Vocabulary Acquisition in L2 Learning

Vocabulary Acquisition

• L2 learners in a formal school context require deliberate teaching procedures for vocabulary acquisition.
• Focused vocabulary teaching procedures involve selecting useful and frequent items, presenting them in written and spoken forms, and making students write them down to aid memory.
• Mnemonic devices, such as linking target words with similar words in their own language, can be an effective strategy.
• Reviewing vocabulary involves the "expanding rehearsal" principle, where items are reviewed soon after learning, with increasing delays until they become part of permanent vocabulary.
• Research shows it takes 8-10 exposures to develop an initial form-meaning link, making it essential to provide sufficient repetition.

Teaching New Vocabulary

• Easier words to say and spell are more quickly remembered.
• Learning words in pairs or small groups, and in a context of use, can aid memory.
• Connecting new words to personal experiences, involving emotions and noticing, can enhance retention.

Teaching Grammar

• Explicit teaching involves explaining grammar rules and providing focused practice, using a deductive approach.
• Implicit teaching involves providing opportunities to hear, read, and use correct grammatical forms without explanation, using an inductive approach.
• Theoretical principles suggest that grammar is best acquired implicitly through comprehensible input, but explicit instruction can also be effective.
• Mixing both implicit and explicit approaches can be ideal.

Theoretical Principles

• The Input Hypothesis suggests that grammar is acquired through extensive exposure to the L2.
• The teachability hypothesis proposes that L2 learners acquire grammatical structures in a fixed order, regardless of the order taught.
• Practice improves performance, but teaching a grammatical item before the learner is developmentally ready may not result in learning.

Consolidating and Automatising Grammatical Knowledge

• Moving from form-focused practice to meaning-focused practice can help students use grammar in context.
• Including both form-focused and meaning-focused tasks can aid in accuracy and fluency.