Mabalacat City College

Institute of Teacher Education

Dapdap, Mabalacat City, Pampanga

Written Report

Submitted by:
Tayag, Lyka Jean M.
Tayag, John Mark B.
Tuazon, Clara Rafaela W.
BSEd English 2B
Language Programs and Policies in Multilingual Societies

Submitted to:
Nicole T. Nicasio, LPT
Instructor

March 25, 2024

 Mabalacat City College
Institute of Teacher Education
Dapdap, Mabalacat City, Pampanga

I. Introduction

Vocabulary is the body of words used in a particular language and refers to the words we

know to communicate effectively. In addition, vocabulary learning is the process of

acquiring building blocks in second language acquisition according to Restrepo Ramos

(2015). Moreover, vocabulary teaching has a goal supporting language use across the
skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Therefore, there has been a lot of debate

about how to attain this, especially in first language teaching. The following are common
arguments against such learning.

1. Deliberate learning can only account for a small proportion of the vocabulary

knowledge of learners.
2. Deliberate learning not in a communicative context does not result in much

learning.
3. Deliberate learning not in a communicative context does not help later vocabulary
use in communicative contexts.

These points are generally wrong and contradict the findings of second language
vocabulary research. For second- or foreign-language learners, concerted vocabulary

learning can account for a significant amount of vocabulary development. Additionally,

there is now plenty of evidence to show as we acquire vocabulary and spelling by reading.

Also, learners often use dictionaries rather than grammar books, suggesting that
vocabulary is a good measure of language proficiency (Krashen, 1989).

II. Learning Outcomes

At the end of this lesson, the students should be able to:

 Understand the importance of vocabulary learning.

 Develop their vocabulary and speaking skills; and

 Strengthen their ability to write academic papers, essays, and oral recitations.
III. Learning Content

Planning Vocabulary Learning

Vocabulary developers have long recognized that around 3,000 words are more frequent
and useful in various language uses than other words. Furthermore, these high frequency
words are the foundation of all language use and should be given significant attention in
 Mabalacat City College
Institute of Teacher Education
Dapdap, Mabalacat City, Pampanga

language teaching materials. Also, focusing on other vocabulary is unnecessary unless

learners have specific needs. Moreover, various lists of these words are available, and
materials developers need to be familiar with them. As a result, learners who control high

frequency words and study for academic purposes should quickly become familiar with
general academic vocabulary.

Various lists of these words are accessible, and materials producers must be conversant
with them. Table 17.1 depicts four forms of vocabulary and their typical coverage of text.

Academic vocabulary is important for learners studying for academic purposes, including
words like derive, definition, estimate, and function. Additionally, the Academic Word List,

which contains 570 word families, covers between 8.5-10% of academic text, making it an
essential addition to a learner's vocabulary. On the other hand, low frequency words,

provide only 2.8% coverage. Academic vocabulary consists of words from high and mid-
frequency levels, depending on the chosen high frequency words. Furthermore, high

frequency words, mid-frequency words, and proper nouns make up over 98% of running
words in most texts. Subsequently, learning these words is essential for learners who want

to read and listen without external support. When designing vocabulary materials, it is
important to consider the cost-benefit approach. Also, high frequency words offer more

opportunities for use than low frequency words. However, according to (Nation, 2006),
mid-frequency and low frequency words carry significant text meaning, so learners must
eventually learn them.

Conditions for Learning

A large and expanding body of research on learning, particularly vocabulary development,

gives important suggestions for the psychological conditions required to improve
 Mabalacat City College
Institute of Teacher Education
Dapdap, Mabalacat City, Pampanga

vocabulary learning. Likewise, these conditions include noticing, retrieving, continuing

and to elaborate. On top of that, noticing refers to paying attention to a word as a

language aspect. On the contrary, in materials design, noticing is encouraged by using

typographical features such as italics or bold type, defining the word orally, in the text, or
in a glossary, noting the word on the board or in a list at the beginning of the text, pre-

teaching, asking students to write it down, or asking them to look it up in a dictionary. In

general, according to Barcroft's (2006) research, we learn what emphasis on, while

typographical modifications tend to result in little gains in knowledge of word form.

Similarly, as (Laufer and Hulstijn, 2001) elucidate, learning is more likely to improve when
one progresses from noticing to recall, diversified application, and elaboration.

Apart from that, once a word is recognized and remembered, retrieval can be used to
reinforce and establish learning, retrieval can be either receptive or productive. In addition

to what has been said, receptive retrieval includes recalling the meaning of a spoken or
written form when it is met, whereas productive retrieval requires recalling the form to
express a meaning. However, retrieval does not occur when both the form and the
meaning are available to the learner.

To promote retrieval in materials design, learners are encouraged to use the four skills of

listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Activities such as retelling, role-playing, and
problem-solving use written input to produce output (Joe, Nation, & Newton, 1996).

Elaborating is a more successful procedure than retrieval since it both enriches and

strengthens an item's memory. Also, it can take the form of meeting a known word in
listening or reading in a way that stretches its meaning for the learner (receptive

generative use), using a known word in contexts that the learner has never used it in
before (productive generative use), using mnemonic tricks such as the keyword technique,

or having rich instruction on the word, which entails paying attention to several aspects
of what is involved in knowing a word.

The keyword technique (Pressley, 1977) entails identifying an L1 term that sounds similar

to the L2 word and creating an interactive visual that incorporates the meanings of both.
To learn the English word "funds," a Thai student can utilize the Thai term "fun," which
means "teeth," and imagine someone sinking their teeth into a bundle of money.

Good vocabulary materials design entails creating activities in which the learning
conditions stated above are most likely to occur, with language at the learner's
 Mabalacat City College
Institute of Teacher Education
Dapdap, Mabalacat City, Pampanga

appropriate level. Nation and Webb (2011, Chapter 1) offer a technique feature analysis

system that can predict the effectiveness of a variety of vocabulary acquisition sessions.
Moreover, this system is divided into five primary categories: motivation, noticing,

retrieval, generation, and retention. In addition, each heading has three or four sub-
features that are assessed as present or absent in a specific technique. Lastly, consider

designing vocabulary tools based on four strands: meaning-focused input, output,

language-focused learning, and fluency development.

Designing output activities to help vocabulary learning

According to Nation and Wang's 1999 study on vocabulary occurrence in graded readers,

there will be many possibilities for spaced receptive retrieval of relevant vocabulary as
long as there is a respectably high amount of input (about one graded book per week).

Furthermore, a rising number of free mid-frequency graded readers are now available for
students with vocabulary sizes of 4,000, to 8,000 words.

“Vocabulary learning is greatly helped when listening if the teacher quickly defines
unfamiliar words and notes them on the board.”

The link between the input and the output can have a significant impact on vocabulary

learning in a variety of tasks where input becomes a source of output, such as reading a
document and then having to provide answers.

Furthermore, the condition of elaboration is likely to occur if the questions that follow a

hearing text take up target language or the use of target vocabulary from a text and ask
the student to modify it or expand its application in any way.

Here is a brief example from a literature addressing the heavy school backpacks that
pupils carry:

As stated from the text, “School children may be suffering harm to their bodies as a result

of the heavy weights they carry on a daily basis. In the same way, these weights can reach
up to twice the maximum amount that is permitted for adults. Also, they carry heavy

books, sports equipment, drinking water, musical instruments, and occasionally a

computer in their school bags.”

The question that follows the text is, "How old are you when you are an adult?”
 Mabalacat City College
Institute of Teacher Education
Dapdap, Mabalacat City, Pampanga

Take note of how this question demands the student to: a) use the target word adult;

b) extend the word's meaning; and c) use the word in a linguistic context that differs
from the text. Thus, retrieval and generative use are probably going to have a big impact

on word learning. Such inquiries may also be utilized in situations in which reading serves
as the input.

Glossaries typically help with vocabulary learning, even though they haven't always been

shown to significantly improve understanding. Using a glossary while reading is the

reading counterpart of a teacher providing word definitions while the students

listen. The designer of reading materials can choose to highlight terms within the text, at
the margins, at the bottom of the page, or at the end of the text.

Main Points:

 Glosses in the text need to be changed because readers don't always understand
them as definitions.

 Reading is significantly hampered by glosses at the bottom of the page or at the

end of the text.

The most effective glosses, according to research, are those that appear at the side of
the text, exactly where the glossed word appears. According to Long, 1997, examining a

gloss like this draws a lot of attention to a word. After seeing the word once in the text
and then again after glancing at the gloss, the student returns to the text to focus on the
word a third time.

Intensive & Extensive Reading

 Reading intensively may speed up vocabulary acquisition because it frequently

involves a purposeful, ongoing concentration on linguistic elements, such as

vocabulary. The best environment for learning vocabulary can be created by

extensive reading programs that use graded readers, but they must be planned in

a way that creates the most favorable learning environments.

 Reading extensively can help students become more proficient and fluent

readers, reinforce previously learned grammar and vocabulary, pick up new

vocabulary, enjoy reading, and be inspired to study more by using language

successfully. When students read extensively, they are mostly learning
 Mabalacat City College
Institute of Teacher Education
Dapdap, Mabalacat City, Pampanga

incidentally—that is, they are paying attention to the tale rather than the material
they need to learn. Because of this, learning gains are typically modest, making
input amount crucial.

Graded readers usually cover a range of word counts, from around 300–500 words to
about 2,000–2,500 words. In order to acquire vocabulary, students should be able to

recognize 98% of the running words. Nearly all of the running words in the texts must be
known to them in order for their fluency to progress.

A description of the goal of extensive reading, book reports, book reviews on a slip within

the book, book displays, and avid reader awards are all appropriate strategies for
promoting extensive reading. The development of fluency and language-focused learning

must go hand in hand with extensive reading. The following are some ways that reading
can aid with vocabulary acquisition.

Activities to see before and do after reading

1. Second-hand cloze
2. Information transfer

3. Reporting to the class on words found in the text

4. Answering questions that extend the meaning and use of the words in the text

Before going on to the next level, learners must read at least one graded reader every
week and five books at a level, working their way through the graded reader levels

methodically while choosing engaging literature. They must read a minimum of 15–20
readers annually and additional books at other reading levels. Be sure that 95–98% of the
running words in a selected reader are already familiar to both teachers and students.

Therefore, materials intended for vocabulary learning through input must offer a large
amount of input, promote focused vocabulary usage, and contain few or no new words.

Deliberate language focused learning

Vocabulary learning activities include numerous facets of word knowledge. Table 17.2

(Nation, 2001) shows these features, as well as several vocabulary exercises that address
them.
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Institute of Teacher Education
Dapdap, Mabalacat City, Pampanga

These activities' design aspects will have a direct impact on the learning conditions that
occur. Let's look at some of the most crucial characteristics.

1. Concentrate on linguistic items. Language-focused learning activities emphasize

language aspects rather than message conveyance. Deliberate attention to

language accelerates learning.

2. Engage learners in activities like word part tables, spelling rules, and reading aloud

to highlight the systematic features of the language, aiding in vocabulary

processing.

3. Group work allows learners to provide new input and negotiate, fostering
elaboration and learning. For instance, finding collocates as a group task offers

numerous opportunities for learning.

 Mabalacat City College
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4. Data gathering and gap filling activities allow learners to suggest answers from
their previous experiences, allowing for retrieval and elaboration. When combined
with group work, this expands the range of associates for a particular word.

Teachers should be cautious when using vocabulary activities, as some are better than
others and can be predicted using analytical schemes like technique feature analysis and

involvement load. Involvement load involves determining the need, search, and
evaluation factors in a particular activity. Most vocabulary activities have low immediate

learning returns, with only three to four out of ten words being remembered soon after.
Individualized deliberate learning from word cards is more efficient and effective.

Fluency Development

Fluency development activities aim to make language items like vocabulary accessible for

fluent use. Thereafter, vocabulary cannot be fluently accessed, learning has little purpose.
Fluency development activities do not differ from other fluency goals as they require

meaning-focused language use without focusing on language features. Different learning

conditions are needed for fluency development, including meaning-focused input and
output, and language-focused learning.

Fluency is likely to develop if the following conditions are met.

1. The learners take part in activities where all the language items are within their
previous experience. This means that the learners work with largely familiar

topics and types of discourse making use of known vocabulary and structures.
2. The activity is meaning focused. The learners’ interest is on the communication

of a message and is subject to the ‘real time’ pressures and demands of

normal meaning focused communication (Brumfit, 1984, pp. 56–7).

3. There is support and encouragement for the learner to perform at a higher than
normal level. This means that in an activity with a fluency development goal,

learners should be speaking and comprehending faster, hesitating less and

using larger planned chunks than they do in their normal use of language.

Fluency in language learning requires ample opportunities for both receptive and
productive language use. This can be achieved through engaging in familiar, meaning-
 Mabalacat City College
Institute of Teacher Education
Dapdap, Mabalacat City, Pampanga

focused tasks both inside and outside the classroom. Designing fluency activities that

meet these conditions requires considering design requirements and features, which can
be found in various techniques across various language skills. By evaluating these

requirements, it is possible to determine if an activity effectively develops fluency and

develops other suitable activities. One well-researched activity is the 4/3/2 technique,

which involves learners working in pairs, with one speaker speaking for 4 minutes and the
other listening. The pairs then change partners, giving the same information in 3 minutes,
followed by a further change and a 2-minute talk.

Moreover, this activity focuses on fluency by encouraging users to process large amounts
of language through a controlled approach. Additionally, the speaker performs without

interruption and makes three deliveries, limiting the demands to a smaller set than in
most uncontrolled learning activities. This can be done by teacher control, choice,

planning, or repetition by the learner as well. Furthermore, the speaker chooses ideas and
language items and plans the talk's organization, allowing fluency to become the learning
goal. In conclusion, the repetition of the talk keeps the learner's attention focused on the
message due to the changing audience. Along with that, the activity also helps the learner

reach a high level of performance by offering the opportunity to repeat and reduce time
to convey the same message. To sum up, planning and preparation before the activity
also contribute to achieving a high level of fluency.

Three approaches to developing fluency in a language course are the well-beaten path
approach, richness approach, and well-ordered system approach. The well-beaten path

involves repetition and practice on the same material, while the richness approach
involves making connections with a known word in various contexts. The well-ordered

system approach aims to control the language system, allowing learners to use efficient,
well-connected, and well-practiced paths to the desired word. These approaches can be
useful in language courses.

In addition, this summary discusses various activities that utilize easy demands, meaning
focus, and opportunities to perform at a higher than normal level. Two examples are blow-

up books, which are large, large books with pictures and pages eight times larger than
ordinary ones. These books can be shown to the whole class while the teacher reads aloud,
allowing all learners to see the words and pictures. The teacher reads the story to the
 Mabalacat City College
Institute of Teacher Education
Dapdap, Mabalacat City, Pampanga

learners, allowing them to become familiar with the story and recall parts of the sentences.
To develop fluency, the teacher reads the story faster each time.

Listening to stories is a great way for learners with poor listening skills to engage with an
interesting story. Also, the teacher reads a chapter of the story daily, allowing the learners

to enjoy it. Moreover, the teacher writes words they might not recognize on the
blackboard, and as the learners become familiar with the story, the speed increases and

repetitions decrease. Added to that, activity is highly engaging and the daily story is
usually looked forward to with the same excitement people have in television serials.

Fluency activities include listening corner, speed reading training, and extensive reading

with no unknown vocabulary, repeated reading, and continuous writing. These activities
allow learners to consider what has just been heard and anticipate what may come next,

while also allowing them to listen to language at normal speed without becoming lost.
These activities help learners develop fluency skills and improve their language skills.

Fluency development activities should make up 25% of language courses, ensuring no

unfamiliar vocabulary. This chapter examines vocabulary materials development across

four strands: learning from meaning focused input, learning from meaning focused

output, deliberate language focused learning, and fluency development. Careful materials
design can encourage certain learning conditions to reach learning goals. Monitoring and

evaluating these materials is crucial for good design, as it helps identify signs of learning
conditions and ensures effective use of materials.

IV. Conclusion

Vocabulary is the most vital skill while learning or teaching a foreign language. All other

skills, such as reading, writing, speaking, and listening, are built and developed around
vocabulary. This emphasizes the importance it is to learn new words. Vocabulary materials

development has three ideas that are very important. First, a planned approach to
developing vocabulary will be much more efficient than dealing with vocabulary in ad hoc

or opportunistically. Second, there are learning conditions that improve vocabulary

learning, and the main goals of materials development should be to produce materials

that will establish these conditions. Third, these conditions must be met by activities that
span the four roughly equal strands of planned language-focused learning, learning from
meaning-focused output, learning from meaning-focused input, and fluency
development. Vocabulary learning is greatly helped when listening if the teacher quickly
 Mabalacat City College
Institute of Teacher Education
Dapdap, Mabalacat City, Pampanga

defines unfamiliar words (Elley, 1989) and notes them on the board. In all kinds of activities
where input becomes a source of output, such as listening to a text and then having to

answer questions, the relationship between the input and the output can have a major
effect on vocabulary learning. In developing the learner’s fluency, blow-up books and

listening to stories are the two useful way activities to practice and develop fluency
learning. Vocabulary materials development across the four strands of learning from

meaning focused input, learning from meaning focused output, deliberate language
focused learning and fluency development (Nation, 2007). Monitoring and evaluating

materials for teaching vocabulary involves looking for signs that learning conditions are

V. Evaluation

1. On a yellow paper, explain the effectiveness of vocabulary learning using materials in

teaching.

2. What do you think are the techniques or strategies to use for teaching vocabulary?

VI. References

Barcroft, J. (2006), ‘Can writing a word detract from learning it? More negative effects of

forced output during vocabulary learning’, Second Language Research, 22 (4), 487–97.
Brumfit, C. J. (1984), Communicative Methodology in Language Teaching: The Roles of

Fluency and Accuracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Coxhead, A. (2000), ‘A new academic word list’, TESOL Quarterly, 34 (2), 213–38.

Elgort, I. (2011), ‘Deliberate learning and vocabulary acquisition in a second language’,

Language Learning, 61 (2), 367–413.

Elley, W. B. (1989), ‘Vocabulary acquisition from listening to stories’, Reading Research

Quarterly, 24 (2) 174–87.

Hu, M. and Nation, I. S. P. (2000), ‘Vocabulary density and reading comprehension’,

Reading in a Foreign Language, 13 (1), 403–30.

Joe, A., Nation, P. and Newton, J. (1996), ‘Speaking activities and vocabulary learning’,
English Teaching Forum, 34 (1), 2–7.

Laufer, B. and Hulstijn, J. (2001), ‘Incidental vocabulary acquisition in a second language:

the construct of task-induced involvement’, Applied Linguistics, 22 (1), 1–26.

Maurice, K. (1983), ‘The fluency workshop’, TESOL Newsletter, 17 (4), 29.

Nation, I. S. P. (2001), Learning Vocabulary in Another Language. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.
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Institute of Teacher Education
Dapdap, Mabalacat City, Pampanga

— (2006), ‘How large a vocabulary is needed for reading and listening?’ Canadian Modern
Language Review, 63 (1), 59–82.

— (2007), ‘The four strands’, Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 1 (1), 1–12.
Nation, P. and Wang, K. (1999), ‘Graded readers and vocabulary’, Reading in a Foreign

Language, 12, 355–80.

Nation, I. S. P. and Webb, S. (2011), Researching and Analyzing Vocabulary. Boston: Heinle

Cengage Learning.
Pressley, M. (1977), ‘Children’s use of the keyword method to learn simple Spanish

vocabulary words’, Journal of Educational Psychology, 69 (5), 465–72.

Schmitt, N., Jiang, X. and Grabe, W. (2011), ‘The percentage of words known in a text and

reading comprehension’, The Modern Language Journal, 95 (1), 26–43.

Watanabe, Y. (1997), ‘Input, intake and retention: effects of increased processing on

incidental learning of foreign vocabulary’, Studies in Second Language Acquisition,

19, 287–307.
West, M. (1953), A General Service List of English Words. London: Longman, Green
and Co.