08.05.2016 telc gGmbH 1

Into the mind –

How to teach vocabulary

effectively

Alexandra Haas

08.05.2016 telc gGmbH 2

Schedule of the workshop

Why teach vocabulary?

How does the memory work?

– an experiment

Words in(to) the mind

08.05.2016 3

Why teach vocabulary?

Grammar rules are the

bones, words are the

flesh.

Language learning is

mastering structures or

functions.

Grammar is subordinate

to lexis.

Language is grammati-

calized lexis, not lexical

grammar.

The Lexical Approach (Michael Lewis)

Language is a lexical phenomenon.

Language learning is achieved by the ability of the

mind to learn, store and process lexical items.

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How does your memory work?

water life fire square death

line air angry pencil ball

picture appel year sheep cluedo

sky hill cloud spring shape

pen foot wind round happy

cat paper arm dog point

foot rabbit round sad intelligent

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How does your memory work?

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Words in the mind

Any town in real life is likely to

contain “social networks”, groups of

people who know one another and

interact fairly often. […]

This analogy can be transferred to

the mental lexicon. Each 'lexical

town' will contain numerous clumps

of words with strong ties to one

another - though each clump will

also have bonds, yet weaker ones,

with other groups.

(Jean Aitchinson, Words in the Mind)

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Words in the mind

The neurobiological view: introducing …

… the brain cell

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Words in the mind

Making connections: synapses

Learning = building new neuron populations in the cortex

Babies are born with 100 million neurons, they need to get

connected by synapses

Synapses get stronger every time they are activated

The dentist effect: Hebb‘s rule

„Cells that fire together, wire together“

Fuel for thoughts – neurotransmitters

transmitting impulses between neurons/synapses

excite or inhibit? – neurotransmitters have to be in balance

a person‘s neurotransmitter-cocktail is as individual as their

fingerprint, unlike the fingerprint, it changes during our lifetime

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Take home messages:

Build networks

= connect new words with things your learners know

(words, things, sounds, tastes, emotions …)

Recycle words

= do/say new things with old words

Repeat vocabulary in growing loops

= cf. vocabulary box

Words in the mind

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Words in(to) the mind

kutsu

Espressolia / pixelio.de

gudu

Sven Richter / pixelio.de

Tim Reckmann / pixelio.de

Schuh

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Words in(to) the mind

The limbic system

limbus (lat.) = border, the limbic system is the gate keeper

10 million items of information per second,

only 20 are let through

the limbic system checks for relevance:

- new? important? pleasant/interesting?

- Is the person in front of me credible?

= the role of the teacher

OpenStax College

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Take home messages:

get the brain‘s attention

be (in)credible as a teacher

it‘s all in the mix:

There‘s no such thing as „the ideal learning method“

Words in(to) the mind

08.05.2016 13

Help your

students find the

right methods

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Minds are like parachutes.

They only function when open!

Röhl / pixelio.de