Pedagogical Implications from Studies on the Depth of Vocabulary Knowledge

崔峥+惠良虹

Abstract： The depth of vocabulary knowledge is crucial in mastering a word. Hence， more and more scholars begin to investigate with some empirical studies. This study is to conclude some pedagogical implications from the researches.

Key words： the depth of vocabulary knowledge； pedagogical implications； creativity

1.Research background

Research into L2 vocabulary acquisition mainly follows two lines： the breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge， receptive VS productive vocabulary. The exploration of the vocabulary size has received much attention. It was not until mid-1990s the foreign scholars began to realize that vocabulary acquisition was not only a matter of quantity， but should also focus on the quality---the depth of vocabulary knowledge.

2.Suggestions for the pedagogy.

The recognition of a word cannot be called the mastery of it. For the beginners， the pronunciation， spelling， meaning and word class which relates to the basic knowledge are more important. For the intermediate learners， the other aspects of vocabulary knowledge such as associates and collocations seem to be more important. The traditional vocabulary teaching usually focuses on the pronunciation， spelling meaning senses but from the researches above， it can be seen that these aspects are far less enough for mastering a word.

Secondly， the teachers should pay more attention to the depth of vocabulary knowledge； meanwhile they should help students to provoke their attention to it. In the traditional vocabulary teaching classes， both students and teachers focus much on the size of the vocabulary. The so-called “vocabulary book” fever is just an example. There should be some change. For instance， the teachers should pay more attention to the vocabulary size in the extensive reading class and focus on not only on the breadth but also depth of vocabulary knowledge. For students， if they master not only the form and meaning of one particular word， but also the collocation， affixes of it， then， their vocabulary size will be increased at the same time.

Thirdly， both teachers and students should pay more attention to the productive competence because the precedence of the receptive competence is the signal that some of the receptive knowledge does not turn into the productive one and remains “receptive”. Hence， teachers should provide more chances for the students to write and speak the words they have learnt.

3. Conclusion

According to the findings above， the improvements of teaching methods and teaching contents can enrich the vocabulary extensively. Hence， language teachers can focus not only on the vocabulary size but also its depth， thus， the vocabulary can be improved largely.

References：

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2.张金宝. 浅谈英语教学中词汇接受性与产出性的结合[J]. 《英语教学》， 2009： 179-181.

3.张学宾，邱天河，钟庆伦. 国内外二语词汇深度研究综述[J]. 《河南科技大学学报（社会科学版）》， 2005， （01）： 76-79.

基金项目：辽宁省教育科学“十三五”规划2017年度课题“网络环境中大学外语自我调节学习实证研究”（课题批号：JG17DB156）endprint