Grade 3 ESL teachers’ (mis)conceptions about vocabulary acquisition, learning and instruction: A case study

2021 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jabulani Sibanda
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Vocabulary Acquisition ◽  
Vocabulary Development ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Pedagogical Practices ◽  
Word Knowledge ◽  
Eastern Cape ◽  
Teacher Interview ◽  
Second Language Teachers ◽  
Grade 3

development-related (mis)conceptions of ten purposively selected Grade 3 English Second Language teachers in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, with a view to indexing their vocabulary pedagogical practices. The efficacy of teacher cognition on teaching  practices is the theory upon which the present study, which considers vocabulary development as a proxy for literacy attainment, is based. The theory is buttressed by literature on the research-based best practices in literature development against which teachers’ conceptionsare measured. Semi-structured teacher interview findings showed that vocabulary instruction proceeded largely on the basis of intuitive pedagogical decisions which evince dissonance with researchbased best practices. There was a manifest disregard for both incidental andcontextualised vocabulary development, and an apparent underestimation of learners’ potential for independent vocabulary acquisition. Professed instructional strategies only drew learners’ attention to the orthographic and phonological forms of the words at the expense of other crucial dimensions of word knowledge. The paper recommends a consideration of teachers’ vocabulary development-related  perceptions as a point of departure for teacher education and teacher professional development, among others.  

scholarly journals A Review on Studies into Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition through Different Input

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 89
Author(s):  
Zhongqing Tang
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Prior Knowledge ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Vocabulary Acquisition ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Word Knowledge ◽  
Knowledge Framework ◽  
Incidental Vocabulary ◽  
Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition ◽  
Reading Activities

Vocabulary acquisition, after being neglected for centuries, aroused people’s attention from the second half of last century. At that time, people began to realize, instead of grammar, vocabulary occupies the central role in language acquisition (Gass & Selinker, 1994). Compared with intentional vocabulary acquisition, incidental vocabulary acquisition was found to be the major way for people to acquire vocabularies. Early studies into incidental vocabulary acquisition focused on incidental vocabulary acquisition through reading activities. Later on, people found that listening activities was another good way to enhance incidental vocabulary acquisition. Nowadays, task mode of incidental vocabulary acquisition has become more pluralistic than before. This article is to review studies into incidental vocabulary acquisition through different input and point out the limitations of previous studies. The first limitation of previous studies is that word knowledge framework was undefined in previous studies and the second limitation is that prior knowledge, an factor which needs to be controlled, was neglected by some scholars. This review will hopefully provide some suggestions for both language teachers and language learners.

scholarly journals Do Bilinguals Acquire Similar Words to Monolinguals? An Examination of Word Acquisition and the Similarity Effect in Japanese–English Bilinguals’ Vocabularies

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 168-182
Author(s):  
Aya Kutsuki
Keyword(s):  
Vocabulary Acquisition ◽  
Vocabulary Development ◽  
The Other ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Word Category ◽  
Word Acquisition ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Similarity Effect ◽  
Japanese English

Previous research has paid much attention to the overall acquisition of vocabularies among bilingual children in comparison to their monolingual counterparts. Much less attention has been paid to the type of words acquired and the possible transfer or cross-linguistic effects of the other language on vocabulary development. Thus, this study aims to explore similarities and dissimilarities in the vocabularies of simultaneous bilinguals and Japanese monolinguals and considers the possible cross-linguistic similarity effect on word acquisition. Six simultaneous Japanese–English bilingual children (mean age = 34.75 months (2.56)) were language–age-matched with six Japanese monolinguals; their productive vocabularies were compared regarding size and categories. Additionally, characteristic acquired words were compared using correspondence analyses. Results showed that, although delayed due to the reduced inputs, young bilinguals have a similar set of vocabularies in terms of word category as monolinguals. However, bilingual children’s vocabularies reflect their unevenly distributed experience with the language. Fewer interactive experiences with language speakers may result in a lower acquisition of interactive words. Furthermore, there is a cross-linguistic effect on acquisition, likely caused by form similarity between Japanese katakana words and English words. Even between languages with great dissimilarities, resources and cues are sought and used to facilitate bilingual vocabulary acquisition.

scholarly journals The impact of subtitled movies on vocabulary development

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Alisa Sadiku
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Vocabulary Acquisition ◽  
Vocabulary Development ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Adequate Knowledge ◽  
Language Environment ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Technology Resources

Learning new vocabulary compromises a significant factor for success within language learning since without the adequate knowledge of words and their meaning, learners are not able to use the target language efficiently. Moreover, vocabulary tends to be forgotten if it is not acquired and used through the right methods that will provide learners with language inputs in genuine target language environment. In this regard, the increasing access to different multimedia and technology resources facilitate spontaneous vocabulary acquisition for the contemporary age learners. In particular, movies with subtitles can be a great tool in bringing students closer to authentic real life communication vocabulary. As a result, previous studies have found out several benefits of using subtitled movies by confirming that subtitles indeed improve vocabulary development.

scholarly journals Vocabulary acquisition, input, and extensive reading: A conversation

2013 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 56
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Vocabulary Acquisition ◽  
Online Discussion ◽  
Word Knowledge ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Extensive Reading ◽  
Acquisition Process

JALT member Joseph Poulshock recently posted a video entitled “How do humans acquire language?” to the extensive reading (ER) website BeeOasis.com. In it, he describes his ALBUM Theory (acquire language by understanding messages), by which he means that the comprehension of input―for example, through ER―is the best way to acquire a second language. The video prompted an online discussion in which a number of JALT members exchanged ideas about the acquisition of vocabulary, the role of ER in the acquisition of various aspects of word knowledge, and the relative importance of input to the language acquisition process. An abbreviated version of this conversation is presented here.

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