Why Words Matter: 5 Things You Should Know About Teaching Vocabulary to Beginning Language Learners
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Which is more important for beginning language learners – grammar or vocabulary? How many words does a language learner need to know in order to attain a proficiency level of CEFR A1 (ACTFL Novice High)? And what about levels A2 (Intermediate Mid) or B1 (Advanced Low)? Obviously, the more words a learner knows, the better; a vocabulary size of 1,000 words is better than 100 words, and 2,000 words is better than 1,000 words. But which 2,000 words? Is there a preferred order of acquisition that will maximize proficiency gains – or will any 2,000 words do? In this webinar, we explore the five things every language teacher should know about building lexical proficiency in beginning and intermediate language learners. You may be surprised at what you discover! (Originally presented by Paul Tucker on May 10, 2018)
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Why Words Matter: 5 Things You Should Know About Teaching Vocabulary to Beginning Language Learners
- 1. Why Words Matter (pt. 1) Why Words Matter Five things you should know about teaching vocabulary to beginning language learners https://www.flickr.com/photos/aldon/3264710286
- 2. Why Words Matter (pt. 1) Feel free to ask questions at any time. We will address them during our Q&A session at the end!
- 3. Why Words Matter (pt. 1) Five things you should know… 1. Vocabulary trumps everything! 2. All men & women are created equal – vocabulary, not so much. 3. We didn’t learn the names of all the colors at the same time – why should our students? 4. Vocabulary is not learned incidentally. 5. Flip the lesson, flip the classroom.
- 4. Why Words Matter (pt. 1) Vocabulary Reading Speaking Writing Listening Thing #1 | Vocabulary Trumps Everything!
- 5. Why Words Matter (pt. 1) Vocabulary as a Factor in Language Acquisition 72% 28% Variance in Reading Scores Vocabulary Other Stæhr, L. S. (2008).
- 6. Why Words Matter (pt. 1) It has been acknowledged for some time that vocabulary knowledge is a good predictor of general proficiency in a foreign language…Generally, such studies have found strong correlations between receptive vocabulary size tests and reading comprehension tests, ranging from 0.50 to 0.85, with learners from different proficiency levels (e.g. Laufer, 1992; Qian, 1999; Albrechtsen, Haastrup & Henriksen, 2008). Measuring the contribution of vocabulary knowledge to proficiency in the four skills James Milton Swansea University, 2013
- 7. Why Words Matter (pt. 1) International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English Literature Vol. 2 No. 1; January 2013 The Impact of Vocabulary Knowledge Level on EFL Reading Comprehension Shima Kameli Roselan Bin Baki
- 8. Why Words Matter (pt. 1) Le train? Le train? Le train? https://pxhere.com/en/photo/1366342 The image is released free of copyrights under Creative Commons CC0.
- 9. Why Words Matter (pt. 1) So vocabulary is important… but is it measurable and scalable? Relationship between ACTFL/CEFR levels and approximate vocabulary size ACTFL CEFR Tschirner et al. 2017 Milton 2010 Huhta et al. 2011 Superior C1 ± 5000 ± 5000 ± 5000 Advanced Mid/High B2 ± 4000 ± 3500 n/a Advanced Low/Mid B1 ± 3000 ± 3000 ± 3000 Intermediate Mid/High A2 ± 2000 ± 2000 ± 2000 Novice Mid/High A1 ± 1000 ± 1500 ± 1000
- 10. Why Words Matter (pt. 1) Thing #2 | All men and women are created equal – vocabulary, not so much. B R E A D T H | 100 | 200 | 500 | 1,000 | 2,000 CEFR A1 CEFR A2 Which 2,000 words? The 2,000 most USEFUL words! What is USEFUL?
- 11. Why Words Matter (pt. 1) Which is more USEFUL? axe saw knife scissors lawn mower cut ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ slice ✔ dice ✔ snip ✔ Generic vs. Specific
- 12. Why Words Matter (pt. 1) https://corpus.byu.edu/coca/
- 13. Why Words Matter (pt. 1) Instrument Collocation This query produced a total list of 36 cutting instruments that occur with one or more of the 6 verbs in the sample set. axe clippers handsaw mandoline saber shears backsaw coping-saw hatchet microtome saw sickle blade cutlass jackknife mower saw slicer chainsaw cutter jigsaw pocketknife scalpel switchblade chisel fork knife razor scissors sword cleaver guillotine machete router scythe torch cut, chop, slice, dice, snip, whittle
- 14. Why Words Matter (pt. 1) CUT SLICE CHOP DICE SNIP WHITTLE knife knife knife knife scissors knife scissors blade blade shears pocketknife blade razor axe cutter sword cleaver saw scalpel sword razor cutter hatchet sword mandoline saw shears fork machete fork saw mower machete torch scissors scalpel torch machete pocketknife chisel saber router jigsaw chainsaw scythe axe saber pocketknife handsaw hatchet sickle cleaver slicer backsaw jackknife switchblade mandoline guillotine https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chop Instrument Collocation A list of the instruments co- occurring 4 or more times with each of the verbs in the sample set, ordered by descending order of frequency from top to bottom. Verb CUT CHOP SLICE DICE SNIP WHITTLE Freq/Mil 238.23 20.12 19.6 5.25 1.97 1.72
- 15. Why Words Matter (pt. 1) Which 2,000 Words? B R E A D T H | 100 | 200 | 500 | 1,000 | 2,000 CEFR A1 CEFR A2 The 2,000 most USEFUL words! What is USEFUL?Generic Useful Frequent
- 16. Why Words Matter (pt. 1) Arabic Czech Dutch French German Japanese Korean Mandarin Persian Portuguese Russian Spanish Turkish English https://www.routledge.com/Routledge-Frequency-Dictionaries/book-series/RFD
- 17. Why Words Matter (pt. 1) Thing #3 | We didn’t learn the names of all the colors at the same time – why should our students? https://pxhere.com/en/photo/1250568 The image is released free of copyrights under Creative Commons CC0. https://www.amazon.com/Scholastic-First-Picture-Dictionary/dp/0545137691/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1525954125&sr=8- 6&keywords=picture+dictionary https://pxhere.com/en/photo/704356. The image is released free of copyrights under Creative Commons CC0.
- 18. Why Words Matter (pt. 1) Semantic Clustering Interference Theory https://www.amazon.com/Scholastic-First-Picture-Dictionary/dp/0545137691/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1525954125&sr=8- 6&keywords=picture+dictionary The interference theory of forgetting suggests that we would forget something because other, very similar, information learned is interfering with our ability to recall it.
- 19. Why Words Matter (pt. 1) How is the mental lexicon structured? Relational Model A complex web of semantic networks
- 20. Why Words Matter (pt. 1) Scenario-Based Vocabulary A Rainy Day https://www.amazon.com/Scholastic-First-Picture-Dictionary/dp/0545137691/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1525954125&sr=8- 6&keywords=picture+dictionary • Raincoat • Umbrella • Boots • Puddle • Rain (n.) • Rain (v.) • Wet
- 21. Why Words Matter (pt. 1) Five things you should know… 1. Vocabulary trumps everything! 2. All men & women are created equal – vocabulary, not so much. 3. We didn’t learn the names of all the colors at the same time – why should our students? 4. Vocabulary is not learned incidentally. 5. Flip the lesson, flip the classroom.
- 22. Why Words Matter (pt. 1) Thing #4 | Vocabulary is not learned incidentally Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies, with Uncle Henry, who was a farmer, and Aunt Em, who was the farmer's wife. Their house was small, for the lumber to build it had to be carried by wagon many miles. There were four walls, a floor and a roof, which made one room; and this room contained a rusty looking cookstove, a cupboard for the dishes, a table, three or four chairs, and the beds…. The Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum Dorothy ______ in the ______ of the great Kansas _______, with Uncle Henry, who was a ______, and Aunt Em, who was the _______ _____. Their ______ was small, for the _______ to _____ it had to be _______ by _______ many _______. There were four _______, a ______ and a ______, which made one _______; and this _______ _______ a _______ looking _______, a ________ for the ______, a table, three or four chairs, and the beds….
- 23. Why Words Matter (pt. 1) Thing #4 | Vocabulary is not learned incidentally Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies, with Uncle Henry, who was a farmer, and Aunt Em, who was the farmer's wife. Their house was small, for the lumber to build it had to be carried by wagon many miles. There were four walls, a floor and a roof, which made one room; and this room contained a rusty looking cookstove, a cupboard for the dishes, a table, three or four chairs, and the beds…. The Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum Dorothy ______ in the ______ of the great Kansas _______, with Uncle Henry, who was a ______, and Aunt Em, who was the _______ _____. Their ______ was small, for the _______ to _____ it had to be _______ by _______ many _______. There were four _______, a ______ and a ______, which made one _______; and this _______ _______ a _______ looking _______, a ________ for the ______, a table, three or four chairs, and the beds…. Myth Explicit and purposeful teaching of vocabulary is inconsistent with the principles of communicative language teaching.
- 24. Why Words Matter (pt. 1) Thing #5 |Flip the lesson, flip the classroom 1. Identify and teach the vocabulary first, not at the end of the chapter. 2. Make vocabulary learning, the only homework. 3. Use the classroom to build fluency through practice, analysis, and cultural mini-lessons
- 25. Why Words Matter (pt. 1) Five things you should know… 1. Vocabulary trumps everything! 2. All men & women are created equal – vocabulary, not so much. 3. We didn’t learn the names of all the colors at the same time – why should our students? 4. Vocabulary is not learned incidentally. 5. Flip the lesson, flip the classroom.
- 26. Why Words Matter (pt. 1) Questions ???
Editor's Notes
- Thanks, Lauren, and good afternoon everyone! So, as Lauren said, my name is Paul Tucker. I’m the Director of Advanced Concepts Development at Transparent Language and I have a long history as both a language teacher, having taught English as a Foreign Language to 4th through 7th graders in Israeli public schools, and as a language learner, having learned the local language as an adult living and working in seven different countries throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa during my career as a teacher and a field linguist. I have masters degrees in Applied and Theoretical linguistics, and I’m currently working on a PhD focusing on vocabulary acquisition. So, let’s get started with today’s webinar…. Why Words Matter: Five things you should know about teaching vocabulary to beginning language learners (*)
- But before we jump in, there’s a small housekeeping detail that I want to make sure you’re all familiar with. Even though your microphones will remain muted throughout the webinar, please feel free to ask questions at any time during or after the presentation by typing into the text field located under the Questions tab, as you can see in this illustration. One of my colleagues will be monitoring those questions as they accumulate, and I’ll do my best to address then during the Q&A session at the end. (*)
- So, starting off with a quick preview of what we’ll be covering in today’s session… five things you should know about teaching vocabulary to beginning language learners include the fact that (*) as the single most important contributor to language proficiency – vocabulary trumps everything else; and that (*) while all men & women are created equal, vocabulary not so much. We need to know not only how much vocabulary it takes to reach a given level of proficiency, but WHICH vocabulary we should teaching, because all vocabulary is not equally useful. (*) We’ll also be talking about the most effective way to organize our vocabulary lessons and we’ll discover that a method called semantic clustering – while seemingly intuitive – is actually quite counter productive… . When we were learning our first language, we actually DIDN’T learn the names of all the colors at the same time – and neither should we expect our students to do so. (*) We’ll also address a commonly held myth that vocabulary can be learned incidentally through lots of reading of authentic materials, (*) And finally, we’ll talk about flipping the lesson, and flipping the classroom as an important strategy for effective vocabulary teaching as the foundation for building meaningful proficiency. (*)
- So, let’s begin with Thing #1: Vocabulary trumps everything. This is partly because of the fact that, across the four skill of Reading, Speaking, Listening, and Writing, each with it’s own unique set of factors that affect the challenges and rate of proficiency gains, the one factor (*) that they all have in common is Vocabulary. In fact, (*)
- Research has shown that Vocabulary is the single most significant factor affecting reading comprehension, accounting for as much as 72% of the variance in reading scores for language learners. (*)
- Dr. James Milton, of Swansea University, published a meta-analysis of a number of studies which have shown (*) “strong correlations between receptive vocabulary size… and reading comprehension.” … and by (*) “size” Milton is talking about what is also often referred to as “breadth”, or the number of words a learner knows. (*)
- And these correlations are found not only at the lower levels of proficiency, but have been shown to extend even to the advanced levels of proficiency needed to gain admission to an English speaking university, where examinee scores on the (*) Cambridge IELTS test have been shown to correlate very strongly with vocabulary size.
- And everything these data tell us has been confirmed many times over by our own experience as language learners, which tells us, for instance, that a mastery of French grammar and discourse pragmatics will do me no good whatsoever when I find myself wandering the streets of Paris desperately searching for the train station, But all I really to know is the word for train station, or even simply the word for (*) train. “Le train?”, spoken with the nearly universal rising pitch, will set me on my way, and even though most of the spoken response may go right over my head, gestures and maybe a street name will set me off on the right path, (*) where I can stop another friendly looking native with the same simple question, “Le train?”…. A strategy that I can employ as many times (*) as needed until I eventually make my way to my destination. Grammar and Pragmatics are important, and your students will not achieve advanced levels of proficiency without them, But, especially for beginning language learners, nothing drives proficiency gains faster or more effectively than vocabulary. Vocabulary trumps everything…. And in spades!!
- So vocabulary is important… uniquely important, even…but is it measurable and scalable? In other words, while more is obviously better, are there demonstrable correlations between specific ranges of vocabulary size and specific proficiency levels that can be measured on the ACTFL or CEFR scales? Simply put, the answer is YES. A number of independent studies, conducted across a variety of languages, have confirmed remarkably similar findings. These data show, for example, (*) that a vocabulary size of 1,000 words equates roughly to ACTFL Novice, or CEFR A1, proficiency, and (*) a vocabulary size of 2,000 words equates roughly to ACTFL Intermediate, or CEFR A2, proficiency [ Now here’s one thing that’s particularly interesting about these findings. —> If learners are keeping their reservoirs of learned vocabulary items fresh and active through regular use and review, -- and I should note that this constant refreshing is critically important -- then, as each learner’s reservoir of learned vocabulary items grows from 1,000 words, to 1200 words, to 1500 words, to 1800 words... and so on… this gives us access to a much more granular and real-time measure of that learner’s progress along the path from Novice to Intermediate and beyond – ] Okay, so if the research shows us that a vocabulary size of ± 2,000 words equates roughly to CEFR level A2, or ACTFL Intermediate Mid/High, the obvious question is …. (*)
- WHICH 2,000 words? And this brings us to Thing #2 --- All men and women are created equal – but vocabulary, not so much. (*) Obviously, the more the better…. (*) 1,000 is better than 100, (*) and 2,000 is better than 1,000. But to maximize proficiency gains, the ANSWER to which 2,000 words? is…. (*). the 2,000 most useful words. (*) But how do you define USEFUL? The most useful vocabulary to learn in the beginning—the vocabulary that’s going to move the needle the most—is the vocabulary that can be used in the widest variety of contexts, and therefore occurs the most frequently. (*)
- As a general rule, generic is more USEFUL than specific. Consider, for example this set of cutting verbs – cut, slice, dice, and snip. As learners’ proficiency increases, they will certainly learn more specific words like slice, dice, and snip. BUT if you had to choose one of these four words to learn first, “cut” would clearly be the most useful. WHY is this? Because you can cut something with an axe, with a saw, a knife, a pair of scissors, or even with a lawn mower. In fact there are literally dozens of instruments that you can use with the generic verb cut. Swords, and scythes, and scalpels... and the list just goes on and on. But you can only snip something with a pair of scissors or shears. SNIP is a very specific verb, describing a very specific action, using a very specific kind of instrument. The specificity of the verbs like slice, dice, and snip limits their uses to a much narrower range of contexts, —> making them LESS USEFUL than the more generic verb cut. In fact… (*)
- If we use the 520 million word Corpus of Contemporary American English to run a collocate query for 6 cutting verbs (*)
- we discover that there are a total of 36 cutting instruments that co-occur with one or more of the 6 verbs cut, chop, slice, dice, snip, and whittle (*)
- And when we filter this list of cutting tools by the verbs with which they co-occur, and by descending order of frequency, a very revealing picture begins to emerge. We see that all 36 of these instruments can be used with the verb (*) cut, meaning that it occurs in a very wide variety of contexts; whereas its more specific synonyms are much more limited in the number of instruments with which they can co-occur. These differences are a direct consequence of the fact that the meaning of the verb cut is very generic, with no inherent specification as the the manner in which it is done or the result of the cutting action, whereas the inherent meaning of the verb (*) chop is quite specific with respect to both the manner of cutting – which entails (*) repeated blows, typically with a (*) short quick downward stroke – and with respect to the result of the chopping action, which, by definition, (*) results in pieces (not slices, or splinters), although there is no specificicatin as to the size of these pieces, (*) nor is there any inherent specification as to what can be chopped – firewwood, onions, plastic – it doesn’t really matter. We also see a clear inverse correlation between the specificity of the verb and the number of contexts in which it can be used, so that as the specificity of the verb increases (*) the number of contexts in which the verb occurs decreases. Meaning that the least specific – or most generic – verb (*) is not only the most useful -- in the sense that it can be used in the broadest range of communicative contexts – but consequently the most frequently occurring, which is confirmed when we look at the word frequency data (*) from the COCA corpus where we see that (*) cut. Is by far and away the most frequently occurring of these verbs with 238 occurrences per million words, and that the frequency of the other verbs (*) correlates almost perfectly with their increasing specificity and the resulting decrease in the number of contexts in which they occur. (*) So what’s the point of all this? (*)
- Well, it goes back to our original question: Which 2,000 words? ( or 1,000, or 3,000, or whatever the case may be, depending on the proficiency level you’re targeting) … And which we answered with (*). the 2,000 most useful words. Which in turn raised the question of (*) how we define USEFUL? A question that we’ve answered by showing that the most useful vocabulary to learn in the beginning—the vocabulary that’s going to move the needle the most—is the vocabulary that can be used in the widest variety of contexts, and therefore – as we’ve seen – occurs the most frequently. cut is more useful than dice because (*) Generic vocabulary is more USEFUL than specific vocabulary and therefore occurs more frequently. And this goes towards answering what should be your next question, which is not only how do we define usefulness, but – on a very practical level – how do we actually go about identifying, finding, and retrieving the most useful vocabulary?
- And the good news is that – at least for 14 the most commonly taught languages – this work has already been done and published in the form of word frequency dictionaries published by Routledge. While these dictionaries are not inexpensive at an average price of around $40, depending on the language, this is an invaluable teacher resource that you will only need to purchase once, and the electronic versions of these frequency dictionaries are particularly useful in that the full text is searchable. The handout we’ll be providing at the end of this webinar will also provide links to free resources for a number of languages, although, in most cases those free resources are not nearly as robust as the Routledge dictionaries.
- This brings us to Thing #3 of the 5 things you should know about teaching vocabulary to beginning language learners. One of the most automatic – and seemingly intuitive – ways to think about organizing your vocabulary lists is through use what is called semantic clustering – the grouping of semantically related words together into lists like colors, fruits, or types of clothing. The problem is that this is not the way real language acquisition actually takes place – this isn’t the way you and I learned our first languages as children. This type of semantic clustering is an artificial product of post-acquisition classification – and research has clearly shown that, as a language learning strategy, it actually does more harm than good, due to an aspect of human memory and cognition know as Interference Theory (*)
- The interference theory of forgetting suggests that we would forget something because other, very similar, information learned is interfering with our ability to recall it. For example: (*) jacket, raincoat, parka, down jacket, and coat are so similar – whether in name or function or both – that it is extremely likely that learners will not only confuse the names with one another, but probably forget most, if not all of them. In fact, research has shown
- that semantic clustering has nothing at all to do with the way the mental lexicon is is actually stored and accessed in the brain. Semantic clustering is a completely artificial construct – the imposition of an Aristotelian classification system that – while useful for various scientific purposes – is completely counter productive for language learning. (*)
- The more effective method is based on a scenario-driven approach wherein vocabulary sets are derived from real-world scenarios such as, for example, a Rainy Day scenario that would not only include (*) Raincoat and Umbrella, but Boots, Puddle, Rain (n.), Rain (v.), and the adjective Wet.
- So, to quickly review what we’ve covered to this point, we’ve seen that (*) as the single most important contributor to language proficiency – vocabulary trumps everything else; and that (*) while all men & women are created equal, vocabulary not so much. We need to be focusing on the most useful, and therefore, the most frequently occurring vocabulary; and that (*) semantic clustering – while seemingly intuitive – is actually counter productive, because it does not reflect the way the mental lexicon is structured. A scenario-based approach to teaching vocabulary is far more effective. And this brings us to Thing #4 (*)
- … which is that vocabulary is NOT learned incidentally. There is a school of thought that is based on the belief that vocabulary can be learned just by doing a lot of reading, which provides the reader with lots of exposure to authentic and contextualized language, from which learner’s will be able to figure out the meanings of the words they don’t know from context and add those words to their lexical reservoir. Unfortunately, while there may be some validity to using this approach with relatively advanced native speakers, who actually have the breadth and depth of both lexical and cultural knowledge needed to help them fill in the gaps when they encounter unknown vocabulary items, research has shown that this approach is completely unproductive for language learners, who don’t have that breadth and depth of lexical or cultural knowledge, and for whom as much as 50%, or 60% or 80% of the vocabulary in an authentic text may be unknown. Take a look, for instance, at this very straightforward narrative passage from the first chapter of The Wizard of Oz. … Now, (*) this is what it looks like if only 28% of the vocabulary is unknown to the reader! It has been rendered virtually incomprehensible – even for native speakers, let alone for language learners! This is hardly what we could call comprehensible input ! (*)
- Now there is a myth which says that Explicit and purposeful teaching of vocabulary is inconsistent with the principles of communicative language teaching but nothing could be further from the truth! Certainly, when, as a profession, we made the transition in the ‘80s and ‘90s from the Grammar-Translation and Audio-lingual methods, there was a lot of rote and meaningless memorization of things like dialogs and verb paradigms that needed to go! And good riddance!! But I would suggest to you that when we extended this much needed house cleaning to include the explicit and purposeful teaching of vocabulary, we threw the baby out with the bath water. (*) Approaching an authentic reading passage without already knowing the vocabulary, violates the most fundamental underlying principle of Communicative Language Teaching, in that the input is not comprehensible. (*) This is what comprehensible input looks like. Which brings us to the final thing you should know about teaching vocabulary to beginning language learners (*)