Explicit Instruction

Belinda Young-Davy, University of Oregon

For several decades, vocabulary has Focused Vocabulary Instruction been a matter of cards and lists or, after students attain basic conversational skills Therefore, it is useful to keep in mind or reach the intermediate level, has been rele- two critical aspects of vocabulary instruc- gated to the sidelines in classroom teaching tion. The first is that for vocabulary to be (Brown, 2007). We have assumed that stu- learned both receptively and productively dents will be able to seek out and select the direct attention to meaning and use is neces- vocabulary they need to meet their education- sary. That is, students need both conscious al, business or social goals without explicit attention and sufficient exposure to effective- and extended guidance. We have also as- ly acquire and employ targeted vocabulary. sumed that once they have selected appropri- Second, it is important to remember the fact ate vocabulary, they will be able to formulate that all students, even at advanced levels, and carry out a successful plan of self-study may still need to learn how to learn vocabu- on their own outside of the classroom. In re- lary (Lewis, 2000). cent years, however, it has become clear that vocabulary, which is the foundation of all oth- Learners’ abilities to express their er language skills, requires more focused at- ideas in writing have a significant impact on tention in the classroom due to its complexity both their academic success and self- (Hinkel 2009; Nation, 2013; Schmitt, 2008). confidence (Coxhead, 2006; Hinkel, 2009) . Consequently, must be One of the questions facing language upfront and center stage in writing instruc- instructors is how direct vocabulary instruc- tion. Improved vocabulary use leads to a tion should be. Much recent research into vo- feeling of success; in contrast, a lack of vo- cabulary acquisition and studies of learning cabulary impairs learners at all levels of aca- strategies strongly indicates that the explicit demic endeavors and undermines even the vocabulary learning vs. implicit vocabulary most diligent learners. The proposed three- learning issue is not a dichotomy, but rather a step sequence below, targets high- continuum (Hunt and Belgar, 2005; Lee and intermediate and advanced learners enrolled Tan, 2012; Nation 2001; Schmitt 2008). It is a in university writing classes specifically de- continuum on which some vocabulary learners signed for nonnative speakers. The three tend toward implicit learning while others steps in the process are: tend toward the explicit learning end of the a)selection continuum, depending on the learners, situa- b)definition tion and vocabulary to be learned. However, it c)exposure and use is clear that effective, direct vocabulary teach- ing plays a critical role in improving vocabu- Selection lary skills for all learners (Hinkel 2002a, Na- tion, 2005). Having acknowledged that explicit, focused instruction can greatly benefit our

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students; the next task educators face is decid- also be determined by the types of projects on ing how much vocabulary to teach. Although which the students will be working. For ex- it has been demonstrated that gaining familiar- ample, for a writing assignment on how so- ity with as many as 30 words per hour is pos- cial media is changing cultural beliefs, stu- sible with high frequency items, it is more dents can divide into vocabulary groups, and practical, as well as more effective to avoid each group can be assigned a specific number presenting students with long lists of words. or type of vocabulary to learn and teach to the Moreover, over the course of a term, semester rest of the class prior to writing the essay. Fi- or year the vocabulary sets should be recycled nally, target vocabulary can include at regular intervals (Schmitt, 2000). In the ap- “problem” vocabulary – high frequency proach outlined below, these suggestions were words or phrases students are very familiar put into practice. Students work with 10-15 with but which they cannot use accurately on target items every week and a half to two a consistent basis. Some obvious candidates weeks, and the vocabulary items are recycled might be semantically related verb pairs such over the course of a ten-week term. as know/learn, say/tell, explain/discuss and state/express. Similarly, the The next decision Vocabulary learning must be distinctions between some may be deciding what vo- upfront and center stage in so-called synonyms such as cabulary to teach. The in contrast/on the contrary, most common approach is writing instruction. nonetheless/however, and to teach the vocabulary besides/except are good presented in a textbook unit. The majority of examples of vocabulary students often the teacher-assigned vocabulary used in the struggle with. approach discussed below is taken from the Academic Word list (AWL). The AWL Definition (Coxhead, 2000) contains 570 words that ap- pear with the highest frequency in English- Although defining vocabulary must be language academic texts, which are divided more than a matter of looking up words in a into 10 sub-lists starting with the most com- , it is where most students start. In mon words in sub-list 1. When using the addition, at the low to intermediate levels, it AWL, target items can be chosen according to is not unusual for teachers to encourage — or a topic the students will be reading or writing even require — students to use target lan- about, the nature of the assignments (e.g., a guage to help them avoid simple position paper, a critical analysis paper, an translation using a . How- argument essay, etc.), or by sub-lists. ever, in the present approach, a “look it up twice” technique is encouraged. In this tech- An alternate strategy, which may in- nique, the first time the students look up a crease students’ motivation, is to have stu- word they are encouraged to use a bilingual dents generate an additional vocabulary list. dictionary. The reasons for this are two-fold. That is, a list of vocabulary items they believe First, the use of bilingual dictionaries can they need or that they want to learn. The eliminate the possibility of students encoun- teacher and students can be determine the tering more unknown vocabulary in the target length of the list together. Several of these language dictionary definitions, thereby cre- words can be studied each week in conjunc- ating more confusion and frustration. Instead, tion with textbook vocabulary over the course with the bilingual dictionary, students are of the term or semester. Vocabulary items can able to quickly attach a meaning to the un-

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known word, giving them a foundation to bilingual definition. Both teacher input and build on. Next, the students look the word up having students generate multiple examples in a target language dictionary, and discuss for each target item, related to situations or how closely the target language definition topics they are familiar with, are critical to matches or varies from the meaning they providing students with semantic or pragmat- found in the bilingual dictionary. This pro- ic components of meaning that a traditional vides an opportunity for students to recognize “look it up and memorize” approach lacks. nuances and usage differences between the target vocabulary and its counterpart in their Another definition technique is the native languages as well as illustrating the negotiation of meaning in which students are limits of direct translation. Fortunately, the encouraged to guess a meaning from context majority of the definitions found in target or previous encounters with the target item or language dictionaries will match or closely a related form. This allows students to check approximate the definitions found in bilin- their own knowledge as well as giving them gual dictionaries. On the other hand, there a chance to share knowledge with their peers. may be important and often confusing nuanc- All of the guesses are written on the board es to the actual meaning in the target lan- and then teacher supplies or elicits more sen- guage that are “lost in tences using the vocabu- translation” in a bilingual Students’ attention should be lary to allow students to dictionary. The nuances directed toward the importance check and refine the are rarely transparent to of learning collocations. meanings they have gen- students even when ex- erated. Once, the correct ample sentences are provided in the target meanings have been found, erroneous guess- language dictionary. One example of this is es can be discussed to discover how the in- the common misconception among L2 Eng- correct guesses were made, and common lish learners that the verb to expect is synony- misconceptions can be addressed. mous with to hope for or to wish for . This erroneous conflation of meaning is so far Finally, students’ attention should be from native speaker usage that it is often im- directed toward the importance of learning possible for native speakers of English to in- collocations and relevant structural patterns terpret a sentence such as “All students ex- for the target items. As discussed above, it pect for good grades.” has generally been the case that vocabulary learning has entailed the learning of individ- As a final part of the technique, stu- ual, independent words; however, words in- dents can be assigned a homework task to teract with other words to create meaning. gauge their understanding while reinforcing Lewis (2000) notes that meaning often re- learning through use. This could be as basic sides not in an individual word but in the as writing several example sentences for each words it occurs with or the patterns it is used vocabulary item or as complex as writing a in; “giving students collocations …will wid- paragraph in which several target items must en their understanding of what… words be used. It is important that the task is more mean and, more importantly, how they are than a “write down” assignment. Discussing used” (p. 15). Nowadays, collocation diction- the homework examples as a class can rein- aries or concordance websites are convenient force meaning and, once again focus stu- tools that both teachers and students can take dents’ attention on how the target language advantage of. For example, after all of the definitions compare to or contrast with the target vocabulary items have been defined

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using the “look it up twice” techniques, stu- learned words every other week. dents can compare samples they have written down for homework and look for word pat- The first step is to establish the mean- terns in the sentences such as prepositions, ing and distinctive features of the target vo- nouns, verbs, or modifiers. Once some pat- cabulary. The teacher assigns three or four terns have been found in example sentences, different words to different groups. Using and students see that learning vocabulary is cell phones or laptops, each group has to use more than words in isolation, students can be the ‘look it up twice’ method to define their shown how to look for further patterns using words, making notes about usage such as the an online concordance website. If students part of speech and whether nouns are count have their own laptops they can follow along or non-count. With this information, they as the teacher demonstrates how to find and write a definition for the assigned vocabulary use a concordance website. in their own words. The second task is to look up each word on a concordance website. Exposure and Use The group makes notes about the two most frequent collocations or about common gram- Nation (1990) concluded that L2 matical patterns associated with the target learners needed at least 5 exposures in com- structure and creates two sentences for each prehensible contexts to learn a word. Horst, item. Each group reports their findings to the Cobb, & Meara (1998) found that in reading class. words that appeared in a text over eight times were more likely to be learned than words that Having clarified the meanings of the appeared fewer times. The amount of expo- target vocabulary, and having identified the sure that is necessary to learn a word is still most frequent collocations for each item, stu- open to debate. Still, in her overview of ex- dents begin vocabulary logs or create vocab- plicit vocabulary instruction, McCarten, ulary cards, for homework or in class. Stu- (2007) points out that most research indicates dents’ organization format includes a diction- that multiple exposures –both explicit and im- ary definition and a definition in their own plicit -- are necessary for retention. She fur- words. Each entry also has at least three sen- ther notes that vocabulary acquisition is also tences created by the student using the target facilitated by using a system for organizing word. Whenever possible, students are en- relevant features of a word such as pronuncia- couraged to have a native speaker vet these tion, meanings associated with prefix and suf- sentences at a later date. Students also post fixes, collocations, parts of speech and mak- their vetted sentences online to a class discus- ing vocabulary personal. sion website to share with other students. As part of the on-going discussion students can Taking those findings into considera- report ways they have used the vocabulary tion, explicit exposure in this approach is, in outside of class and any new information fact, a series of tasks that are recycled over they learn about a word. the course of the term incorporating multiple exposure, a clear and consistent organization The two-part follow-up task is a dic- format and use of student input. For each vo- tation and paraphrasing activity. Dictation is cabulary item, in this approach the goal is to a good tool for vocabulary instruction when provide at least three explicit exposures to the context is clear and the students are fa- new target items every week, and at least miliar with the majority of the vocabulary three exposures to four to five previously (Nation,1991).When the context is accessible

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and relevant to students’ goals, interests or group presents its final list to the class, and class topics, it is quick and efficient, and fo- explains why they believe each of the para- cuses students’ attention on multiple aspects of phrases maintains the meaning and tone of the a word, including , meaning and pro- original sentences. The class then decides nunciation in a meaningful way. Paraphrasing, whether they agree with the decisions made on the other hand, can reveal the depth of stu- by each group. At the end of the activity, stu- dents’ understanding of the target items. dents select two paraphrased sentences to add to their vocabulary logs. First, a short paragraph (5-7 sentences), containing at least four of the target vocabu- Finally, students must demonstrate an lary words, is read. The paragraph is related to ability to use the target vocabulary accurately a topic students will be writing about or have in their writing. This is accomplished by cre- written about. The passage is read three times. ating minimal vocabulary requirements for all After the second reading students correct their graded writing assignments. For short assign- sentences, paying attention to the spelling and ments of less than 6 paragraphs, it is not un- collocations of each word reasonable to require that at before exchanging their Students also post their vetted least ten vocabulary items paragraph with another sentences online to a class from the class vocabulary student for further editing. discussion website. list, or a shorter topic ap- The paragraph is read a propriate list, be included in third time as students check over their work. the writing assignment. For longer assign- Next, students write the main ideas of the pas- ments, such as position papers or research es- sage using at least three of the vocabulary says, the number of required items can easily words and compare their summaries with their go as high as twenty-five to thirty words/ partner. A similar process is then repeated us- phrases without students having to resort to ing the same vocabulary in a different para- tortured unnatural sentences in order to meet graph. This time the passage is only read two the requirements. Moreover, for longer as- times. After the second reading students re- signments students can be required to give a write the paragraph using synonyms to replace short presentation (5 to10 minutes) on a class the target vocabulary. Paraphrased paragraphs topic or research question, with the use of a are shared with the class. specific or minimum number of target vocab- ulary as a requirement for the assignment. Another paraphrasing task that can be used is a graduated task that starts with indi- As with any approach or set of tech- vidual student work and progresses to a whole niques, success can vary from class to class class discussion. For this activity, six to ten and student to student, but the consistency of vocabulary items are used. First, each student teacher use and knowledge lends to its contin- writes two sentences for each vocabulary ued success. The process engages teachers as word, followed by a paraphrase for each of the well as students in an ongoing learning pro- sentences they have constructed. After that, cess involving revision and adaptation. This students are paired up, and each student reads approach and these techniques are part of that his/her two original sentences to a partner. The process --- an attempt to bring explicit vocab- partner writes a paraphrase for each of those ulary instruction into the classroom in a sys- sentences. At this point the partners join with tematic and focused manner. another pair of students to select the four sen- tences with the best paraphrases. Finally, each

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Conclusion Ellis, N. (Ed.). (1994). Implicit and explicit learning of languages . San Diego: Aca- Focused vocabulary instruction is not demic Press. a magic bullet. It does not negate the role of Ellis, R.(1997). SLA research and language incidental learning, nor is it a quick fix to the teaching. Oxford: Oxford University problems limited vocabulary and poor acqui- Press. sition skills present for L2 learners. The aim Hinkel, E. (2002a). Second language writ- of this look at explicit instruction has been to ers’ text. Mahwah, New Jersey: Law- look at some of the possibilities for expand- rence Erlbaum Associates. ing vocabulary instruction beyond memoriza- Hinkel, E. (2009). Teaching academic ESL tion techniques and reading-based approach- writing. New York: Routledge. es. Previous research has suggested that ex- Horst, M., Cobb, T., & Meara, P. (1998). Be- plicit attention to vocabulary can produce yond a Clockwork Orange: Acquiring several desirable effects in the classroom. It second language vocabulary through can offer more opportunities to ensure that reading. Reading in a Foreign Language, learners are exposed to appropriate and nec- 11 , 207-223. essary vocabulary. Second, it raises students’ Hunt, A. & Belgar, D. (April, 2005). A awareness of the importance of broadening framework for developing EFL reading their vocabulary base, and how it benefits vocabulary. Reading in a Foreign Lan- their writing (and other skills). Once students guage , 17, 2 3 – 59. have experienced this kind of extensive expo- Laufer, B. & Nation, P. (1995). Vocabulary sure and practice, the chances that they will size and use: Lexical richness in L2 writ- become more aware of vocabulary receptive- ten production. Applied Linguistics , 16 , ly is also heightened. Finally, focused in- 307-322. struction on the value of a systematic ap- Lee, B. C. & Tan, D. (October, 2012). Lan- proach to vocabulary learning goes beyond guage learning approaches: A review of word lists/cards which students can adapt to research on explicit and implicit learning their own learning styles outside the class- in vocabulary acquisition. Procedia: So- room. cial and Behavioral Sciences, 55 , 852- 860. References Lewis, M. (1993). The lexical approach. Brown, H.D. (2001). Teaching by principles: Hove. UK: LTP. An interactive approach to language ped- Lewis, M. (1997). Pedagogical implications agogy . White Plains, New York: Long- of the lexical approach. In J. Coady & T. man. Huckin (Eds.), Second language vocabu- Coady, J. (1997). L2 vocabulary acquisition lary acquisition: A rationale for peda- through extensive reading. In J. Coady & gogy (pp. 255-270). Cambridge: Cam- T. Huckin (Eds.), Second language vo- bridge University Press. cabulary acquisition: A rationale for ped- Lewis, M. (Ed). (2000). Teaching Colloca- agogy (pp. 225-237). Cambridge: Cam- tion . Hove. UK: LTP bridge University Press. McArthur, T. (1998). Collocation. Concise Coxhead, A. (2000). The new academic word Oxford Companion to the English Lan- list. TESOL Quarterly , 34 (2), 213-238. guage . Retrieved January 15, 2010 from Coxhead, A. (2006). Essentials of teaching Encyclopedia.com: http:// academic vocabulary. English for suc- www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O29- cess. Boston: Houghton Mifflin COLLOCATION.html

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McCarten, J. (2007). Teaching Vocabulary. Schmidt, R. (1994). Implicit Learning and Lessons from the corpus. Lessons from the cognitive unconscious: Of artificial the classroom. New York: Cambridge grammars and SLA. In N. Ellis (ed.), Im- University Press. plicit and explicit learning of languages Nation, I.S.P. (1990). Teaching and learning (pp. 165-210). San Diego: Academic vocabulary. New York: Newbury House. Press. Nation, I.S.P. (2001). Learning vocabulary in Schmitt, N. (2000). Vocabulary in language another language . Cambridge: Cam- Teaching . Cambridge: Cambridge Uni- bridge University Press. versity Press. Nation, I. S. P. (2005). Teaching and learning Schmitt, N. (July, 2008). Instructed second vocabulary. In. E. Hinkel (Ed .), Hand- language learning. Second Langue Teach- book of research in second language ing Research, 12, 329-363. teaching and learning (pp. 581-595). Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Belinda Young Davy has been an ESL instructor Nation, I.S.P. (2009). Teaching ESL/EFL for over three decades -- teaching abroad and reading and writing . New York: domestically, working with university-bound ESL Routledge. and EFL students, and in teacher education. She Rott, S. (1999). The effect of exposure fre- is currently a senior instructor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Oregon. quency on intermediate language learners' incidental vocabulary acquisition and re- tention through reading. Studies in sec- ond language acquisition, 21 , 589-619.

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