CHAPTER ONE VOCABULARY LEVELS AND KNOWING A WORD Introduction 3 The five levels of vocabulary 3 Vocabulary as a barrier to understanding 10 Knowing and learning a word 11 *Summary 16 *What should a teacher do after reading this chapter? 16 *References 16 *Further reading 17 CHAPTER TWO HOW VOCABULARY IS LEARNED Introduction 21 Quantity and quality of learning 21 Quantity of meetings (repetition) 21 How can we increase repetition in a course? 25 Quality of meetings 27 How can we increase the quality of meetings? 31 Repetition and quality of processing 33 Vocabulary learning and the four strands 35 *Summary 37 *What should a teacher do after reading this chapter? 37 *References 38 *Further reading 39 CHAPTER THREE PLANNING FOR VOCABULARY IN LANGUAGE PROGRAMMES What vocabulary should a teacher focus on? 43 The four strands 45 Planning for high frequency words 50 Planning for mid- and low frequency words 54 Planning a vocabulary programme and putting it into action 55 *Summary 58 *What should a teacher do after reading this chapter? 58 *References 58 *Further reading 59 CHAPTER FOUR VOCABULARY AND THE RECEPTIVE SKILLS OF LISTENING AND READING Vocabulary and listening 63 Vocabulary and reading 64 Learning vocabulary through listening and reading 65 Running an extensive reading programme 68 Useful deliberate learning 78 Fluency development 79 *Summary 80 *What should a teacher do after reading this chapter? 80 *References 81 *Further reading 82 CHAPTER FIVE VOCABULARY AND THE PRODUCTIVE SKILLS OF SPEAKING AND WRITING Vocabulary and speaking and writing 85 Learning vocabulary through speaking and writing 85 Coping with difficult speaking and writing tasks 91 Useful deliberate learning 99 Fluency development 101 Developing the writing skill 103 *Summary 106 *What should a teacher do after reading this chapter? 106 *References 107 *Further reading 108 CHAPTER SIX LEARNER STRATEGIES IN VOCABULARY LEARNING Introduction 111 Learner strategies and vocabulary development 111 The vocabulary learning task 112 Strategies for different stages of vocabulary learning 116 Learner self-management in vocabulary learning 125 Developing learner autonomy 127 *Summary 127 *What should a teacher do after reading this chapter? 128 *References 128 *Further reading 131 CHAPTER SEVEN MEASURING VOCABULARY KNOWLEDGE Vocabulary size 135 Measuring vocabulary size 146 Measuring special purposes vocabulary 148 Measuring vocabulary in use in writing 149 Small scale tests of vocabulary 152 The validity of test items 156 *Summary 157 *What should a teacher do after reading this chapter? 157 *References 158 *Further reading 160 CHAPTER EIGHT INVESTIGATING VOCABULARY Introduction 163 What is a word? 163 Understanding the statistical nature of vocabulary 166 Analysing texts to see their vocabulary difficulty 169 Gathering information on individual words 176 *Summary 179 *What should a teacher do after reading this chapter? 179 *References 180 *Further reading 181 CHAPTER NINE COMMON QUESTIONS ABOUT VOCABULARY Introduction 185 1 Should translation be used to teach and learn vocabulary? 185 2 Should words be learned in context? 187 3 What should a teacher do about collocations? 189 4 Do the relationships between words in a content-based unit of work help learning? 193 5 How big a vocabulary do you need? 196 6 How should words be taught? 201 7 Is an English through the curriculum course a good environment for learning vocabulary? 203 8 Should teachers give learners lists of words to learn? 206 9 Should learners use monolingual or bilingual dictionaries? 208 10 What are the most effective improvements that a teacher could make to a course in English as a foreign language? 211 Appendices APPENDIX 1: A GUIDE TO THE VOCABULARY LEVELS TESTS 215 APPENDIX 2: GLOSSARY 226 APPENDIX 3: LIST OF WEBSITES MENTIONED IN THE BOOK 229