Receptive and Productive Vocabulary in Language Teaching

崔峥

Abstract：In vocabulary teaching， receptive and productive vocabulary are two major aspects. This article is to introduce the meaning of the receptive and productive vocabulary and the distinction between them and it is expected to have an enlightenment of the teaching in vocabulary.

Key words： Receptive vocabulary； productive vocabulary；language teaching

1.Defining Receptive and Productive Vocabulary

Vocabulary is a collection of words that are familiar to the language learners. There is abundant of expressions adopted to describe the receptive and productive vocabulary such as active vocabulary versus passive， understanding versus speaking， recognitional vocabulary versus actual or possible use （Melka， 1997）. Scholars focusing on language acquisition claim that it is difficult or almost impossible to pin down what receptive vocabulary and productive vocabulary is actually meant.

2. Distinction between Receptive and Productive Vocabulary

The distinction between receptive and productive vocabulary has been accepted by most researchers and rarely questioned. It is found that the two notions are divided basically according to two perspectives， the dichotomy and non-dichotomy perspective.

The dichotomy division is convenient for pedagogical purposes and adopted in foreign language teaching to distinguish between the receptive skills such as listening and reading and the productive skills such as speaking and writing is needed. According to Nation （1990）， receptive word knowledge refers to the ability to recognize or understand a word in reading or listening； and productive word knowledge refers to the ability to use a word in speaking or writing.

A clear cut between the receptive and productive vocabulary is excluded in the non-dichotomy division， thus in this way it can imply the incremental process in the acquisition of vocabulary. It can also be inferred that during the process of acquisition， many words are partially known without a full mastery of all the word knowledge types. It is not clear that at which point receptive knowledge can be converted into productive knowledge. Thus， in this sense， it is difficult to judge whether the word is already mastered.

3.Comparison of the Size between Receptive and Productive Vocabulary

The comparison of the size between receptive and productive vocabulary is consented by most scholars that the size of the receptive vocabulary is larger than that of productive vocabulary. Some scholars even estimate that the second or foreign language learners receptive vocabulary is twice that of the productive vocabulary. The lack of the depth of vocabulary knowledge may be one cause for that gap.

4. Conclusion

This article discussed the definition and the distinction of receptive and productive vocabulary， and finds that there is a gap in the size of them. Therefore， teachers should focus more on the productive vocabulary and try to enlarge the size of it.

Bibliography：

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[2]Melka， F. Receptive vs. productive aspects of vocabulary [A]. Schmitt， N & M. McCarthy （eds.）. Vocabulary： Description， Acquisition and Pedagogy [C]. Cambridge： Cambridge University Press， 1997： 84-102.

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