From receptive to productive vocabulary knowledge: The combination of explicit and implicit approach

【Abstract】This article aims to tackle the problem that Chinese students in lower intermediate level in China who cannot use the newly learned words in their writing. To come up with the solution， knowing the words， the difficulty of acquiring the receptive knowledge， received from listening and reading and productive words， acquired from speaking and writing and how the words are acquired are needed. To help students have better acquisition in productive vocabulary use， explicit teaching and incidental learning are combined in the solution based on the previous suggestions.

【Key words】receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge; explicit and implicit approach

【作者簡介】梁梓煊（1996.03-），女，汉族，广东人，利兹大学，在读研究生，研究方向：词汇教学。

Introduction

Writing plays the role of assessment to check what specialized vocabulary learners can use （Nation， 2013）. However， from my teaching experience， I found that the students always struggle with using the newly learned vocabulary in their writing， leading to the inappropriate use of vocabulary， discouraging them from using high frequency words rather than low frequency words. To solve this problem， the following paragraphs will present a particular reading and writing lesson， following the discussion of previous studies of how vocabulary use in writing. Finally， this essay will end with the solution of the problems reflecting to the particular lesson and draw a conclusion.

Context

During my internship， I taught a group of secondary students in China. Although they have learned English for at least 4 years， they have fewer opportunities to use English outside the classroom. Thus， their English proficiency was a bit higher than the beginners’.

The reading and writing lesson is from the textbook of Unit 5 in Go for it （2013）， aiming to expressing resolution. Presented by the Presentation， Practice and Production （PPP） model （Harmer， 2007）， the new vocabulary was first taught by pictures and examples and students read by themselves. After the practice of filling in the blank， students needed to make sentences using the new vocabulary， which came up with the production. Finally， I assigned the writing homework about making resolutions for 80 words. By checking their writing， some students use the familiar words that they had learned in previous units instead of using the new vocabulary from reading. Laufer （1998） proposed several reasons of this phenomenon， including the correctness of test system and reward system. To improve the students’ ability to apply the new vocabulary from reading to writing， the following part would focus on the distinction between receptive and productive vocabulary， the difficulty of passing the passive to active vocabulary and the approaches to teach active vocabulary.

Literature Review

Knowing a word

To enhance lexical richness， the effective vocabulary use in writing （Read， 2000）， the concept of knowing a word needs to be concerned. Knowing a words means knowing the form， meaning， use， indicating that the receptive knowledge is easier to be acquired than the productive knowledge （Thornbury， 2000）. To explore the reason， the distinction between receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge will be disucssed. Receptive knowledge means the language received through listening or reading and productive knowledge means the language used for speaking and writing （Nation， 2013）. However， researchers have different opinions in distinguishing receptive and productive vocabulary. Active vocabulary is assessable whenever the learners want to use them， while passive vocabulary will not appear without external stimulation （Meara， 1990）. Laufer （1998） subdivides the productive vocabulary into the controlled active and free active vocabulary. From the distinction mentioned above， productive vocabulary， being subdivided into two categories， seems more complicated than receptive vocabulary. The reasons for it will be explained.

The reasons why productive knowledge is more difficult than receptive knowledge

Many researchers indicated that learners found it more difficult to use productive vocabulary than receptive use because of two main reasons. The first reason is less exposure to the low frequency words. The higher passive vocabulary the learners have， the lower active vocabulary they have as fewer frequency words are learned， which may not be used in speaking and writing （Laufer， 1998）. Dobbs and Kearns （2016） further explained the reasons for the wider utility and the existing knowledge of high frequency words.

The incremental process is the second reason. The process of vocabulary is gradual and the ability to recognize will be prior to recall the word which can be used in writing （Laufer and Goldstein， 2004）. Similarly， the participants chose the words according to the form and meaning， which is easier than collocation and word class （Zhong， 2018）.

The approach to pass from receptive vocabulary to productive vocabulary

Although the receptive vocabulary knowledge is difficult to become productive， researchers found some useful ways to enhance vocabulary richness in writing， including explicit teaching， incidental learning and their combination. Explicit teaching deeply teaches the high frequency words， by connecting old words， using various ways to help students learn the vocabulary （Sokmen， 1997， cited in Schmitt， 2000）. Incidental learning means learning vocabulary unconsciously from reading or listening （Rieder 2003，cited in Ender， 2016）. For incidental learning， better readers could have the awareness to use the newly learned vocabulary （Dobbs and Kearns， 2016）. For explicit teaching， learners acquire most of the vocabulary with the explicit instruction from teachers rather than only acquire from reading （Lee， 2003）.

In addition to the support for the two approaches separately， some researchers proposed the combination of these two approaches. Nation （2007） proposed the four strands to learn vocabulary， supporting the combination of explicit and implicit teaching. He lists three implicit teaching strands， including meaning-focus input， meaning-focus output and fluency development， which acquire words incidentally. Language-focus learning， strand of explicit teaching， is to concentrate on particular words and explain in details. To receive vocabulary and produce them in language use， Nation （2007） suggests learners to make a balance of the four strands. Schmitt （2008） suggests that for the basic knowledge like form and meaning， it is better to be taught explicitly and for the collocation， the implicit teaching is required. The reason for this combination method is that having taught by the explicit approach， learners need to meet the words in different contexts to strengthen the memory.

Solution

After the discussion of difficulty and approaches， the following section will apply those theories into solving the problem.

As for the reasons， firstly， it is the limited exposure to frequency words and lack of practice in writing （Johnson， 2016）， explaining why my students like using the high-frequency words. Students also lack the opportunities in retrieving the vocabulary outside the classroom. Secondly， vocabulary acquisition is a gradual process （Laufer and Goldstein， 2004）， corresponding my students who cannot meet the new words in different contexts.

Based on the reasons， the following section will focus on approaches to solve those problems. Some researchers （Lee， 2003; Lee and Muncie， 2006） support the explicit teaching. In my context， however， explicit teaching is not effective because I have explained those important words in detailed， but some students do not use them in writing. Therefore， the combination of explicit and implicit teaching is a better solution. There are two types of incidental learning methods that can improve students’ productive use of vocabulary.

Extensive reading is an effective teaching method to increase students’ productive vocabulary size. Nation （2013） proposed several benefits， the flexibility of the learning pace; the choice of learners’ interests and the access to learn outside the classroom. Students can produce more accurate words in the post-test as the amount of vocabulary， being applied into writing increases after extensive reading （Tudor and Hafiz， 1989; Tsang， 1996）. The researches above indicate the positive use of extensive reading， so it is useful to be applied into my context. Therefore， I will require them to read graded readers， such as the storybooks， scientific books， etc. based on their interest and write a short reading review every week.

Another useful method is collaborative learning， meaning ideas exchange before writing. Students’ vocabulary is more appropriate after pair discussion because of different vocabulary acquistion via opinion sharing （Lin， 2015）. Thus， for the students in my context， they will be required to brainstorm the vocabulary based on the topic individually and exchange their words lists and how they use the vocabulary in writing in groups before writing， encouraging them to share different vocabulary they gain from others.

Conclusion

Based on the difficulty， this essay discusses the reasons of passing the receptive vocabulary knowledge to productive knowledge. Considering the suggestions from researches and the students in my context， I adopt two appropriate implicit teaching methods， combining with the explicit instruction that focuses on meaning， use， providing students more opportunities to access newly learned words.

References：

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