ERIC Number: ED299825
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1988-Apr
Reference Count: N/A
Ease and Difficulty in Vocabulary Learning: Some Teaching Implications.
A discussion of the ease or difficulty of learning vocabulary words in a second language looks at a variety of issues in second language instruction. Research on factors in vocabulary learning is discussed, focusing on such factors as similarity in form and morphology, deceptive morphological structure, different syntactic patterning in the native language, differences in the classification of experience in the first and second languages, abstractness, specificity, negative value, connotations nonexistent in the native language, differences in the pragmatic meaning of near-synonyms and first-language translation equivalents, the learning burden of synonyms, and the apparent rulelessness of collocations. It is argued that word learnability (i.e., the ease or difficulty of learning a particular word) can serve as a guideline to the teacher in: (1) the selection and presentation (quantity, grouping, language of presentation, isolation or context) of words to be taught; (2) facilitation of long-term memorization (through meaningful tasks, mnemonic techniques, rote learning, and reactivation); (3) development of self-learning strategies, and (4) assessment of vocabulary knowledge. (Author/MSE)
Publication Type: Reports - Evaluative; Information Analyses; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Teachers; Practitioners
Authoring Institution: N/A
Note: Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (22nd, Edinburgh, Scotland, April 11-14, 1988).