Vocabulary Learning: A Critical Analysis of Techniques

Abstract

This article evaluates more than a dozen vocabulary learning techniques for students of a second or foreign language. These techniques are divided into four broad categories: decontextualizing, semicontextualizing, fully contextualizing, and adaptable. Each technique is evaluated in terms of underlying theoretical assumptions and practical utility. Specific classroom implications are also offered.Given the difficulties of vocabulary learning in a second or foreign language (L2), along with the obvious necessity of trying to overcome them, one would expect that vocabulary instruction would be at the top of the agenda for language teachers. However, the opposite is often the case. Vocabulary is not explicitly taught in most language classes, and students are expected to "pick-up" vocabulary on their own without any guidance. Courses on reading, writing, speaking, listening, grammar, and culture are common in L2 programmes, but very few vocabulary courses exist. Many instances of so-called vocabulary instruction involve merely giving students lists of words to memorize or providing limited practice opportunities, with no further assistance to the often overwhelmed learner. Hague (1987) and Carter (1987) both decry the neglect of vocabulary instruction in L2 classes, and they also suggest a variety of possibilities for rectifying the situation.In this article, our definition of "knowing an L2 word" involves not just the ability to recognize the word or to match it with its L1 counterpart, if such exists; knowing an L2 word also involves being able to use the L2 word communicatively in any of the four main language skills. To use Anderson's distinction (1980), our definition goes beyond merely "knowing that" (declarative knowledge of facts, definitions, or relationships) and includes "knowing how" (procedural knowledge, in this case the communicative use of L2 words).This article describes a number of techniques by which vocabulary instruction has been handled, mishandled, or avoided almost entirely by L2 teachers. These techniques are classified into four groups: decontextualizing, semi-contextualizing, fully contextualizing, and adaptable. Decontextualizing techniques are those that remove the word as completely as possible from any communicative context that might help the learner TESL CANADA JOURNAL! REVUE TESL DU CANADA

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