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What is a key feature of downloadable concordancers?
What is considered the best free downloadable concordancer?
What is a benefit of using an online concordancer as opposed to a downloadable one?
How can one measure their vocabulary size for assessing language learning progress?
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What kind of data output can a concordancer provide when analyzing a specific word?
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What should be the major focus for someone learning a language for general interest?
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If someone is living in a country where a specific language is spoken, what should they prioritize in their language learning?
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What is a recommended strategy for language learners with a partner who is a native speaker?
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What should a learner who wants to travel where the language is spoken focus on?
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For someone who needs to know a language primarily for reading texts, what should their learning strategy be?
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What proportion of running words in technical texts is typically made up of technical words?
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What is an effective method for organizing spoken language needs?
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What is a common strategy for learning unfamiliar vocabulary effectively?
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When learning a new language strictly for survival purposes, what should a learner do?
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Which factor is cited as likely to influence the effort a learner puts into language acquisition?
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What is the initial focus for someone who is interested in learning a new language?
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How many of the most frequent English words cover approximately 50% of the words in most texts?
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What does the frequency count of words reveal about the nature of vocabulary in texts?
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What covers about 80% of the words in most texts based on vocabulary counts?
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Which of the following motivations is considered the weakest according to the content?
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What is the role of the word 'the' in English texts according to frequency analysis?
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What is the recommended number of high frequency words to learn in English?
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What type of words are most commonly found among high frequency words?
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What should you do to group the words you are learning effectively?
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How many different words might you encounter in a 100,000 word novel?
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How many of the different words encountered in a text generally occur only once?
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Why is it beneficial to read material with a controlled vocabulary?
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What is the minimum number of words and phrases needed to handle basic requirements as a foreign tourist?
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What is the primary challenge posed by low-frequency words in language learning?
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Which vocabulary size is appropriate for choosing books from the middle levels of published graded readers?
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What is the first step to get a frequency ranked list of words in a language you are learning?
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If you know 1,500 words in a language, how should you proceed to assess your vocabulary according to the outlined method?
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For a vocabulary size of 4,000 words or more, which type of reading material is recommended?
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What should you do after visiting www.sketchengine.co.uk and selecting a corpus?
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Why is using a frequency-ranked list helpful for beginners learning a language?
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What is advised for learning the first 2,000 words of French?
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In learning vocabulary through contexts, what is considered essential according to the outlined method?
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To effectively learn a language, it is crucial to first identify your learning needs.
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Focusing on spoken language is less important for someone who is only interested in reading texts.
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Learning survival vocabulary is sufficient for effective communication while traveling.
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It is best to prioritize written language skills if you are living in a country where the language is spoken.
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If you are learning a language to communicate with a native family member, spoken language should remain your main focus.
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When learning a language for personal interest, reading and writing skills are more essential than spoken language.
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Making a list of speaking needs is beneficial when learning a new language.
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The text suggests that spoken fluency is not necessary when traveling where the language is spoken.
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Learning high frequency words first is generally seen as advantageous in acquiring vocabulary.
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Function words make up the majority of high frequency words in English.
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It is recommended to learn words in the exact order they appear in a frequency list.
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Half of the words in any text typically occur only once.
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A learner needs at least 500 words to manage basic communication as a tourist.
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Reading materials with controlled vocabulary is unnecessary for language learners.
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A vocabulary size of 2,000 to 3,000 words is generally considered sufficient to meet high frequency language needs.
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Sketch Engine is a tool that can help users create a frequency-ranked list for language learning.
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Technical words in subject area texts make up a small proportion of the running words, typically 5% or less.
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The most frequent 1,000 words in English cover about 50% of the words in most texts.
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The word 'the' plays an important role in English texts, covering about 7% of any written English text.
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A strong feeling of personal interest is usually considered the weakest motivation to learn a language.
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The frequency count of words in a text shows that a small number of words are very frequent while a large number are very infrequent.
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Reading outside of your subject area is recommended as it helps you avoid learning unnecessary vocabulary.
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A downloadable concordancer requires the user to provide their own corpus to search for examples.
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The ten most frequent words in English cover about 25% of the words in any text.
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Motivation does not significantly affect how hard someone works at learning a language.
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AntConc is a paid software that provides advanced concordancing features.
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It is easier to start learning about concordancers using a downloadable concordancer than an online one.
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Vocab size measurement can help learners identify suitable reading materials.
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The output from a concordancer cannot be sorted to show patterns.
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Survival vocabulary is only available in a single language.
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A concordancer is a tool that helps find examples of a word or phrase in a collection of texts.
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Using a concordancer does not provide insights into the frequency of a word's usage.
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The primary benefit of learning survival vocabulary is for advanced language study.
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Online concordancers are not user-friendly compared to downloadable ones.
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Learning high-frequency words is less important than learning low-frequency words.
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Engaging with survival vocabulary early in language study can be beneficial.
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Concordancers like www.sketchengine.co.uk are limited in the variety of languages they support.
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The technical words in my subject area make up a very ______ proportion of the running words in texts.
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A strong feeling of personal interest is associated with the ______ motivation to learn a language.
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The strongest motivations often arise from personal ______ rather than external pressures.
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The most frequent words in English can cover around ______% of the words in texts.
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The final exam preparation should include getting examples of the ______ exam questions.
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When learning a language for business, start with ______ spoken language before progressing.
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Technical vocabulary often constitutes around ______% to ______% of the running words in specialized texts.
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The most frequent 1,000 words in English cover about ______% of the words in most texts.
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High frequency words consist of around ______ to 3,000 words.
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A significant number of words in any text are ______ words.
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Ideally, one should learn words in groupings of around ______ words.
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It is helpful to read material that uses a controlled ______.
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To meet basic requirements as a foreign tourist, you need around ______ words and phrases.
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Half of the different words encountered in a text generally occur only ______.
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Most high frequency words in English are ______, verbs, adjectives and adverbs.
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A frequency ranked list of words can be created by using ______ Engine.
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The best free downloadable concordancer is ______.
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You need to provide your own ______ to search for examples when using a downloadable concordancer.
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The output from a concordancer can be sorted to better see ______.
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To measure your vocabulary size, you can visit ______.
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An example of a search word used in a concordancer output is ______.
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A vocabulary size of 1,000 words or less is best suited for books from the ______ levels of published graded readers.
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To measure vocabulary size, you should start with the ______ frequent word on the ranked list.
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The recommended reading material for a vocabulary size of 2,000-4,000 words comes from the later ______ of published graded readers.
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For vocabulary of 4,000 words or more, it is suggested to choose books from the ______ readers.
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To create a frequency ranked word list, the first step is to visit ______.
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If you know a lot of words in a language, look at every ______ word to assess your vocabulary.
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After choosing the language corpus, you should click the ______ list on the far left to generate a word list.
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The frequency-ranked list can be a useful ______ for learning if you know very little of the language.
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Survival vocabulary is available in over ______ different languages.
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A ______ helps you see the range of senses of a word.
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Using a ______ can show you how frequent a word or phrase is.
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To ensure strong foundations in language learning, it is a good idea to cover all the ______ vocabulary early on.
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One benefit of using a concordancer is that it can show you what words a particular word ______ with.
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There are two kinds of ______: online and downloadable.
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Examples from a concordancer help you learn a word by enriching the information you have about that ______.
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The website ______ allows free searching for a limited time in a wide variety of languages.
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Study Notes
Language Learning Needs
- Purposeful Learning: Focus on specific language needs based on the reason for learning.
- Survival Vocabulary: Important for basic communication in a new environment.
- Subject-Specific Vocabulary: Essential for reading and understanding texts related to your field.
- Frequency Ranked Word Lists: Learning high-frequency words first is beneficial.
- Understanding Word Frequency: A small percentage of words make up a large portion of text, while a vast number of words are infrequent.
- Vocabulary Size Test: Assess your vocabulary knowledge to choose appropriate learning materials.
- Using Frequency Lists: Identify words you know to gauge your vocabulary size.
- Motivation's Influence: Strong motivation, like personal interest, can significantly impact learning effort.
Finding and Using a Concordancer
- Concordancer: A tool to find examples of how words are used in context.
- Online Concordancers: Accessible through websites, allowing you to search for examples.
- Downloadable Concordancers: Used offline with your own corpus.
- AntConc: A free, downloadable concordancer for finding word usage patterns.
Vocabulary Size and Choosing Materials
- Vocabulary Size and Reading Materials: Match your current vocabulary size to appropriate reading levels.
- Graded Readers: Books with controlled vocabulary levels, suitable for different proficiency levels.
- Frequency Ranked Word Lists for Different Languages: Can help assess vocabulary knowledge in languages without specific tests.
- Sketch Engine: A tool for creating frequency-ranked word lists in various languages.
- Lextutor: A website hosting a vocabulary test for the first 2000 words of French.
Defining language learning needs
- Language learning requires a clear focus on personal needs and goals.
- The purpose for learning a language is crucial.
- Different purposes require different learning approaches.
Reasons for learning and learning focuses
- Interest in the language: Focus on spoken language.
- Living in a country where the language is spoken: Focus on spoken language, create a list of speaking needs, and consider Survival vocabulary.
- Partner or family member is a native speaker: Focus on spoken language, start with greetings, daily routines, and repeated activities.
- Traveling in countries where the language is spoken: Learn Survival vocabulary, prioritize spoken fluency.
- Reading books related to work or subject area: Focus on technical vocabulary within the specific subject area.
- Studying for a degree using the language: Work with texts used in the study, create word cards for unknown words and phrases.
- Doing business with people who speak the language: Start with conversational spoken language, then focus on business-focused conversation.
- University or school requirement: Get examples of the final exam and prepare for the specific content and question types.
Motivation and language learning
- Motivation significantly influences the effort invested in language learning.
- Strong personal interest provides the strongest motivation.
- External pressures and other people's requirements result in weaker motivation.
Word frequency and importance
- Word frequency follows a consistent pattern across texts.
- A small number of words are very frequent, while a large number are infrequent.
- The top 10 words in English cover 25% of words in any text, while the top 100 words cover around 50%.
- The most frequent 1,000 words cover approximately 80% of words in texts.
- High-frequency words are crucial to learn first, providing the most opportunities to use and encounter them.
- High-frequency words include content words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs) and function words (articles, prepositions, conjunctions).
Tools for language learning
- A concordancer is a computer-based tool for analyzing language use.
- Online concordancers allow searching for words and phrases in large collections of text (corpora).
- Examples provided by concordancers reveal word and phrase senses, usage, frequency, and collocations, aiding learning.
Measuring language proficiency
- Assessing existing vocabulary knowledge helps determine progress and guide learning.
- Vocabulary size tests provide a quantifiable measurement of vocabulary knowledge.
- Test results can guide the selection of appropriate reading materials.
- The Survival vocabulary includes around 120 words and phrases, sufficient for basic tourist interactions.
Finding and using Survival vocabulary
- The Survival vocabulary is available in over 20 languages.
- It covers basic communication, including greetings, politeness, shopping, ordering food, seeking directions, reading signs, finding accommodation, self-introduction, and language control.
- Resources for finding the Survival vocabulary include websites like Paul Nation's website and tourist guide books.
- Mastering the Survival vocabulary is beneficial early in language learning.
Motivation
- Having personal interest in the language is the strongest motivation.
- External pressures from other people are the weakest motivations.
- Motivation is highly likely to have an effect on how hard you work at learning the language.
Word frequency in texts
- A small number of words are very frequent, and a large number of words are very infrequent
- The ten most frequent words of English typically cover 25% of all words in any text and the 100 most frequent words cover around 50%
- The most frequent 1,000 words cover around 80% of the words in most texts
- Vocabulary specialists typically see the high frequency words of English as consisting of around 2,000 to 3,000 words
- Most high-frequency words are nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs (content words).
Learning high-frequency words first
- Makes learning and using the language easier.
- The effort of learning these words is well repaid by opportunities to meet and use these words.
Finding and learning high-frequency words
- You can make a frequency ranked list of the words in the language you want to learn by going to Sketch Engine www.sketchengine.co.uk
- You should learn high-frequency words in groupings of say 100 words that roughly match the frequency list.
Low-frequency words
- Half of the words in any text will occur only once in that text.
- If you read a novel which is 100,000 words long from beginning to end, you will meet around 5,000 different words
- Half of the different words that you meet will occur only once.
Reading material for language learning
- It is best to read material that uses a controlled vocabulary so that your time is not spent on low frequency words that are not useful for you at your present level of proficiency.
Survival vocabulary
- Around 120 words and phrases can help you deal with the most basic requirements of being a foreign tourist.
- These basic requirements include meeting and greeting people, being polite, going shopping, ordering food, seeking directions, reading signs, finding somewhere to stay, talking about yourself, and controlling language input.
- This survival vocabulary is available in over 20 different languages, and is a good idea to learn early on in your language study.
Concordancers
- These are computer-based tools used to find examples of a particular word or phrase.
- Examples from concordancers can:
- Help you see the range of senses of a word or phrase.
- Show you how a word or phrase is used.
- Help you see how frequent a word or phrase is.
- Show you what words a particular word occurs with.
Some useful concordancer websites:
- Netspeak www.netspeak.org
- Word and phrase www.wordandphrase.info
- Just the word www.just-the-word.com
- Compleat Lexical Tutor www.lextutor.ca
- Wordneighbours www.wordneighbours.ust.hk
Measuring your vocabulary size in English
- Go to www.my.vocabularysize.com and measure your vocabulary size
Matching vocabulary size to reading material in English
- 1,000 words or less: Choose books from the early levels of published graded readers
- 1,000-2,000 words: Choose books from the middle levels of published graded readers
- 2,000-4,000 words: Choose books from the later levels of published graded readers
- 4,000 words or more: Choose books from the Mid-frequency readers
Measuring your vocabulary size in other languages
- Get a frequency ranked list of words in the language you are learning.
- Start with the most frequent word and go through the list deciding if you could give a meaning for each word.
- You can get a frequency ranked word list for any of many different languages at www.sketchengine.co.uk
Using frequency ranked word lists to learn vocabulary
- The frequency-ranked list can be a useful rough guide for learning vocabulary
- Most of the words at the top of the list will have grammatical functions and need to be learned in sentence contexts.
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Description
Test your knowledge on effective language learning strategies focusing on vocabulary acquisition, frequency ranked words, and motivation. This quiz explores essential concepts for mastering a new language based on specific needs and contexts. See how well you understand the tools and techniques for successful language learning!
