Englishvocabularyinthesecondaryclassroom.ppt

English vocabulary in the secondary classroom Arthur McNeill The Chinese University of Hong Kong How can ‘vocabulary skills’ lead to vocabulary growth? A new English vocabulary curriculum for HK schools EDB/CUHK collaborative project Growing interest in students’ vocabulary Recent evidence of inadequate vocabulary of HK university entrants. Most 2004 entrants to CUHK knew between 2000 and 3000 English words only. International research suggests that students need at least 5000 words to cope with university study in English. Strong support for setting (and raising) lexical targets New EDB collaborative project with CUHK to develop a vocabulary syllabus for schools. To strengthen the vocabulary components of the NSS curriculum. Proposed vocabulary targets set for each KS. Vocabulary now occupies a more important position in assessment Latest IELTS performance band descriptors for Writing and Speaking have identified Vocabulary as one of the four ‘strands’. Will standards-related assessment in HK follow the same direction? How is English vocabulary acquired during secondary education? Native English speaking students acquire about 3000 words per year at secondary school. Hong Kong secondary pupils acquire about 300 words per year. English vocabulary development Curriculum guides stress the importance of vocabulary Synonyms Antonyms Collocation Register Idiom Formulaic language ALL recommended in official curriculum guidelines Quality, YES. Quantity, NO. Curriculum guidelines stop short of identifying lexical targets. Main concerns about inadequate vocabulary come from the tertiary sector. Students enter university with around 3000 English words, which is inadequate for successful study. Proposed Vocabulary Targets Proposed Vocabulary Targets Vocabulary as Output Lexical Richness What is lexical richness? Quality of vocabulary content of learner output Difficult to define Different approaches to defining LR are provoking heated debate among scholars (see references on h