Loewen H7: the acquisition of vocabulary
Theoretical concerns
Aspects of vocabulary
Form-meaning mapping
Learners need to associate specific semantic concepts with specific phonological or
orthographic forms. Primary unit in vocabulary is the word, but precise definition of a word is
important to consider. Word families include the head word plus inflected and derivational
words that can be formed from the head word (Nation, 2001). This grouping of words is done
in large part because semantic relatedness of the words decrease the learning burden that is
associated with learning the forms of one word family comparted to those of different word
families.
Learners need to know the pronunciation and spelling of words, because without the
phonological or orthological form, the word does not exist.
Other aspects
vocabulary knowledge; encompasses knowing the grammatical properties of words,
including their derivational and inflectional morphology. Learners need to know if words
function as nouns, verbs, adjectives, or other parts of speech, to use lexical items accurately.
This information is in most cases presented in L2 classrooms. Nouns related to profession
may be presented together.
Another aspect of vocabulary knowledge that is often late acquired is the knowledge of
which words frequently occur together in multiword units, collocation, and idioms. In some
cases, this knowledge may be implicit and may have been acquired incidentally through
exposure without learners’ awareness, but they can also be a target of direct, explicit
instruction.
Formulaic chunks (/lexical bundles) are groups of words that are stored and retrieved as
whole units, meaning that learners have not necessarily analyzed the grammatical
constituents of the chuck. The advantage of chunks is that they reduce learners cognitive
load because they can be retrieved from memory more quickly than they can be generated
by the learner’s knowledge of grammar rules.
Vocabulary knowledge is also comprised of knowledge about the larger context in which
words are likely to appear. Social setting is also a context that affects vocabulary.
Learners can acquire pertains to the relative frequency or commonness of words in daily
disclosure. Some words occur more frequent than others.
Issues in vocabulary acquisition
Depth of knowledge
Grammatical function, collocation, frequency, register, and domain, all contribute to learners’
depth of vocabulary knowledge. As a result, learners have the taks of not only learning form-
meaning connections of words, but also building up their own knowledge of these other
components. If learners do not do this, their depth of knowledge is limited.
Breadth of knowledge
The number of words that learners know, withb the knowledge in question consisting simply
of the basic form-meaning relationships and not the multiple aspects that comprise the
, depth of that knowledge. The larger the better, but vocabulary learning takes time, and it is
important for learners to have realistic learning goals. Readers need 95%-98% of the words in
a text to read easily for comprehension and to be able to make informed guesses about
unknown words. This means that L2 learners need to know the 3.000 most frequently used
words in the L2. Much of this research is focused on English learners, other language learners
may need more words.
Frequency of exposure
Researchers agree that multiple exposures to a word are necessary before it is learned; but
the number is still to be agreed upon (8-12 exposures, some studies 2-3 exposures). Different
frequencies of exposure may provide different degrees of learning, based on the
characteristics of the lexical items involved.
The quality of these encounters is significant. There needs to be more engagement from
learners to better retain a word. How well words are processed is an essential component of
vocabulary acquisition. Shallow processing of a word, involving no more than processing the
orthographic or phonological features of a word, is less beneficial for vocabulary learning
than a deeper analysis which would include processing the semantic and conceptual
characteristics of the word.
Implicit and explicit vocabulary knowledge
Most vocabulary knowledge is considered explicit. Learner are usually consciously aware of
the word meaning that they know, and there is often conscious, intentional, explicit learning
that is done in order to acquire those form-meaning connections. Some aspects of
vocabulary knowledge are implicit, such as collocations, frequency, domain and register.
Learners may not be taught this information explicitly, but it is possible that they might
acquire this knowledge implicitly without being aware of doing so.
Instruction an vocabulary acquisition
Incidental and intentional learning
Incidental learning occurs when there is no intention to learn something, however; because
learners’ intentions are no always clear it is preferable to refer to incidental learning
conditions, which acknowledges that although the goal of an instructional activity might not
target specific linguistic features, a learner might nonetheless try to learn those linguistic
forms. Incidental learning conditions are more likely to occur in meaning-focused instruction
in which the goal is for learners to engage in communicative tasks, with learners acquiring
grammar and vocabulary incidentally along the way.
Implicit learning happens without awareness.
While incidental learning tends to occur during meaning-focused instruction, intentional
vocabulary learning fits well with form-focused instruction, which involves varying degrees of
attention to language items. In focus on form, the attention to language items is brief, and it
may occur through pedagogical techniques such as input, enhancement, or corrective
feedback. In contrast, focus on form involves primary attention to language items along with
intentional types of learning.
Exposure and incidental learning
Some researchers argue that incidental vocabulary learning while reading is the most curcual
an efficient way to learn vocabulary. The task of learning large numbers of vocabulary items