onyms but are all spelled completely differ-

ently. Likewise, a person who steals things

from a house is not a house thief, but rather a
burglar, a word that has no formal similarity
CHERYL BOYD ZIMMERMAN
to either house or thief. In other languages, the
California State University, Fullerton relationships between these words are often
NORBERT SCHMITT highlighted by some spelling similarities. The
University of Nottingham, England learning load is made even higher in English
by the fact that English has one of the largest
Lexical Questions to Guide the vocabularies of any known language (Schmitt
Teaching and Learning of Words & Marsden, in press).
The lexical learning burden is compound-
ed by the fact that mastering words entails
n While most teachers of ESOL recognize more than just knowing about their meanings
the importance of vocabulary, many are alone. For example, learners of the word
unfamiliar with vocabulary research neighbor must be able to recognize and use its
and unsure about how to best address pronunciation and spelling. They must know
word-learning needs. This article pre- it is a noun, that its plural form is regular
supposes that word learning is a com- (neighbors), and that related forms include
plex task requiring more than formula- neighborly, un-neighborly, neighboring, and
ic methods. To prepare teachers to neighborhood. They need to know that it is
address the dynamic and often used to refer to both men and women, and
unwieldy nature of word learning, we that its use is sometimes extended beyond
propose several central questions one’s home to include some settings (neigh-
designed to help teachers reflect on boring nations) but not others (neighboring
fundamental issues such as word selec- soil). The outcome is that in learning English,
tion (e.g., Which words should be target- the most difficult challenge is probably mas-
ed?), word knowledge (e.g., What does it tering a sufficient amount of vocabulary to
mean to know a word?), and word teach- become functional in the language. Nation
ing (e.g., What should be included in the and Meara (2002) go so far as to describe this
definition, instruction, and practice that lexical hurdle as a “lexical bar,” which students
I provide?). Each question is followed by struggle to clear.
initial answers based on vocabulary The vocabulary-learning challenge is so
research that teachers are encouraged great in English that many students will not
to apply to their own situations. The be able to master enough words without help
goal is to enable teachers to apply and clear guidance from their teachers.
research findings to the development of Unfortunately, many teachers do not have
their own principled and effective clear ideas about how to teach vocabulary,
approaches to vocabulary instruction. and many are not even aware of the scope of
the vocabulary challenge. Many seem to
ord learning in any second language is believe that vocabulary is easy to learn and
W an enormous task. Every new setting
brings new demands for specialized words or
will simply be absorbed during the process of
learning all of the other elements and skills of
new meanings and uses for familiar ones. In language, such as reading (Coady, 1997).
English, this task is even more daunting, While it is undoubtedly true that some
because words that are related are not always vocabulary will be learned in this manner,
evident from their form. For example, happy, the extent of the vocabulary-learning chal-
delighted, cheerful, and joyful are all syn- lenge means that this incidental learning is
all too often insufficient.Vocabulary learning

164 • The CATESOL Journal 17.1 • 2005

is a big task and requires a principled, dedi- thousand word families can be considered the
cated approach. end of general vocabulary, and once these
Effective vocabulary teaching begins with words are learned, it is probably best to focus
the recognition of word learning as a complex on the technical vocabulary students need for
task requiring more than formulaic methods their respective fields (Nation, 2001). A good
or static approaches. Hunkins (1989) suggests ballpark figure for a wide-ranging vocabulary
that questions can help organize and reorgan- is 10,000 word families, which should enable
ize knowledge to solve perceived difficulties students to do whatever they wish to do in the
when facing complex problems: “To see a language, including attending an English-
problem is to see something hidden that may medium university (Hazenberg & Hulstijn,
yet be accessible” (pp. 31-32). In this article, 1996).It should be noted that these figures are
we propose that teachers use guiding ques- for word families,1 and that each word family
tions to respond to the dynamic and unwieldy contains several words (e.g., the word family
nature of word learning, helping them to for system includes systematic, systematically,
reflect on the key lexical issues in their own systematize, etc.).
teaching contexts. Some initial general
answers to these questions have been provid- 2. Word Selection: Which Words Should Be
ed based on vocabulary research, but all Targeted and Taught?
teachers must adapt these answers to their Given the above general guidelines, the
own teaching situations to come up with the vocabulary teacher still faces the issue of
solutions that are specifically suitable for word selection, as these are still too many
them. By facing the word-teaching task words for a classroom teacher to teach. Of
through questions rather than assuming course the principle of student need has pri-
there are universal teaching truths, teachers ority. If your students need to know certain
can gather facts and information, tailor their words that are relevant for classroom man-
instruction to a given group, and position agement (book, page, pencil, and eraser are
vocabulary teaching within the bigger picture obvious words beginning students need to
of language learning (Chuska, 1995). know) or to read a certain passage (e.g.,
scalpel or forceps if they are reading about sur-
Questions for the Vocabulary Teacher geons), then those particular words bear
1. Vocabulary Size: How Many Words Do teaching. Likewise, once students have a gen-
My Students Need to Know? eral vocabulary of 5,000 word families, it
A good first question deals with the scope makes sense to work on the technical vocabu-
of the vocabulary challenge in English. lary of whatever field they are learning.
Although exact figures are impossible to However, beyond these principles, it is diffi-
determine, we do have a good general idea of cult to say that any particular word will be
how much vocabulary is necessary to do more useful than any other word.
things in English. If the goal of your students The best criteria we have for vocabulary in
is to be able to converse in English on gener- general is the notion of frequency. In short,
al, everyday topics, it seems that about 2,000- more frequent words are more useful than
3,000 word families should be sufficient less frequent words. As such, the more fre-
(Adolphs & Schmitt, 2003). If the goal is read- quent a word is, the more it can be argued that
ing, then 3,000 word families should provide it should be explicitly taught. The reason for
the lexical resources to begin reading authen- this is easy to see: Frequent words are fre-
tic texts (but probably still requiring teacher quent simply because they occur a lot in lan-
help), while 5,000 word families would pro- guage in a wide variety of situations. This
vide the resources to read these materials makes them valuable in a broad range of
independently (Nation & Meara, 2002). Five communication tasks in many environments.

The CATESOL Journal 17.1 • 2005 • 165

When learners know the basic 2,000 head- Four kinds of word knowledge will be dis-
words (as seen in the classic list by Michael cussed below. It will be seen at the end of this
West, 1953), they will know 85% of the words question that all of these traits can be
“on any page of any book no matter what the addressed through practice involving rich
subject matter” (Nation & Newton, 1997, p. context and multiple repetition.
238). Instructional time spent on these words A. Meaning: How can we help students
is very important at all levels, not only learn the sometimes complex and often
because of their frequency, but also because polysemous meanings of words? What
of their range (the number of different types does it mean to know the meaning of a word?
of texts in which they occur) and their cover- Word meanings are not as predictable as we
age (the capacity of words to replace other might think. For example, blackboards are
words). That is, learners will see these words often green, silverware can be made of plastic,
beyond the classroom and are likely to devel- and a worrywart has nothing to do with
op their ability to use them. Thus the benefit warts. In addition, the dictionary definition of
to the student is well worth whatever costs are the word paint is “to cover the surface with
accrued in teaching such high-frequency paint.” But if you knock over the paint bucket,
words (Nation, 2001). Conversely, low- have you painted the floor? Another difficulty
frequency words are generally not used often with meaning concerns polysemy (the multi-
enough to be worth the cost of teaching, ple meanings of words). For example, a basic
unless they are prominent in a particular con- word as simple as the word run has 67 defini-
text, such as a reading passage the students tions in the Random House Webster’s College
will be reading. Dictionary (1992, pp. 1176-1177).
Given the multiple meanings of most
3. Word Knowledge: What Do My Students words in English, it would seem impossible to
Need to Know About the Words They teach each one. Explicit teaching and inten-
Want to Use? tional learning can definitely facilitate quick-
Learning a sufficient number of word er learning (Zimmerman, 1997; Nation,
families is a challenging task in English, but 2001), but only so many bits of knowledge
equally daunting is the amount of informa- can be explicitly addressed.This brings up the
tion that students need to know to master importance of adding a complement to
each word. Consider everything that you explicit vocabulary teaching: maximizing
understand about the words you know well. exposure to language beyond the classroom.
You know their meanings, collocations, gram- This is important for several reasons. First, it
matical features, morphological characteris- is obvious that not all words can be explicitly
tics, register traits, spelling, pronunciation, taught, and so many will have to be learned
associations, and so forth. (For a complete incidentally through exposure. Second, nei-
discussion of these and other features of word ther intentional nor incidental learning can
knowledge, see Nation, 2001.) Though some address all of the word-knowledge aspects
examples of word knowledge are primarily that are required for full vocabulary use. We
rule-governed (e.g., the past tense of walk is can explicitly address lexical features related
walked), most are not. You cannot reliably to word meaning, grammatical characteris-
know the noun form of imagine from any tics, collocation, register, or intuitions of fre-
generalizable rule (e.g., it could be imagine- quency, but these are likely to be mastered
ment, or simply imagine), and even the rules only through extensive exposure to the target
are not foolproof (the past tense of go is went, word in many different contexts. Third, the
not goed). Yet the various kinds of word word-knowledge aspects that can be explicit-
knowledge must be mastered if our students ly taught still need to be consolidated through
are to use their words well. repeated exposures for them to be perma-
nently acquired. Thus “any vocabulary pro-

166 • The CATESOL Journal 17.1 • 2005

gram needs two strands: an explicit strand to Vocabulary), and some collocation references
present the teachable word knowledge are now available (The BBI Combinatory
aspects of high value words and an incidental Dictionary of English and the LTP Dictionary
learning strand where (a) those words are of Selected Collocations). A number of collo-
consolidated and more is learned about them, cation exercises are proposed (e.g., Lewis,
and (b) a multitude of other new words are 2000), but it must be said that little research
met” (Schmitt, in press). has been carried out on the effectiveness of
B. Collocation: What other words or such explicit collocation teaching. Perhaps
ideas does this word go together with? We the best rule of thumb we have at the
can say, “The woman is blonde” but not “The moment is to use vocabulary (and language)
chicken is blonde.” That is, color words are exercises that present words in strings rather
restricted in respect to the words they com- than individually and to point out the
bine with; collocation refers to words that sequential relationships to students. Explicit
often occur together. Most languages have collocation teaching should include strategy
collocational pairs and collocational appro- instruction that trains students to notice
priateness is an important part of vocabulary words that frequently co-occur with target
competence. Without it, learners produce words they are learning. Complementing this
awkward combinations such as: explicit approach, it seems essential to maxi-
mize student exposure to language, as this is
There were large sums of people present. probably the only way that they will truly
They made their homework after school. acquire reliable intuitions for which words
collocate with one another.
Teachers need to raise their awareness of the C. Grammatical Features: What gram-
way certain words occur together and the way matical information might help the stu-
native speakers naturally use ready-made dent avoid problems when using this
chunks of language. word? The idiosyncratic nature of English
The existence of collocational ties in lan- vocabulary causes difficulties with many
guage is uncontroversial; the real question is grammatical features such as parts of speech
how to teach them. Unfortunately, this is an (e.g., the nouns breakfast and lunch can be
area where pedagogy has not yet caught up used as verbs, but not dinner), verb transitiv-
with theoretical research. On the negative ity (e.g., we would talk to her, but not *inter-
side, it is clear that, just as with meaning, it is view to her), and countable/uncountable
impossible to teach every possible colloca- nouns (e.g., some nouns are countable with
tion for every word. Furthermore, effective one meaning and uncountable with anoth-
teaching techniques for collocation have not er, as demonstrated by the errant sign that
yet been developed and proven. However, the read *Any kind of dopes at the school are
picture is not all gloom. On the positive side, prohibited). Verb transitivity and preposi-
corpus evidence can indicate the most tion choice are patterns that are often over-
prominent collocations, and it is probably looked by learners and lead to many errors.
worth making students aware of these. With The grammatical features of vocabulary are
the price of corpora and concordancing soft- problematic to word learners and warrant
ware now becoming much more affordable classroom attention.
(e.g., the 100 million-word British National As teachers select which grammatical fea-
Corpus is available on-line for about £50),2 tures should be pointed out to students, they
increasing numbers of teachers can investi- are advised to remember that words are not
gate collocation data for themselves. Even for truly learned in isolation or with single expo-
teachers unable or unwilling to do this, collo- sures. Teachers often learn through experi-
cation information is finding its way into ence which features are problematic to learn-
vocabulary textbooks (e.g., Focus on ers, and then they help learners identify

The CATESOL Journal 17.1 • 2005 • 167

selected features that may be useful in word number of cases, derivative formation is
use. For example, experience taught the first regular, and students can benefit from using
author that many students make the error their knowledge of derivatives on unknown
*They discriminated me. Now, when introduc- words. It thus makes sense to teach some of
ing the verb discriminate, she briefly points the more common word roots and affixes to
out that this verb is intransitive and is usually students. Unfortunately, however, deriva-
followed by the preposition against (e.g., They tives are arbitrary in many cases. While
discriminated against me). She hopes her stu- teaching word parts and providing opportu-
dents can more accurately produce discrimi- nities for classroom practice, teachers
nate but also that they be more aware of the should also instill a certain amount of cau-
grammatical behavior of this word when they tion in their students—to have them check
come across it in their listening and reading. new derivatives they are not sure of, both for
Again, however, a great deal of exposure is word form and meaning.
necessary to build solid intuitions about the
many grammatical features teachers do not 4. Word Teaching: What Should Be
have time to teach and to reinforce the fea- Included in the Definition, Instruction,
tures that have been taught. Thus, explicit and Practice That I Provide?
teaching and increased exposure can once Word learning is incremental and
again be seen to reinforce each other. dependent on repeated exposure to target
D. Morphological Characteristics: words (Nation, 2001). Therefore, each time
Which members of this word’s family learners encounter a word in reading or lis-
should be introduced to students? tening or when they use it in writing or
Derivative formation is more important and speaking, they can learn something new
less systematic than many teachers realize. about the various constraints that govern its
Without the ability to use derivatives (i.e., to use. Opportunities to encounter words in a
change a member of a word family to another variety of natural contexts contribute to
word class in the family: selfish—selfishness), incremental word learning. Teachers need to
the learner can use a word only in the word consider instruction and practice as part of a
class he or she knows, and no other. long-term ongoing process.
Conversely, the ability to use all members of a
word family with accuracy will greatly Effective Definition:
increase a learner’s fluency. However, to form
Proficient language users know many
derivatives, one needs to know how to divide
words without being able to define them, yet
a word into parts, how to identify the mean-
teachers often feel responsible for composing
ings of the parts, and how to connect the
spontaneous, comprehensive definitions for
meaning of the parts and the meaning of the
every word that puzzles students. In fact, the
new word. The difficulty of this last step is
most effective definitions are often very brief
demonstrated by student errors such as:
and very clear and are focused on examples,
gestures, realia, or pictures if possible.
People wear one kind of clothing for work
Students will not learn the full precise mean-
and another kind for socialism.
ing of a word in the first instance anyway, so it
There is great bondage between my
is perfectly acceptable to start the learning
grandmother and me.
process with more concise definitions that
cover the key aspects of the word’s meaning,
Learners who combine word parts in
but not necessarily all of them. The refine-
logical but inaccurate ways (as above)
ment of meaning can then occur in the many
should be commended for their “intelligent
follow-up exposures the learner will have.
guesses” because they reveal partial knowl-
edge of both the root and the affix. In a great

168 • The CATESOL Journal 17.1 • 2005

 Effective Instruction: Effective Practice:
The teacher faces many choices when Word learning is incremental, and it takes
deciding about the type and quantity of multiple exposures to a word to learn it. Thus,
instruction for a given word. The choices opportunities to practice using target words
include a number of factors, such as the type are critical for word learning. Although it is
of initial exposure to provide (e.g., pronounc- impossible to precisely control the exposure
ing the word, showing a picture), ways to for each of the many words teachers introduce
build upon the partial knowledge learners to their students, there are some general tips
may already have about the word (e.g., to help teachers organize their vocabulary
semantic mapping, translating), ways to max- practice in a principled way.
imize continuing exposure to the word (e.g.,
setting up an extensive reading program, • Whenever you introduce a word, make
using the word in games and examples in the sure to recycle it in subsequent classes.
classroom), and the role of learner autonomy Recycle target words in natural class-
(e.g., the use of vocabulary journals/note- room interaction, explanations, sample
books and study groups). sentences focused on new target words,
One of the teacher’s primary jobs in the and so forth. Use the words as naturally
classroom is to provide and optimize the use as possible, drawing explicit attention to
of a rich context for students as they develop them only when it seems helpful. The
word knowledge. Several tips designed to help first recycling needs to happen when the
teachers create a context rich environment for word is still fresh in the students’ minds,
word learning are: preferably the next class. Generate a list
of words you have taught and that you
• Select topics about which students have would like to revisit.
considerable background information • During recyclings, focus on features that
whenever possible. can be naturally exploited by the exam-
• Stay within one content area for as long ple. Some sentences will allow you to
as it is interesting and relevant. Make use draw attention to various derivatives,
of familiar vocabulary, repeated themes, while others will introduce register vari-
and visual information. ation or a good example of a collocation.
• Provide many clues and use a variety of • Explain the value of independent read-
techniques to make use of the context ing and encourage students to read for
and relate it to the learners’ background pleasure as well as for school (for a dis-
knowledge: (e.g., the use of synonyms, cussion for reading and word learning,
realia, examples, pictures, references to see Zimmerman, 1997).
the familiar). • To use a word means to hear it, read it,
• Point out the clues that are available and say it, or write it; all types of use should
show students when they are already be frequently practiced with target words
practicing the effective use of context: in the classroom.
(e.g., using knowledge of word parts,
checking context to see if guesses about By asking themselves guiding questions
an unknown word’s meaning make such as those in this article, teachers can
sense). carry on a dialogue with themselves that will
• Know your audience; frequently ask for result in a greater awareness of the vocabu-
feedback from the learners so you are lary task their students face, leading to more
familiar with their background knowl- principled and more effective vocabulary
edge and their ability to optimize the instruction.
context.

The CATESOL Journal 17.1 • 2005 • 169

Authors Hill, J., & Lewis, M. (Eds.) (1997). LTP diction-
Cheryl Boyd Zimmerman is an assistant pro- ary of selected collocations. Hove, England:
fessor in the MS TESOL Program at California Language Teaching Publications (LTP).
State University, Fullerton. Her research inter- Hazenberg, S., & Hulstijn, J. H. (1996).
ests include incremental word learning, deriva- Defining a minimal receptive second-lan-
tional knowledge, the relation of vocabulary guage vocabulary for non-native universi-
knowledge to high school writing success, and ty students: An empirical investigation.
other issues of particular relevance to English Applied Linguistics 17(2), 145-163.
for Academic Purposes. Hunkins, F. P. (1989). Teaching thinking
through effective questioning. Boston:
Norbert Schmitt is reader of Applied Christopher-Gordon.
Linguistics at the University of Nottingham, Lewis, M. (Ed.). (2000). Teaching collocations.
England. He is interested in all aspects of sec- Hove, England: Language Teaching
ond language vocabulary and is exploring the Publications.
percentage of vocabulary required for good Nation, I. S. P. (2001). Learning vocabulary in
reading comprehension and the psycholinguis- another language. Cambridge, England:
tic processing of formulaic sequences. His forth- Cambridge University Press.
coming book focuses on vocabulary research Nation, P., & Meara, P. (2002). Vocabulary. In
methodology. N. Schmitt (Ed.), An introduction to
applied linguistics (pp. 35-54). London:
Arnold.
Endnotes Nation, P., & Newton, J. (1997). Teaching
1
A word family includes a word (admire) with vocabulary. In J. Coady & T. Huckin (Eds.),
its inflections (admired, admiring, admires) Second language vocabulary acquisition
and its derivatives (admiration, admiringly). (pp. 238-254). Cambridge, England:
Thus each word family includes several Cambridge University Press.
members. Random House Webster’s college dictionary.
2
BNC is available for purchase at http: (1992). New York: Random House.
//www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/getting/ordering Schmitt, N. (in press). Current perspectives on
.html. This information was correct as of vocabulary teaching and learning. In J.
October 13, 2005. Cummins, (Ed.), Kluwer handbook of
English language teaching. Norwell, MA:
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170 • The CATESOL Journal 17.1 • 2005