UCL IoE Centre for Applied Linguistics Research Seminar Series
Key principles in vocabulary teaching
Professor Norbert Schmitt, University of Nottingham
5:30-7:00 pm Wed 15 November
422 Roberts Building (https://www.ucl.ac.uk/maps/roberts-building)
All teachers realise that their students need to know vocabulary in order to function in English. But the best way to best help our students learn this vocabulary remains an unresolved issue. Some commentators (such as Stephen Krashen, 1985) assert that sufficient vocabulary can be learnt simply from exposure to English, particularly reading. Other commentators (such as Batia Laufer, 2005) argue that much vocabulary needs to be taught. As is usually the case, some middle ground is probably the best course. This would include maximum exposure to English, both inside and outside the classroom, and also explicit teaching of selected vocabulary. There is also the question of how to carry out the explicit teaching: what are the most effective teaching techniques and tasks? Luckily, there has been an explosion of research into second language vocabulary learning in the last 25 years, and in this talk, I will introduce some of the key principles for vocabulary teaching that have come out of this research.
Dr. Andrea Révész
Senior Lecturer in Applied Linguistics
Department of Culture, Communication, and Media
UCL Institute of Education, University College London
Room 623b, 20 Bedford Way
London WC1H OAL
Associate Editor, Studies in Second Language Acquisition
Vice-President, International Association for Task-based Language Teaching