The 93% Myth

In my high-intermediate and low-advanced class, I try to encourage the use of one-language dictionaries.  (Note: I don't discourage translating dictionaries, it's more about helping learners to expand their tool chest.) I keep a selection from different publishers on the table during our lessons and we use them when questions come up.  The wide selection allows us to compare different takes on a word and gives us different example sentences to examine. It also lets learners decide for themselves which dictionary they like best in case they decide to buy one.  Learners regularly take one or another home to look over for a few days.

Can you tell that's a Greek dictionary on the left?

Those paper dictionaries are just marketing, actually! They're visible during a lesson and folks get used to using them.  But almost everyone has 24/7 access to the Internet, so the dictionaries they are likely to use outside of class are probably going to be electronic.  I recommend two free, corpus-based online learner's dictionaries: MacMillan (American English option) and Merriam-Webster.  We refer to these in class, too. (Only Merriam-Webster offers an app -- more on that in another post.) Both dictionaries have features that I like and, once again, it's good to compare two perspectives when discussing, say, a word's connotation.

I especially like the "red words" feature in the MacMillan dictionary.  Here's a video promoting this feature:

I hope learners find this helpful -- I know the red words help me decide what words to recycle, etc., as I'm planning future lessons!

But I have a peeve about the video.  It promotes the common fiction that 7500 words make up the vast majority of English.  "Research shows that most of the language we use in our everyday lives consists of just 7500 words." A graphic reinforces this by stating that this is "93% of all used words".  What's factual is that 7500 strings of letters, separated from other strings by spaces or punctuation, occur most frequently in the corpus that MacMillan uses to develop their dictionary, which is very likely mostly written and not spoken English.  While a single word may be represented by a string of letters, a string of letters standing alone does not represent a single word. It could stand for many words, parts of words, and idiomatic and pragmatic uses of words.  Let's examine the entry for one of these strings, look.

In MacMillan's entry, look merits eight definitions, most with several collocations which shade the meaning. This is followed by a listing of 21 idiomatic uses and then 18 phrasal verbs.  There is some overlap -- look for is included under a main definition and also listed as a phrasal verb. At the end of the entry, there is a note that all of the above is American English.  British English would have its own variations. Not included here is the role that this string of letters plays in compound words (overlook has four senses as a verb and the noun -- as in "scenic overlook" -- doesn't appear at all). Slang ("Well, lookie there!") and spoken English that every child knows ("Lookit!") are also left out.

Clearly, look is a tremendously important string of letters that's worthy of its three-star rating and I'm glad that Macmillan highlights it!  My peeve is with the misleading suggestion that learners only need to know 7500 words to understand 93% of English.  This has real consequences, in my opinion.

All of us want to find ways to make teaching/learning English measurable. We like to see progress, it's encouraging!  Publishers like to tout the "coverage" of high-frequency words in their materials.  Administrators want a concrete way to show stakeholders that they're making good use of funding and learner time. How about teachers?  If I skimmed the three-star word list, I'm pretty sure I would feel good if I saw a lot of words that we had spent time on over the last year. But here are several recent incidents that belie the illusion:

Last week, my low-intermediate group read an interesting text about over-scheduled families and the stress it can cause. It was written for beginning native-speaking adult readers, not English learners.  Looking over the text with  a "high-frequency word checklist" mentality,  I saw only four or five words that this group had probably not seen before.  But in reality, this text was quite a challenge! Learners asked about slow down, cut back on, get older, on the run, fall behind, and make sure.  In discussion, speed up and catch up also came up.  Learners know all of the individual words, so why was it so hard to read the text (she asked rhetorically)??  Frankly, I'm glad we looked at this text.  It will be quite easy to support and recycle these words going forward, because they're very common (which is why they were used for a beginning reading text).

In another case, one of the learners in my higher-level group has been attempting to read the Metro, one of those free newspapers you can pick up at the train station (see picture above, on the right). It's written to attract the attention of a general audience with a lot of everyday language, puns, and cultural references.  This learner is (quite rightly) frustrated that she knows all of the words but can't understand even a three-paragraph article.

And not too long ago, I asked everyone to choose some recent vocabulary to make flashcards for quizzing each other.  They were to find a good example sentence with collocation and use that (with a gap for the word or collocation) on the test side of the card.  I noticed that everyone made cards for the new words and skipped new senses of familiar words.  I asked a learner about one of these and she said, "Oh, I already know that word."

I hope to change that perspective, but it would really help if language professionals could leave the 93% Myth behind.  The bulk of English is NOT made up of 7500 words!

We Found It, Now What?

Last time, I noted how cultivating curiosity about language in learners will produce a lot of "found language". Learners are bringing in interesting examples, questions about meaning, and so forth, and we discuss them at the beginning of each lesson. In the past, I have not followed up much on incidental vocabulary, but now that we're generating a lot of it, I wonder:

What should I do with our growing list of new words and phrases?

This is the hardest kind of post to write, because I'm not starting with an observation or opinion but rather with a question. It's also the most useful, because in the process of writing and revising my thoughts some of them gel into ideas! Here's what I have so far ...

1) Not every new word has to be studied with the same intensity.
Some words and phrases are more equal than others. In our vocabulary project, we selected only a few words to spend a lot of time on (around 5 words a week). We verified that the words were either on a high-frequency or academic word list, or that the words/phrases could be reused frequently in the context of the topics we had planned over the 12 week program.

I don't have to give equal attention to every item on our found language list, but I should identify any high-utility language and explicitly include it going forward. In addition to frequency, I should consider the topics we are likely to be exploring in the near future.

2) Everyone in the class doesn't have to study the exact same words.
I can take a few words from the found language list to emphasize, but individuals can always make personal choices too. That's a kind of autonomy that I would be delighted to see!

3) Learners and I should discuss the rationale for our choices.
I should think aloud about my selection process as a model for learners. If learners choose extra words, it would be nice to hear the reasons for their choices. Sharing personal choices would benefit  learners because we could support their studies. (If learners are drilling each other with flashcards, why couldn't a learner include his or her own cards in the process?)

4) A word's definition is not actually the most important thing to study.
Sure, everyone writes a definition or translation into their notebook when they run into a new word that they want to learn. That's fine. But there are other things that get in the way of being able to use a word freely and fluently.

- I think connecting the word to a picture or symbol could be more useful than to a definition. Not long ago, a group of high beginners played "concentration" where they matched vocabulary words to pictures. (I made the cards from current vocabulary using clip art.) Months later, I could show a picture to this group and the word would come forward instantly! I don't think the same would be true if I flashed a definition. John Fanselow proposed letting learners come up with mutually-agreed upon symbols for words and then using them together in class. (Sign up for the May Advanced Teaching Skills Course at iTDi and hear all about it from Professor Fanselow himself!) An activity like this could be especially useful for conceptual language in my higher level group. Just discussing what symbol to choose and why would be good practice!

- Learning a definition doesn't help a learner with using the word in a way that sounds natural. This is where a corpus can be very handy.

Recently, we learned "go around" in the sense of having enough of something for everyone. MacMillan defines this as an intransitive phrasal verb, so a learner might logically try a sentence like: Does the pizza go around? Hmmm, something's not right there ... I think this verb should really be learned at the sentence level. After looking at COCA, I would use sentences of the form

There is not enough [something] to go around. There is plenty of [something] to go around.

After learning to use sentences like these, a learner would be more likely to try "Is there enough pizza to go around?"

The corpus also shows that this verb is used most often to talk about money or food, so I would be sure that these were featured heavily in our examples. With good word curiosity skills, I think learners could discover other variations on their own. In the meantime, they would have this vocabulary in an immediately usable form.

5) Flashcards!
Learners need practice remembering language and using it. I recently made a word-gap exercise featuring vocabulary from the past. I did not include a word bank.  This was a huge challenge to my higher level group!  They looked through their notebooks to find as many words as they could, then discussed with each other.  As the answers came to light, learners said "Oh yes! I know that!"  This tells me that there is not enough productive recall practice going on.  Flashcards can help.

Again, definitions are overrated. I would prefer symbols, an example sentence, or maybe an opposite word. How about "Is there enough [picture of a slice of pizza] to ________?" (hint: phrasal verb)

I have just discovered Anki, which looks to be very useful. I can post flashcard decks and learners can take those and add their own words. The prompts can be pictures, cloze, or even audio and can include hints.  Actually, they can be all of these things (more than one card for the target word).  Best of all, Anki presents the cards using spaced repetition. It takes learned words out of heavy rotation, but brings them back for review periodically.  There are also many shared decks for learners who can't get enough drilling.

Frankly, I like paper flashcards. If you make them small (3" x 5", cut in half), there's no reason you can't carry up to 10 new words around with you for a quick, discrete review while waiting for the bus or whatever. A methodical learner can follow a routine for spaced repetition using cards, too.  Plus, Anki is free for laptops but the app will cost ya. (It might be worth it, but that's up to the learner to decide. I can't require it.)

6) Games!
Maybe sometimes we can have a language game or other activity at the beginning of class instead of our found language discussion. It could feature our incidental vocabulary. There's tic tac toe, where partners or teams have to make a grammatically correct sentence with the word(s) in the square. Or learners could be given awkward-sounding sentences and rewrite into more fluent language.

7) Google Form and Spreadsheet
As I started pondering the question of this post, I realized that I should be keeping better track of all of this new language somehow.  I decided to start up a spreadsheet and that got me thinking -- what if learners and I could use a Google form to add vocabulary to a communal spreadsheet? What if I could output from the spreadsheet directly into Anki? If I come up with something, I'll share about it here!

PS: It looks like Blogger is weirdly unhappy with me.  It won't let me post pictures and it includes some odd-looking characters in my posts.  Sorry if this post looks goofy.  I may shift to Wordpress. (How annoying!)

Word Curious

We finished our vocabulary-teaching project about five months ago and I've been thinking about how my practice has changed since then.  Because we wanted to compare effects between classes that received extra vocabulary attention and those that didn't, we followed much more rigid lesson plans than I'm used to.  All of the teachers involved taught from the same history/civics texts, but the teachers of the experimental groups all focused on specifically agreed-upon words that were to be approached in the same way.  We decided ahead of time if a word was to be examined via its morphology, context, explicit definition, etc. and we agreed to use the same activities for reinforcing, recycling, etc.

So, now that I'm free   f r e e   F R E E from those constraints, do I bring any of what I learned into my lessons?  Yes, my whole way of teaching is hugely vocabulary-centric now.  Or, I should say lexis-centric!  For one thing, I place a lot of emphasis on word curiosity now.

As my higher level class gathers at the beginning of our lesson, we talk in a very informal and relaxed way about "found language".  Learners share new words or phrases that they have encountered outside of class and everyone discusses them and asks questions about how they're used. This picture is from last Thursday's lesson and, as you can see, the list is long. It includes phrases and it has a nice mix of spoken and written language. The last item is actually one that I used in class.  A learner stopped me to ask about it!

It has taken some time to cultivate this kind of language curiosity.  At first, I explained why noticing language outside the classroom was important and asked learners to look for new language as homework.  Only one or two learners took me up on it.  Personally, I wanted "noticing" to be fun and not a chore so I stopped with the homework.  Instead, I started bringing in examples myself and sharing them enthusiastically at the beginning of a lesson. Slowly, others have joined in.  This now can take as much as a half hour of our three-hour lesson, but I think it's worth it.  It not only gets learners noticing language outside of the classroom, but they're paying more attention during our lesson as well.  (Remember the learner who stopped me to ask about my word choice?)

credit

Some of the examples I bring to class are things that I've said myself, often idioms or slang. Once I brought in the phrase "it'll do".  Later, I remembered this rhyme from World War II (my grandmother used to say it):

Use it up, wear it out.
Make it do or do without.

Since we had also recently discussed the difference between "use it" and "use it up", this was a great language example!

Other examples come from the newspaper.  They might involve new uses of language we've been working with, but in a different context.  For example, learners noticed the phrase "of [nationality] descent" some time ago.  In a video about childhood obesity, I pointed out "of minority descent".

As far as my own learning is concerned, there's still a lot of room for growth in this area.  For one thing, what do I do with all of this found language going forward?  That's a nice segue to ... corpora, which I'll write about in my next post.

Vocabulary Again

Whew,  I think things are beginning to settle down around here and I can get back to blogging!  I don't think I can ever catch up on all of the thoughts, ideas, and reflections that have been swirling around without an outlet over the last few weeks.  Oh, well, that's the way it goes ...

I have been promising for, like, forever to report on the conclusions of the vocabulary project I was involved with not too long ago.  About a year ago, two fellow teachers and I collaborated with a researcher at the University of Minnesota, Duluth to try an intervention in our classes.  Many studies have shown positive effects from special attention to vocabulary teaching to K-12 ELLs.  While it's logical to assume that the same would hold true for adults, we thought it would be nice to confirm that notion.  So, we developed a 12-week vocabulary-focused curriculum, did a pilot run, and then followed with another pass while two other teachers used the same civics and history materials in their classes but taught vocabulary however they would have taught it.  We don't have the final version of our report yet, but I can say that statistically significant benefits were demonstrated. (Surprise!)  As soon as I get a copy of the final report, I will post.

We submitted proposals to present our report at both TESOL and AERA and were accepted at both!  Funny story: due to a snafu that we don't quite understand yet, not one of us got word that we were accepted to present at TESOL. We learned about it on the day before we were scheduled to talk when a friend called to comment on seeing our names in the catalog!!  Of course, we were not prepared to leap onto a plane and fly across the continent overnight so we had to cancel.  That was very disappointing because I would love to have gone to TESOL, especially on someone else's dime!  But we did get ample notice of our acceptance at AERA, which was held right here at Philly's Convention Center.  I hesitate to even call our event a presentation ... we shared our preliminary results at a round table session last Friday afternoon.

At our roundtable!

Since the university covered my registration, I attended as many other sessions as I could. AERA is a bunch of education researchers, so a lot of what went on was well over my head.  But I especially enjoyed two sessions.  One was research related to teachers as leaders.  The other was research on how noncognitive factors might affect student success.  Both very promising!

After being reminded of the details of our project, I've come to realize how much I've changed my own teaching since then.  More on that to come ...

Emergence in Action

credit: Steve Garfield

A friend on Facebook recently said:

Google Hangouts needs a universally accepted verbization.  You could IM or message someone, or text your friends, or PM them, or FaceTime them. You used to ICQ a person. But you can't Hang someone Out. It's just too awkward.

True!  (And old timers like me can phone someone!)

Hangout is a noun derived from the phrasal verb "to hang out". The verb is intransitive when used to mean "spend time casually with friends", so it does sound awkward to say, "Hang me Out when you get a chance."  Not only that, it brings a common idiom to mind: "to hang someone out to dry".  That's not a good association, since that means to leave someone alone without any support! (There's also a similar idiom: "to leave someone flapping in the breeze.")

I would use one of the examples she provided as a model for a new verb.  My first thought was "HO me" but that has funky associations too!  It evokes either Santa or a wanton.  So, in her comments, I suggested "GH me."  What do you think? Is there already a verb being used for this meaning?

PS: I like my friend's coinage "verbization" too!  Would you say this?  Or would you say "verbification"?  Or something else?

Invigorated!

When I woke up this morning at 6, the temperature outside was 12 F (-11 C). Do you think there's anything that could get me out of a warm bed so early on a Sunday morning? Yes!

Propped up by a mug of hot green tea and citrus, I was sitting at the computer by 6:45 getting ready to join the latest iTDi webinar with more than 100 other ELT professionals from around the world.  It was so nice to see so many familiar names and great to have a chance to interact live if only a tiny bit.(There was the webinar to attend to, you know!)

The webinar was great. Each of the presenters made great points that I'll be mulling over for some time, and all three complemented each other.

Decidedly NOT high-tech. (From Wikipedia.)

Scott Thornbury examined the role that digital technology can play (or not) in the language classroom. The bottom line, which I wholeheartedly agree with, is that the teacher needs to evaluate possible uses of technology critically.  What value does it bring to the language learning experience? If it's something we can already do, why bring technology in?  An example (mine, not his) is polling. Teachers can project a poll question, learners can use their mobile phones to submit responses, and the results get tallied on the screen in real time.  Nifty, but what does it add to the language learning experience?  Isn't more language used if learners walk around, ask each other, note the responses they get, and tally the results themselves?  Maybe each learner could ask a different question and then the group could put it all together and discuss.  Screens do take our eyes away from each other.  On the other hand, I love using Google Images to support discussion about a new vocabulary word.  A learner once asked "What's a showdown?" It was nice to cap off the negotiation of meaning with a picture of two cowboys facing off!  Scott pointed out that this is technology's biggest strength: giving us access to data.

Penny Ur discussed several topics, but I especially appreciated her comments on vocabulary.  She noted that vocabulary knowledge is:

- the major determiner of level of proficiency
- the major determiner of students' ability to understand a text
- FAR MORE IMPORTANT than grammar (those are her capital letters!)

Given my nascent learning about how grammar and vocabulary are deeply intertwined, this makes sense to me.  Thoroughly studying a word and its collocations in a specific context brings grammar out.

Penny's bottom line on vocabulary was: probably about one-third of our teaching time needs to be devoted to vocabulary-focused activity.  Although I have recently learned that vocabulary needs to play a bigger role in lessons than it typically does,  I was a bit fuzzy about how much bigger.  Now here's something to work with!  I'm really tempted to buy Penny's book, which includes many suggestions for vocabulary review activities.

John Fanselow built on both Penny and Scott's comments.  Regarding technology, he strongly recommended the use of recording devices in the classroom.  Like Scott, he supported technology kept simple (no more than is needed).  He also supported the learning of vocabulary in context and demonstrated how learners can develop personal symbols for the brick and mortar words (function and content words) and then map sentence patterns out using the symbols.  Again, grammar and vocabulary are meshed together: every time a learner uses a symbol, they're productively recalling the word in the context of a sentence.  At the same time, they're discovering the patterns that are grammar.  I can see using flashcards with a symbol string on one side and a sentence on the other.

I haven't done justice to all that was said, which is why it's worth checking the webinar out for yourself!  Go to iTDi.pro, they'll be posting a link there. Also: these and other great teachers are scheduled to teach courses via iTDi in the near future.  I probably can't take all of them, so now I've got the tough task of narrowing it down!

When Cross Words are a Good Thing

OK, I really meant "crosswords"!

Thanks to Brian Aydemir

Lately, crossword puzzles are playing more of a role in my classes and in my reflections.

Just as in my experience with timelines, I've progressed from using crosswords in a fairly superficial way to seeing them as a useful tool -- and one that learners enjoy!

We've all encountered ready-made crossword puzzles, either in a textbook or offered as worksheets online.  I've used them to fill out the last 15 minutes of a lesson or to occupy learners who finish a test early.  Higher level learners are usually familiar with the format and don't seem to mind working on them. Naturally, I would choose a puzzle topic that's related to what was happening in class so that many of the clues or answers would be language that we'd seen recently.  If a learner didn't know some language, it could be a good opportunity for expansion.  But much of the time, the unknown words are relatively unimportant: in a Thanksgiving Day puzzle, "What does a turkey say?"  Other times, the word is not one that I care to reinforce: while we discuss both "Indian" and "Native American" in class, the latter is what I would prefer to recycle in later activities.

from Andreanna Moya

Online crossword-creators are a much better option.  You can make sure that every clue is directly relevant to a particular group of learners.  You can include clues that exercise a noticed weakness (spelling of irregular past verbs?).  You can include incidental vocabulary, recycle older vocabulary, introduce variations on known words, etc.  And who says that you have to make the puzzle?  What if you ask each learner to submit three clues based on recent vocabulary, then brought in a puzzle made from their submissions?  What if small groups worked together to make a list of clues and generate a puzzle, then swapped their puzzles with other groups?  Here are a couple of online puzzle-makers I have used.  Since my beginners are not comfortable on computers, I like generators that can produce PDF:

The Teachers Corner Crossword Puzzle Maker lets you save to PDF and allows you to add pictures for illustration.  You also get some formatting options.

Armored Penguin Crossword Puzzle Maker  also allows PDF and gives you many different formatting options.  If you don't like the way a puzzle looks, generate it again for a new arrangement.

If you are working with beginners or others who have never done this kind of puzzle, be prepared for a big learning curve.  It might be good to start with small puzzle with 6 or 8 obvious and easy words so they can focus on learning the format.  New puzzlers need to know:

- what across and down mean
- that you can write a letter in the numbered squares
- that two words SHARE a letter where they intersect

New puzzlers are also unsure what to do with clues that are written in traditional crossword language, such as "a small boat made from a tree".  I would rewrite as "What is a small boat made from a tree?"  Writing the clues in question form also offers meaningful exposure to question words in use.  And if students write their own clues, they will get good question-writing practice.

Some learners may also discover these important concepts:

- that a letter from one word can be a hint for the intersecting word
- to look carefully at the clue (it will probably tell you if a word is plural or singular, for example)
- that if you KNOW a word but the letters from an intersecting word don't match, maybe you should double-check your answer for the intersecting word

This is highly-valuable practice in general problem-solving skills!

courtesy of Justin Grimes

When I write a puzzle, I tend to focus on vocabulary rather than testing of factual information ("On what day is Thanksgiving celebrated?").  I'm always looking for ways to give productive vocabulary practice -- where the learner must try to recall the word and its spelling.  That's not to say that fact-checking can't be included, of course!

For the last year or so, I've been doing crosswords for my own entertainment on an almost-daily basis and this has provoked even more thoughts on how this activity might be used in class.  I'm using the New York Times Crossword app, which provides a new puzzle every day, gives access to a vast number of past puzzles, and offers puzzle packs on various themes.  The New York Times puzzle, for those who are not familiar with it, progresses in difficulty during the week.  The Monday puzzle is pretty easy, with many answers that are common knowledge to a person who's well-embedded in this culture.  For me, the Tuesday puzzle is also pretty easy.  The Wednesday puzzle sometimes requires a little homework (looking something up or asking a friend ... no it's NOT cheating to learn something new!).  I haven't progressed to later days of the week yet -- I like the gratification of finishing in less than an hour.

One aspect of these "real" crossword puzzles that we don't see in a typical classroom puzzle is the wordplay.  Collocations, puns, and ambiguous clues play a big role.  Examples from recent NYT puzzles:

collocation: "it's impressive" is the clue ... the answer is "feat"

pun: "punch lines?" ... "ows"

ambiguous clue: "series opener" ... "part I" (in the US, "series opener" is a baseball collocation so you might be misled into thinking about baseball terms)

I haven't tried it, but I don't see why I couldn't add some rudimentary word play to a puzzle for higher level students.  Maybe title the puzzle "Give me an S" and have every answer begin with the letter, be a regular plural, or be a third-person singular -- I certainly don't have time to do anything fancy!

ETA: I just remembered the source of inspiration for expanding my use of crossword puzzles.  Carol Goodey posted about them some months ago.  My thanks to her!

Helpful Sites for Advanced Learners

A couple of recent discoveries that I will be recommending to my higher level learners (and using myself):

simple.wikipedia.org: Did you know this existed?  I didn't!  If you send learners off to a laptop to research a topic, as I sometimes do, they often go to Wikipedia proper and discover that it's too dense to comprehend. At that point, they might shift to a first language to get the information and then work on translating it in order to share with the class.  That's OK with me, but an alternative would be to send them to this link first.  They may be able to find the desired information right away.  They may also encounter related chunks of language that would be useful to examine as we review their answers.

Another thought: it looks as if this site is relatively new.  Perhaps learners will discover that the information they need does not have an entry yet.  Mightn't it be an interesting project for them to write an entry and submit it themselves?

One block from our classroom, a long time ago.*

I looked up "Philadelphia" and ran the text for the city's history through the algorithms at  www.readability-score.com.  Its score is 8.0.  The equivalent text at the regular Wikipedia site scored 13.0.  I've been checking readability of learner texts for a while and I know that my group can usually handle a score of 10 or 11 with some help.  So, the "simple" text would probably not drive them to L1.

Of course, these are not "authentic" texts.  They've been written with a learner in mind, just as textbooks and learner's dictionaries are.  So, I guess their usefulness as a source of natural chunks of language may be limited.

www.prefixsuffix.com: I'm focusing on vocabulary with my learners, but of course we can't possibly cover all of the thousands of words they need to know to be fluent. My learners from South America, France, etc., have a big advantage because their languages share many cognates with literate English.  Learners from other parts of the world can strengthen their ability to make educated guesses about Latin-derived words, too, with the help of this site.  And, of course, I can brush up on my familiarity with these word parts as well. The site offers an app and I can see giving some assignments to look for Latin-based words "out there" and take them apart using the app (or site) for guidance. Seems as if learners should always try this first before (or instead of) looking a word up.  Strength in this area would really boost their vocabulary knowledge!

*Credit to Wikipedia for today's image of President's House.

More on Vocab Notebooks -- and Cards

In an earlier post, I reflected on the use of vocabulary notebooks.  I concluded that learners need to be taught a specific way of organizing their notebooks, that they need to be given time to work on their notebooks during class, and that we need to use the notebooks regularly in class activities (give learners a need to keep up with them).  Eventually, individuals can personalize their notebook-keeping but they need to see the utility in the process first.

How did I do with these conclusions over the last month? Well, I was OK with showing learners a method of organizing, and I reinforced this by using the same format on the board when discussing a new word. I also gave folks time to write in their notebooks.  I didn't make sure each learner had set up a notebook -- I think many just embedded vocabulary notes in their regular notebook -- and I didn't include the notebooks in activities often.

In continuing to mull this whole process over, it occurred to me that a vocabulary notebook is somewhat "schooly".  When learners get home, it probably gets dumped on the desk with other class materials and is probably looked at only when (if) they do homework.  It doesn't seem to lend itself to frequent reference during the time between classes.

What if learners used a small notebook that they could carry around day to day?

These are all about 4.5x3 inches (114x82 mm) in size.  The 50-page "composition" books are very inexpensive -- you can get a 3-pack at the dollar store for a buck.  The 140-page spiral books have unlined paper and the pages can be torn out and used as flash cards.  I think I got them on sale at an office supply store for $1 each.  They're a bit bulkier, but would easily fit in a backpack or handbag.  Not only can small notebooks be used for vocabulary study at any time, they can be used to jot down interesting or confusing language as it's encountered.  (Homework this week is for learners to observe language around them and bring in something interesting to share with their classmates.  I'm going to do it too, and it will be a standing assignment for the weekend.)

If learners have a smart phone, they don't need a notebook.  They just need to find the app that suits their needs (and use it!).  I can see using the "reminder" app that comes with the iPhone to note new language, maybe checking an item off when it's been clarified or transferred to a notebook for further study.  Any notebook app could be used for study.  Put the word at the top of a page and the definition far enough down that you need to scroll to see it.  There you go!

I've also been continuing with reading books on teaching vocabulary (click "vocabulary" in my word cloud for earlier notes).  I finished the Graves book, though I admit I skipped the last section which dealt with "Empirically Validated Vocabulary Programs for ELLs".  The programs are designed for children and don't seem useful for adult learners.  Now I'm trying to read How to Teach Vocabulary by Scott Thornbury.  The reason I'm saying "trying" is ... the book's so packed with practical material that I keep opening to random pages and getting caught up imagining how I can use whatever's on that page!  I'm sure I'll have more to say on the book in another post sometime.  Meanwhile, one idea in Thornbury's book, also described in Games for Language Learning by Wright, Betteridge and Buckby, caught my eye.

It seems as if vocabulary cards could serve many, if not all, of the same functions as a vocabulary notebook.  But they're much more flexible.  Learners can alphabetize them, categorize them, carry them around easily, use them to quiz each other and use them for games.  I can join in the act by making a set of vocabulary cards for the classroom.  In fact, I like the idea of making two sets.  That way, two groups can use a set at the same time or both sets can be used together for a game or other activity.

Here is a pencil bag I got on sale at an office supply store for (probably) a dollar.  Inside are 50 or 60 3x5 index cards and several kinds of clips.  Personally, I think smaller cards would be easier to use. Maybe we could cut these cards in half.  The clips can be used for the 10 or so cards a learner wants to take out and carry around for this week's studying.  In the classroom set, the clips might have another use.  I'm thinking of having one-sided cards (keeping the backs blank).  Word and definition would go on separate cards and be clipped together.  Then the cards can be mixed up and learners can pair words with definitions.  They can also be used with card games where the backs need to be blank.  Each word could slowly accumulate additional cards for synonym, antonym, collocation, gap-fill sentence, etc.  Both of the books listed above offer a variety of games and activities to be used with vocabulary cards.  Here's one to add to the list (not in either book).  It's a reworking of a popular kid's game.

thanks to Tom Magliery

Use 2 sets of 12 pairs of cards (48 cards in all), a pair being a word and its definition, a word and its opposite, etc. Deal out 5 cards to 3-5 players and put the remaining cards in the center of the table. Players take turns asking: Do you have the definition of “economy”? or Do you have the opposite of “create”? The card holder says “No.” or “Yes, the opposite of “create” is “destroy.” and hands over the card. If no match, the requester must “go fish” (draw a card). If they draw what they were looking for, they can continue, otherwise play goes to the next learner. When a player gets all 4 cards (2 pairs of the same word), they have a “set” and can set these cards aside. The player with the most sets at the end wins.

To wrap up, there are also flashcard apps.  I've taken a brief look at a basic one called Quiz Maker  by TouchMint that seems pretty good.  With this app, you can create different decks of cards.  You can quiz yourself on either "side" of a card.  You can add hints, and you can evaluate yourself -- I haven't given it a good try yet, but I presume that the cards you mark as "don't understand very well" will come up more often during quizzing.  It appears that you can share your cards with other by email ... hmmm, I feel a classroom activity coming on!

Individual Words

(Recently I've been posting reflections on a book, please click "Graves" in my tag cloud for other related posts. This isn't a book review or a report on the contents, just a personal response to what I've read!)

Chapter 4 of Teaching Vocabulary to English Language Learners is called "Teaching Individual Words".

From Wikimedia Commons

Off the top of my head, here are some typical vocabulary-teaching activities:

• matching a word to a definition
• completing a sentence with the word
• using the word in a sentence that shows an understanding of meaning (and which uses correct inflection, syntax, spelling, etc.)
• unscrambling a word
• Using or finding the word in a puzzle
• Associating the word with synonyms, antonyms, collocations or pictures

Do you have some other favorites? Do they tend to be related to spelling or reading the word and connecting it to a definition? In teacher culture (from what I see in textbooks and lesson plans, including my own), I think we consider a word "taught" if a student can do those two things. I suspect that this is the assumption behind many studies as well. For example:

... a study by Giambo and McKinney (2004) found improved vocabulary for ELL kindergartners with phonemic awareness instruction ..." (Graves, et al, 2013, p. 18)

How was "improved vocabulary" measured? Did kindergartners match a word to a picture (i.e., a definition)?

Yet, participants in my classes will say things like, "I know the word when I see it or hear it, I just can't remember it when I need to use it." or "I know that word, but I can't say the meaning in English." They certainly know something ... What is it that they know?

After reading this book (and the previous one, see "Folse" in my tag cloud), I'm ready to make a distinction between vocabulary teaching and vocabulary learning. I'm seeing the first as outcomes-focused: we focus on helping students connect a word with its definition. We can check that by giving a test. But the second is a continuing process, not so easily measured. Does what a learner knows help her to participate in communication better than before? Certainly, associating a word with a definition is an early step in the process, so the teaching thing is useful. But it doesn't stop there.

• Why does learner want to know this word?
• Did the new word introduce a new concept?
• Does the new word open the door to a new context?
• Can the learner build on the word, or even innovate with it?
• Did the learner notice a pattern that can be applied to other words, improving how well those words are understood as well?

I'm realizing that It's not only beneficial to spend a significant part of each lesson on vocabulary and to recycle words often and intentionally over a long period of time, but also to show and encourage an interest in words beyond definitions. For one thing, include first languages in the discussions about words. And how about letting learners play a role in deciding what words to study? Learners can bring in words they think the class should study and explain where they found the word and why they want to study it. This ties in with another tip: have learners be on the lookout for words outside the classroom. Obviously, they can look for current and past words or words they want to learn. Why not look for phrasal verbs, a certain suffix, when people say "um", adjectives, words with 5 syllables, unusual spellings, etc.?

This chapter is chock-full of other useful ideas and suggestions, such as what to consider when choosing words to teach explicitly, providing student-friendly definitions, techniques for teaching in-depth, and ideas for recycling and review. I can tell I will be referring to it regularly!

(PS: I'm posting for the first time from an app called Blogsy. Apologies if things look funky!)

Posted with Blogsy

Surrounding Learners with Words

It's been a pretty busy week and I haven't had a lot of time to forge onward in the book I'm reading (click "Graves" in my tag cloud for more on that), but I have been thinking about what I've read so far and re-reading parts of it.  In my last post, I reacted to the idea I found most intriguing, the notion of exposing learners to some spoken language that's above their level -- language that's not necessarily on the agenda but is appropriate to the context, not too far beyond their reach, and (perhaps) interesting.

Among other suggestions for "Providing Rich and Varied Language Experiences" are:

Read Across America Day (credit)

- Reading aloud from books that are interesting and enjoyable, helping with comprehension by  pausing to define words, asking questions and pointing to pictures.

It's easy to find pictures of adults reading stories to kids -- it's a no-brainer!  But what about reading aloud to other adults?  Hey, I love being read to (Selected Shorts, for example)! I'd like to read a book to one of my classes, perhaps in the last 15 minutes of every lesson.  I think it should be for pleasure, no worksheets or quizzes in sight.  Since we're an EL-Civics program, the topic should probably be related to American history or some civics theme ... I'm exploring historical fiction written for children.  If a story is well-written, it may hold the interest of adults.  (I may not get to try this out until winter -- when I do I will post about it!)

- Facilitating wide reading by the learners themselves, helping them to select texts that will support vocabulary growth and (presumably) are interesting.

In lieu of reading a whole book to the class, I could read part of a book and then let anyone who's interested take the book to finish on their own.  I suppose I should have enough copies to go around!

Reading outside on a sunny day. (credit)

Another person with the same idea. (credit)

Reading outdoors in Tunisia. (credit)

- Involving learners in discussion "in which real issues are considered", both casual conversation and discussion on academic topics.

Unplugged teaching. 'Nuff said!

- Promoting word-learning through writing by encouraging learners to write with a purpose and for an audience and helping them learn to choose words wisely.

Our annual SpeakOut project opens the door for this. Learners, alumni and teachers may submit writing done independently or in class and we publish a book, celebrating its release in the spring.  This does stimulate many learners to produce heartfelt work, work hard to polish it up, and practice reading it aloud (in case they're selected to read at the celebration).  I occasionally get a learner in class who has strong independent motivation to write and who is always seeking just the right words to get specific ideas across.  I'm wondering how I could encourage this kind of motivation on a day-to-day basis.  Wait!  What about the previous point regarding involving learners in real discussions?  Wouldn't that carry over to writing, too?  (*Forehead smack!*)

Rich and Varied

The first meaty chapter of Teaching Vocabulary to English Language Learners is called "Providing Rich and Varied Language Experiences".  It's generally organized around the traditional skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing.  The authors propose that, while all learners should work on all skills, beginning learners should receive an emphasis on speaking and listening and more advanced learners should receive an emphasis on reading and writing. (I have a question about that: it seems that advanced learners often come to me with more reading and writing experience than listening and speaking experience? In any case ... )

Not all of the language that learners encounter has to be "taught".  In the section on listening, we're advised to go ahead and include some words that are beyond learner ability -- with some thought to what the level of the group is.  I think the idea is that the challenging language may slip past, but (as Ellis and others contend) that doesn't mean it isn't being collected and processed.  The authors give an example of using an interesting but uncommon word to stimulate curiosity.  "Too many decibels for me!"  I imagine the goal is more to pique learner interest in language than to "teach" the word.  I can also see:

- using an idiom or common phrase that I would normally use in free speech, but that I tend to filter out when speaking in class.  Loosening the filter intentionally, I guess.
- using authentic language that learners are not asked to study explicitly, but that is appropriate for the context they're in. A possible parallel: kids overhearing their parents talking nearby.

A week or so ago, I witnessed an example (perhaps) of the results of this kind of exposure.  We had turned our attention to "have to" in a lesson with my high beginner/low intermediate class.  Learners practiced and seemed to be getting comfortable with it, but one learner obviously had an epiphany.  Usually somewhat reserved, she brightened up and said "Oh!"  Then she started throwing out example sentences with  delight: I have to call my brother. You have to go to work.  He has to make an appointment ... And so forth. She had surely heard this language many, many times at work and I certainly have used it often in the classroom.  She probably had the gist of its meaning, but not its form.  When I put the form on the board, it just clicked for her.  I didn't "teach" it to her, I just provided that one bit of information that firmed up what she had been collecting all along.  For the rest of the folks in class that day, our attention to form may only have added to their repository, but maybe it brought them closer to the click.  (An aside: could such a  click be he moment when receptive vocabulary becomes productive vocabulary?)

The above is maybe an example of when I inadvertently provided my learners with language above their level (using "have to" and "don't have to" frequently).  I asked myself if I could think of ways that I've more deliberately offered "rich and varied" language to my classes.  It turns out that last week both of my classes watched videos that were challenging. In each case, I scaffolded the experience -- eliciting background knowledge, reviewing some key words, and reading and discussing a simplified text before watching the video.

The lower level class watched a video that was specifically prepared for language learners, but for a group at a higher level.  They did not tire of watching it again and again (we would review the video to answer questions that arose during discussion, for example).  The last time they watched it, many were reading the subtitles aloud to the extent that they could.  To my great pleasure, several later used some of the language they had heard (but we had not focused on explicitly) in class.  They did it deliberately, and I'm sure it's because they had seen it modeled so many times.  One was "thanks to [someone or something]" and the other was from a humorous moment in the movie: "Don't move!"  A character in the movie said this while drawing a picture of someone else.  We had a drawing activity ourselves and "Don't move!" flew about the room with lots of chuckling.  I wouldn't be surprised to hear another repeated phrase from the video ("I have an idea.") soon.  In fact, I will make a point to use it myself!  Here is a link to the video I used (We watched "The Hospital") and here's a picture two learners made of me (note the similarity to a picture in the video!).

After reading about and discussing a brief description of the American Civil War, my higher level class read a simplified version of the Gettysburg Address and we discussed.  We made a recording of them reading it as a class, one sentence per student, and played it back to analyze pronunciation. We then reviewed some key words and watched a video where various famous people read the original text one sentence at a time, similar to the way we had done it.  In the video, certain words were repeated.  I asked learners if they noticed, we tried to remember which words were repeated, then we watched again.  We then discussed why those words were emphasized.  (There are two  kinds of repetition: made by the video editors, and in the speech itself.  Lots to discuss!)  Lincoln's speech is simple, yet the language is formal.  I don't expect students to study the formal words, but such a "rich and varied" examination of the Gettysburg Address may come back to them, since this is an important text that's quoted and referenced heavily. In fact, next month is the 150th anniversary of the battle. A noticing learner will probably see many of these words again, especially here in Philadelphia!

hubby riding near Gettysburg

Another Vocabulary Book

Oh yes, I always "dress" for reading!

In the ongoing saga of "Kathy learns to teach vocabulary", I'm moving to the next book on my list: Teaching Vocabulary to Second Language Learners by Graves, August, and Mancilla-Matinez.  Although this book is aimed at K-12 ESL instruction, there is no reason that the main principles should not apply to teaching adults.  Perhaps we'll see about that over the next 6 months!

I've just completed the introductory portion of the book.  As in Folse, the authors assert that   vocabulary instruction is neglected far too much (some of the same studies are cited).  In this book, the authors propose a vocabulary teaching program consisting of four parts:

- providing rich and varied language experiences

- teaching individual words

- teaching word learning strategies

- fostering word consciousness (noticing, yeah!)

The meat of the book consists of one chapter for each of these topics and there's a final chapter which  discusses and compares four "empirically validated vocabulary programs for ELLs".  Because I'm not in a reading group this time, I'm going to have to provide my own discipline!  By that, I mean pausing after each chapter to ask myself some questions and rereading the chapter before continuing. I'm also setting a deadline of the end of June.  I'm giving lots of time for pondering each chapter -- allowing for a shift from "receptive" to "productive" understanding?

image courtesy of plum leaves

Vocabulary Notebooks

(As part of a recent focus on vocabulary learning, I just finished reading Vocabulary Myths.)  

One of the vocabulary learning strategies suggested in Folse's book (p. 102-106) is for students to keep a notebook especially for word study.  Of course, I've seen this suggestion many times before and tried a couple of times to encourage it without much success!

The first time, I made up a worksheet with space for 3 words on each side of the page.  The idea was for students to keep a stack of empty worksheets in a 3-ring binder and fill them out with words that they especially wanted to study.  As I went through the process of completing an example (is it a noun? a verb? an adverb? an adjective?), I saw that eyes were glazing over. My worksheet was far too detailed and keeping a vocabulary notebook was definitely beginning to look like a painful chore.  Oops!

courtesy of miguelavg

Another time (with another group), I suggested a vocabulary notebook again.  This time I went too far in the other direction, proposing that students keep the notebook in any form that pleased them.  We explored various possibilities (word maps, drawing pictures, using colored pens, etc.) and the students made some entries for homework (very lovely, I might add) but they didn't keep up with it.

After reading Folse's advice, a few things became clear to me.  First, if it isn't perceived as useful, learners won't do it on their own.  Second, I can't expect students to start a new habit by just telling them about it once or twice.  To start things off, I need to provide a simple, concrete example format, tell them why it's set up the way it is, show them how to use it, set aside time in every lesson for maintaining it, and call on learners to share what they've written regularly.  (I will name 3-4 words that should go into the notebooks, leaving learners to decide for themselves what others -- if any -- they want to include.) Once the notebooks are established as part of our class culture, I could invite learners to explore how they might personalize them.  Perhaps I could give that as a homework assignment and we could then weigh the pros and cons of their ideas as a group.

Folse's suggestions make that possible.  He advises making a very simple entry for each word: the word, a translation, a synonym/antonym/connecting word, and a brief example (a collocation).  He proposes organizing these 4 bits of information on two lines in two columns and leaving a lot of extra space for later additional information.  That's it!  With this setup, learners can use two pieces of paper to cover up all but one piece of information and then quiz themselves on the other three pieces, checking their answers by shifting one or the other of the pieces of paper. This is simple and practical.  It gives the learner a specific way to do productive retrieval exercises and it leaves room for the learner to personalize as he or she sees fit.

I have a feeling my third try with vocabulary notebooks will be helpful to at least some of my learners!

Word Frequency Lists

It has been really helpful to participate in an online book group while reading Ken Folse's book Vocabulary Myths.  I have started to get to know a few other teachers (always a plus), gotten ideas from them and the moderator, and the discussion questions motivated me to read each chapter again (sometimes several times).

I can tell that I'm in the process of learning, because every time I sit down to blog about my experience, I end up writing a long and unfinished piece!  I'm trying to relate what I've read to my current understanding and experience and there are whole subtopics out there that I really don't understand yet (how to use corpora, for example)!

Speaking of corpora, I've notices that many vocabulary resources make a statement something like this:

The 4,000 most common English words account for 80% of words in a typical text.  

This is usually followed by a recommendation that these 4,000 words be the foundation upon which learners build their vocabulary knowledge.  I don't disagree with this.  Since we can't begin to teach every word a learner needs to know, using a frequent words list can help us make choices. But statements like the above bother me.

In the chapter on using translations while learning vocabulary, Folse make the point that each meaning of a word could be thought of as a different word.  He notes that "take medicine" is not the same as "take a shower" and proposes that these expressions be taught as separate "words" (Ch. 4, p. 65):

When using translations for learning new vocabulary, learners and teachers need to remember that a word is not always a single word but rather a chunk of several words and that is what needs to be translated. (the author's italics)

As far as I can tell, the researchers who calculate word coverage don't distinguish between different semantic uses of each word. If "off" only rates a single entry on this list, then its use as a preposition may be "covered" but not all of the shades of meaning that it brings to phrasal verbs.  Modals, too, affect meaning depending on the words they travel with. And, of course, most "regular" words have more than one meaning.  Consider "brush": an implement with bristles, vegetation, an action.  Indeed, some of the most common words (make, get, and put are among the top 100) can generate a half-page or more of elaboration in a good dictionary.

thanks to Jaboney*

If most strings of characters that are counted as words have several to many meanings, then teaching one meaning for each of the 4,000 most common strings will not bring a learner anywhere near 80% "coverage".   (It occurs to me that native speakers who are learning to read probably already know the meanings of many words. Their challenge would be much smaller than that of English language learners.)

I'd like to reiterate that I think lists of common words are useful tools for both teachers and learners.  I guess what I'm concerned about is that "facts" such as the above can be very attractive to administrators looking for ways to measure success.  But when it comes to English language learners, I don't think "coverage" is so easily defined!

* image changed to one that's more clearly "free"

Words, Words, Words

Recently, several of the teachers in my group have come into the opportunity to participate in some  vocabulary-teaching research.  I'm very excited!  I hope my learners will benefit directly, but I also hope that my own skills will improve significantly during the course of the project (it stretches out over the next seven months).

Our program normally uses a thematic framework rather than a cut and dried curriculum. This gives teachers quite a bit of latitude when it comes to individual lesson plans.  Each month, we focus on a common topic so we can support each other, but we are free to decide independently how to go about exploring the topic with our learners.  I love this, because I can bring learners into the decision-making from lesson to lesson.  However, thanks to this project we have prepared a more formal three-month curriculum. We've chosen specific topics and texts.  Our project leader will provide particulars with regard to teaching vocabulary.  The rest -- how we interact with the content of the text -- will be defined by the teachers.

Our project leader has suggested that we read a recently-published book: Teaching Vocabulary to English Language Learners by Graves, August and Mancilla-Martinez.  I bought the text, skimmed though it, and began reading ... but at about the same time, an online book reading group formed over at ELL-U.  They were planning to read and discuss Vocabulary Myths by Keith Folse.  That seemed like an excellent opportunity to keep my focus (thanks to weekly deadlines) and to expand learning beyond the book through the discussion with fellow teachers, so I signed on.  I will follow with Graves when the discussion group ends in a month.

So, I'll probably be reflecting on vocabulary-teaching a lot over the next few months.   I don't intend to comment any more on the project itself, but rather on my own learning -- especially my questions about and reactions to the two recommended books.

It seems as if vocabulary-teaching is quite a hot topic these days.  Our local TESOL chapter recently offered a forum on the subject and I've been seeing other online opportunities as well.  Is it really the case, or am I just sensitized these days?  (Wink!)

PS: I provide links to Amazon only so that you can see what the book's cover looks like, read reviews and (sometimes) page through the table of contents and example text.  I'm not advertising on behalf of anyone.  Just to be clear!