Transformative Teachers
Webinar 7 - Vocabulary learning
Summary notes
Firstly, thank you for participating in the Trinity College London teacher support webinar series. We are delighted to have over 1000 teachers from 70 countries participate in the series.
In this webinar, the Academic Coordinator for Italy, Manuela Kelly Calzini, is interviewed by Lead Academic - Language (Europe), Alex Thorp. Manuela and Alex discuss a global view of vocabulary learning. During the discussion, they explore the key areas for consideration with learning vocabulary and consider a range of practical classroom ideas.
If you were unable to attend the webinar, you can watch the webinar via the following link:
Webinar 7 video – vocabulary learning
Summary of questions and responses
Interview: Manuela Kelly Calzini and Alex Thorp
Q: We’re using the word vocabulary, can we clarify what we mean by vocabulary, and perhaps mention the term lexis.
A: Most people think of vocabulary as the words of a language, and that is correct because vocabulary does deal with words. Yet vocabulary is much more than just single words. Vocabulary studies draw on an understanding of lexis, the Greek for word, which ‘refers to all the words in a language, the entire vocabulary of a language’ (Barcroft, Sunderman, & Schmitt, 2011, p. 571).
So, ‘vocabulary’ includes lexical chunks, phrases of two or more words, such as ‘Good morning’ and ‘Nice to meet you’. Children and adults learn these ‘chunks’ as single lexical units. Phrases like these involve more than one word but have a clear, formulaic usage and make up a significant portion of spoken or written English language usage. Vocabulary, then, can be defined as the words of a language, including single items and phrases or chunks of several words, which covey a particular meaning, the way individual words do and are processed and learnt as singular lexical items.
Vocabulary carries meaning, more so than grammar (which clarifies notions such as time, modality, actor, etc.).
Q: Robin makes some very interesting points about learning vocabulary – he starts by saying with just a few nouns, verbs and adjectives you can communicate – is this really the case?
A: Yes, many distinguished linguists have pointed out that vocabulary carries more meaning than grammar, as David Wilkins memorably wrote “Without grammar little can be conveyed; without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed.”
Also, a lexical mistake often causes misunderstanding, while a grammar mistakes may not lead to such a misunderstanding.
Think of a postcard, it is possible to extrapolate the main nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs and remove a large proportion of the grammar, and it is still fairly easy to extract meaning. For example, ‘weather lovely, food delicious, wish here’.
For a large majority of learners, the ultimate goal of studying is to be able to communicate in a new language. If you do not wish to rely on non-verbal skills, mastering vocabulary is not just important, but crucial in a foreign language environment.
Q: Robin highlighted the importance of knowing the phonology / pronunciation of a word to help a student learn it – can you elaborate why this is so important?
A: Pronunciation helps learner to mentally articulate / process the vocabulary item (as in the phonological loop referred to in reading). Only once the ‘sound shape’ of the lexical item is clear, and associated to meaning, that it is possible to commit to the processing memory, and in due course, the long-term memory. Importantly, learners can only start to associate meaning and personalise the relevance of the vocabulary once they can process the pronunciation of the word. In due course, they are then able to recall for future production or recognition.
Even if you are reading you will recognise the orthographic image, and then decode into an internally voiced (i.e. pronounced) item, sort in ‘the minds ear’ as it were.
It's important to take a global view of pronunciation. This includes phonetic production and word stress for multisyllabic words, but also, we may want to consider discourse phonology i.e. sentence stress and prosodic features such as connected speech, when we have any group of words working together, which is a vast majority of the time.
Q: Robin indicates that vocabulary moves from the short-term to the long-term memory.
A: Yes, the short-term memory, often referred to as the processing memory, is where the first attempts at processing the pronunciation of the word and associating to meaning occurs, this is aided with a wide range of input support and contextual clues. However, if deeper learning is required, i.e. that the lexical item can be recalled and used at a later point, then further processing and association is required to channel from the processing to the long-term memory.
Critically, the short-term memory acts like a switch board and only when there is a degree of personal relevance, referred to in the video as affective depth, will the learner’s brain redirect short term processed lexis to more longer-term memory storage. I.e. the brain is saying, I need this, it’s useful for me, so I’m going remember it in my own context. This is why processing time is so important when teaching vocabulary; the learners need ample opportunity to process, recycle and activate.
Q: What are the implications for Teaching when we look at how we learn vocab?
A: Well, there are many. Firstly, that we can separate classroom activities that:
- introduce vocabulary
- input the pronunciation
- associate the lexis to prior learning – link to established meaning
- commit the words to longer-term memory
This gives a categorisation to a whole range of activities that teachers can use at specific points of vocabulary teaching.
We also know we can’t present vocabulary once, it has to be a cyclic and repetitive activity that continues to build upon established vocabulary with ample activities to activate.
Reference Penny Ur. Clear comprehensibility and clearly associated meaning is essential
Q: So, what needs to be taught in a vocabulary lesson?
A: It's important to note that in written discourse up to 50% of vocabulary can be represented by the most common 100 words. Most of these are grammatical and carry little meaning – The Oxford English Corpus confirmed that the 10 most common words represents 25% of usage. So clearly it is important for learners to engage with these high frequency words, although they often carry the grammatical information in language. Therefore, it might be useful to establish how we deal with these high-frequency grammatical words (auxiliary verbs, pronouns, modals etc.) in the classroom, compared to how we deal with ‘content’ vocabulary. Naturally, all language needs to be contextualised, and the more personalised and accessible this context is to the individual the better.
In regard to what to learn there are many aspects of a vocabulary item that can be considered, but it would be too much for a learner to consider all of these, so in teaching we have to prioritise what the learner will need to be able to access, process, and produce the item.
The obvious characteristics are pronunciation (the learner has to know what a word sounds like and spelling, the learner needs to know how it looks like). Collocations of particular items are another factor that makes vocabulary useful. Aspects of meaning like denotation, connotation and appropriateness may also be pertinent. The meaning of a word is primarily what it refers to in the real world, its denotation, whereas, its connotation gives the associations, or positive and negative feelings it evokes in a given context. A more subtle aspect of meaning is whether a particular word/item is the appropriate one to use in a certain context or not. E.g. weep is virtually a synonym of cry, but it is more formal and tends to be used in writing more than in speech.
Q: Robin suggests moving away from alphabetised lists of vocabulary, but surely, they are helpful?
A: No, they are more likely to be damaging. Firstly, they are divorced of meaning, pronunciation or context and become more abstract, and therefore far harder to process. Learners are more likely to commit lists to short-term memory for immediate recall purposes, but they will soon forget the items and not be able to use in either a production or receptive setting. Context is key here.
This is not to say that lists are completely bad – but you can create lists of associated words, that are collocations and given in the context relevant to the learner. How you use lists is a different question.
Q: So how important are context and collocation to effective vocabulary learning?
A: Vital. Robin referred to affective depth, well this includes a learner being able to identify with lexis in a way that is personally relevant to them. Therefore, demonstrating a context where vocabulary can be used in a familiar setting, will facilitate learning. For example, if you are looking at adverbs of frequency, then it makes sense to work with things the learner really likes doing as a context. In doing so the meaning is personalised and it is easier for the learner to cognitively process the meaning.
Any words, even collocations, presented without a coherent context are much more difficult for the learner to acquire, as there is no scaffolding to help the student mentally store or process the items. Context is key.
In regard to collocation, this is also critical. Words are not used in isolation and it is far easier to learn a string of lexically connected words that carry meaning (and even function) than to learn isolated non-contextualised words. A very simple example is ‘How are you?’ learnt as three separate individual high frequency words leads to a range of complex questions, whereas as a functional collocation where the words are ‘friends’ or ‘married’ and related to a given context, becomes much more accessible and learnable.
Q: Is this what we find in the Lexical Approach – from Michael Lewis
A: Yes, the lexical approach shows how lexis, grammar and phonology interact in ways which directly affect how learners store new language. Any teacher implementing this approach will tend to unify the teaching of grammar, lexis and pronunciation; a chunk may be taught as a lexical item, a phonological unit and as grammatical input. It is a holistic and unifying approach.
Q: Robin talks about moving toward mind-maps, why is this an effective strategy.
A: It helps learners to create a relationship of meaning, to logically connect the words
When this is made relevant to the individual context leads to affective depth, giving intrinsic motivation to learn the words.
Mind mapping is more about organising established vocabulary and building upon this foundation.
It’s worth noting that vocabulary can be learned through focused, conscious study, but even more commonly vocabulary is acquired in an indirect manner through listening and reading, using contextual clues to establish the meaning. This is why activities such as extensive reading outside of the classroom are key to successful vocabulary learning.
Q: Robin refers to Cognitive depth, what is this?
A: This is more of a structure or logical organisation that the learner places upon vocabulary learnt, so it’s more an ordering process imposed by the learner.
Q: Robin referred to the role of the Mother Tongue or Local Language in vocabulary learning, could you expand on this?
A: As Robin said, lexis of one language is not stored in a separate location to words form another language, in real-life learning a word a student attempts to learn in any language is supported by the entire linguistic resource that a learner has to offer.
We should therefore, support students to access the full range of lexical resource at their disposal to help them access and learn language. And we know that the more connected a new vocabulary item can be to another the easier it is for the learner; it’s all about building onto old. Of course,
There is a clear movement towards embracing all the linguistic resources available to a learner, such as with the CEFR C.V. descriptors, which explicitly embrace translanguaging practices. Pluralingual competences are also a key theme, as in wider competence frameworks that tend to focus more on employability.
Q: But many teachers insist on an English only environment, surely this is good practice?
A: No. Consider controlled translanguaging / code-switching – we now know can be hugely helpful. This does not mean that L1 can be used without limit in the learning environment, but that activities and practices enable students to use natural language learning strategies that call upon whatever linguistic competences they already possess. This could involve structures translation activities and can work with heterogeneous or homogeneous classes.
Q: Robin suggests there are three key areas to consider with vocabulary – Pronunciation, Spelling and Meaning. Are there more?
A: Many, but what is most useful in learning the word. Other areas to consider are: translation, register, frequency, collocates, derivation, sense relations (antonyms and synonyms), homophones, etc.
Ultimately, given how limited our time is as teachers we have to consider the points that will most facilitate learning.
Q: The video seems to suggest a process of Pronunciation, Organisation and Activation – is this a good way to approach vocabulary learning?
A: English vocabulary is complex, with the three main aspects referenced here that relate to form, meaning, and use; as well as layers of meaning connected to the roots of individual words (Nation & Meara, 2010). As mentioned, teaching vocabulary is not just about words; it involves lexical phrases and knowledge of English vocabulary and how to go about learning and teaching it.
In this case, pronunciation is about familiarisation with Form, Organisation is about mind-mapping, finding associated words, and lastly activities are used to activate and recycle the vocabulary. However, there is no one way to teach or learn vocabulary. This is more one approach covering three key stages.
Q:Testing vocabulary - how does Trinity test vocabulary?
A: Trinity support production of lexis through maximised Personalisation, within the individual’s context
-referenced to CEFR with language functions and communicative skills
-Examiner applies global or analytical rating scales matched to specific CEFR level
-Refer to range and accuracy of lexis, appropriacy of answers etc.
Q: Let’s take all of this into the classroom – what classroom activities can you recommend.
A: There really are so many – below are a few suggestions that I find useful:
- Personalisation – topic preparation and personalisation of any topic
- Realia
- Recycling
- Highlighting what you do know in a text – now what you don’t know
- Mobile – bring and share a picture
- 6 word stories, vocabulary washing line
- Lower levels – vocabulary spinners (lexical chains)
- Carousel activities
- Cross grouping and text reconstruction
- Video with subtitling - YouTube
Ultimately vocabulary learning can’t be confined to the classroom , need exposure outside of the classroom, especially with reading, extensive viewing etc. The more exposure individuals get to the vocabulary the better.
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We very much look forward to welcoming you to the eighth webinar, on Wednesday 6 June at 13:00 UK time, when Ben Beaumont, TESOL Qualifications Manager, will be interviewing Gemma Bellhouse, Test Production Manager. They will be discussing listening and vocabulary and how we can help learners develop a range of strategies toimprove their listening skills.
Click on the 'Join Webinar' link below at the appointed time for the next webinar.
