The Significance of Vocabulary in Language Teaching: Groundbreaking Research on the Application of the Lexical Approach in Punta Arenas
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Universidad de Magallanes Facultad de Humanidades, Ciencias Sociales y de la Salud Departamento de Educación y Humanidades THE SIGNIFICANCE OF VOCABULARY IN LANGUAGE TEACHING: GROUNDBREAKING RESEARCH ON THE APPLICATION OF THE LEXICAL APPROACH IN PUNTA ARENAS Students Juan Álvarez Garcés Bastián Dillems Díaz Daniel Oyarzo Judikis Guide teacher Patricia Díaz Aguilar Punta Arenas, December 2012 _____________________________________________________________________________________ “People with an impoverished vocabulary live an impoverished emotional life; people with rich vocabularies have a multihued palette of colors with which to paint their experience, not only for others, but for themselves as well.” Anthony Robbins _____________________________________________________________________________________ Acknowledgements To our families for their undying devotion and boundless love throughout the construction of our career path. You are the ones who fully deserve the recognition gained from this hard effort. We are genuinely grateful to Ms Patricia Díaz, the teacher who cultivated our appetite for learning beyond the classroom. We deeply appreciate your encouragement to never surrender, be wise in times when you lose your way, and especially we treasure your attempts to imbue us with the significance of diligence. Thank you for your eruditeness, your patience, your careful guidance and for mentoring the effectiveness of this work. You carved out our future and we will always cherish every moment spent together as you proved not only to be a woman of great moral stature, but of sincere words as well. A warm thanks to Efira Aravena for her wholehearted support and assistance when facing unexpected setbacks. We also extend our gratitude to our classmates whose aid contributed to the successful realization of this research. _____________________________________________________________________________________ TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract I. Introduction xiv 1.1 Objectives 1.2 Research questions II THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Chapter one: First Language Acquisition 1 Introduction 1 2 Key terms 3 Acquisition and learning 3 Input 4 Caregiver speech 5 Intake 6 Nature versus nurture 7 3 Language acquisition theories 8 3.1 Nativism 10 Noam Chomky and Universal Grammar 10 3.2 Empericism 12 3.2.1 Behaviorist theories 12 Skinner 13 3.2.2 The Cognitive theory 14 Piaget 16 3.2.3 The Social Interactionist Theory 16 Vygotsky 17 Bruner 18 3.2.4 The Relational Frame Theory (RFT) 20 4 The language acquisition programme 21 Cooing and babbling 22 One word stage 23 iv _____________________________________________________________________________________ Two word stage 25 Telegraphic stage 26 Acquisition process 26 5 Language acquisition in linguistic units 28 5.1 Phonology 28 5.2 Morphology 29 5.3 Syntax 31 Forming negatives 32 Forming questions 33 5.4 Semantics 34 Conclusion 36 Chapter two: Second language acquisition 37 Introduction 37 6 Second language acquistion complexity 39 7 Bilingualism 41 8 Factors involved in second language acquisition 44 8.1 Internal factors 44 Learning aptitudes 45 Motivation 46 Age 46 8.2 External Factors 47 Input and interaction 48 9 Approaches to second language acquisition 49 Stephen Krashen and the Monitor Model 49 Merrill Swain and the Comprehensible Output Hypothesis 52 Richard Schmidt and the Noticing Hypothesis 53 Michael Long and the Interaction Hypothesis 54 Manfred Pienemann and the Processability Theory 55 Elizabeth Bates & Brian MacWhinney and the Competence Model 57 Antonella Sorace and Francesca Filiaci and the Interface Hypothesis 58 _____________________________________________________________________________________ 10 SLA nature 59 Phonology 59 Morphology 61 Lexis 62 Syntax 64 Pragmatics 66 11 L1 VS L2 67 Conclusion 72 Chapter three: English language teaching 73 Introduction 73 12 Teaching background 75 12.1 Language teaching history 75 12.2 Key terms 77 Syllabus 77 Structures 78 Functions 79 Skills 80 Competence 81 Multiple intelligences 82 Performance 83 Explicit and implicit teaching 84 Approach 85 Method 86 Techniques 87 13 Approaches and methods 88 Grammar Translation Method 88 Audio-lingual Method 89 Direct Method 90 Silent Way 92 Suggestopedia 93 _____________________________________________________________________________________ Total Physical Response 94 Communicative language teaching 95 Content-based Instruction 96 Sheltered Instruction 97 Project Based Learning 98 Task-based approach 99 Competency-based approach 101 The Dogme approach 102 Conclusion 103 Chapter four: The Lexical Approach 105 Introduction 105 14 Lexical items 107 Words 107 Polywords 109 Compound words 110 Collocations 112 Phrasal verbs 114 Idioms 115 Fixed phrases 118 Cognates 119 False friends 120 Synonyms 120 Metaphors 121 Neologisms 121 15 The Lexical Approach 122 15.1 Language consists of grammaticalized lexis, not lexicalized grammar 125 15.2 Much language consists of multi-word chunks and learners should be 126 able to chunk language successfully 15.3 The primacy of speech over writing is recognized, writing is 127 secondary with different grammar from spoken language _____________________________________________________________________________________ 15.4 Errors as part of the learning process 128 15.5 Receptive skills over productive skills 129 15.6 Grammar is a receptive skill 130 16 Application of The Lexical Approach 131 16.1 Learning strategies 131 16.2 In the classroom 132 16.3 In the syllabus 134 16.4 The Lexical Approach in the Chilean syllabus 135 16.4.1 5th and 6th grades book analyses 135 16.4.2 7th and 8th grades book analyses 137 16.4.3 Secondary level 139 Conclusion 141 III. METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK 142 Chapter 5: Research resources 142 Introduction 142 17 Epistemological approach 143 18 Paradigm of the investigation 144 19 Type of research 145 20 Instruments 147 Questionnaires 147 Achievement tests 149 21 Scenario and subjects 151 EFL in Chilean Education 151 Subjects 155 22 Limitations 157 Conclusion 159 Chapter 6: Results analysis 160 Introduction 160 _____________________________________________________________________________________ 23 Sample 161 24 Results 163 24.1 Elementary school 163 5th and 6th grades 163 7th and 8th grades 166 24.2 High school 168 24.3 English pedagogy students at University of Magallanes 171 24.4 School teachers 173 Criterion A: Personal information 173 Criterion B: Teaching foundations, application of strategies and use of 174 resources Criterion C: Teaching forays into the Lexical Approach 175 24.5 University teachers 182 Criterion A: Personal information 182 Criterion B: Teaching foundations, application of strategies and use of 182 resources Criterion C: Teaching forays into the Lexical Approach 184 Conclusion 190 FINAL CONCLUSIONS 193 References Appendixes Appendix 1: Achievement test for 5th and 6th grades Appendix 2: Achievement test for 7th and 8th grades Appendix 3: Achievement test for high school students Appendix 4: Achievement test for English pedagogy students at University of Magallanes Appendix 5: Questionnaire for school and university teachers _____________________________________________________________________________________ Figures, tables and graphs Figure 1 L1 – L2 acquisition comparison 71 Figure 2 Graph showing the five words most recognized by students of 164 this level Figure 3 Graph showing the ranking of schools according to their 165 achievements in the test Figure 4 Graph showing the four most recognized collocations using do 166 and make Figure 5 Graph showing the five most recognized collocations by 167 students of this level Figure 6 Graph showing the ranking of schools according to their 168 achievements in the test Figure 7 Graph showing the three most recognized compound words by 169 students of this level Figure 8 Graph showing the ranking of schools according to their 171 achievements in the test Figure 9 Graph showing the recognition of three specific lexical items 171 bye university students Figure 10 Graph showing the ranking of students according to their 172 achievements in the test Figure 11 Graph illustrating the identification of the Lexical Approach by 176 school teachers Figure 12 Graph showing the preferred skills trained by school teachers 177 Figure 13 Graph illustrating school teachers’ preference for teaching 177 English Figure 14 Graph indicating school teachers’ method towards vocabulary 178 teaching. Figure 15 Monthly desired vocabulary range school teachers want their 179 students to learn Figure 16 Graph presenting school teachers’ opinion in the three most 179 important characteristics of the learning process Figure 17 Graph illustrating school teachers’ error correcting method 182 Figure 18 Graph illustrating the identification of the Lexical Approach by 184 university teachers Figure 19 Graph presenting university teachers’ opinion in the three most 185 important characteristics of the learning process Figure 20 Graph illustrating university teachers’ preference for the most 186 relevant element in language Figure 21 Monthly desired vocabulary range professors want students to 187 learn Figure 22 Graph indicating university teachers’ method towards 187 vocabulary teaching _____________________________________________________________________________________ Figure 23 Graph illustrating university teachers’ error correcting method 190 Table 1 Table illustrating 5th and 6th graders’ sample in local schools 161 Table 2 Table illustrating 7th and 8th graders’ sample in local schools 161 Table 3 Table illustrating