Introduction to English Language Teaching

‘break down the larger units only when you need to and as much as you need to‘ --> children break down phonological strings only in as many segments as needed

Advantages:

• avoids overgeneralization and overregularization (producing too many rules)

• minimizes the amount of processing needed

native speakers

•  formulaic pairings which become loosened

non-native speakers

• words in L1 and L2 that become paired (Wray 2002)

• neural plasticity
• transfer (of collocation)
• memory of phonological sequences
• nature of student interaction and output
• frequency and nature of input
• perceived closeness of L2 to L1; type of collocations (phrases vs. two-word collocations)

• The principle of least effort is developmentally and neurologically plausible (cf. first language acquisition)
• word-based teaching should be avoided (instead: collocations+colligations!--> words should be learnt in context)

lexical constructions: a sequence of specific words or terms that frequently occur together in a language: Word A + Word B (+Word C)

ex.: conventional wisdom

Combinations of a specific word and a grammatical placeholder, any grammatical pattern surrounding a word

a particular type of grammatical pattern that a word occurs in

ex.: infinitive-clause, that-clause, -ing-clause etc.

constructions (consists of pre-fabricated chunks of language)

• language is not built in words, but in constructions (recurring combinations of particular words, lexis and grammar) 
• because at least 80 per cent of all text consists of collocations (same underlying structure and meaning components, pre-fabricated chunks of language, variation only on the surface)
• many of these are fully transparent ‘probabemes’ (esp. phrases, difficult to learn, normally not noticed)

--> words should be learnt with their respective collocations and colligations, teaching words in context

• non-native speakers use fewer phrases more often (smaller repertoire of of collocations and colligations, less variation in written texts)
• in speech, no routinized ways of interacting
• errors traceable to overgeneralization in L2, e.g. *perform a project (-> carry out a task/project, perform a task)
• errors traceable to first language influence, which is strongest in the case of literally translatable bases (e.g. *make a photo)

1. Vocabulary has to be taught and learnt explicitly + intentionally
2. Teaching vocabulary does not just mean teaching single words
3. Grammar and vocabulary are closely related

• those who try to learn through unintentional / incidental learning only remember about 5-10% of the new words)
• after the Oberstufe: typically less than 3000 individual words --> too little to understand the details of a text and to produce adequate texts
• guessing the meaning of words is not an efficient strategy
• easily understandable words are not transferred into long-term memory
• necessity to repeat new words (esp. for items of lower frequency)
• intentional and explicit learning = very effective (chance of remembering items 2 weeks afterwards: 40-60%!)

Grammar slots / structural slots that can be filled with words:

The view that language consists of grammatical constructions with empty slots that can be filled with any lexical item (thus grammar and vocabulary could technically be taught separately)

e.g. S – V (- O) (Subject-Verb(-Object) as the typical sentence structure)

• result: creative fallacy (*Ships sail.*Houses stand.)
• --> vocabulary and grammar cannot be separated like that!: => N (ship) + sail + ADV(place) 
• The model disregards the constructional nature of text

• texts consist of frequently occuring structures and patterns that are taken from a large repertoire of patterns (idiomacy)
• same underlying structure and meaning components, variation only on the surface

• ca. 80% of an average text consists of lexical + pre-fabricated constructions (collocations)
• every text consist of frequently occuring structures + patterns that are taken from a large repertoire of patterns (--> idiomatic constructions make up a large part of language)
• => necessity to focus on idiomatic constructions in teaching

• two-word collocations
• n-word collocations
• Combinations of semantic features
• Combinations of words and grammar (e.g. valency patterns, e.g. different from + NP)
• long-distance collocations
• they can have varying degrees of fixity: pass judgement on, *pass one‘s judgement, *pass judgements about
• Collocations also enter into (sometimes specific) valency patterns: set one‘s alarm (clock) for s.th.

• yes, autosemantic words (e.g. tree, sleep, dog) => have a meaning of their own

1. lexical constructions (= collocations, Word A + Word B) --> make an assumption

2. grammatical constructions (= valency patterns, Word + typical syntaktic construction) --> give s.o. s.th.; There is an assumption that …

1. constructions
2. individual words

• interference (applying knowledge from L1 language to L2) => *make an experience/a photo
• underrepresentation (making incomplete sentences/phrases) => *the tea is too hot
• transparence/communicative redundancy (problem of production) => I haven‘t got that sort of money, make friends
• the focus on individual words in classroom teaching (minimax principle vs. pairing of individual words)

=> Conclusion: Teach units larger than words / constructions instead of single words (except autosemantic words and concrete nouns); bear in mind that there is an interaction between vocabulary and grammar (e.g. valency constructions)

• tabula rasa
• tabula repleta

• input enhancement: underlining, highlighting constructions, gaps, point out differences and contrasts to the first language, talk about it in class
• providing lots of input: point out the many ways of interaction with other words, show words in a variety of contexts

• Lexical mechanics (word A + word B) -> dictionaries of collocations, monolingual learners’ dictionaries
• Syntactic patterning -> monolingual learners’ dictionaries (Bilingual dictionaries are usually a bad choice when it comes to patterning); look for valency patterns (for verbs, adjectives, nouns) and for textual colligations (preferred grammar patterns)
• Semantic-pragmatic features or associations: What meanings does the word or collocation I want to use typically have? In what sort of text type or context can I use the collocation? 

ca. 2000 word families , ca. 4000 individual words

8000-9000 word families (at least 34660 words)

• a large vocabulary is relevant
• learning vocabulary requires an ongoing  motivation (learning outside the classroom as well!)

• frequency (number of occurences)
• range (Streuung)
• availability (e.g. everyday-life item?)

• Oxford 3000 Text Checker: compares words used in a text to the most frequent 3000 words to assess the difficulty of a text (esp. for Unter- und Mittelstufe)
• text analyser at www.edict.com.hkwww.edict.com.hk
• frequency lists for preparing texts, e.g. lextutor (see which words should be known at different states) (esp. for Oberstufe) (intuition is often unreliable, even for a native speaker)

• the L1 (native language) is always active in the learner
• through L1-L2 associations, learners are more likely to remember words better
• by identifying contrasts between L1 and L2, learners are more likely to remember words better
• psycholinguistic argument: We represent L2 items in our brains by means of our L1--> translating helps remembering
• practical reason: translations are available and easy to test

• avoid serial-position effect
• you can plan the intervals between repetitions
• the vocabulary can easily be enhanced by adding cards
• possibility to reorganize cards

• good for thinking about vacabulary, but not helpful for learning how to use the words in context
• not enough to learn voc., other activities and tasks are still necessary to actively use words (same is true for word cards!)

• items from the same semantic group or lexical field or items with a similar pronunciation should not be learnt together at the beginning
• loose sheets or cards are better than a book => possibility to add and rearrange items
• arrange items in subject groups or types of speech act (or productive vs. receptive vocabulary)
• add additional information about items (collocates, pictures, derivations, examples)
• take down new items that you encounter elsewhere
• integrate items in other activities (e.g. write a short story based on the vocabulary)
• (possibly: dictate words onto a tape)

• add short example sentences with translations
• add constructions
• if necessary, highlight contrasts to L1

• first repetition as early as possible
• 5-20 repetitions necessary to effectively remember an item
• increase intervals successively
• use programmes that include time spans (e.g. Phase 6)
• use items actively => productive tasks and translations