Vocabulary projects conducted by EMB

1. 1 Vocabulary projects conducted by EMB

2. 2 Growing interest in students� vocabulary Recent evidence of inadequate vocabulary of HK university entrants Most 2004 entrants to CUHK knew between 2000 and 3000 English words only International research suggests that students need at least 5000 words to cope with university study in English

3. 3 Vocabulary Study EMB collaborative project with CUHK to develop wordlists for schools�/teachers� reference To strengthen the vocabulary components of the English Language curriculum Proposed vocabulary targets set for each KS

4. 4 Sources of the wordlists for HK schools

5. 5 Vocabulary Study General Service List (GSL) - West, 1953 Academic Wordlist (AWL) - Coxhead, 2000 British National Corpus (BNC)

6. 6 Vocabulary targets

7. 7 Developing English vocabulary

8. 8 Wordlists In alphabetical order By category

9. 9 Features of Hong Kong student writing Repetition of key words (need for lexical substitution) The need for lexical enrichment (adjectives and adverbs)

10. 10 Lexical substitution: � piano� �I had learnt piano for five years. My mother encouraged me to take piano examinations until I was ten. Sometimes I was tired of touching the piano� After a bad experience, I never learned piano any more. I do not dare to play the piano even now.�

11. 11 Too many pianos? �I had learnt piano for five years. My mother encouraged me to take _______ examinations until I was ten. Sometimes I was tired of touching the ________� After a bad experience, I never learned ____________ any more. I do not dare to play the ___________ even now.�

12. 12 Lexical expansion of a first draft �Every Sunday we visit the home of my grandparents. They live in an apartment in a housing estate in Shatin. My grandmother cooks lunch. After lunch we walk in the park.�

13. 13 Lexical expansion of a first draft �Every Sunday we visit the (adj.) home of my (adj.) grandparents. They live in an (adj.) apartment in a (adj.) housing estate in Shatin. My grandmother (adv.) cooks lunch. After lunch we walk (adv.) in the park.�

14. 14 Sizevs.Quality

15. 15 Pre-requisites for vocabulary building

16. 16 Paradigmatic approach (topic strand) Deliberate organization of words into hierarchies Develops associative networks Encourages efficient vocabulary learning Paradigms are fixed (but �open�) Other associations are more personal (e.g. acoustic, visual, �linkword�)

17. 17 Assumptions about paradigmatic arrangement Allows for efficient vocabulary growth because the system is �open� and allows for additions Associated with receptive vocabulary knowledge in particular Retrieval of words operates through the �cohort� principle

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20. 20 Teaching the names of the superordinates

21. 21 What is the missing word?

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23. 23 Focus on vocabulary size? �In my neighbourhood there is a library, a hospital, a swimming pool, a health centre, a cinema, a police station, a railway station and a bus station.�

24. 24 More ideas on expanding pupils� vocabulary Exploring the familiar words: - different parts of speech (e.g. �shoulder� as the noun and the verb) - other meanings of a word (e.g. �head� as a body part, the school head) - metaphorical use of a word (e.g. moving) Using specific words (e.g. shout, whisper)

25. 25 Syntagmatic approach (collocation strand)

26. 26 Assumptions about syntagmatic arrangement Associated with productive vocabulary because it is based on the words which tend to occur together in sentences The associations are based on collocations rather than semantic categories

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28. 28 Teaching implications Raising pupils� awareness of how words are related:

29. 29 Vocabulary building skills recommended in CG Word formation Affixation (e.g. unhappy, careless) Compounding (e.g. foot+ball=football) Conversion (e.g. cook a meal, a cook) Derivation (e.g. excite, exciting, excited, excitement)

30. 30 Vocabulary building skills recommended in CG

31. 31 The use of mini-activities / games in vocabulary learning and teaching Adding fun elements Designed to integrate newly acquired words into the learner�s mental lexicon The mini-activities / games should be incorporated into meaningful tasks

32. 32 Incorporating mini-activities / games into meaningful tasks Exemplar 4 � �Buying Things� (Primary 1-3) Use noun / noun phrases to - identify items to buy in a shopping centre, e.g. rain boots, waterproof watch - identify shops in a shopping centre, e.g. toy shop, clothes shop Read a story about a boy called Charlie, who went shopping with his family, and learn or revise the names of the shopping items in context� Task: design a poster for an imaginary shopping centre, with information on the types of shops, the products available and the prices

33. 33 Examples of classroommini-activities / games  Word hunt Odd one out Pelmanism (locating pairs) Go fishing Hangman Analogies Word slap Pass the sentence

34. 34 Odd One Out

35. 35 Word Slap

36. 36 Ideas on vocabulary learning and teaching Input from various sources Present and practise in context Repetitive exposure overtime in multiple and varied contexts Work on vocabulary building skills and strategies Print-rich environment Bridging from receptive to productive Have fun!

37. 37 Useful Links Online Games for children and resources for teachers and parents: PBS Kids http://pbskids.org/lions/games/ FunBrain Kids Center http://www.funbrain.com/words.html

38. 38 THANK YOU!