Pedagogical Implications from Studies on the Depth of Vocabulary Knowledge

崔崢+惠良虹

Abstract： The depth of vocabulary knowledge is crucial in mastering a word. Hence， more and more scholars begin to investigate with some empirical studies. This study is to conclude some pedagogical implications from the researches.

Key words： the depth of vocabulary knowledge； pedagogical implications； creativity

1.Research background

Research into L2 vocabulary acquisition mainly follows two lines： the breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge， receptive VS productive vocabulary. The exploration of the vocabulary size has received much attention. It was not until mid-1990s the foreign scholars began to realize that vocabulary acquisition was not only a matter of quantity， but should also focus on the quality---the depth of vocabulary knowledge.

2.Suggestions for the pedagogy.

The recognition of a word cannot be called the mastery of it. For the beginners， the pronunciation， spelling， meaning and word class which relates to the basic knowledge are more important. For the intermediate learners， the other aspects of vocabulary knowledge such as associates and collocations seem to be more important. The traditional vocabulary teaching usually focuses on the pronunciation， spelling meaning senses but from the researches above， it can be seen that these aspects are far less enough for mastering a word.

Secondly， the teachers should pay more attention to the depth of vocabulary knowledge； meanwhile they should help students to provoke their attention to it. In the traditional vocabulary teaching classes， both students and teachers focus much on the size of the vocabulary. The so-called “vocabulary book” fever is just an example. There should be some change. For instance， the teachers should pay more attention to the vocabulary size in the extensive reading class and focus on not only on the breadth but also depth of vocabulary knowledge. For students， if they master not only the form and meaning of one particular word， but also the collocation， affixes of it， then， their vocabulary size will be increased at the same time.

Thirdly， both teachers and students should pay more attention to the productive competence because the precedence of the receptive competence is the signal that some of the receptive knowledge does not turn into the productive one and remains “receptive”. Hence， teachers should provide more chances for the students to write and speak the words they have learnt.

3. Conclusion

According to the findings above， the improvements of teaching methods and teaching contents can enrich the vocabulary extensively. Hence， language teachers can focus not only on the vocabulary size but also its depth， thus， the vocabulary can be improved largely.

References：

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2.張金寶. 淺談英語教學中詞匯接受性與產出性的結合[J]. 《英語教學》， 2009： 179-181.

3.張學賓，邱天河，鐘慶倫. 國內外二語詞匯深度研究綜述[J]. 《河南科技大學學報（社會科學版）》， 2005， （01）： 76-79.

基金項目：遼寧省教育科學“十三五”規劃2017年度課題“網絡環境中大學外語自我調節學習實證研究”（課題批號：JG17DB156）endprint