Transition, change, or alteration: the challenge of learning and using vocabulary at university - PowerPoint Presentation

1. Transition, change, or alteration: the challenge of learning and using vocabulary at universityDiane Schmitt

2. Border CrossingsSecondary School UniversityUndergraduate Study Post-graduate StudyGE EAPEAP Disciplinary Study in EnglishLocal Educational Culture UK Educational CultureWorkplace Communication Academic CommunicationStudents

3. Border Crossings General English EAPEAP Disciplinary Study in EnglishLanguage School Culture Higher Education Culture Task-Based TeachingCommunicative Language Teaching Genre-based Teaching Study Skills Academic Literacies Teachers

4. EAP in Transition

5. LanguageLanguage as the Object of StudyLanguage in Use

6. Vocabulary in UseNation’s Word Knowledge Framework (2013)

7. Traditional focus of instruction7

8. Vocabulary in UseNation’s Word Knowledge Framework (2013)

9. LanguageVocabulary in Use

10. Vocabulary in Use+ Focused attention on vocabulary

11. Functions of vocabulary in creating effective academic textsindicates writer stance and attitude; provides cohesion both through transition words and lexical cohesion,allows writers to repackage the ideas of others, signals group membership, andindicates domains of use.Shell nounsFormulaic languageMorphologyDiscourse markersSynonymsReporting verbsModal verbs Adjectives and adverbs11

12. Signals group membership/Indicates domains of useTechnical vocabularyWords that tend to be specific to a particular field or disciplineTechnical vocabulary constructs specialized contentLearning the technical vocabulary of a discipline is synonymous with learning that disciplineDifferent from relabelling concepts already known in the L1

13. Signals group membership/Indicates domains of useFunctions of technical vocabularyPrecision in meaning: scalpel and tort mean one thing, and one thing onlyscalpel

14. Singles group membership/Indicates domains of useFunctions of technical vocabularyAllows the packaging of a lot of information in a single word or phraseMitosisCells divide in two steps. First, the nucleus of the cell divides and then the cytoplasm divides. Mitosis is the process in which the nucleus divides to form two identical nuclei. Each new nucleus is also identical to the original nucleus. Mitosis is described as a series of phases or steps. The steps are named prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase … (Science Voyages, 2000: 532)

15. Functions of technical vocabularyThe process by which the cell divides  mitosisWhen the process is technicalized, it becomes:CondensedMore abstract (the two-step division is not obvious, but must be known from the technical term)As a noun, mitosis can be easily classifiedThe noun provides a point from which to build further discussionAlso allows scientists to build a theory of cell reproduction Fang & Schleppegrell (2008)Signals group membership/Indicates domains of use

16. Signals group membership/Indicates domains of use‘Technicalness’ ……is a functional aspect of a word so words can only usefully be categorized as general or technical in light of the context of use. 16

17. Signals group membership/Indicates domains of useAnatomy ReclassifiedchesttrunkneckshoulderCoinedsternumthoracicsubcutaneouspectoralApplied LinguisticsReclassifiedprivate speechinteractionmeaning inputCoined (& low frequency)schematainterpersonalphylogeneticallyL217Types of Technical Words

18. Profiles of vocabulary types in different disciplines 18% of high frequency words and AWL words reclassified as technical words

19. Indicates writer stance and attitudeSupercalifragilisticexpialidocious“I think my English is pretty good, but I’m worried that I don’t know how to use big academic words.”(MSc Human Resources Management student)To demonstrate the highly valued academic trait of criticality:It’s the small words that matter!

20. Indicates writer stance and attitudeExpressing your own voiceShow confidenceShow relationshipsShow the strength of your claimEvaluate statementsPrevious studies have indicated that the intensity of physiotherapy provision may affect some patient outcomes including reduced mortality following a stroke.Previous studies have shown that the intensity of physiotherapy provision may affect some patient outcomes including reduced mortality following a stroke.Previous studies have suggested that the intensity of physiotherapy provision may affect some patient outcomes including reduced mortality following a stroke.Gillett, A., Hammond, A. and Martala, M. (2009), Inside Track: Successful Academic writing. Harlow: Pearson.

21. Indicates writer stance and attitudeExpressing your own voiceShow confidenceShow relationshipsShow the strength of your claimEvaluate statementsGillett, A., Hammond, A. and Martala, M. (2009), Inside Track: Successful Academic writing. Harlow: Pearson.

22. Indicates writer stance and attitudeExpressing your own voiceShow confidenceShow relationshipsShow the strength of your claimEvaluate statementsGillett, A., Hammond, A. and Martala, M. (2009), Inside Track: Successful Academic writing. Harlow: Pearson.Previous studies have indicated that the intensity of physiotherapy provision may affect some patient outcomes including reduced mortality following a stroke.Previous studies have shown that the intensity of physiotherapy provision could affect many patient outcomes including reduced mortality following a stroke.Previous studies have suggested that the intensity of physiotherapy provision will affect few patient outcomes including reduced mortality following a stroke.Previous studies have suggested that the intensity of physiotherapy provision will affect most patient outcomes including reduced mortality following a stroke.

23. Provides cohesion both through linking words and lexical cohesion

24. Provides cohesion both through linking words and lexical cohesionLexical cohesion: refers to how a text and its ideas are held together through different kinds of word associations between the vocabulary, or lexical items, in a textis achieved through arranging words in different kinds of taxonomic (or classifying) relationships according to their meanings.Humphrey, S. Love, K. and Droga, L. (2011). Working grammar: An introduction for secondary English teachers. Victoria: Pearson

25. The main types of lexical cohesion are:repetitionsynonymyantonymy hyponymy meronymy

26. Provides cohesion both through linking words and lexical cohesionShell nouns (aka: carrier, signalling, anaphoric, enumerating nouns): are abstract nouns which summarise the meaning of the preceding or succeeding information. Shell nouns have ‘‘both a constant and a variable meaning, and the variable meaning is dependent on the context in which it is [they are] used’’ Ivanic (1991).Many AWL words: approach, aspect, category, challenge, change, characteristics, class, difficulty, effect, event, fact, factor, feature, form, issue, manner, method, problem, process, purpose, reason, result, stage, subject, system, task, tendency, trend, and type

27. Provides cohesion both through linking words and lexical cohesionThese factors are leading to a age ‘timebomb’ in many countries. A dictionary definition is not going to help with understanding here. Context and function are key to understanding meaning.An aging population has more people retired and fewer working. Older people have more medical expenses, and require more attention from carers. These factors are leading to a age ‘timebomb’ in many countries.

28. Allows writers to repackage the ideas of others Typical Advice for paraphrasing

29. Allows writers to repackage the ideas of others Typical Advice for paraphrasingCohesion drives sentence structure choices.One word verbs are preferred in academic writing. structure choices.

30. Allows writers to repackage the ideas of others Typical Advice for paraphrasingPrecision of meaning matters in academic domains.Academic writing values conciseness.

31. Allows writers to repackage the ideas of others Synonyms ≠ words that mean the same thingActive immunity results when exposure to a disease organism triggers the immune system to produce antibodies to that disease. Exposure to the disease organism can occur through infection with the actual disease (resulting in natural immunity), or introduction of a killed or weakened form of the disease organism through vaccination (vaccine-induced immunity). Either way, if an immune person comes into contact with that disease in the future, their immune system will recognize it and immediately produce the antibodies needed to fight it.

32. Allows writers to repackage the ideas of others DecideIncludes the idea of ‘a group of people making a decision after discussing it.’Includes the idea of ‘taking time over the decision’. Also, more common in spoken conversation.

33. Allows writers to repackage the ideas of others ForceNotice the difference in grammatical patterning.

34. Allows writers to repackage the ideas of others Approximately

35. Allows writers to repackage the ideas of others connotationdomain of use

36. Allows writers to repackage the ideas of othersReporting verbs do have specific nuanced meanings

37. Choosing the correct reporting verbsWhen you use an integral citation, you will usually need to use a reporting verb. Reporting verbs can be categorised into three types according to the type of activity they represent:‘Doing’ activities: observe, discover, show, illustrate, analyse, conduct, study, examine‘Thinking’ activities: believe, view, speculate‘Discussion’ activities: argue, discuss, suggest, state, propose, claim, describe From Ridley, D. (2008). The literature review: London: Sage.

38. Choosing the correct reporting verb It is very important that you accurately represent the views of the authors you cite. Authors commonly give their opinions in their texts, so you need to choose a verb that reports this correctly. For example, if you want to express the fact that an author does not agree with something or someone, you would use verbs such as: question, query, challenge, dispute, reject or deny For example: Carr (1968) challenges the assumption that when managers talk about good ethics they are expressing a true desire to behave well. From Godfrey, J. (2009). How to use sources in your essay. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan

39. Choosing the correct reporting verb

40. What’s in the Mental LexiconNation’s Word Knowledge Framework (2013)

41. Thank you for your attention!

42. What’s in the Mental LexiconReceptive or productive knowledge?L1 or L2 knowledgeManchón, Murphy, and Roca de Larios’ (2007) review of lexical retrieval strategies reports that L2 writers regularly bypass use of external input or compensate for its lack by using the L1 in lexical retrieval.Cumming’s (1990) study suggests that in such cases L2 writers use “standards of mother tongue knowledge as a reliable test of linguistic validity” (Cumming, 1990,p. 495). Qi (1998) contends that “language switching facilitates rather than inhibits L2 composing processes” (p. 429). While L1 use may be beneficial to the composing process, Jiang (2000) psycholinguistic model of SLVA calls into question its value in developing word knowledge.

43. The Mental LexiconDeveloping lexical entries in the L2 mental lexiconStage 1: learners acquire only the formal aspects of the word and these serve as a pointer to the L1 entry in the mental lexicon.Stage 2: learners have developed stronger associations between L2 word forms and L1 semantic and syntactic aspects. Stage 3: learners have developed associations between L2 word forms and L2 semantic, syntactic and morphological aspects of words.43A lexical entry in the L1 mental lexicon semantic, syntactic morphological formal (phonological and orthographic). The quality of a learner’s exposure to a word may impact on whether additional encounters with a word simply reinforce the association between the L2 form and L1 word knowledge or move learners towards fuller specification of L2 word knowledge.

44. Expanding vocabulary knowledge at universityAn example of learning new vocabulary from reading:Importance of noticing and interpreting how the morphological structure of a word impacts both the word’s meaning and its syntagmatic relationship with other words in a sentence,For example: the -ive ending in the phrase “disruptive behaviour” signals that the behaviour causes disruption rather than simply describes itthe –ant in informant signals that “someone gives information” rather than “someone collects information” (p. 122). (Examples from Parry, 1993)