Transcript Reading can help vocabulary acquisition

Not all words are created equal
Some are everywhere: “talk”,
“listen”, “hear”.
Others get a bit less travel:
“discuss”, “structure”, “narrative”
The overwhelming majority remain
forever locked in dusty tomes or
esoteric journals: “diglossia”,
“polysemy”, “linear regression”
Vocabulary Frequency
Life of Pi
On page 47:
“The” is used 16 times
“Go” is used twice - “went” and “goaround”
“Psychologist” isn’t there at all. I doubt it is
in the book even once.
How important is frequency?
Level
% of fiction
My top students and un% of academic simplified fiction? (in March)
texts
1000
82.3% / 73.5% 100%
2000
5.1% / 4.6%
86% (140 or 0.07% “missing”)
Academic 1.7% / 8.5%
57% (245 or .07% “missing”)
Other
10.9% / 13.3% Know 660 of 3000 level and
1200 of 5000 level.(minimum
of 4% missing)
Total “missing” = minimum of
5% (1 in 20 words) = 95%
The implication of frequency
data?
Learn words for their “payback”. Some
words pay back more for the effort of
learning them.
Books, teaching and vocabulary focus
should be frequency based as much as
possible.
The number 95
95% is not a pass.
It is, though, a number we should all
remember, it is very useful…
95% looks like this:
As a result, people are working harder just to get
the work done. The ______ shortage means
people are also ______ earlier than they were in
the past, and so ____ have to put in longer hours
to learn their new roles."But Ms Alexander said
Kiwi __________ could learn from the Irish about
the importance of taking time off to be with
family."Working extra hours and taking work home
sometimes goes with the territory of being a
_________," she said."But we all need to ensure
that _____ in times of strong economic growth we
maintain a healthy balance between work and the
rest of our lives.
Did you guess them?
As a result, people are working harder just to get
the work done. The skills shortage means people
are also promoted earlier than they were in the
past, and so may have to put in longer hours to
learn their new roles."But Ms Alexander said Kiwi
managers could learn from the Irish about the
importance of taking time off to be with
family."Working extra hours and taking work home
sometimes goes with the territory of being a
manager she said."But we all need to ensure that
even in times of strong economic growth we
maintain a healthy balance between work and the
rest of our lives.
95% =
Minimally acceptable comprehension
(Nation, 2002; Laufer 1985)
The probable baseline for guessing
from context. (Nation, 2002)
Too much ask of my top class.
Implied classroom goals
Learn high frequency vocabulary before low
frequency vocabulary
Know the vocabulary levels of our students
Know the vocabulary levels of texts we present to
our students and target those texts appropriately: no
95% texts for extensive reading. Probably no 95%
texts at all. Definitely no 90% texts.
Problem 1: raising vocabulary
levels
Studies do suggest vocabulary can be
developed incidentally simply by reading.
Nagy et al.(1987) claim reading outside of
class accounts for the majority of L1
vocabulary.
Saragi, Nation, and Meister (1978) led the
way for “L2” with a study on A Clockwork
Orange. It seemed incidental learning does
occur.
There has not been sufficient research in this
area - but it does appear the claims above
have some merit.
So get them reading?
95% rears its ugly head again.
The texts must be at the right level: not
too hard and not too easy - so that they
don’t give up and so there are actually
words to learn.
Which presents problem 2
We need texts at the right level.
We need our students to choose the
texts that are right for them.
So how about “AR”?
It has placement tests.
You can monitor reading.
Students apparently make a lot of progress.
You “just” need:
A bank of computers.
Lots of money for the programme, tests, and
any new books.
Apart from the cash and
computers, what is wrong with
it?
It doesn’t give details on student levels.
(what does “2.7-3.3” mean?)
It doesn’t help with text selection /
adaptation for class.
There is no labeling of texts outside the
programme.
What about lexiles then?
You still need to buy commercial
reading tests.
They are for L1 readers: so would lower
lexile ratings mean inappropriate
content for our students?
Enter Cambridge Readers…
They are frequency based
There is a placement test (and it is FREE!)
BUT…
You still need computer access for the tests.
You don’t have a bigger picture of student
vocabulary levels and they cannot help with
textbook selection etc.
The tests relate to Cambridge readers levels
only. (Cambridge 6 = 3800 level, OUP 6 =
2500 level)
There is an element of guessing in the test.
What about the VLT?
The what?
Imagine it is like a magic word bag. If you
know most of the first words out of the
bag, you probably know the rest.
It measures receptive vocabulary levels
(2000,3000, 5000, 10000, and
academic).There is also a productive test.
The VLT looks like this:
The 5000 word level
1 balloon
2 federation ____
3 novelty
____
4 pail
____
5 veteran
6 ward
bucket
unusual interesting thing
rubber bag that is filled with air
My students’ results looked
like this in March:
2000 3000
4B
4C
4F
87%
(870)
80%
(800)
55%
(550)
5000
AWL
%
“missing”
66% 60% 57%
5%
(660) (1200) (325) minimum
55% 56% 54%
8.5%
(550) (1120) (308) minimum
32% 24% 23%
12%
(320) (480) (131)
Individual results currently
look like this (as of yesterday)
2000 3000 5000 AWL CUP Ian
Zul 77% 60% 53% 53% 2800 1900
(5)
(4)
77% 63% 57% 57%
2800
(5)
1900
(4)
Mar 83% 67% 57% 67%
2800/
3800
(5/6)
1900
(4)
Ali
Benefits of the VLT
Well, it is free.
You have a very specific data which extends
well beyond simple reading placement tests.
Individual interventions
Points of interest: rapid growth or even falling
vocabulary levels.
It can be used as a pre/post test measure to
evaluate programmes
Post Tests
2000
4B
Pre-test
3000
5000
AWL
Total
87%
(870 words)
66%
(660 words)
60%
(1200 words)
57%
(325 words)
3055
5 months
later
91%
(910)
74%
(740)
66%
(1320)
60%
(assumed)
3312
Student A
93 - 100%
(930 -1000)
50 - 80%
(500 - 800)
33 - 73%
(660 - 1466)
70 -?
(400)
2490 3666
Student B
93 - 100%
(930 - 1000)
60- 90%
(600 - 900)
66 - 90%
(1320 1800)
63 - ?
(359)
3209 4059
Student C
(From 4C)
73 - 86%
(730 - 860)
23 - 60%
(230 - 600)
23 - 50%
(460 - 1000)
20 - 40%
(114 - 228)
1534 2688
VLT and Reading
Programmes
There is a strong correlation with the
Cambridge Placement test: VLT can be used
to recommend texts.
When given the right level to read, many
students do.
Students seem to like the idea of “going up”
levels.
It can be used to raise vocabulary awareness
- and so develop independent learning.
Did my students read?
Student
Number
read
Estimated
number of
words read
Vocab growth
(class average)
A
32
(20 in T3)
800 000
1 176 words
(313)
B
36
(26 in T3)
720 000
850 words
(313)
C
15
(14 in T3)
337 500
1154
(?)
D
7
(4 in T3)
175 000
300
(313)
Assessing texts
Used in combination with a very simple
programme, the VLT can be used to
assess the suitability of texts to be used
in the classroom:
Teacher produced texts
Commercial texts
Assumptions
95% is an important number…
Word levels of texts are an important part of
deciding text suitability
Intensive reading activities need to be based
on frequency data.
Conclusions about suitability need however
to be linked to purpose:
99% for easy reading
98% for “adequate comprehension” (Hu and
Nation: 1992)
95% for ???????
The new “Harry Potter?
Word
list
Tokens / % Types / %
Families 4B
level?
Potential
problem words?
/%
1000
327 /
83.63%
153 /
72.51%
132
100%
0 / 0%
2000
23 / 5.88%
19 / 9%
18
91.5 %
1.9 / .5%
3000
16 / 4.09%
15 / 7.11%
15
74.2%
4.1 / 1%
Not in
lists
25 / 6.39%
24 /
11.37%
?
66.6%
MAX
8.35 MIN / 2%
Total
391
211
165
14.35 MIN / 3.6%
Conclusion: @ only 96.7% NOT suitable for average
students but fine for better students for extensive
reading: 98% plus.
Proposed Writing Text
Purchase?
Word
list
Tokens / % Types / %
Families 4B
level?
Potential
problem words /%
1000
414 /
76.24%
185 /
61.87%
156
100%
0 / 0%
2000
44 / 8.1%
41 /
13.71%
40
91.5 %
3.7 / .6%
3000
23 / 4.24%
20 / 6.69%
18
74.2%
5.9 / 1.1%
Not in
lists
62 /
11.42%
53 /
17.73%
?
66.6%
MAX
20.7 MIN / 3.8%
Total
543
299
214
30.3 min. / 5.58%
Conclusion: @ only 94.42% NOT suitable for
classroom set - too many unknown items for a
model, better to focus on high frequency words
What’s needed?
VLT (free)
Test the classes (one hour max or 2x 20
minutes)
Some number crunching on a spreadsheet if
wanted (averages etc)
Range / Frequency (download free)
A scanner
Graded readers and teenage texts
A element of nerdishness
Where do I get it?
Range? The free software?
http://www.vuw.ac.nz/lals/staff/paulnation/nation.aspx
The VLT?
Nation, ISP, 2001 Learning Vocabulary in
Another Language, CUP
Schmidt, N. (2000) Vocabulary in Language
Teaching, CUP
To sum up
Frequency data creates an imperative for
teachers, materials designers and curriculum
designers to focus on high frequency
vocabulary.
The VLT is a useful tool for text analysis,
programme design, pre / post testing, and
programme evaluation.
It is very user friendly and has more
applications than commercial materials.
Used in conjunction with “Range”, VLT data
can help with text procurement, simplification
and materials design.
Oh, yes. Just in case you
were wondering…
Word
list
Tokens / % Types / %
Families 4B
level?
Potential
Problem words?
/%
1000
982 / 78.56
306 / 61.87
245
100%
0 / 0%
2000
102 / 8.1
84 / 13.71
74
91.5 %
8.67 / .6%
3000
60 / 4.8
44 / 6.69
41
74.2%
11.3 / .9%
Not in
lists
106 / 8.48
97 / 17.73
?
Total
1250
531
360
66.6%
MAX
35.4 MIN / 2.8%
55.3 min. / 4.4%
Conclusion: @ only 95.6% the June O Level
comprehension would have bamboozled my 4B.