Putting Vocabulary in Context

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Putting Vocabulary in Context

• Inha TESOL 2008

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Our Goals

• Why do we want to put vocabulary in context
  anyways?
• Task discuss with a partner what some goals of
  putting vocabulary in context might be.

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Moving Away from Grammar Translation.

• (1) Increase the amount of comprehensible input
  students receive.
• At the same time, we want to decrease the amount
  of time talking about English in Korean and
  increase the amount of time talking in English.

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Developing Skills in Students

• (2) We want to develop skills in our students.
  These skills are more important in the long run
  than learning vocabulary items.
• Understanding meaning from context is a skill.
  If we dont have students practice this skill,
  how will they acquire it?

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Learner Independence

• (3) We want to decrease student reliance on using
  Korean to understand English. When students
  travel abroad or talk to foreigners, we want them
  to be able to get the information they need even
  if Korean language resources are not available.

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Learning Vocabulary Use and Usage

• (4) Most importantly, vocabulary should never be
  taught in isolation as that leads to
  misapplications of vocabulary or strange
  instances of usage.
• When vocabulary is taught in context, students
  learn usage including commonly occurring
  collocations.
• Korean students tend to put English words into
  Korean grammar or choose words that collocate
  well in Korean, but dont collocate well in
  English.

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An Experiment

• I am going to give you a list of words. Probably
  you dont know any of these words.
• Working with a partner, your task is to try to
  guess what each word means based on the context.

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Here we go

• The plane was sherted due to the weather so we
  waited at the airport for an extra three hours
  before Krum finally arrived.
• What does sherted mean?

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• delayed

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Example 2

• Scientists gave the people of Gormes no warning.
  When the fabrook struck, over 90 of the
  buildings collapsed. Water pipes were broken,
  limiting the supply of fresh water for the
  survivors. As well, the roads into Gormes were
  cracked and damaged so rescue workers could not
  get into the town to deliver aid.
• What is a fabrook?

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• earthquake

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Example 3

• When Benny heard the news, he was fumurious. He
  started swearing at people around him and even
  threw his cup against the wall.
• What does fumurious mean?

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• angry

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Example 4

• When I arrived home the house was blecked out of
  marn. There were dishes piled up in the sink,
  empty food containers on the counter, clothes all
  over the floor, and books stacked on chairs and
  tables.
• What does the expression blecked out of marn
  mean?

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• messy/dirty

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Example 5

• When the fire alarm rang, Sally didnt
  huffiddle. Instead she kept her cool and calmly
  led her children out the fire escape.
• What does huffiddle mean?

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• panic

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Example 6

• Kevin, who had already put off his trip twice,
  did not want to keardope the trip again so he
  decided to go in spite of the rain.
• What does keardope mean?

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• postpone/delay

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Principles of Designing Context

• The above examples illustrate three guidelines
  for putting vocabulary items in context.
• Working with your partner can you come up with
  some guidelines of your own before we go over the
  guidelines below?

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Guideline 1

• Use commonly occurring causes and effects that
  are likely to be well-known to help students
  understand either the cause or the
  effect/consequence. (Target vocabulary in red)
• Ex) The flight was cancelled due to the storm.
  We had to take another flight the next day.
• Flights being cancelled is a common consequence
  of stormy weather.

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Guideline 2

• Use clear examples of the vocabulary item to give
  it context.
• Ex) However, the company treated her poorly,
  putting her on hold when she called and refusing
  to help her in any way.
• Putting a customer on hold whenever they call
  and refusing to help the customers are examples
  of treating poorly

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Guideline 3

• Slip in a definition of the word in the context.
• Ex) Sarah felt she had no other options. So, as
  a last resort, she took the company to court to
  get her money back.
• A last resort can be defined as what you do
  when you have no other options.

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Further Context

• You can add further context by creating a
  storyline and a visual presentation. Graphics and
  story will add context above and beyond isolated
  text.

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Here is an example of a storyboard that was
written for a list of vocabulary (in red).

• keep cool
• handle (a) problem
• resolution
• assertive
• stand (your) ground
• take action
• a last resort
• treat (someone) poorly

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• When Sarahs roof began to leak, Ace construction
  company said they could handle the problem and
  repair the roof immediately.

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• A week after Sarahs roof was fixed, it began to
  leak again, but Sarah didnt get angry. Instead,
  she kept cool and politely asked the company to
  fix it.

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• However, the company treated her poorly, putting
  her on hold when she called and refusing to help
  her in any way.

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• So Sarah decided to take action and do something
  about her problem. The first thing she did was to
  go see the manager in person.

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• She also became more assertive. She demanded the
  company either fix her roof or give her a refund.

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• The company stood their ground. They refused to
  give her a refund or fix her roof even though she
  called them repeatedly.

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• Sarah felt she had no other options. So, as a
  last resort, she took the company to court to get
  her money back.

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• The court ordered the company to fix the roof and
  refund her money. Sarah was very happy with the
  resolution to the problem of her leaky roof.

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A Last Word

• Finally, there will be times when students are
  not able to sift through the context to arrive at
  the meaning, but that is OK. They are developing
  their skills, which is more important in the long
  run.
• Process is as important as the results.