Peter Watkins

peter.watkins@port.ac.uk

What do we mean by vocabulary?

There are some groups of words, like good
morning and at the end of the day, which seem
to be used like single words. Some of the groups
may be items that have not been analysed into
parts but are just learned, stored and used as
complete units.
(Nation and Meara, 2010, p.35)

Ways of looking at vocabulary

We can study
how words link together, their relationships and

patterns
how people are likely to learn words and what is
most likely to promote acquisition
strategies for teaching words

Teachers views
Teacher 1: I think vocabulary is the relatively easy part of
language learning. Its grammar thats difficult.
Teacher 2: I generally teach vocabulary before we do
reading and listening work.
Teacher 3: The whole question of vocabulary is difficult
just because there is so much of it where do you start?
Theres so much to learn.
Teacher 4: The most important thing is to recycle it
[vocabulary] go over it again and again.
Teacher 5: The advice I would give is to try to make
vocabulary learning fun.
Teacher 6: Practising is one thing, teaching is another!

No one right way

Research has provided much useful information about
vocabulary learning and instruction. What it has not
provided is a simple formula for optimal instruction,
because no such formula can exist.
(Beck, McKeown and Omanson, 1987, p.150)

Theorization of practice
While traditional views of teacher learning often
viewed the teachers task as the application of
theory to practice, more recent views see
teacher learning as the theorization of practice;
in other words, making visible the nature of
practitioner knowledge and providing the means
by which such knowledge can be elaborated,
understood and reviewed.
(Burns and Richards, 2009, p.4)

Practising is one thing, teaching is

another!
implicit versus explicit instruction
working out from context
working out from morphology
paraphrase
o
learner explanation
o
teacher explanation
o
translation
o
dictionaries
o
glossaries

Learning vocabulary is relatively easy

the place of vocabulary in language teaching:
grammar-translation
audiolingualism
communicative language teaching
lexical approach

The fact is that while without grammar very little

can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can
be conveyed. [original emphasis]
(Wilkins, 1972, p.111)

Learning vocabulary is relatively easy

what learners need to know:
forms and meaning(s) denotation and

connotation
collocations
grammar (we will meet ourselves at 8.00*)
relationships with other words
style/appropriacy (father, dad, old man)

I teach vocabulary before texts

common practice
adjusts level of text by supporting bottom-up

processing
essentially a strategy to support other skills,
particularly reading and listening
see words in context
can study texts after reading too
Vocabulary teaching questions:
Are the words frequent and useful?
How will the words will be recycled?

Theres so much vocabulary to learn

3000 word families give somewhere around 90-95%

text coverage
more would be needed for more specialized texts

eg academic ones
suggests a need for independent learning to be

developed
quality of learning, as well as quantity, is important

Theres so much vocabulary to learn

OKeeffe, McCarthy and Carter (2007), cited in OKeefe (2012)

Recycling vocabulary is important and

make it fun
distributed practice
seeing words in different contexts narrow

reading
Other factors are also important in learning
vocabulary, particularly:
depth of cognitive processing
depth of affective processing

Word search

Word search

Making sentences
journey

to

work

travels

first

long

soon

usually

enjoys

class

trip

Jay

journeys

travel

business

has

is

hotel

and

on

going

reading

reservatio
n

Making sentences
journey

to

work

travels

first

long

soon

usually

enjoys

class

trip

Jay

journeys

travel

business

has

is

hotel

and

on

going

reading

reservatio
n

Games to recycle vocabulary

Games to recycle vocabulary

Odd one out

To teach the word order:
a) order command advise
b) order tell
instruct
c) order ask
obey

demand
suggest

(from Skmen, 1997, p.243)

Word bags

Word bags
Begin a lesson by asking the learners to guess which words

from the previous lesson you have put into the bag.
Take five or six words at random from the bag, check the
meanings and ask the learners to use these words in a short
narrative that they write with a partner.
The learners work in pairs. Give each learner three words from
the bag. They have to elicit the words from their partner by
describing the meanings or by giving other information.
Give the learners some nouns from the bag. Brainstorm
adjectives and/or verbs that collocate with each one.
Ask a different learner each lesson to choose the words that
should be put into the bag from that lesson.
At the beginning (or end) of a lesson, take five or six words
from the bag and elicit each word from the learners by giving
the meaning.
(Watkins, 2013)

Rewriting a text
Recently I did a mediation
between two families living in
neighbouring houses. In one of
the families, the father had a
passion for restoring old cars.
Hed work on these cars outside
until quite late at night, and the
front garden was full of bits of old
car, oil cans and the like. The
other family hated the noise and
the mess but as quite often
happens, Im afraid they simply
put up with the problem and
hoped it would go away.
(Tilbury, Hendra, Rea and
Clementson, 2011, p. 104)

Rewriting a text
Recently I did a mediation
between two families living in
neighbouring houses. In one of
the families, the father had a
passion for restoring old cars.
Hed work on these cars outside
until quite late at night, and the
front garden was full of bits of old
car, oil cans and the like. The
other family hated the noise and
the mess but as quite often
happens, Im afraid they simply
put up with the problem and
hoped it would go away.
(Tilbury, Hendra, Rea and
Clementson, 2011, p. 104)

Recently I did a mediation

between two families living in
near-by houses. In one of the
families, the father liked working
on old cars. He used to play
around with these cars outside
until really late at night, and the
front garden was full of bits of old
car, oil cans and other junk. Not
surprisingly, the second family
hated the noise and the mess but
as quite often happens, Im
afraid they simply tolerated the
problem and hoped it would go
away.

Learners strategies
Learning strategies are conscious mental and
behavioural procedures that people engage in with
the aim to gain control over their learning process.
Strategies can be cognitive (among which
memory-related and compensatory strategies are
important), metacognitive, social and affective.
(Ortega, 2009, p.214)

Learners strategies
Anja: I read a text and write definitions of new words (from a
dictionary) but I do not write the new word down. I try to
remember the word that goes with the definition the next day.
If I cant, I reread the text and try the exercise again. If I do
remember the word I write it down, although I sometimes wait
to see if I can remember it after two or three days.
David: I copy out the sentences from the text that have a new
word in but in place of the new word I leave a gap. At
university you have to read ______ journals (academic).
Later I go back and try to fill in the gaps.

Learners strategies
Gaston: When I find a new word I ask myself as many questions as I
can about it. What does it rhyme with? Wheres the stress? How
many syllables does it have? What word class is it? What words are
derived from it? What words combine with it? What does it make me
think of?
Aasmah: Whenever my teacher teaches me new grammar or
vocabulary, I always try to use it over the next few days. I try to use it
in lessons and outside if I can. That way I think I remember it better
and I get feedback on if Im using it properly.
Patricia: I try a few different things to learn vocabulary. Whenever I
try a new method, I always ask myself if it is better than other things I
use. I think thats important.
(adapted from Watkins, 2014, p.104-5)

Bibliography
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