Enhancing Vocabulary Acquisition through Reading: A Hierarchy. of Text-Related Exercise Types

This paper describes a classification scheme developed to examine the effects of extensive reading on primary and second language vocabulary acquisition and reports on an experiment undertaken to test the model scheme. The classification scheme represents a hypothesized hierarchy of the degree and type of mental processing required by various kinds of vocabulary exercises. These categories i-clude: (1) selective attention; (2) recognition; (3) manipulation; (4) interpretation; and (5) production. This hierarchy was tested in an English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) classroom by comparing the vocabulary gains of learners in a thematic reading program with those in the same reading program in which some readings were replaced by vocabulary enhancement activities. Results indicated that although bc.th groups in the reading program experieed substantial gains in word knowledge, those performing vocabulary enhancement techniques along with reading activities learned more words and achieved greater depth in their knowledge of these words than those students exposed to extensive reading alone. Three appendixes provide copies of a vocabulary exercise analysis sheet, examples of vocabulary exercises, and vocabulary scoring categories. (Contains 30 references.) (MDM) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. * *********************************************************************** Paper presented at the AAAL '94 Conference Baltimore, March 5-8 Enhancing Vocabulary Acquisition through Reading: A Hierarchy. of Text-Related Exercise Types M. Wesche and T. Sima Paribakht Abstract Research evidence suggests that extensive reading for meaning is a major vehicle for L 1 and L2 vocabulary acquisition (Nagy, Herman and Anderson 1985; Krashen 1989; Elley 1991), but the process is slow and outcomes for given words are unpredictable. In a recent ESL classroom experiment, reading indeed led to substantial gains in word knowledge, but gains were significantly greater when selected text-related vocabulary exercises replaced some reading practice (Paribakht and Wesche 1993). This paper will describe the classification scheme used in the selection of vocabulary exercise types for this experiment, its development and its subsequent refinement in the context of ongoing research. The classification scheme represents a hypothesized hierarchy of the degree and type of mental processing required by various kinds of vocabulary exercises, in accordance with current understanding of . how learners acquire new knowledge of the target language from novel input (cf. Gass 1988). Development procedures included a comprehensive review of ESL vocabulary textbooks to collect reading-based exercises, analysis and cateorization of exercises, and selection of key types meeting specified criteria. The categories are: 1) selective attention to specific words through visual signalling, 2) recognition of target words and their meanings, 3) grammatical and morphological manipulation of words and word elements in context, 4) interpretation of word meanings in relation to other words or disconrse functions, and 5) production of the target word in appropriate contexts. The exercise classification scheme and the Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (VKS) developed by the researchers to measure gains in vocabulary knowledge both reflect a view of initial vocabulary acquisition as a multistage iterative process invOlving various exposures to new words in memingful contexts. These accord with an information processing perspective. The classification scheme and examples, its theoretical rationale and evidence for its validity will be discussed together with its implications for vocabulary research and teaching. PERMISSION 10 REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED WI TO THE EDUCATIONAL HESDUlAt INFORMATION CENTER (ERICA 2 U.S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office 01 Educational Research and Improvement pUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) A)s document has been reproduced as recne,Iv:go,lrt,:rre Ihe person 01 orgaorzatron n Minor changes have been made 10 ant3rove reproduction duality Point% of view or opinions staled in this docu mem do not necessarily represent official 01 RI position or policy r 111TVII"'" p.11. 0.1 Art fr kiald . ity.21,4141. 2 Vocabulary Acquisition through Reading: Ll Research What is known about how new vocabulary knowledge is acquired? Research on this issue has been much more extensive for first than for second language acquisition, and offers valuable insights for second language researchers and educators. Research in first language reading underlines the high correlations between measures of reading comprehension and vocabulary knowledge (Thorndike 1974; Curtis 1987; Sternberg 1987), and indicates that gains in one are related to gains in the other (Beck, McKeown and Omanson 1987). Reading is seen as the major vehicle for vocabulary acquisition in literate L I learners beyond the first few thousand words in common oral usage (Nagy, Herman and Anderson 1985; Nation and Coady 1988), and related L2 research confirms that introducing a reading "flood" where learners are motivated and focused on meaning leads to measurable gains in vocabulary knowledge (Elley and Mangubhai 1983; Ferris 1988; Krashen 1989). Yet gaining new vocabulary knowledge through reading or otherwise, is a long and complex process. It involves establishing relationships between formal, functional and semantic concepts, the organization of concepts into networks and the elaboration and automatization of knowledge about individual words (see discussion in Stoller and Grabe 1993). This process is characterized by incremental gains, which build different aspects and degrees of word knowledge. Research on L 1 vocabulary learning (Stoller and Grabe 1993; Nagy and Herman 1985, 1987) indicates that knowledge of new words is gradually elaborated through multiple exposures in various mainly written discourse contexts. Saragi, Nation and Meister's (1978:76) study suggested that a minimum number of exposures for a word to be learned through reading is around ten, and that such learning also depended on other factors such as the presence of clear cues to the meanings of unknown words and the similarity of the new words to known words in the L 1 . Other L 1 research suggests that learning through incidental exposure is most effective when students know how to take advantage of it, for example, being aware of word families and productive affixes for analyzing words into parts, knowing when and how to use contextual cues, and how to get help from a dictionary. Other research, however, indicates that attempts to infer the meanings of unknown words from context often lead to wrong guesses (Bensoussan and Laufer 1984), and many researchers ha ,e noted that even if the learner succeeds in inferring the correct meaning of the unknown word in the given context, this does not necessarily lead to its acqlUsition, as the immediate communicative need will have been met. Another finding from L I research emphasizes the importance of relevant background knowledge to the learning of new lexical items, so that new semantic network connections can be formed relating the new