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Vocabulary Research in the New Century

Norbert Schmitt

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Vocabulary Research Manuals

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Vocabulary Size Requirements

Daily conversation 2,000 - 3,000 (minimum size which enables basic communication) 5,000 - 7,000 (size which enables conversation

on a wide range of topics)

Read authentic texts 3,000 - 5,000 (begin to read a range of authentic

texts8,000 - 9,000 (size which enables reading

on a wide range of topics)

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Fat City (95% coverage)In December, to the delight of many __________ and the ______ of many doughnut lovers, the New York City Board of Health voted to ban artificial trans fats from restaurants, school cafeterias, pushcarts, and almost every other food-service establishment it oversees, which includes most everything except hospitals. Trans fats don’t occur naturally in the things people like but feel guilty eating, or at least not at high levels (there are small proportions in the fat in meat and dairy products). But artificial ones are plentiful in commercial foods, because they are easy to use, cheaper than natural fats, and keep practically forever. Trans fats are made by pumping _______ gas into liquid fats usually in the presence of _____ so that they will remain solid at room temperature, like butter and ___; and they have the same wonderful properties in pie crusts, cookies, and cakes. Crisco, still _____ for solid shortening made by partial ___________ (of cottonseed oil), soon became the “______” choice for pie crust and fried chicken, making pastry almost as flaky and skin almost as crisp as ___ does.

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Fat City (95% coverage)In December, to the delight of many cardiologists and the dismay of many doughnut lovers, the New York City Board of Health voted to ban artificial trans fats from restaurants, school cafeterias, pushcarts, and almost every other food-service establishment it oversees, which includes most everything except hospitals. Trans fats don’t occur naturally in the things people like but feel guilty eating, or at least not at high levels (there are small proportions in the fat in meat and dairy products). But artificial ones are plentiful in commercial foods, because they are easy to use, cheaper than natural fats, and keep practically forever. Trans fats are made by pumping hydrogen gas into liquid fats usually in the presence of nickel so that they will remain solid at room temperature, like butter and lard; and they have the same wonderful properties in pie crusts, cookies, and cakes. Crisco, still generic for solid shortening made by partial hydrogenation (of cottonseed oil), soon became the “sanitary” choice for pie crust and fried chicken, making pastry almost as flaky and skin almost as crisp as lard does.

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The Truth About Beauty (98% coverage)Cosmetics makers have always sold “hope in a jar” – creams and ______ that promise youth, beauty, sex appeal, and even love for the women who use them. Over the last few years, the marketers at Dove have added some new-and-improved __________. They’re now promising self-esteem and cultural transformation. Dove’s “Campaign for Real Beauty,” declares a press release, is “a global effort that is intended to serve as a starting point for societal change and act as a ______ for widening the definition and discussion of beauty.” Along with its thigh-firming creams, self-tanners, and hair conditioners, Dove is peddling the crowd-pleasing notions that beauty is a media creation, that recognizing plural forms of beauty is the same as declaring every woman beautiful, and that self-esteem means ignoring imperfections.

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The Truth About Beauty (98% coverage)Cosmetics makers have always sold “hope in a jar” – creams and potions that promise youth, beauty, sex appeal, and even love for the women who use them. Over the last few years, the marketers at Dove have added some new-and-improved enticements. They’re now promising self-esteem and cultural transformation. Dove’s “Campaign for Real Beauty,” declares a press release, is “a global effort that is intended to serve as a starting point for societal change and act as a catalyst for widening the definition and discussion of beauty.” Along with its thigh-firming creams, self-tanners, and hair conditioners, Dove is peddling the crowd-pleasing notions that beauty is a media creation, that recognizing plural forms of beauty is the same as declaring every woman beautiful, and that self-esteem means ignoring imperfections.

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Vocabulary Coverage vs. Reading Comprehension

• The current consensus is that 98% coverage should provide the lexical resources to be able to cope with texts successfully

• (although not all words will be known: 100% is best!)

• 95% coverage will allow engagement with texts, but with some difficulty, and perhaps with the need for help from teachers

• 98-99% 8,000-9,000 word families for reading

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Vocabulary Coverage vs. Reading Comprehension

Figure 1 Linear Relationship

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Vocabulary Coverage vs. Reading Comprehension

Figure 2 Vocabulary Threshold

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Vocabulary Coverage vs. Reading Comprehension

Figure 3 S-curve

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Schmitt, Jiang, and Grabe (2011)

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Mean

+1 SD

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Vocabulary Coverage vs. Listening Comprehensionvan Zeeland & Schmitt (almost accepted)

Meancomprehension(Max = 10)

Native speakers Non-native speakers

Lexical coverage

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Vocabulary Coverage and Discourse Coverage (Adolphs & Schmitt, 2003)

Word CANCODE % Families

89 71.96 145 77.23 209 80.60 451 86.57 674 89.23 990 91.521,281 92.851,623 93.932, 000 94.762,279 95.202,500 95.483, 000 95.91

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Formulaic Language

Normal discourse, both written and spoken, contains large (but not yet fully determined) percentages of formulaic language. Erman and Warren (2000) calculated that 52-58% of the L1 English language they analyzed was formulaic, and Foster (2001) came up with a figure of 32% using different procedures and criteria.

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Formulaic language is varied Can be long (You can lead a horse to water, but you can't

make him drink) Or short (Oh no!) Or anything in between Can be used to express a message or idea (The early bird

gets the worm = do not procrastinate) Functions ([I'm] just looking [thanks] = declining an offer of

assistance from a shopkeeper), Social solidarity Transact specific information in a precise and

understandable way Can be totally fixed (Ladies and Gentlemen) Or have a number of 'slots' (_____ made it plain that _____).

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Formulaic Language and Pedagogy

•Formulaic language has not been incorporated into language teaching or testing in any systematic way

•Lack of a reliable list

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PHRASE ListMartinez & Schmitt (2012)

• Most frequent formulaic expressions in English

• Non-transparent

• 505– Take place– Might as well– In short

• Phrasal Expressions = PHRASE List

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PHRASE List

Integrated List

Rank

Phrase Frequency

(per 100 million)

Spoken general Written general Written academic Example

107 HAVE TO 83092 * * * * * * I exercise because I have to.

165 THERE IS/ARE 59833 * * * * * * * * There are some problems.

415 SUCH AS 30857 * * * * * * * We have questions, such as how it happened.

463 GOING TO (FUTURE) 28259 * * * * * x I’m going to think about it.

483 OF COURSE 26966 * * * * * * He said he’d come of course.

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Importance of Word Form

Derivative Forms

• If learners know one member of a word family (suspicious), can they recognize the other members (suspect, suspiciously)?

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Derivative Forms

• There must be some facilitation receptively, but this is not necessarily true productively

persist

Noun The judge changed his mind because

of the lawyer’s ________.Verb The lawyer ________ until the judge changed his mind.Adjective The ________ lawyer persuaded the judge to change his mind.Adverb The lawyer argued ________.

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Derivative Forms

• There must be some facilitation receptively, but this is not necessarily true productively

persist

Noun The judge changed his mind because

of the lawyer’s persistence.Verb The lawyer persisted until the judge changed his mind.Adjective The persistent lawyer persuaded the judge to change his mind.Adverb The lawyer argued persistently.

Schmitt & Zimmerman (2002)

Derivative Forms Produced (%)

0 1 2 3 4

ESL 7 21 31 28 13MA-ELT 0 4 18 35 43Combined 5 18 28 29 18

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Importance of Word Form

• Advanced learners typically knew some, but not all derivative forms

• Typically knew noun and verb forms better than adjective and adverb forms

• If adjective was unknown, then so was adverb

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How is Vocabulary Learned?

• Tseng, Dörnyei, & Schmitt (2006) argued that it is not the frequency of use of any particular strategy or technique that is important

• Rather it is the student’s ability to organize and manage their own learning

• The paper received the ILTA award for being the outstanding research paper on language testing (2006)

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How is Vocabulary Learned?

• Building on this initial research, Tseng and Schmitt (2008) suggest the following SEM model of vocabulary learning

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Model of Vocabulary Learning

Initial appraisal of the vocabulary learning experience Ability to self-regulate one’s vocabulary learning Understanding and using vocabulary learning behaviors

Mastery of vocabulary learning strategies and techniques

Vocabulary knowledge

Post-appraisal of vocabulary learning behaviors

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May the Lexicon be with you