Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T07:20:15.989Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Research into practice: Vocabulary

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 August 2011

I. S. P. Nation
I. S. P. Nation*
Affiliation:
LALS, Victoria University of Wellington, New [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Editorial note

This new strand in the journal provides a space for contributors to present a personal stance either on future research needs or on the perceived current applications of research in the classroom. Like much of our current content, it echoes the historical uniqueness of this journal in terms of its rich and expert overview of recent research in the field of L2 teaching and learning. However, this new strand takes such research as its starting point and attempts to look forward, using these findings both to debate their application in the language learning classroom and also to suggest where research would be best directed in the future. Thus, the objective of both types of paper is eminently practical: contributors to the research agenda will present suggestions for what research might usefully be undertaken, given what is currently known or what is perceived to be necessary. In the research into practice papers there will be critical appraisal both of what research is, and is not, getting through to the language learning classroom, policy making, curriculum design, evaluation of teaching and/or assessment programmes, and practical suggestions made for improving such outcomes.

This article is a personal view of the application of research on vocabulary to teaching and how there are three different types or categories of relationship between that research and the teaching to which it is applied: first, where the research is not applied or not applied well, second, where it is reasonably well applied, and third, where it is over-applied. For each of these three categories, I look at what I consider to be the most important areas of research and suggest why they fit into that category. The topics covered include planning vocabulary courses, distinguishing high frequency and low frequency words, extensive reading, the deliberate learning of vocabulary, academic vocabulary and vocabulary teaching.

Type
Thinking Allowed
Information
Language Teaching , Volume 44 , Issue 4 , October 2011 , pp. 529 - 539
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barcroft, J. (2009). Effects of synonym generation on incidental and intentional L2 vocabulary learning during reading. TESOL Quarterly 43.1, 79–103.Google Scholar
Beaton, A., Gruneberg, M. & Ellis, N. (1995). Retention of foreign vocabulary using the keyword method: a ten-year follow-up. Second Language Research 11.2, 112–120.Google Scholar
Biemiller, A. & Boote, C. (2006). An effective method for building meaning vocabulary in the primary grades. Journal of Educational Psychology 98.1, 44–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carlo, M. S., August, D., McLaughlin, B., Snow, C. E., Dressler, C., Lippman, D. N., Lively, T. J. & White, C. E. (2004). Closing the gap: Addressing the vocabulary needs of English-language learners in bilingual and mainstream classrooms. Reading Research Quarterly 39.2, 188–215.Google Scholar
Coxhead, A. (2000). A new academic word list. TESOL Quarterly 34.2, 213–238.Google Scholar
Crothers, E. & Suppes, P. (1967). Experiments in second-language learning. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Elgort, I. (2011). Deliberate learning and vocabulary acquisition in a second language. Language Learning 61.2, 367–413.Google Scholar
Elley, W. B. (1989). Vocabulary acquisition from listening to stories. Reading Research Quarterly 24.2, 174–187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elley, W. B. & Mangubhai, F. (1981). The impact of a book flood in Fiji primary schools. Wellington: New Zealand Council for Educational Research.Google Scholar
File, K. & Adams, R. (2010). Should vocabulary instruction be integrated or isolated? TESOL Quarterly 44.2, 222–249.Google Scholar
Folse, K. (2006). The effect of type of written exercise on L2 vocabulary retention. TESOL Quarterly 40.2, 273–293.Google Scholar
Graves, K. (2000). Designing language courses: A guide for teachers. Boston: Heinle and Heinle.Google Scholar
Griffin, G. F. & Harley, T. A. (1996). List learning of second language vocabulary. Applied Psycholinguistics 17, 443–460.Google Scholar
Hulstijn, J. H. (1992). Retention of inferred and given word meanings: Experiments in incidental vocabulary learning. In Arnaud, P. J. L. & Bejoint, H. (eds.), Vocabulary and applied linguistics. London: Macmillan, 113–125.Google Scholar
Hulstijn, J. & Laufer, B. (2001). Some empirical evidence for the involvement load hypothesis in vocabulary acquisition. Language Learning 51.3, 539–558.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hyland, K. & Tse, P. (2007). Is there an ‘Academic Vocabulary’? TESOL Quarterly 41.2, 235–253.Google Scholar
Keating, G. (2008). Task effectiveness and word learning in a second language: The involvement load hypothesis on trial. Language Teaching Research 12.3, 365–386.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, Y. (2008). The role of task-induced involvement and learner proficiency in L2 vocabulary acquisition. Language Learning 58.2, 285–325.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lado, R., Baldwin, B. & Lobo, F. (1967). Massive vocabulary expansion in a foreign language beyond the basic course: The effects of stimuli, timing and order of presentation. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.Google Scholar
Laufer, B. & Shmueli, K. (1997). Memorizing new words: Does teaching have anything to do with it? RELC Journal 28.1, 89–108.Google Scholar
Macalister, J. (2010). Investigating teacher attitudes to extensive reading practices in higher education: Why isn't everyone doing it? RELC Journal 41.1, 59–75.Google Scholar
McDaniel, M. A., Pressley, M. & Dunay, P. K. (1987). Long-term retention of vocabulary after keyword and context learning. Journal of Educational Psychology 79.1, 87–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McNeill, A. (1994). Some characteristics of native and non-native speaker teachers of English. In Bird, N., Falvey, P., Tsui, A. B. M., Allison, D. M. & McNeill, A. (eds.), Language and Learning. Hong Kong: Education Department, 521–532.Google Scholar
Meara, P. (1980). Vocabulary acquisition: A neglected aspect of language learning. Language Teaching and Linguistics: Abstracts 13.4, 221–246.Google Scholar
Nation, I. S. P. (2001). Learning vocabulary in another language. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Nation, I. S. P. (2006). How large a vocabulary is needed for reading and listening? Canadian Modern Language Review 63.1, 59–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nation, I. S. P. (2007). The four strands. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching 1.1, 1–12.Google Scholar
Nation, I. S. P. (2009) New roles for L2 vocabulary? In Wei, Li & Cook, V. (eds.) Contemporary applied linguistics, Volume 1: Language teaching and learning. London: Continuum, 99–116.Google Scholar
Nation, I. S. P. & Beglar, D. (2007). A vocabulary size test. The Language Teacher 31.7, 9–13.Google Scholar
Nation, I. S. P. & Macalister, J. (2009). Language curriculum design. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Nation, I. S. P., & Wang, K. (1999). Graded readers and vocabulary. Reading in a Foreign Language 12.2, 355–380.Google Scholar
Nation, I. S. P. & Webb, S. (2011). Researching and analysing vocabulary. Boston: Heinle Cengage Learning.Google Scholar
Palmer, H. E. & Hornby, A. S. H. (1937). Thousand-word English. London: George C. Harrap and Co. Ltd.Google Scholar
Pigada, M. & Schmitt, N. (2006). Vocabulary acquisition from extensive reading: A case study. Reading in a Foreign Language 18.1, 1–28.Google Scholar
Pressley, M. (1977). Children's use of the keyword method to learn simple Spanish vocabulary words. Journal of Educational Psychology 69.5, 465–472.Google Scholar
Pyc, M. A., & Rawson, K. A. (2007). Examining the efficiency of schedules of distributed retrieval practice. Memory & Cognition 35.8, 1917–1927.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Read, J. (2000). Assessing vocabulary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmitt, N. (2010). Researching vocabulary: A vocabulary research manual. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Schmitt, D. & Schmitt, N. (2005). Focus on vocabulary: Mastering the academic word list. New York: Longman Pearson Education.Google Scholar
Takase, A. (2007). Japanese high school students’ motivation for extensive L2 reading. Reading in a Foreign Language 19.1, 1–18.Google Scholar
Thorndike, E. L. (1908). Memory for paired associates. Psychological Review 15, 122–138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tinkham, T. (1997). The effects of semantic and thematic clustering on the learning of second language vocabulary. Second Language Research 13.2, 138–163.Google Scholar
Walters, J. & Bozkurt, N. (2009). The effect of keeping vocabulary notebooks on vocabulary acquisition. Language Teaching Research 13.4, 403–423.Google Scholar
Wang, M. & Nation, P. (2004). Word meaning in academic English: Homography in the Academic Word List. Applied Linguistics 25.3, 291–314.Google Scholar
Waring, R. (1997). The negative effects of learning words in semantic sets: A replication. System 25.2, 261–274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waring, R. (2000). Guide to the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of using graded readers. Japan: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Waring, R. & Takaki, M. (2003). At what rate do learners learn and retain new vocabulary from reading a graded reader? Reading in a Foreign Language 15.2, 130–163.Google Scholar
Webb, S. (2007). Learning word pairs and glossed sentences: The effects of a single context on vocabulary knowledge. Language Teaching Research 11.1, 63–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Webb, W. B. (1962). The effects of prolonged learning on learning. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 1, 173–182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
West, M. (1953). A general service list of English words. London: Longman, Green & Co.Google Scholar
Zimmerman, C.B. (ed.) (2007). Inside reading: The academic word list in context. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Zipf, G. (1949). Human behavior and the principle of least effort: An introduction to human ecology. New York: Hafner.Google Scholar