many other vocabulary aids)
Folse, K. (2004). Vocabulary myths: Applying second
language research to classroom teaching. Ann Arbor,
MI: University of Michigan Press.
Nation, I.S.P. (1990). Teaching and learning
vocabulary.
Rowley, MA: Newbury House.
Nation, Paul (Ed.) (1994). New ways in teaching
vocabulary. Alexandria, VA: TESOL.
Nation, I. S. P. (2001). Learning vocabulary in
another language. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press