Effective Vocabulary Learning Techniques

How to Learn Vocabulary

• Repetition is key - Reviewing words repeatedly strengthens the connection between the word's form and its meaning.
• Start with small groups of words - Around 15-20 words are manageable, especially for challenging items.
• Increase the pack size as learning gets easier - Avoid exceeding 50 words per pack to prevent overwhelming yourself.
• Use spaced repetition - review words after minutes, hours, days, weeks, and even months for long-lasting retention.
• Incorporate depth of processing techniques - Utilize the keyword method, consider the word's context, and break it into word parts.
• Avoid learning similar words together - Separate words with similar spelling or meaning (e.g., days of the week, months, opposites, etc.).
• Shuffle words - Keep the order of words in a pack constantly changing to prevent rote memorization.
• Read words aloud - This aids in transferring word form to long-term memory.
• Formulate sentences - Write phrases or sentences containing the words to solidify their application.

The Keyword Technique

• Involves creating a link between a foreign word and a keyword in a known language that sounds similar.
• Visualize an image combining the L2 word and keyword's meanings.
• Example: For "parrot" (L2 word), use "parit" (Indonesian for "ditch") as a keyword and imagine a parrot in a ditch.
• The keyword serves as a bridge for both form and meaning.
• Research shows a 25% increase in learning using the keyword technique.

Multi-Word Phrases

• Phrases typically have meanings related to the words they contain, e.g., "next week," "six o'clock."
• Some phrases have less obvious connections, e.g., "kill two birds with one stone."
• A few phrases have no direct relationship between their parts and whole, e.g., "at all," "of course."
• It's crucial to focus on phrases as they contribute to accurate and fluent language use.

Learning Multi-Word Phrases

• Analyze the relationship between parts and whole meaning.
• Identify any form connections such as alliteration, rhyme, or repetition.
• Explore the history and origins of the phrase.
• Understand that phrase frequency varies.

Learning Related Words

• Learning related words together can be beneficial depending on their kinship.
• Practice difficult sounds within common words, phrases, and sentences, rather than in tongue twisters.
• Utilize audio editors to slow down speech and aid pronunciation practice.
• Imitate speech from movies to improve pronunciation.
• Early pronunciation practice minimizes future remedial efforts.

Learning Grammar

• Grammar learning is a multifaceted process that involves more than just identifying parts of speech or correcting errors.
• The "four strands" principle encourages a balanced approach to learning: input, output, deliberate learning, and fluency development.

Learning Grammar Through Four Strands

• Input - Learning through listening and reading repeatedly exposes us to grammatical constructions naturally.
• Output - Speaking and writing allow active application of grammatical knowledge learned through input.
• Deliberate Learning - Includes activities like vocabulary study, intentional analysis of language, and receiving feedback on production.
• Fluency Development - Engages learners with easy input and output to foster natural language use.

Applying the Four Strands

• The four strands can be applied to all four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing).
• Deliberate learning activities are a vital but not the sole focus of language learning.

Deliberate Learning

• Deliberate learning is efficient and effective.
• It involves both the teacher and the learner taking responsibility.
• Word cards are a recommended tool.
• Word cards should be used for learning new vocabulary and revising old vocabulary.

Vocabulary Learning Strategies

• Some teachers advise against using word cards because they believe vocabulary should only be learned in context.
• Research shows that both in-context and decontextualized learning are important.
• Bilingual word cards effectively aid learning.
• Concordancers are helpful for learning words and grammar.
• Activities like dictation, transcription, delayed copying, and oral repetition are beneficial for familiarity with spoken and written forms.
• Intensive reading using electronic devices with word look-up is encouraged.

Multiword phrases

• Most multiword phrases have a meaning related to the words they contain.
• Some phrases have less obvious relationships between meaning and individual words.
• Some phrases have no obvious connection between the meaning of the parts and the whole.
• It's beneficial to pay deliberate attention to various types of phrases for fluent and accurate use.

Learning multiword phrases

• Analyze how meanings of individual words relate to the overall meaning.
• Examine the form of the phrase. Examples include alliteration, similar vowel sounds, rhyme, repetition, and partial rhyme.
• Consider the history and origin of the phrases.
• Use concordances to check the frequency of phrases for better understanding of common usage.

Related words

• Learning related words together can be helpful, depending on the relationship between them.
• The goal is to gradually understand text by working out the meanings of unfamiliar parts.

Intensive Reading

• Intensive reading can be done alone, with another learner, or with a teacher.
• Translation is often used for clarification.
• Repeated reading with different focuses on each repetition is helpful:
• First reading: Focus on unknown vocabulary and initial comprehension.
• Second reading: Focus on useful multiword units.
• Third reading: Focus on function words like prepositions or articles.
• Repeated attention with a change of focus while listening, like watching TV or movies, is also beneficial.

Delayed Copying

• Choose a text of about 200 words.
• Read for comprehension, using a dictionary if needed.
• Look at a few words at a time, try to memorize them, and then copy them without looking back.
• Gradually increase the length of the phrases you memorize.
• This activity improves handwriting and memory for phrases.

Spelling Practice

• If the language uses a different writing system, focus on it deliberately.
• Write words or phrases you want to practice down the left side of a lined page.
• Write the first letter of each word after the end of each word.
• Fold the paper to hide the words, and try to write them from memory.
• Unfold and check your work, repeat the process.
• Continue until each line is filled.

Learning Pronunciation

• Clear pronunciation is important for understanding and being understood.
• Learning pronunciation involves listening, speaking, studying specific aspects, and gaining fluency.
• Young children often learn pronunciation naturally through exposure, older learners may need more deliberate focus.
• The quality of pronunciation for older learners is influenced by usage opportunity and dedicated effort.

Deliberate Pronunciation Practice

• Identify difficult sounds based on the differences between the learner's first language and the target language.
• Practice difficult sounds in simple syllables.
• Understand articulatory phonetics (how sounds are made) to improve pronunciation.

Deliberate Learning

• Deliberate learning involves both teacher instruction and individual responsibility as a learner.
• The use of word cards is a highly effective deliberate learning activity.
• Word cards should be used consistently to revise previously learned vocabulary.
• Some teachers discourage word cards, arguing that vocabulary learning should occur solely in context. This is incorrect; both in-context and decontextualized learning are important.
• While some believe that using word cards, which involve first language translation, promotes thinking in the first language, research indicates that first and foreign languages are interconnected, especially in the early stages of learning.
• Bilingual word cards are a highly effective deliberate learning strategy.
• Concondancers are useful tools for studying words and grammar.
• Dictation, transcription, delayed copying, and oral repetition activities help build familiarity with spoken and written forms.
• Intensive reading, preferably using an electronic reader for easy word look-up, is another beneficial strategy.

Learning Vocabulary

• The keyword technique is a four-part strategy:
  • The new L2 word
  • The keyword (an L1 word or phrase that sounds similar or shares a beginning)
  • An image combining the meaning of the L2 word and the keyword
  • The meaning of the L2 word
• The keyword technique helps process more than one feature of a word, making learning more effective than simple repetition.
• The keyword technique has been shown to result in 25% more learning than other deliberate learning activities.

Learning Multi-word Phrases

• Learning near-synonyms, opposites, and members of the same lexical set together can make learning 50% to 100% more difficult.
• Related nouns that are visually similar, like apple and orange, are more likely to interfere with learning than those that are visually distinct, like banana and orange.
• Learning unrelated words in the context of a story can facilitate acquisition.
• Note words from reading onto word cards as they are unlikely to be part of the same lexical set.
• Learning items that are similar to each other, particularly those with formal similarities, increases the likelihood of interference. For example, Tuesday and Thursday are more likely to be confused than Tuesday and Sunday because of shared initial letters and similar sounds.
• To minimize interference, learn potentially interfering items at different times.

Transcription

• Transcription involves listening to a short spoken text (around 100 words) multiple times while attempting to write it down.
• It is best to use texts with a written version available for checking and correcting.
• This activity improves listening skills and provides feedback on word and phrase recognition.

Intensive Reading

• Intensive reading involves carefully working through a text with the aid of a dictionary, gradually understanding the text by analyzing unfamiliar parts.
• The activity can be done individually, with a partner, or with a teacher.
• Translation aids in clarifying sections of the text.
• Repeated reading with a different focus on each repetition can be effective. The first reading could focus on vocabulary and understanding, the second on useful multiword units, and the third on function words like prepositions and articles.
• Intensive reading is valuable because it allows focus on meaning (content words) in the initial stages and then shifts to how language is used to convey messages.
• Repeat this process with listening activities like watching TV or movies.

Delayed Copying

• Choose a relevant text around 200 words.
• Read to understand the text, using a dictionary if needed.
• Look at the first 4-5 words, memorise them, and write them down without looking back.
• Gradually increase the length of the phrases you try to memorise before writing.
• This activity improves handwriting skills and memory for phrases.

Spelling Practice

• If the target language uses a different writing system, give deliberate attention to the system.
• An effective technique is to write practice words or phrases down the left side of a lined page and then write the first letter of each word after the end of each word.

Learning Through Speaking and Writing

• Noticing gaps in knowledge during speaking and writing increases the chances of paying attention to those gaps during listening and reading.
• Trying out unfamiliar phrases and constructions in speaking and writing (even with the potential for errors) is a vital learning process.
• Patterns from the first language are often used in this process.

Deliberate Grammar Study

• Deliberate grammar study should make up less than one quarter of language learning time.
• Activities include using substitution tables, correcting spoken and written production, doing dictation, and studying clear explanations of important grammatical features.

Incidental Grammar Learning

• Grammar can also be learned incidentally through fluency development.
• Fluency development involves working with familiar, easy material with encouragement to speak quickly.
• These activities provide a lot of input and output, strengthening grammatical knowledge both receptively and productively.

Learning Vocabulary Through the Four Strands

• The four strands principle applies to vocabulary learning:
  • Meaning-focused input
  • Meaning-focused output
  • Language-focused learning
  • Fluency development
• Meaning-focused input, meaning-focused output, and fluency development are communicative activities focused on understanding and producing messages.
• These activities should be at a difficulty level appropriate for the learner's proficiency.