SHARE
An Electronic Magazine by Omar Villarreal and Marina Kirac ©
Year 7 Number 167 May 26th 2006
10,423 SHARERS are reading this issue of SHARE this
week
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Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the
candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being SHARED
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Dear SHARERS,
Entre las noticias destacadas de esta semana que encontrarán en esta edición de SHARE figura sin duda la apertura del Instituto de Neurociencias de la Universidad Favaloro. ¿Qué tiene este hecho de relevante para la Enseñanza del Idioma Inglés? Todo aquello que tenga, aunque más no sea, alguna ligera conexión con el lenguaje (y en este caso, con Los trastornos del lenguaje humano) encontrará una caja de resonancia en los que amamos la palabra escrita y la palabra oral y todo aquello que contribuya a echar más luz sobre los procesos cognitivos y el “bienestar psicológico” de nuestros congéneres será siempre bienvenido por los que hemos encontrado en la profesión de maestro nuestro medio de vida y una forma de canalizar nuestra pasión por compartir.
En los sentidos arriba apuntados, el establecimiento de este Instituto de Neurociencias es definitivamente un hecho auspicioso. Sobre todo cuando, con vergüenza, volvemos la mirada sobre nuestra profesión y podemos contar por decenas a esos inescrupulosos descarados que sin haber pisado jamás una Escuela de Medicina (y,en algunos casos, sin haber recibido el beneficio de una Educación Superior) se autotitulan “brain specialists” o“brain-based consultants” y quieren hacernos creer que han descubierto la pólvora al hablar de “brain-based learning”. ¿Puede, acaso, concebirse otra forma de aprendizaje que no eche mano del cerebro para desarrollar esa actividad tan típicamente y esencialmente humana?
Estos mercachifles de ilusiones y modas esotéricas se regodean en brindarnos una lista de “recetitas” para hacer nuestras aulas más “brain-friendly”. De esta suerte, nos enteramos que un niño con una dieta balanceada y un ambiente luminoso y aireado aprende mejor: un giro copernicano a nuestro concepto de educación, sin duda(!).
"Brainy friends", dejen ya de prender saumerios y exigir macetas en sus escritorios y dedíquense a utilizar un poco más ese órgano que tanto se empeñan en bastardear. Quizá una vueltita por el nuevo Instituto de Neurociencias no les haría nada mal. Tal vez se lo deban a Ustedes mismos. Dejen ya sus engañifas baratas y háganse amigos de su cerebro: denle un poco más de ciencia y de conciencia!
Love
Omar and Marina
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In SHARE 167
1.- Vocabulary acquisition from extensive reading
2.- Clarity is more important than Grammar
3.- Tools for Teachers presents the Music Day.
4.- Apertura de un Instituto de Neurociencias.
5.- Online
Postgraduate Certificate in Translation Studies.
6.- Course on Assessing and Improving Tests.
7.- Concurso Docente.
8.- Alice´s Magic World, A Musical in Neuquén.
9.- 20th ARTESOL Convention: Call for Participation.
10.- First English Grammar Conference in Chile.
11.- Guía del Ministerio de Educación sobre Español para extranjeros.
12.- ELT Events announces…
13.- A Night at the Opera in Santa Rosa.
14.- Jornadas
Internacionales del Noroeste Argentino.
15.- Primer Congreso Nacional
"Leer, Escribir y Hablar Hoy"
16- A Course on Teaching Young Learners in La Pampa.
17.- 31st FAAPI Annual Conference.
18.- News from e-teaching online.
19.- Hanif Kureishi strikes back.
20.- The Buenos Aires Players in Mar del Plata
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1.- VOCABULARY ACQUISITION FROM EXTENSIVE READING
Vocabulary acquisition from extensive reading: A case study
Maria
Pigada and
Norbert Schmitt
University of Nottingham
Abstract
A number of studies have shown that second
language learners acquire vocabulary through reading, but only relatively small
amounts. However, most of these studies used only short texts, measured only
the acquisition of meaning, and did not credit partial learning of words. This
case study of a learner of French explores whether an extensive reading program
can enhance lexical knowledge. The study assessed a relatively large number of
words (133), and examined whether one month of extensive reading enhanced
knowledge of these target words' spelling, meaning, and grammatical
characteristics. The measurement procedure was a one-on-one interview that
allowed a very good indication of whether learning occurred. The study also
explores how vocabulary acquisition varies according to how often words are
encountered in the texts. The results showed that knowledge of 65% of the
target words was enhanced in some way, for a pickup rate of about 1 of every
1.5 words tested. Spelling was strongly enhanced, even from a small number of
exposures. Meaning and grammatical knowledge were also enhanced, but not to the
same extent. Overall, the study indicates that more vocabulary acquisition is
possible from extensive reading than previous studies have suggested.
keywords: vocabulary acquisition, extensive reading, incidental learning, word frequency, testing, French as a foreign language
Introduction
A number of studies during the last two decades have confirmed the widespread belief that second language learners can acquire vocabulary through reading. However, the same findings suggest that incidental vocabulary acquisition is a time-consuming and unpredictable process and, hence, raise questions about the suitability of the approach for second language (L2) learners (Paribakht and Wesche, 1997; Zimmerman, 1997). At the same time, Meara (1997) comments that most of these studies do not contribute to the understanding of the acquisition process, since they do not investigate the factors that lead to word retention. As a result, the process of incidental vocabulary acquisition is not yet understood to any great degree (Paribakht and Wesche, 1997; Paribakht and Wesche, 1999; Schmitt, 1998), and therefore, it cannot be fully exploited by teachers and learners.
In an attempt to further this understanding, this case study investigates the relationship between incidental vocabulary acquisition and extensive reading, with a particular focus on a variable that is commonly assumed to affect the retention of words; that is, the number of times a word occurs in the text (Horst, 2005). Few reading studies have actually examined this factor (exceptions include Horst, Cobb and Meara, 1998 and Saragi, Nation and Meister, 1978). Moreover, reading and vocabulary studies have almost exclusively focused on word meaning in determining vocabulary acquisition. However, it has been acknowledged by a large number of lexically-minded researchers that knowing a word involves much more than just understanding its meaning (Aitchison, 1994; Laufer, 1997; McCarthy, 1990; Nation, 1990; Nation, 2001; Richards, 1976; Schmitt, 1998; Schmitt, 2000). Therefore, our aim is to examine the effects of text frequency on the acquisition of word meaning, spelling and grammatical behaviour. This study, as far as we know, is the first to relate the number of encounters with a word during extensive reading with multiple types of word knowledge other than meaning. It also endeavours to capture partial knowledge of those aspects since, as Newton (1995: 171) comments, "there is a need to develop instruments which are more sensitive to degrees of acquisition." Finally, it is one of the few studies on this topic that has been conducted in a non-English language, i.e., French.
Benefits and limitations of extensive reading for vocabulary learning
According to its definition, extensive reading exposes learners to "large quantities of material within their linguistic competence" (Grabe and Stoller, 2002: 259), which is, at the same time, pleasurable. There are several reasons why it is so attractive to develop language knowledge (and more specifically vocabulary) through extensive reading. To mention a few, it is considered a "pedagogically efficient" (Huckin and Coady, 1999: 182) approach, as two activities – vocabulary acquisition and reading – occur at the same time. This approach facilitates learner autonomy, can be very pleasant and motivating, provides learners with the opportunity to meet words in their context of use (Thornbury, 2002), increases sight vocabulary (Coady, 1997; Nagy, Herman and Anderson, 1985; Nation and Coady, 1988), and could theoretically result in substantial vocabulary learning, which seems difficult to achieve with explicit teaching during the relatively short period of time that L2 learners spend in the language classroom. In fact, Nation (2001: 155) argues that "the use of reading and other input sources may be the only practical options for out of class language development for some learners," especially in EFL contexts.
Considering the above, it seems that extensive reading should be an indispensable dimension of vocabulary teaching. However, there are many counter-arguments to the potential benefits discussed so far. First of all, there is still little actual evidence of the supposedly substantial contribution of incidental L2 learning (Raptis, 1997). It is also argued that reading for meaning does not automatically lead to the acquisition of vocabulary (Huckin and Coady, 1999). A number of researchers (e.g., Huckin and Coady, 1999; Nation and Coady, 1988; Parry, 1993) make a distinction between guessing the meaning of a word with the use of context clues and actually retaining that meaning.
Moreover, richness of information can sometimes result in learners ignoring the target word, as they do not need to understand its meaning in order to comprehend the text (Mondria and Wit-de Boer, 1991; Nation and Coady, 1988; Zahar, Cobb and Spada, 2001). There is also the question of whether vocabulary learning from reading is really incidental, as it is argued that the learner has to pay at least some attention to a given new word and to put some effort into finding its meaning (Paribakht and Wesche, 1999). For all these reasons, Paribakht and Wesche (1997: 175) describe the role of reading in vocabulary acquisition as "unpredictable and not necessarily the most effective."
Studies on vocabulary growth
Horst (2005) divides research in the field into two strands: studies on incidental vocabulary acquisition and studies on acquisition through extensive reading. As it will be shown below, these two do not always coincide. In fact, in most cases the focus is on incidental acquisition and not extensive reading, since the participants are exposed to only one or very few texts.
Incidental vocabulary acquisition research
Incidental vocabulary acquisition research has verified the assumption that exposure to reading texts can contribute to L2, and also first language (L1), vocabulary growth, as all studies have found evidence of incidental vocabulary learning. Yet the amount of that contribution has been reported to be small, and the efficacy of the method compared to others is still debatable (Nagy et al., 1985; Nation and Coady, 1988; Coady, 1997; Raptis, 1997; Horst and Meara, 1999; Huckin and Coady, 1999; Waring and Takaki, 2003). Early L2 reading studies indicate a rate of roughly one word correctly identified in every twelve words tested (Horst et al., 1998).
An interesting result that came to light in one of the first studies (Saragi et al., 1978) was the small but significant correlation (0.34) they found between the number of times each word occurred in the book and the number of people who chose the correct meaning in the test. From that, they concluded "repetition affects learning but the relationship is considerably complicated by other factors" (Saragi et al., 1978: 76).
However, most L2 incidental vocabulary acquisition studies (Day, Omura, and Hiramatsu, 1991; Dupuy and Krashen, 1993; Ferris, 1988; Pitts, White and Krashen, 1989; Saragi et al., 1978) have been criticised for a number of limitations (Hunt and Beglar, 2005; Raptis, 1997), most of which are also acknowledged by the researchers themselves. First of all, they used measuring instruments not sensitive to small amounts of learning (Nation, 2001). For example, Pitts et al. (1989: 272) comment that their measuring instrument was designed in such a way that "rendered partial knowledge…useless." At the same time, they did not adequately control text difficulty (Nation, 2001), considering that, for instance, in the Pitts et al. (1989) study, over 50% of the participants did not manage to finish reading the assigned chapters. Furthermore, the number of target words was quite small; for example, only seventeen words were tested by Day et al. (1991). For the same study, the writers also point out that, since the test was taken right after the reading, the effects of the reading on the long-term retention of the words could not be predicted.
The studies discussed so far were not implemented under "extensive reading" conditions. The participants were given only one text to read which might not have been interesting or motivating enough for them. As Day and Bamford (1998: 29) comment, "in the absence of interesting texts very little is possible." In addition, none of the earlier reading treatments (except for Saragi et al., 1978) lasted for more than an hour (Horst et al., 1998).
Two later studies (Horst et al., 1998; Horst and Meara, 1999) tried to overcome some of these limitations by expanding the reading treatment and adding new measuring instruments, which possibly allowed for partial knowledge to be recorded (e.g., an association test in Horst et al., 1998). They confirmed the small but meaningful amounts of incidental vocabulary learning as a result of reading, but with a higher pick-up rate than its predecessors (e.g., about one new word in every five in Horst et al., 1998). In addition, in the same study, knowledge "persisted over a period of ten days" (Horst et al., 1998: 219). What is especially interesting in relation to the research questions of the current study is that, Horst et al. (1998) found a higher correlation (0.49) than Saragi et al. (1978) (0.34) between the number of times each word occurred in the text and the relative learning gains. This makes the role of word frequency more dominant, but it is again implied that other factors are also involved.
In Horst and Meara (1999), the need for multiple encounters with a word was emphasized. However, the learning conditions were again not typical of extensive reading. Considering that the participant read the same text eight times, he did not simply have eight encounters with the unknown words, but he encountered each word eight times in exactly the same context. This does not necessarily have the same effect on the retention of the word as when the word is encountered in eight different contexts.
Brown, Waring, and Donkaewbua (under review) found encouraging amounts of incidental vocabulary learning in terms of word-form recognition and prompted-meaning recognition, but far less in terms of unprompted meaning production. Moreover, the word-form and receptive meaning knowledge seemed relatively durable over time. However, Waring and Takaki (2003) found that relatively little vocabulary was remembered after three months, for example, of twenty-five words correctly answered in the immediate post test, only one was remembered in the delayed test.
Extensive reading research
In the field of extensive reading, two studies (Nation and Wang, 1999 and Wodinsky and Nation, 1988) investigated the potential contribution of graded readers to vocabulary learning by examining word frequency. They concluded that graded readers can be an important source of vocabulary learning for second language learners if used appropriately. Although useful, these are corpus-based studies that, as their writers suggest, should be followed by research in order to test whether this learning actually takes place.
There are a number of L2 extensive reading studies that have found gains in vocabulary using either direct or indirect measures of vocabulary (Cho and Krashen, 1994; Elley and Mangubhai, 1981; Grabe and Stoller, 1997; Hafiz and Tudor, 1989; Hafiz and Tudor, 1990; Lai, 1993 (also noticed improvement in spelling); Mason and Krashen, 1997). However, the indirect measures employed and the conditions under which these studies were implemented make us cautious when evaluating the findings. For instance, some of the participants were living in the L2 environment (Hafiz and Tudor, 1989, Cho and Krashen, 1994, Grabe and Stoller, 1997), while others used a dictionary for parts of the reading (Cho and Krashen, 1994, Grabe and Stoller, 1997). Both factors make it difficult to attribute any learning solely to the reading involved in the studies.
Grabe and Stoller (1997) report some interesting conclusions that further complicate the issue of incidental vocabulary acquisition and reveal the relative learning difficulties of different words; it seems that "some words needed to be looked up only once while others required multiple exposures and multiple dictionary consultations" (Grabe and Stoller, 1997: 112). Based on that, they argue "each learner seems to encounter some sets of words that just will not be remembered" (Grabe and Stoller, 1997: 115).
Finally, in a recent study of extensive reading that took place in an authentic extensive reading environment (Horst, 2005: 374), participants appeared to have learned "well over half of the unfamiliar" words they encountered in the simplified readers (although there might have been "a role for other sources of exposure in learning" for some of these words). This seems a very encouraging result; we should take into consideration, however, that the procedure involved a self-rating test, and that as Horst (2005) acknowledges, the pre- and post-tests were not the same.
To sum up, the literature provides good evidence that vocabulary is learned incidentally from reading, at least to some extent, but there are still large gaps in our knowledge of this learning in an authentic extensive reading context. For example, we do not know much about whether types of word knowledge other than meaning are amenable to incidental learning, how extensive reading enhances knowledge of words which are already partially known, how this learning may be linked with how often a word occurs in the texts, and to what extent the incidental learning demonstrated in EFL environments also occurs when the target language is not English.
Rationale for the research design
Following the principles suggested by Horst and Meara (1999: 309) of a "combination of long input texts and more sophisticated testing," this study will involve a one-month period of extensive reading in a language other than English. The test battery (see below) will cover a relatively high number of target words (133), and will include measurement procedures that are sensitive to partial knowledge of words. This is important because "vocabulary learning is not an all-or-nothing piece of learning" but is rather "a gradual process of one meeting with a word adding to or strengthening the small amounts of knowledge gained from previous meetings" (Nation, 2001: 155). Likewise, Nagy, Anderson and Herman (1987) argue that any meaningful encounter with a target word could contribute to its acquisition, even though this contribution might be very small. One likely reason why many previous studies fail to show much vocabulary growth from reading is that the measurements utilized required "full" knowledge of a word (usually its meaning) in order for it to be counted as being positively affected. Because vocabulary learning is incremental in nature, "more sophisticated testing" which taps into incremental improvement is necessary in order to fully appreciate the benefits reading has for vocabulary learning.
Furthermore, the study adds a new dimension to extensive reading research by examining types of word knowledge other than meaning. As mentioned in the introduction, different criteria for a broadly based view of vocabulary knowledge have been proposed (Aitchison, 1994; Laufer, 1997; McCarthy, 1990; Nation, 1990; Nation, 2001; Richards, 1976; Webb, 2005), with the upshot that "lexical competence is far more than the ability to define a given number of words" (Zimmerman, 1997: 122). Read (2004: 201) suggests this "comprehensive word knowledge" approach involves not only the semantic features of a word, but also "its orthographic, phonological, morphological, syntactic, collocational and pragmatic characteristics." It has been recognised that reading tasks contribute to multiple aspects of vocabulary knowledge; however, it has been rare for studies to measure aspects of knowledge apart from meaning (Webb, 2005). This is problematic because "studies that measure only meaning may be unable to find a significant result when there have in fact been significant gains in other aspects of vocabulary knowledge" (Webb, 2005: 48). For practical reasons and due to the "lack of suitable measures for several word knowledge components" (Read 2004: 217), our study focuses on three word knowledge components, which were selected from each of Nation's (2001: 27) three categories (in his analysis of what is involved in knowing a word): form (spelling), meaning (form-meaning relationship), and use (grammatical functions).
One of the few studies that attempted to capture degrees of lexical knowledge through more sensitive measurement procedures was carried out by Schmitt (1998), who tracked the acquisition of eleven words over the course of a year for three adult learners with advanced proficiency in English. More specifically, he measured four kinds of word knowledge: spelling, associations, grammatical behaviour and meaning. Although the study is not related to extensive reading, it offers a measurement battery sensitive to small gains of word knowledge, which was used as a model for our study. One of the conclusions drawn from his results was that "students can possess other kinds of word knowledge even when they can demonstrate no meaning knowledge" (Schmitt, 1998: 301). Schmitt highlights the need to focus on individual words and to be able to measure the degree or depth of knowledge for each of these words, in order to reach a better understanding of vocabulary acquisition.
One of the limitations of incidental learning is that the learner might not put effort into guessing a new word's meaning. However, this argument, although valid, ignores other aspects of word knowledge that could be improved through reading, often regardless of how informative the context is, such as spelling and grammatical behaviour. For example, Day and Swan (1998) found that subjects exposed to seventeen words in a short story achieved a modest but significant advantage (1.52) in the number of words spelled correctly compared to control subjects. Furthermore, Parry (1993) argues that vocabulary acquisition can sometimes be unconscious; although a new word is often not noticed because the general sense is already understood, some association may be established for that word and that association may be reinforced at the next encounter (also see Aitchison, 1994).
Finally, most of the studies reviewed above focus on new vocabulary. However, Nation (1990) suggests that teaching new words is only one of the components of teaching vocabulary. The rest are concerned with learning more about previously taught words (consolidation of words) or increasing the automaticity of words. Much earlier, West (1955), one of the so-called parents of L2 extensive reading in modern times (Day and Bamford, 1998), assigned the following purpose (among others) to simplified readers: "review and fix the vocabulary already learned" (West, 1955: 69). In fact, Nation and Wang (1999: 364) predict that "it is not likely to be the [graded reader] level at which the word is introduced that establishes knowledge of that word, it is likely to be the later levels that establish the knowledge." Moreover, sight vocabulary is especially important in the target language of this study (French), as the different accents, difficult spelling, and use of articles that do not always follow the rules increase the learning burden of words.
As far as word frequency in the text is concerned, research is limited. Although the original Clockwork Orange study (Saragi et al., 1978) related incidental word learning growth to word frequency in the text, none of the replication studies investigated this factor. It was not until 1998 that Horst et al. took it into account. Waring and Takaki (2003) found that even if a word was encountered more than eighteen times in a text, there was still only a 10-15% chance of remembering its meaning. Zahar et al. (2001) also studied word frequency as a factor conducive to incidental vocabulary acquisition. They suggest that the number of encounters needed to learn a word might depend on the proficiency level of the learners, because more advanced learners who know more words seem to be able to acquire new words in fewer encounters.
Considering all the above, this study will employ multiple, sensitive tests of word knowledge to determine the vocabulary acquisition benefits which a learner of French derives from a period of extensive reading. In particular, the study addresses the following questions:
- Does extensive reading lead to increased word knowledge, in terms of spelling, meaning and grammatical behaviour of words?
- Are these three aspects equally affected by extensive reading?
- Are words that occur more frequently in the texts more affected in these three aspects of word knowledge?
The hypothesis is that reading will affect all three aspects of word knowledge, but spelling is expected to be affected the most, based on the findings of Schmitt (1998) and Waring and Takaki (2003). It is also assumed that words occurring more often in the text will have more chances of being acquired or of being enhanced than less frequent ones.
Methodology
The readers
Simplified materials were preferred instead of authentic ones since they "compare favourably to the much more lexically dense literary originals" (Horst, 2005: 375) and therefore, offer L2 learners appropriate conditions for word learning, as already suggested (Nation and Wang, 1999; Wodinsky and Nation, 1988). Graded readers from the "Lectures CLE en Français facile" collection (Level 1) were used in this study. Level 1 is the first out of four levels of the series, which are aimed at adults or teenagers. The four levels (according to the publishers) are organised taking into consideration grammatical difficulties and vocabulary. The vocabulary lists on which readers in Level 1 are based range from 400 to 700 words.
The level of the readers was selected after considering the participant's vocabulary level in French. Research (Hsueh-chao and Nation, 2000; Laufer, 1992; Liu and Nation, 1985) indicates that at least 95% of the words should be known to the participant for guessing from context to take place and for the reading to be relatively uninterrupted. Although the above percentage could not be statistically verified, a rough estimation of the proportion of unknown to known words (suggested by Nation, 2001) was employed. On a random page of one of the graded readers, the participant found about one unknown word in every twenty words. Moreover, in the interview that followed the post-test, it was confirmed that he had followed the plot of all the books perfectly well and he reported that they were easy enough for the reading to be pleasant and not laborious.
In order to simulate the conditions of extensive reading as much as possible, after the appropriate level was defined, the participant selected four from the seventeen titles of the Level 1 series himself, on the basis of what seemed most interesting to him. This way, the limitation of using potentially unmotivating texts that hampered some previous studies was avoided. The four pocket-size books (228 pages in total) amounted to approximately 30,000 words. Three of the titles were based on a 600-word list and the fourth on a 700-word list.
The whole study lasted for about a month, thus, the participant read approximately one reader per week. This amount of reading is considered by Day and Bamford (2002) as the goal for a successful extensive reading program. It is also consistent with Nation and Wang's (1999: 355) suggestion that "learners need to read about one graded reader per week in order to meet repetitions of the new words soon enough to reinforce the previous meeting," assuming that the learners do not meet the words in other language activities.
The participant
The participant was a 27-year old learner of French whom we will refer to as G. His mother tongue is Greek, and he also speaks fluent English as a second language. In French, he holds the "DELF (Diplôme d'études en langue française) 1er degré" which used to correspond to an intermediate level (French diplomas have now changed). It should be noted that the specific diploma consisted of four independent units and that G had taken long breaks (sometimes years) between the units. He had passed his last exam one year prior to the study and he had not practised the language since. As a result, his level of proficiency was lower than the typical intermediate French learner. Therefore, taking also into consideration the proportion of unknown to known words (discussed above), the first level of the readers was selected as the most appropriate for him.
At the time of the study he was living and studying in England as a postgraduate student in a non-linguistic field. As already discussed, one of the limitations of some earlier extensive reading studies was the simultaneous exposure of the participants to other forms of language input. In this case, apart from the readers, G had no other exposure to French. Therefore, we can safely exclude any other potential sources of word learning and ascribe any vocabulary gains to the extensive reading treatment alone.
The words
The target words consisted of 70 nouns and 63 verbs (133 words in total). The original intention was to include all parts of speech in the study. However, the grammatical component of the test battery hindered that possibility. It proved extremely difficult with only four graded readers to find adjectives and adverbs that shared similar grammatical features, and, at the same time, for these features to be manifest in the texts. As a result, we had to limit our selection of target words to nouns, which are all used with an article, and verbs, for the use of which knowledge of prepositions is essential. Furthermore, it seemed like a logical start in this type of research, since nouns and verbs are "the most common parts of speech found in natural text" (Webb, 2005: 36), in the hope that additional research will extend to other word classes.
Both word groups were tested on meaning, spelling and grammatical behaviour. For the nouns, grammatical behaviour, in this case, was defined as the articles that are used with the specific nouns. In French, all nouns are of either a masculine or a feminine gender. The definite article for masculine nouns, in the singular form, is "le" and the equivalent for feminine nouns is "la". When a word begins with a vowel, (l') (e.g., l'ombre = the shadow, the shade) is used, and when in plural form, "les" is the form whether the noun is masculine or feminine. Nouns that were used in the graded readers only with (l') or mainly in their plural forms were excluded from the study, since it would be difficult for the participant to deduce whether they were masculine or feminine. In fact, it is sometimes possible to work out the gender of a noun by looking at the adjective, as adjectives in French agree with the nouns (e.g., un manteau blanc 'a white coat', une maison blanche 'a white house'). However, the kind of processing required in this case was considered to be too demanding for incidental learning and therefore, it was not expected that the participant would learn the gender of those nouns (although we cannot say it is impossible). Apart from the definite articles (le, la), nouns in the texts were sometimes preceded by the indefinite articles (un : masculine, une: feminine) and possessive pronouns (mon, ton, son : masculine; ma, ta, sa : feminine). These cases were included in our study, as they are not very different from the definite articles and the participant (having reached an intermediate level) was familiar with those forms.
Regarding the articles, it should be noted that in French, the correct article can sometimes be derived from the spelling of the words. For example, words that end in –eau (e.g., le manteau 'the coat') tend to be masculine. Therefore, there were a few instances when the participant could predict the right article by the ending of the word without having met the word before. However, this was limited, partly because of some irregularities, but mainly because he did not seem to be aware of all the rules. It should also be noted that Greek (the subject's L1) has three genders, and that these genders do not necessarily correspond in the two languages.
For the verbs, grammatical behaviour involved the prepositions that follow these verbs. In French, some verbs have to be used with specific prepositions (e.g., aller à 'go to'), some can be followed by various prepositions depending on the meaning, and others do not take any prepositions at all. Knowledge of any of the above is considered useful for learners if they want to use the verbs in a sentence. Therefore, in the test, the participant was awarded points if he knew, for example, that a specific verb did not require any prepositions. It also seemed reasonable to test him only on prepositions that appeared in the texts, even if these are not the only ones that can be used with the specific verbs.
Words that appeared in the texts in many different forms (mainly because of derivatives) were excluded. Most verbs were presented to the participant in their infinitive form. In a few cases, however, when the form used in the texts was quite different from the infinitive, the former was used in the test as well, to make sure that the participant would recognise the verb (e.g., il appartient à 'it belongs to', infinitive = appartenir).
In order to study the effects of word frequency, the target words were organised into six sub-groups according to the number of encounters that the participant had with each word (1, 2-3, 4-5, 6-10, 10+, and 20+). Without this sub-grouping, many of the occurrence frequencies would have contained too few words for meaningful analysis. A complete list of the target words is given in Appendix A.
Measurement Procedure
Because this was a case study of just one participant, it was feasible to employ the time-consuming, but highly informative, measurement method of one-on-one interview, as used in Schmitt (1998). Although a single rater meant that no interrater reliability check was possible, the rater (the lead author) was able to interactively question and probe the participant at length, until a very good impression was achieved concerning the knowledge level of the various word knowledge elements. Because G was likely to know some of the target words in the study, he was interviewed both before the extensive reading treatment (hereafter "pre-test") and after (hereafter "post-test"). G knew that he would be tested on his reading, but was not informed of the research questions. He was also not aware that the post-test would be exactly the same as the pre-test. Both tests were divided into two parts that took place on two different days. On the first day, he was tested on the spelling of all the target words and the following day he was tested on meaning and grammatical behaviour.
G was given clear instructions on the test procedure, and some words, not included in the test, were used as examples before the meaning and prepositions tests. He was explicitly asked not to try to guess the answers (especially in the case of articles and prepositions). He was also encouraged to take as many breaks as he felt necessary so that he would not get too tired or bored. In both tests, he took two ten-minute breaks; the spelling test was about ninety minutes long and the second part (meaning and grammar) lasted for almost two and a half hours.
For the spelling test, the words were read aloud to him by the researcher and he had to write them down. He could ask for a repetition of a word if necessary. After the end of the spelling test, he was assigned a writing task irrelevant to the study (without him being aware that it was irrelevant). More specifically, he was asked to write down five French words he was familiar with and then write a sentence with each word. The purpose of this task was to make the participant use, in writing, words that were not included in the study and, thus, to distract him as much as possible from the target words. The distraction task also served to flush the target words from his immediate memory, so that he could not give them additional explicit attention, such as looking them up in a dictionary after the session, which might have contaminated the study. These distraction tasks seemed to be effective, as there was no indication during any of the interviews that G gave the target words explicit attention outside the reading.
The meaning and grammar tests were conducted simultaneously. The order of the words was different than the previous day. G was not explicitly informed that all the words were the same in the two tests, but he did remember a few of the words. First, he was given a list of all the verbs and in order to allow for partial knowledge to be traced, he was asked to report on any kind of knowledge he had about the meaning (or meanings) of the words, no matter how vague or trivial it appeared to him. As a result, different degrees of knowledge were demonstrated. There were some words for which he could explain the meaning, others for which he had some idea about the meaning but was not sure, there were words he said he had encountered before but did not know their meaning, and finally, there were words that were completely unfamiliar to him. He was not asked to produce sentences with the words because their large number meant the interview would have been unacceptably long.
In order to test G's knowledge of the grammatical behaviour of the words, he was, at the same time, asked to report any of the prepositions that could follow the specific words. After the verbs, he was given a list of the nouns and was asked to follow the same procedure, except with a focus on articles. He could choose between the masculine article "le" and the feminine article "la", only if he thought he already possessed that kind of knowledge.
After this test, G was again assigned a distracting task. This time, he had to read three short texts in French and, based on his understanding of the texts, to answer six multiple-choice questions. The texts were carefully selected so that they did not include any of the target words. He started reading the first graded reader four days later, allowing for a short time lapse between the pre-test and the reading. One day after finishing the last reader, the participant took the post-test, under the same conditions and following the same procedure. The order of the words was again different.
Marking
The tests were scored in the following manner: marks for each type of word knowledge ranged from 0-2. More specifically, for spelling, a completely wrong answer was given 0 points; an answer similar to the correct spelling earned 1 point and a fully correct answer received 2 points. For example, for the verb échouer the participant's answer in the pre-test was essouer, for which he was given 0 points. In the post-test, the spelling was much improved (echouer), but he did not use an accent, and therefore, he earned 1 point.
Similarly, for meaning, if G gave a completely wrong answer, he was given 0 points; if he had some idea of the meaning of the word (e.g., he learned that sanglier – the French word for wild boar – was an animal but he was not sure which one) or if he knew one of the multiple meanings of a word (as long as all meanings appeared in the readers) he earned 1 point, whereas if he knew the exact meaning of the word or all its different meanings, he would receive 2 points. For grammar, prepositions followed a similar pattern. For example, the verb penser appeared in the texts followed either by the preposition à or without a preposition. Therefore, in the pre-test G received 1 point for knowing that the verb is used without a preposition, but in the post-test he received 2 points because he was aware of both possibilities.
However, articles and the gender of words were marked somewhat differently, as it was difficult to account for partial knowledge in this case. Thus, there were only two marks to be awarded: 0 points if he did not know the gender of the word or 2 points if he did. We did not feel it was safe to give G partial credit (1 point) for mentioning that the words seemed familiar to him, simply because we could not discount the possible influence of the pre-test.
The interview procedure allowed us to control guessing to a large extent. G was advised not to guess, and based on the interviewer's probing and G's responses, we feel confident that his guessing was held to a minimum throughout all the tests. Moreover, the interviewer explicitly queried any answers G was not sure of to verify whether they were guesses or not. Confirmed guesses were not accepted as correct answers.
Results
The results, presented in detail in Table 1 (nouns) and Table 2 (verbs), show that substantial learning of the target words occurred during the extensive reading treatment, although this was not uniform across the three types of word knowledge. For spelling, there was relatively strong enhancement, with improvement in all noun frequency groups and in all but two of the verb groups; for the 6-10 and 20+ groups there was no improvement, as the participant already knew how to spell most of the words. For all target words, G earned 98 spelling points out of a possible 266 (36.8%) in the T1, but improved to 159 out of 266 (59.8%) in the T2.
For meaning, there was also improvement in all but one frequency category. There was no apparent learning at all for the twelve single-exposure verbs. For single and 2-3 exposure nouns, learning was very limited, with only one noun in seventeen showing any signs of learning in either category, and even that was only to a level of partial knowledge. However, there was clear improvement in meaning knowledge for the rest of the target words. Overall, the T1 meaning scores were 22 points out of 266 (8.3%), moving up to 63 out of 266 (23.7%) in the T2.
Similarly, there was an improvement in all frequency groups in the grammatical mastery of nouns (i.e., knowledge of appropriate article). The T1 results were eighteen out of 140 (12.9%), while the T2 results were 60 out of 140 (42.9%). On the other hand, although there was an improvement in the grammatical mastery of verbs (i.e., knowledge of appropriate preposition) for all but the 10+ group, the percentages were much lower: for T1, five out of 126 (4.0%); and for T2, 26 out of 126 (20.6%).
Although this study used a relatively large number of target words overall (133), the smaller numbers in the sub-groups precluded running a statistical analysis of those subgroups. However, we were able to compare the improvement in mean scores for all nouns for each of the three types of word knowledge, as these data sets were large enough (70 nouns). Because the data was not normally distributed, Wilcoxon Signed Ranks tests were used, which showed that the improvement was statistically reliable in all cases. Similarly, the improvement in verb knowledge was also significant for all three types of word knowledge.
Table 1: Scoring for Nouns
|
|
Spelling |
Meaning |
Articles |
|||
|
Number of Occurrences |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
T1 |
T2 |
T1 |
T2 |
T1 |
T2 |
|
|
1 |
.588b |
1.059 |
.000 |
.059 |
.235 |
.353 |
|
2-3 |
.412 |
.647 |
.000 |
.059 |
.000 |
.588 |
|
4-5 |
1.000 |
1.067 |
.333 |
.667 |
.267 |
1.067 |
|
6-10 |
.769 |
1.153 |
.384 |
.538 |
.615 |
1.230 |
|
10+ |
.800 |
2.000 |
.200 |
1.200 |
.000 |
1.200 |
|
20+ |
.667 |
1.667 |
.000 |
1.333 |
.667 |
2.000 |
|
All
nouns |
.686 |
1.077* |
.157 |
.414* |
.257 |
.857* |
a. number of target words in frequency category
b. mean score (max=2)
c. percentage of possible points scored
* Wilcoxon Signed Ranks p < .01
Table 2: Scoring for Verbs
|
|
Spelling |
Meaning |
Prepositions |
|||
|
Number of Occurrences |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
T1 |
T2 |
T1 |
T2 |
T1 |
T2 |
|
|
1 |
.250 |
1.083 |
.000 |
.000 |
.000 |
.333 |
|
2-3 |
.461 |
1.385 |
.077 |
.538 |
.000 |
.308 |
|
4-5 |
.692 |
1.077 |
.000 |
.538 |
.000 |
.154 |
|
6-10 |
1.466 |
1.466 |
.400 |
.800 |
.066 |
.533 |
|
10+ |
.714 |
1.714 |
.286 |
.571 |
.571 |
.571 |
|
20+ |
1.667 |
1.667 |
.667 |
1.333 |
.000 |
1.333 |
|
All
verbs |
.794 |
1.333* |
.174 |
.540 |
.079 |
.413* |
* Wilcoxon Signed Ranks p < .01
Another way of looking at
the data is to explore how many of the target words were enhanced in real
terms. To determine this, we eliminated all of the words that G already knew in
the pre-test (i.e., received a score of 2), because no further learning was
demonstrable with our measurement procedure. (Of course, these words may well
have been enhanced in terms of mastery or automaticity, but we were not able to
measure the improvement.) Of the remaining words, we tallied how many were
enhanced during the extensive reading period, that is, having scores increasing
from 0 
1, 0 2, or 1 2. The results from this
analysis are illustrated in Table
3 (all words), Table
4 (nouns) and Table
5 (verbs). We find that a very considerable number of words
were enhanced in one or more of the forms of word knowledge.
Table 3: Number of words (nouns+verbs) in which learning occurred
|
Number of Occurrences |
Improvement |
Spelling |
% |
Meaning |
% |
Grammar |
% |
|
1 |
0 |
6 |
48.2 |
1 |
3.4 |
0 |
14.8 |
|
2-3 |
0 |
9 |
51.8 |
2 |
16.7 |
0 |
23.3 |
|
4-5 |
0 |
3 |
39.1 |
1 |
26.9 |
0 |
26.9 |
|
6-10 |
0 |
5 |
52.9 |
2 |
21.7 |
0 |
33.3 |
|
10+ |
0 |
1 |
90.0 |
1 |
36.3 |
0 |
36.3 |
|
20+ |
0 |
1 |
66.7 |
0 |
60.0 |
0 |
80.0 |
|
All words |
0 |
25 |
52.3 |
7 |
20.2 |
0 |
27.6 |
Table 4: Number of Nouns in Which Learning Occurred
|
Number of Occurrences |
Improvement |
Spelling |
% |
>Meaning |
% |
Grammar |
% |
|
1 |
0 |
1 |
35.3 |
1 |
5.9 |
- |
13.3 |
|
2-3 |
0 |
4 |
26.7 |
1 |
5.9 |
- |
29.4 |
|
4-5 |
0 |
1 |
33.3 |
0 |
23.1 |
- |
46.2 |
|
6-10 |
0 |
2 |
50 |
0 |
9 |
- |
44.4 |
|
10+ |
0 |
0 |
100 |
1 |
60 |
- |
60 |
|
20+ |
0 |
1 |
100 |
0 |
66.7 |
- |
100 |
|
All nouns |
0 |
9 |
41.9 |
3 |
16.7 |
- |
36.1 |
Table 5: Number of Verbs in Which Learning Occurred
|
Number of Occurrences |
Improvement |
Spelling |
% |
Meaning |
% |
Grammar |
% |
|
1 |
0 |
5 |
66.7 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
16.7 |
|
2-3 |
0 |
5 |
83.3 |
1 |
30.8 |
0 |
15.4 |
|
4-5 |
0 |
2 |
45.4 |
1 |
30.8 |
0 |
7.7 |
|
6-10 |
0 |
3 |
60 |
2 |
33.3 |
0 |
26.6 |
|
10+ |
0 |
1 |
83.3 |
0 |
16.7 |
0 |
16.7 |
|
20+ |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
50 |
0 |
66.7 |
|
All verbs |
0 |
16 |
66 |
4 |
24.1 |
0 |
19.4 |
We also looked at the 133 target words individually and what was learned about them. We found that 66 (49.6%) were enhanced in one type of word knowledge, thirteen (9.8%) in two types, and eight (6.0%) in all three types of word knowledge. Adding these figures together, we find that some degree of learning was demonstrated for 87 out of the 133 target words, an impressive 65.4%, or a pick-up rate of about one of every 1.5 words tested. This is much higher than previous studies, although the comparison may be considered arbitrary since most previous studies tested only meaning (of new words). In the interview that followed the post-test, G reported that he spent about 60 to 90 minutes for each book. If we accept his higher time (90 minutes), it can be estimated that he learned something (at least one feature) for 14.5 words per hour. These figures, stemming from broader and more sensitive testing than many earlier studies employed, seem to indicate that there is more lexical learning occurring during reading than many of those studies previously suggested.
Discussion
The main point of note in the results is the relatively widespread vocabulary acquisition. Previous studies into incidental vocabulary acquisition from reading have shown relatively small amounts of learning, with Horst et al. (1998) surveying the literature and concluding that the learning rate overall was about one word in twelve (as discussed earlier). Even their more sophisticated study showed a pick-up rate of only one word in five. In contrast, this study, which sought out both different facets of lexical knowledge and partial degrees of that knowledge, found that about two-thirds of the target words tested were enhanced in at least one of their word knowledge aspects, translating to a pick-up rate of about one of every 1.5 words tested. Of course, this does not mean that these words were necessarily fully mastered (all three word knowledge facets were enhanced in only 6% of the cases). Nevertheless, if we accept that vocabulary acquisition is incremental and that any movement towards mastery is beneficial, then the results indicate that extensive reading can be effective in promoting this process, and to a degree not demonstrated before. This is even more impressive if we remember that the measurements were productive in nature (i.e., G had to spell the words, say the meanings, and supply the grammatical partners), while he only had receptive exposure to the words during reading. Also, the calculation included words which G knew on the pre-test, and so no further learning was possible to demonstrate. Thus, Research Question 1 can be answered affirmatively, as extensive reading definitely appears to lead to the enhancement of knowledge about the spelling, meaning and grammatical behaviour of words in the text.
Research Question 2 asked whether the three word knowledge aspects were equally affected by extensive reading, and as hypothesized, this was not the case. Knowledge of spelling was benefited most by the reading for both verbs and nouns, confirming Day and Swan's (1998: 1) results on the "causal relationship" between foreign language reading and spelling. It is noteworthy that improvement in spelling was significant even for words that were encountered only once in the four readers. This finding suggests that extensive reading can be very beneficial for the spelling competence of learners, especially for languages such as French, which are considered difficult to spell. It is also interesting to note that that the French verb spellings seemed to be easier to learn than the noun spellings, which is not surprising since verbs in French have specific endings characterized by a degree of regularity.
Meaning was also acquired through reading, but not to the same extent. This is especially true for words with a single exposure, where very little meaning uptake seems to have occurred. At 2-3 exposures, we start seeing a noticeable degree of meaning uptake for verbs, but this does not happen with nouns until 4-5 occurrences. There is no frequency point where meaning acquisition is assured, but by about 10+ exposures, there does seem to be a discernable rise in the learning rate. However, even after 20+ exposures, the meaning of some words eluded G, echoing Grabe and Stoller's (1997) point that some words simply seem hard to learn. Some examples of these "difficult" words include le rocher 'rock' (10+ encounters), le radeau 'raft' (20+ encounters), essayer 'to try' (10+ encounters), and entendre 'to hear' (20+ encounters). We could not find an obvious reason why G did not acquire the meaning of these words even after more than ten encounters. We tried to trace the reason in the distribution of word encounters throughout the four books, i.e., if the word was encountered in only one of the readers or if the word was encountered only at the beginning of the reading treatment. However, we could not discern any pattern, although it may be that a larger number of words is necessary for a pattern to become noticeable. One possible reason could be incorrect initial guesses (see below).
The acquisition of knowledge about which articles accompany particular nouns also seems to be possible through reading, even after a few encounters with a noun. Thus, extensive reading may usefully supplement the direct instruction of articles based on spelling rules. On the other hand, knowledge of which prepositions accompany verbs was the type of word knowledge that benefited the least from the reading, with the amount of uptake being relatively small. This suggests that the acquisition of prepositions in French may well require some other type of instruction.
Overall, the results show that the lexical aspect that benefited the most was spelling, followed by knowledge of articles. Knowledge of meaning and prepositions appear to be picked up at a similar, lower level. As a whole, the results are consistent with those of Schmitt (1998), who found that it is possible for L2 learners to have other kinds of word knowledge without having acquired knowledge of the word's meaning. We do need to take into consideration, however, that the words were presented to the participant in a decontextualized manner, which may have not affected the spelling and grammar scores much, but may have been somewhat of a disadvantage when it came to recalling the meaning of those words. It seems reasonable to assume that if the test contained sentences with the target words (as it is the case with real life reading), the participant might have remembered more about their meaning.
The third research question queried the role of frequency of occurrence in the texts in the enhancement of the three types of word knowledge. In short, there was no unambiguous relationship between frequency and lexical enhancement. As mentioned before, it seems that spelling knowledge can be gained with even a few exposures. Meaning does not seem to be as affected by frequency as much as one might expect, with 2-19 text occurrences yielding uptake rates ranging between 16-36% when we take the nouns and verbs together. Only at the extremes of frequency do we see a noticeable effect. Single encounters produced hardly any learning of meaning at all (3.4%), while it took 20+ occurrences to lead to a noticeable increase in uptake rates (60%). Only in the case of grammar (when articles and prepositions are considered together) was there a relatively steady increase of learning along the frequency scale. Overall, only when words were seen twenty or more times was there a good chance of all three word knowledge facets being enhanced.
There are at least two possible explanations for why higher-frequency words did not necessarily have greater chances of being learned. First, the pre-test showed that the participant already had partial knowledge of some high-frequency words and this could have resulted in a ceiling effect; in other words, there was less room for improvement. At the same time, however, these findings confirm earlier studies (Horst et al., 1998; Saragi et al., 1978) in that frequency of exposure is only one of the factors that affect word acquisition. It is possible that some of the low-frequency words were easier for the participant to learn for a number of other reasons, such as morphology or salience of the word or the context in which the word was encountered.
It is also notable that some of the low-frequency words that showed signs of improvement (in various aspects of word knowledge) were encountered by the participant only in his reading of the first reader, which took place at least three weeks before the post-test. Therefore, the post-test served as a delayed measurement for some of the words (in contrast to other studies where testing took place right after the reading), and the results suggest that extensive reading can contribute to the long-term retention of certain word features. However, since the number of those specific words is small, the findings need to be verified by further research before any generalizations are made.
It is interesting to note that most of the wrong interpretations of the word meanings were caused by cross-linguistic influence, either by the participant's L1 (Greek) or the other L2 (English) (e.g., he understood le sable 'the sand' as "the stable"). It is even more striking that some of these wrong guesses were sustained even after the exposure to the words in the texts (several times for some of the words). This finding agrees with the results of an earlier study by Haynes (1993), who found a similar problem of incorrect initial guesses not being corrected by subsequent context. It is also evident from the results that the participant confused the meanings of French words, which, although not semantically related, have similar forms (e.g., atteindre, éteindre, entendre). This further strengthens the argument against initially teaching similar words together, because they are very likely to become cross-associated (Higa, 1963; Waring, 1997).
A number of other interesting points came out of the post-test interview. G did not use a dictionary, but he read the marginal glosses when they were available. He tried to guess the meaning of some words, but he did not report using a specific strategy in order to learn them. He also mentioned that, in some cases, he had inferred the meaning of the word from the context but he had forgotten it by the time of the post-test. This comment supports the idea that guessing a word meaning does not necessarily lead to its retention. G commented that he enjoyed the reading and felt (before being informed of the results) that it had been useful, as he had learned some new words. The participant's answers also suggest that absorption of language from comprehensible input is not always subconscious, as Krashen (1989) argues. At least as far as meaning is concerned, it seems that G consciously tried to learn some words mainly for two reasons: because he considered it beneficial for his learning, but also because he thought he might encounter the word later in the story. Nevertheless, he did not seem to pay attention to grammar and spelling; in this case, considering the results, some form of subconscious learning seems to have taken place, supporting Parry's (1993) assumptions discussed earlier. Finally, G reported engaging in the reading during his holidays in places like the beach or before going to bed. It is very encouraging that learning occurred under these conditions and it is highly unlikely that he would ever engage in direct study of vocabulary in these environments.
Limitations
Obviously, a case study cannot safely make claims for statistical generalizations, especially when the participant is a very capable and highly motivated learner as it was the case in this study. Therefore, it cannot answer the question raised by Beck, McKeown and McCaslin (1983) of whether less-skilled readers who are probably most in need of vocabulary development or learners at different levels (Coady, 1997) are likely to benefit from this approach. However, single-subject studies allow us to investigate in more detail the process of vocabulary learning and the stages that word acquisition goes through (Meara, 1995). As Joe (1995: 157) states, "case-study data can provide insights into the various learning processes at play." Overall, our study does seem to show that a capable learner can substantially increase his or her vocabulary knowledge through extensive reading.
Although the reading treatment was longer than previous studies, it still covered only a small part of the scheme of the graded readers. It can be argued that four readers do not constitute "large quantities of material" that extensive reading requires by definition. Despite this, vocabulary gains were found, encouraging us to believe that the greater reading involved in an organized and sustained extensive reading program would lead to greater vocabulary acquisition. Future studies will need to include a greater number of readers and a higher number of target words to verify this belief. In addition, similar research is needed on other components of the lexical framework and different parts of speech.
We used the term "pick up rate" in this report, but it must be remembered that this only entails the target words. Not every unknown word was considered (for example, adjectives and adverbs were not addressed), so it is likely that there was some vocabulary learning that was not captured. Thus, it is impossible to state a comprehensive pick up rate for the whole text, including all unknown words.
Finally, in discussing our results, we compared them to the reported acquisition in previous studies. Our study showed greater gains, but it must be remembered that much of these gains were in the realm of orthography, and so our results are not directly comparable to most previous studies, which focused on meaning. However, the point remains that using a variety of measurement methodologies allowed us to illustrate a degree of vocabulary acquisition previously undemonstrated.
Conclusion
Extensive reading appears to lead to substantial vocabulary learning, but it is not consistent across all word knowledge types. This seems to justify the suggestion of many researchers that incidental learning should be followed up with intentional learning (Hulstijn, Hollander and Greidanus, 1996; Nation, 2001). Moreover, when we compare incidental with intentional learning, we should not generalize; rather, it seems more relevant to consider each language feature separately. Even when only vocabulary is concerned, various aspects of word knowledge should be treated differently. More specifically, the results suggest that spelling is a type of word knowledge that is especially amenable to exposure to comprehensible input. On the other hand, the same cannot be argued for prepositions of verbs, at least in French. Therefore, when teachers try to decide which type of learning (intentional or incidental) is more effective, they should first consider which language feature they want to focus on. As Zimmerman (1997: 122-123) states, "word knowledge involves a range of skills and word learning is facilitated by approaches that provide varied experiences," since "no single approach can address all of these skills."
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Hulstijn, J., Hollander, M., & Greidanus, T. (1996). Incidental vocabulary learning by advanced foreign language students: The influence of marginal glosses, dictionary use, and reoccurrence of unknown words. The Modern Language Journal, 80, 327-339.
Hunt, A. & Beglar, D. (2005). A framework for developing EFL reading vocabulary. Reading in a Foreign Language, 17(1), 23-59.
Joe, A. (1995). Text-based tasks and incidental vocabulary learning. Second Language Research, 11(2), 149-158.
Krashen, S. (1989). We acquire vocabulary and spelling by reading: Additional evidence for the input hypothesis. The Modern Language Journal, 73, 440-464.
Lai, F-K. (1993). The effect of a summer reading course on reading and writing skills. System, 21, 87-100.
Laufer, B. (1992). How much lexis is necessary for reading comprehension? In P. J. L. Arnaud & H. Bejoint (Eds.), Vocabulary and applied linguistics (pp. 126-132). London: Macmillan.
Laufer, B. (1997). What's in a word that makes it hard or easy: Some intralexical factors that affect the learning of words. In N. Schmitt & M. McCarthy (Eds.), Vocabulary: Description, acquisition and pedagogy (pp. 140-155). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Liu, N. & Nation, I. S. P. (1985). Factors affecting guessing vocabulary in context. RELC Journal, 16, 33-42.
Mason, B. & Krashen, S. (1997). Extensive reading in English as a foreign language. System, 25, 91-102.
McCarthy, M. (1990). Vocabulary. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Meara, P. (1995). Single-subject studies of lexical acquisition. Second Language Research, 11(2), i-iii.
Meara, P. (1997). Models of vocabulary acquisition. In N. Schmitt & M. McCarthy (Eds.), Vocabulary: Description, acquisition and pedagogy (pp. 109-121). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Mondria, J. A. & Wit-de Boer, M. (1991). The effects of contextual richness on the guessability and retention of words in a foreign language. Applied Linguistics, 12, 249-267.
Nagy, W., Anderson, R., & Herman, P. (1987). Learning word meanings from context during normal reading. American Educational Research Journal, 24, 237-270.
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Nation, I. S. P. & Coady, J. (1988). Vocabulary and reading. In R. Carter & M. McCarthy (Eds.), Vocabulary and language teaching (pp. 97-110). London: Longman.
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Paribakht, T. & Wesche, M. (1999). Reading and "incidental" L2 vocabulary acquisition: An introspective study of lexical inferencing. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 21, 195-224.
Parry, K. (1993). Too many words: Learning the vocabulary of an academic subject. In T. Huckin, M. Haynes, & J. Coady (Eds.), Second language reading and vocabulary learning (pp. 109-129). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
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Zimmerman, C. (1997). Do reading and interactive vocabulary instruction make a difference? An empirical study. TESOL Quarterly, 31, 121-140.
Appendix A
A list of the target words
|
Nouns |
Verbs |
1 Occurrence |
|
|
1. le bec – beak |
1. échouer à - to fail |
|
2. la mâchoire - jaw |
2. s'appuyer contre - to lean against |
|
3. le bond - leap |
3. se congeler - to freeze |
|
4. le coffre - chest box |
4. s' entrechoquer - to knock together |
|
5. le bouillon - broth |
5. gêner - to bother |
|
6. le cercueil - coffin |
6. lutter contre - to fight against |
|
7. le bourreau - executioner |
7. déplacer - to move |
|
8. la lueur - gleam |
8. goûter - to taste |
|
9. la secousse - jolt |
9. dévorer - to devour |
|
10. le morceau - piece |
10. épouser - to marry |
|
11. le soupir - sigh |
11. s' éventer - to fan oneself |
|
12. le piège - pitfall |
12. résoudre - to solve |
|
13. le pouce - thumb |
|
|
14. le simoun - simoon |
|
|
15. le toit - roof |
|
|
16. la preuve - proof |
|
|
17. la poignée (de main) – handshake |
|
|
2-3 Occurrences |
|
|
18. le clocher - church tower |
13. s'abattre sur - to beat down on |
|
19. le fauteuil – armchair |
14. abjurer - to abjure |
|
20. le puits – well |
15. chauffer - to heat |
|
21. la loupe - magnifying glass |
16. arracher - to pull out |
|
22. le récit – narrative |
17. déchirer - to rip |
|
23. le limier – bloodhound |
18. enfoncer dans - to push in |
|
24. le sondage – probing |
19. lâcher - to let go of |
|
25. le robinet – tap |
20. parcourir - to travel |
|
26.le singe – monkey |
21. il appartient à - it belongs to |
|
27. le banquet – feast |
22. apercevoir - to perceive |
|
28. le dos - back, spine |
23. frictionner - to rub |
|
29. le poignard – dagger |
24. se redresser - to stand up |
|
30. le sommeil – sleep |
25. rejoindre - to (re)join |
|
31. la toile - canvas, linen |
|
|
32. le serpent – snake |
|
|
33. la réussite – success |
|
|
34. le vertige – vertigo |
|
|
4-5 Occurrences |
|
|
35. le but - aim, goal |
26. se débarrasser de - to get rid of (to kill sb) |
|
36. la hauteur – height |
27. se dépêcher - to hurry |
|
37. la bonne – maid |
28. régner - to reign |
|
38. la malle - trunk (suitcase) |
29. inquiéter - to worry about |
|
39. la mèche - fuse (bomb) |
30. agiter - to move about |
|
40. la caverne – cavern |
31. fuir - to run away |
|
41. la chute – fall |
32. éclater - to explode |
|
42. la odeur – smell |
33. jeter - to throw |
|
43. le poids – weight |
34. entraîner dans, vers - to lead to |
|
44. le sifflement – whistle |
35. saisir - to grab, to understand |
|
45. le piqueur – stepper |
36. se tromper - to be mistaken |
|
46. le rayon – ray |
37. soigner - to take care of |
|
47. le sable – sand |
38. serrer - to grip |
|
48. le vent – wind |
|
|
49. la tempête – storm |
|
|
6-10 Occurrences |
|
|
50. la nourrice - child-minder |
39. emmener - to accompany sb |
|
51. la auberge – inn |
40. se rendre - to surrender |
|
52. le repas – meal |
41. parvenir - to reach |
|
53. le sommet – summit |
42. allumer - to light |
|
54. la foule - crowd, mob |
43. éclairer - to light up |
|
55. la nourriture – food |
44. sauter - to jump |
|
56. la feuille - leaf, sheet |
45. ajouter - to add |
|
57. le navire – boat |
46. éloigner - to move away |
|
58. le chemin – path |
47. cesser de - to cease |
|
59. le doigt – finger |
48. pousser - to push |
|
60. la douleur - pain, ache |
49. penser - to think |
|
61. le sorcier – sorcerer |
50. perdre - to lose |
|
62. la cheminée – chimney |
51. se précipiter - to rush |
|
|
52. bouger - to move |
|
|
53. suivre - to follow |
|
10+ Occurrences |
|
|
63. la boussole – compass |
54. s'accrocher à - to hang on |
|
64. la corde – rope |
55. courir - to run |
|
65. le sanglier - wild boar |
56. se diriger vers - to head toward |
|
66. le rocher – rock |
57. empêcher - to prevent |
|
67. la reine – queen |
58. atteindre - to reach |
|
|
59. essayer - to try |
|
|
60. se réveiller - to wake up |
|
20+ Occurrences |
|
|
68. le lendemain - the following day |
61. tuer - to kill |
|
69. la nacelle - gondola (balloon) |
62. entendre - to hear |
|
70. le radeau – raft |
63. s' écrier - to exclaim |
About the Authors
Maria Pigada received her MA in ELT from the University of Nottingham. She has taught EFL/ESL in Greece and the UK. She is currently working in ELT publishing in Greece.
Norbert Schmitt teaches applied linguistics at Nottingham University and is interested in all aspects of second language vocabulary. His latest book is Why is English Like That? Historical Answers to "Hard" ELT Questions (University of Michigan Press), and he is currently writing a vocabulary research manual for Palgrave Press.
Reading in a Foreign Language
Volume 18, Number 1, April 2006 - ISSN 1539-0578
Copyright © RFL 2006
http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/rfl/April2006/
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2.- CLARITY IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN GRAMMAR
Our dear SHARER Fernando F. Ortiz sent us this article for us to SHARE with all of you:
Whose Language Is It Anyway?
By Stephen S. Pickering
The New York Times - May 25, 2003
|
|
As a career language
guardian, I was more than casually interested in the College Board's decision
to throw out a grammar question on its PSAT after a high school teacher pointed
out that the desired answer was not technically correct. The question asked if
there was a grammatical error in this sentence: "Toni Morrison's genius
enables her to create novels that arise from and express the injustices African
Americans have endured." The College Board thought the sentence was
correct, but a journalism teacher in Maryland told the officials that the word
"her" did not refer back to Toni Morrison but to "Toni
Morrison's" — an error in grammar.
The teacher certainly was right on the technical question. Those who take a dark view of where the language is headed can only stare open-mouthed in disbelief that the College Board experts, specifically focused on composing a grammatically correct sentence, wrote an error into it. But as one who has always viewed American English as a sort of junk shop, stacked with bins of curious rules and tools useful mostly to journeyman quantum mechanics, I saw another way to look at the sentence. The first three words, "Toni Morrison's genius," are understood as "The genius of Toni Morrison," and thus the true antecedent of "her" is, correctly, Toni Morrison. That reading at least has some common sense on its side.
American English's genius lies in its ability to accommodate such quantum logic — to exist in two places or forms simultaneously — and, instead of imploding, actually thrive and grow. For immigrants it is surely one of the easiest languages to get by in — no genders, and easy verb forms and noun and pronoun cases. If their English is peppered with phrases and words from their mother tongues, you can bet those terms will eventually be absorbed as well.
But under all the latter-day immigrants' offerings lie Germanic foundations from the Saxon and Scandinavian eras, then layers of Latin and Greek words from those cultures' wide European influence, especially in the church, and Norman French residue dating from 1066. This jumble of liturgies makes modern English, despite its stripped-down workings, hard to learn well. Survivors of remedial classes cite, with a shiver, the insane variety of letter sounds, most infamously the supposed 22 ways E can be pronounced. But the language blunders on, and errors and misuses either get corrected or institutionalized — like the term of disdain that I first heard in an Army barracks: "I could care less," which of course means exactly its opposite.
None of this is to imply that the disputed PSAT question, or by extension good grammar, doesn't matter. It matters a lot for the transmission of precise, nuanced information, and at its best, English, with that junk-shop vocabulary thousands of words larger than those of other Western European languages, can cut and shape like a scalpel.
Having made a living for several decades trying to hone that blade as a copy editor, I ran across problems like the one in the PSAT question a dozen or more times every night. And just between us, solving them depended not so much on how many grammar rules I knew, but on determining the clearest, briefest way to get to the next sentence; that is, on good syntax and common sense.
George Orwell wrote an essay in 1946 on politics and language contending that the clarity of one's writing mirrored clarity of thought; that if a person could not state his position clearly in print, his views were probably similarly muddled. It is not a bad caution for managing this largely unmanageable language: Grammar is important, clarity is more so. Maybe that's the lesson for those PSAT students.
© 2003 by The New York Times Company
------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.- TOOL FOR TEACHERS PRESENTS THE MUSIC DAY
Music Day: June 24, 9:30 to 18:00
TOOLS FOR TEACHERS takes great pleasure in announcing a one day session--June 24-- entirely devoted to the use of songs in the EFL classroom. Under the name of The Music Day: With A Song In Your Heart, this workshop will bring together pioneers in this field such as Omar Villarreal and Oriel E. Villagarcia as well as three present day, fully trained, hard working, talented and certified practitioners (graduates from profesorados): Fernando Armesto, Alfredo Bilopolsky and Gustavo Gonzalez, all of whom have participated in teachers' conventions and proved their worth.
This workshop has been thought of as a celebration of the use of what emerged in the late 60's as a fully innovative technique, spearheaded by the creativity of Ken Wilson, With Mr Monday And Sunday Afternoons, anthologies of songs specifically written for the language classroom. Around the mid 70's, a few teachers all over the world started using pop songs not originally meant for pedagogical purposes, bringing in this way an indisputable element of motivation to the classroom.
Some thirty odd years later, the reader may wonder what is there to add to the variety of techniques which can be used for using songs when teaching a foreign language. Possibly little, possibly a lot, depending on whether you believe--which we do--that the human spirit is incredibly creative. On June 24, the presenters will amaze and delight participants with the resources they will present, some well known, some brand new, or at least with a new slant.
Over and above the techniques to be offered, this session will provide an opportunity to have fun, to share information on the use of songs, to listen to old familiar tunes and reminisce and to discover new ones or even those that may have been forgotten, which nevertheless may well just be what was needed to introduce, practice or review a teaching point.
It will be a time for joy, with dozens of songs among which the participant is bound to find his/her favourites. Come, join us and really help us make this a true celebration not only of the use of songs in the classroom but of using our creativity in the act of teaching.
Mark this date on your calendar: June 24, from 9:30 to 18:00 in the city of Buenos Aires, in the Palermo area. Full information on registration fees, CVs and abstract of each presenters' contribution will be released shortly.
For more information, contact: newtoolsforteachers@yahoo.com.ar
------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.- APERTURA DE UN INSTITUTO DE NEUROCIENCIAS
The following is an excerpt from despacho diario de noticias periodísticas de la UTN
Abre un instituto de neurociencias
la Fundación Favaloro
La Fundación Favaloro inaugurará esta tarde su Instituto de
Neurociencias. Se dedicará tanto a la prevención y a la atención de pacientes
como a la docencia y la investigación.
"Se trata de unir científicamente el corazón y el
cerebro", resume su director, el neurólogo Facundo Manes, con destacados
antecedentes en las universidades de Cambridge (Gran Bretaña), Harvard e Iowa
(Estados Unidos), e importantes premios como investigador. Lo acompañará un
equipo de más de 50 profesionales "del mismo nivel que el Instituto
Cardiovascular", afirma el director general de la Fundación, doctor Eduardo Raimondi.
Cuenta con departamentos de Neurología, Psiquiatría, Neurocirugía y
Neuropsicología y Fonoaudiología. Tiene además un centro focalizado en ataque
cerebrovascular, y otro especializado en Alzheimer, deterioro cognitivo
vascular y neuropsiquiatría.
Psiquiatría ha previsto varias unidades, entre ellas, las de trastornos
depresivos y bipolares, por ansiedad, esquizofrenia, obsesivo-compulsivo y
psicoterapia cognitiva. También brindará herramientas a familiares y cuidadores
de los pacientes.
Neurocirugía y la atención de emergencias neurológicas tendrán lugar en avenida
Belgrano 1746. Los consultorios externos y las actividades de rehabilitación
física, cognitiva y del lenguaje funcionarán en el Centro de Vida, Luis Sáenz
Peña 265.
-----------------------------------------------------------
5.- ONLINE POSTGRADUATE
CERTIFICATE IN TRANSLATION STUDIES
Our dear SHARER Sandra Torres from the UK writes to us:
Online Postgraduate Certificate in Translation
Studies
(Specialisation: Spanish-English/English-Spanish Commercial Translation)
The Centre for Translation and Intercultural Studies is offering a programme
designed for people who would like to obtain a postgraduate qualification in
translation studies from the University of Manchester but who are unable to
attend a part-time or full-time programme in Manchester.
The Postgraduate Certificate in Translation
Studies is delivered via the web and requires only part-time study (approx. 5
hours per week) so is ideal for those who wish to combine it with other
commitments.
The programme runs from October 2006 to June/July 2007 and consists of two
course units:
1. Introduction to Translation Studies
2. Commercial Translation, Spanish-English or English-Spanish
Each course unit is assessed through a variety of coursework tasks. Successful
completion leads to the recognised award of Postgraduate Certificate.
For more information, please consult the following webpage:
http://www.llc.manchester.ac.uk/Research/Centres/CentreforTranslationandInterculturalStudies/OnlinePostgraduateProgramme/
Alternatively, go to
http://www.llc.manchester.ac.uk
and follow the links to Translation and Intercultural Studies.
Best wishes,
Dr. Sandra Torres
Research Associate - Centre for Translation and Intercultural Studies
School of Languages, Linguistics and Cultures - The University of Manchester
Oxford Road - Manchester M13 9PL - United Kingdom
------------------------------------------------------------
6.- COURSE ON ASSESSING AND IMPROVING TESTS
Our dear SHARER Adriana Murriello from Colegio Ward has sent us this invitation:
Curso de Perfeccionamiento Docente: Assessing and Improving Tests
Dictamen 6548/05 - Red Federal de Formación Docente Continua -
Dirección General de Cultura y Educación de la Pcia. de Bs. As.
Ante el fracaso o bajo rendimiento que se observa en estudiantes de EPB 2, ESB y Polimodal en Inglés, nos proponemos analizar las características de los instrumentos utilizados en la evaluación.
La evaluación debe realizarse aplicando instrumentos confiables, apropiados, pertinentes, válidos y amigables. La propuesta intenta cambiar la mirada de los docentes de inglés acerca de qué evalúan, cuándo, cómo, por qué y para qué. Se analizarán así el desempeño oral, la comprensión lectora, la comprensión auditiva, la gramática, la composición, y se plantearán los requisitos necesarios para cada tipo de instrumento.
Docentes a cargo:
Lic. Áurea Obeso –Lic en Educación from Universidad Nacional de Quilmes.
Lic. María Laura Capello – Lic. en Gestión from Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero.
Propuesta didáctica: * Encuentros, actividades y evaluaciones en idioma inglés.
* Trabajo con lecturas anticipadas. * Foro de discusión y debate
Duración: El curso es de 30 horas cátedra (20 hs. reloj) distribuidas en 5 encuentros de 4 horas cada uno.
Días y horario: El curso comenzará el día sábado 3 de junio y continuará en los sábados sucesivos. El quinto encuentro se realizará 15 días después de la cuarta clase, por ser la instancia formal de evaluación del curso. El horario será de 8:30 hs a 12:30 hs.
Puntaje: Este curso ha sido bonificado con 0,34 puntos para los docentes de los niveles EPB; ESB y Polimodal y Media Técnica y Agropecuaria.
Aranceles: Docentes ajenos al Colegio Ward: $30
Docentes del Colegio Ward: $15 - Alumnos de profesorados: $10
Informes e inscripción: direcciongral@ward.edu.ar
Nota: la inscripción deberá estar efectivizada antes del inicio del curso
Héctor Coucheiro 599 [1706] D. F. Sarmiento (a 4 cuadras de la estación Ramos Mejía).
Tel: 4658-0348 - info@ward.edu.ar
------------------------------------------------------------
7.- CONCURSO DOCENTE
La Escuela Normal Superior en Lenguas Vivas “Sofía E. Broquen de Spangenberg” convoca a cubrir interinatos y suplencias en:
Traductorado (Validez orden de mérito: 2 años a partir de la decisión del Consejo Consultivo).
Gramática Inglesa I. 1as. cátedras a cubrir :
1ª A: jueves 1°, 2° , 5° y 6° hs. Turno vespertino.
1° B: martes 5° y 6 hs. ; jueves 3° y 4°hs. Turno vespertino
Presentar curriculum actualizado y completar la planilla que se retira en fotocopiadora de la escuela (subsuelo).
Inscripción: desde el 22 de mayo hasta el 2 de junio inclusive
Nivel Terciario - Juncal 3251 1º piso anexo - 9.00 a 11.30 y 18.00 a 20.30
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8.- ALICE´S MAGIC WORLD, A MUSICAL IN NEUQUEN
Our dear SHARERS José Luis Gimenez and Mariana Simunovich have got an announcement to make:
Queridos SHARERS,
Nos es grato dirigirnos a Ud., a efectos de hacerle llegar nuestra invitación a Ustedes y a sus alumnos al estreno de la comedia musical en idioma inglés "Alice's Magic World". La misma será presentada en el Cine Teatro Español el día jueves 8 de junio de 2006 en dos funciones a las 14 horas y las 16 horas.
Por otra parte, informamos a Ud. que al adquirir las entradas para el espectáculo se enviará un cuadernillo con actividades sugeridas para ser realizadas con los alumnos. El valor de la entrada es de diez pesos.
"Alice's Magic World" podrá ser disfrutada por estudiantes de todas las edades y niveles de inglés. Se ha trabajado hasta el más mínimo detalle para ofrecer un espectáculo mágico y deslumbrante para chicos, adolescentes y adultos con 40 actores en escena, solistas en vivo y un increíble ballet.
Para adquirir sus entradas comuníquese a los teléfonos: (0299) 154 115345 y
(0299) 154 167633 (Puede también dejar su mensaje y nosotros nos pondremos en contacto con Ud.)
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9.- 20th ARTESOL CONVENTION : CALL FOR PARTICIPATION
Our dear SHARER Elida Messina has sent us this announcement:
20th Argentina Tesol Convention
"English for More Effective Participation in Our Global Society"
Friday, August 11 - Saturday, August 12, 2006
Universidad
Nacional de Río Cuarto - Facultad de Ciencias Humanas –
Departamento de Lenguas - Campus Universitario - Ruta Nacional Nro. 36 Km 601
Río Cuarto, Provincia de Córdoba
Keynote Speaker: Kathy Koop
M.A. in TESOL Instructor of English at the English Language Studies Department of The New School University in New York
ARTESOL Convention welcomes ARTESOL Members and Non-Members
Registration: www.artesol.8k.com or artesol@bcl.edu.ar
Call For Participation
ARGENTINA TESOL is an Argentine organization with broad interests. The
convention is planned for professional development and provides opportunities
for social interaction among colleagues who share common interests. The program
committee invites presentations dealing with classroom practices, research in
language learning and
teaching, or the connection between the two. We welcome proposals from
teachers, teachers in preparation, graduate students, researchers, program
administrators and materials and curriculum developers, including colleagues in
related disciplines such as
communication, education, linguistics, foreign languages, anthropology,
sociology and psychology.
Deadline for submissions: Demonstrations, Workshops, Poster Sessions, Digital
Presentations: June 24, 2006 - Complete the 2006 Proposal Form: www.artesol.8k.com
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10.- FIRST ENGLISH GRAMMAR CONFERENCE IN CHILE
Our dear SHARER Gabriela Silva, Projects Officer, British Council Chile writes to us:
1st English Grammar Conference: “Teaching English in Chile Today: The Role of Grammar”.
The British Council in Chile is supporting this event. The Conference will be held in Santiago de Chile on 17, 18 & 19 August 2006 at Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación. It aims to discuss the current role of grammar in the teaching of English in Chile. As this is a debatable issue, either due to its excess or the lack of it, it seems peremptory that a serious discussion on the status of grammar should be held. In addition, the conference will offer teachers as well as students of English a variety of practical and theoretical presentations and workshops.
Confirmed key-note speaker: Douglas Biber, author of The Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English and Regents' Professor of Applied Linguistics at Northern Arizona University.
Call for papers will be open until June 23 2006. Areas for proposals include: Grammar and Language Teaching, Corpus Linguistics and Grammar, Applied Grammar, Morphology, Lexico-Grammar, Syntax, Text Grammar, Methodology and Grammar, Curriculum Design and Grammar, Grammatical Theory. The language of the conference and submissions is English. Selected papers will be published in an edited volume of the proceedings.
If you are interested in participating by presenting a paper or you want to attend the event, please contact Professor Pablo Corvalán at grammarconference@hotmail.com
Best wishes,!
Gabriela Silva
Projects Officer - British Council
Eliodoro Yañez 832, Santiago, Chile - gabriela.silva@britishcouncil.cl
T +56 (2) 410 6914 - F +56 (2) 410 6929
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11.- GUÍA DEL MINISTERIO DE EDUCACIÓN SOBRE ESPAÑOL PARA EXTRANJEROS
El Ministerio de Educación, Ciencia y Tecnología de la Nación y el Consulado argentino en New York están elaborando una guía para estudiantes
extranjeros con el objetivo de difundir la oferta educativa (grado, posgrado,
enseñanza del español como lengua extranjera, y otros cursos) de las
universidades argentinas.
La iniciativa responde al considerable aumento, acentuado en los últimos años, en
el número de personas extranjeras que desean estudiar en el país.
Las casas de estudio interesadas pueden comunicarse al 4129-1170 o por mail prensa@me.gov.ar
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12.- ELT EVENTS ANNOUNCES…
Our dear SHARER Fabián Wallace announces the following events for 2006:
July, 1st
2006 Conference on Assessment of Modern Languages
From Classroom Practice Towards European Standards
Conozca los últimos estudios realizados en el campo de la evaluación de idiomas como lengua extranjera o segunda lengua!
July, 7th & 8th
Humanistic Language Teaching Conference
The conference on alternative pedagogies applied to ELT!
A scientific approach to look into these disciplines as discussed by their most representative referents: Brain-friendly learning, NLP, Coaching, Holistic Learning, Multiple Intelligences, Accelerated Learning , Applied to language learning. Publication of conclusions issued after the conference.
Willy Wood is coming to Argentina!
Willy Wood began his career in education as a high school and university level English teacher in the United States. After teaching for 14 years, Willy served for five years as the Language Arts Consultant for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in the state of Missouri. During his time at the Department of Education, Willy oversaw the development of the state's curriculum and assessment programs for language arts. He also started the state's first reading initiative, the Missouri Reading Initiative, an intensive, comprehensive professional development model in literacy. In 2000, Willy left the Department of Education to become a full-time educational consultant and presenter. He now serves as president of Open Mind Technologies, Inc., an educational consulting firm. For the past five years, Willy has been deeply involved in the brain-compatible teaching field.
He has trained with top figures in the field such as Eric Jensen, Rich Allen, and Pat Wolfe, and has presented numerous workshops in school districts and at conferences. He has presented multiple times at Eric Jensen's Brain Expo conferences and at the Learning and the Brain conferences at M.I.T. Willy presents on a variety of topics in the brain-compatible teaching field, including teaching for long-term memory, helping students make meaning (constructivism), giving effective directions, reducing threat, and using music in the classroom. No matter what the topic is, "Willy "practices what he preaches," using music, movement, and frequent processing activities to model brain-compatible teaching in his workshops.
For further information and registration, visit: http://www.eltevents.com.ar
Or write to: info@eltevents.com.ar
September, 16th
2006 ELT Western Conference
Resources that work in practice!
Resource ELT material: Uses & Applications in real-world classes
October, 7th
2006 Spring Conference
Mission Possible: Keep Them Hooked!
Learn classroom management skills and avoid behaviour problems for good!
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13.- A NIGHT AT THE OPERA IN SANTA ROSA
Our dear SHARER Silvia Morquin from Asociación Pampeana de Cultura Inglesa writes to us:
Dear SHARERS,
Let me invite all Share members to enjoy 2 wonderful evenings in Santa Rosa, La Pampa, on May 27th and May 28th at Teatro Español. How? Come and see Dido and Aeneas the opera by the British composer Henry Purcell, with Gladys Martino, Adriana Alba and Gabriel Rabinovich.
This is the first time an opera in English has come to Santa Rosa so we are very proud of giving people the chance to enjoy from such a magnificent event in our city. Thank you for spreading the news!
With my warmest regards,
Silvia Morquin
APCI Headteacher
Asociación Pampeana de Cultura Inglesa y Gladys Martino
Presentan: DIDO & AENEAS, opera de Henry Purcell
Coral Artemis
Ensamble Musical
Ballet de Cámara
Coreografía de Inés Mazzone
Dirección: Hugo Schwab
Teatro Español - Sábado 27 de Mayo, 21hs. - Domingo 28 de Mayo, 19hs.
Auspician: Cámara de Diputados, Subsecretaría de Cultura, Dirección Municipal de Cultura, La Arena, Colegio de Bioquímicos, Canal 3, OSDE
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14.- JORNADAS INTERNACIONALES DEL NOROESTE ARGENTINO
Our dear SHARER Stella Caramutti from Instituto de Enseñanza Superior "Lola Mora"
in Tucumán writes to us:
Terceras Jornadas Internacionales del NOA para Profesores de Inglés
Estimados colegas:
Les enviamos más información sobre nuestras Jornadas. Contaremos con la presencia de los siguientes disertantes y talleristas:
Lic. Villarreal, Omar – UTN "The Fundamentals Of Foreign Language Assessment". "Testing Speaking: That Dreaded Oral Examination"
Mag. Ferretti, Juan UTN "Critical Discourse Analysis: A Better Reading Of Reality" - "Dominant Culture And ELT Materials"
Prof. Bilopolsky, Alfredo - UTN "Testing Listening" - "Testing Communicative Competence"
Duncan, Jamie B.A. - UTN "Enjoying The Whole Spectrum" - "Care For A Top Up?"
Hillyard, Susan B.Ed.- Auspiciada Por OUP - "Content With Your Contents? Why Teach Global Issues In ELT?". " Liverpool Literature"
Mag. D'andrea De Mirande, Lucrecia y Mag. Perea De Otrera, Rosa -UNT "Reflecting on the poor quality of students' outcomes in ELT in some schools of EGB 3 in Tucumán: Alternative Reasons For Not Getting Significant Results".
Prof. Soler De Bertini Susana –Tucumán- "Culture And Language Learning"
Prof. Burgos Pawlak, Marcela - IFD No. 9 – Jujuy- "Crossing Cultures Through Language Teaching".
Prof. Palazzo, María Laura –Tucumán- "Comic Strips, Cartoons And Graphics in ELT".
Dra. Orce de Roig, María Eugenia, Prof. Lloveta, Elvira Josefina, Sr. Lobo Plaza, Gerardo - UNT- "Crime Always Pays: Teachers and students use magnifying glasses"
Mag. Lizárraga, Carlos A. –Tucumán- "Ways To Connect With Literary Texts".
Prof. Abboud, Jorge -IES 'Lola Mora'- "Test Items".
Prof. Garcia, María Alejandra -Buenos Aires- "What's In A Good Test?"
Prof. Marzioni De Della Torre, María Eugenia –Rafaela- "Literature With Young Learners"
Prof. Mcqueen, Amelia Teresa –UN de Mar del Plata- "Language And Culture:
Matchmaker Make Me A Match".
Lic. Recayte, Liliana -UN de Mar Del Plata- "Introducing Latin American Short
Stories In The ELT Class"
Mag. Lucchini, Pedro - Prof. Roselló, Analia -UN de Mar del Plata- "Developing Learners' Oral Communicative Language Abilities At Cads, a private middle school in Argentina"
Prof. Chiatti, Susana - Prof. Paderni, Ricardo -UN de Mar del Plata- "La Interferencia
del Español Rioplatense en la Articulación del Inglés RP: Una Propuesta de
Actividades de Pronunciación"
Lic. Roselot, Silvia Karina (Buenos Aires) "Teaching ESP Learners of English as EFL To Read Effectively"
Mag. Regueira, Ana Lía, Prof. Williams, Jennifer, Prof. Caielli, Elisabet, Prof. Berardo, Liliana, Prof. Etcheverry, Lucía,Trad. Puzzi, Graciela, Dra. Tuero, Susana, Mag. Luchini, Pedro -UN de Mar del Plata) "The Treatment Of Reading Comprehension in the English class"
Mag. Luchini,Pedro,Dra Tuero, Susana; Prof. Etecheverry, Lucía,Trad. Puzzi, Graciela Mag. Ferreiro, Gabriela, Prof. Lázaro, Mariana, Gómez Laich, María Pía –UN de Mar del Plata- "Analyzing teachers's beliefs in practices on critical reading at the Departments of Letters UN de Mar del Plata: impact on students"
Además les informamos que por pedido hemos prorrogado la fecha de la primera inscripción.
Hasta el 19/05/06 A partir del 22/05/06
Expositores: $ 70.- $ 100.-
Asistentes: $ 70.- $ 100.-
Estudiantes-asistentes: $ 40.- $ 50.-
Para mayor información : IES “Lola Mora”.
Muñecas 219 P. A. - Lunes a viernes de 19:00. A 23:30
Tel/Fax 0381-4305316 - jornadasingles2006@yahoo.com.ar
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15.- PRIMER CONGRESO NACIONAL "LEER, ESCRIBIR Y HABLAR
HOY"
Primer Congreso Nacional "Leer,
Escribir y Hablar Hoy"
la ciencia, la literatura, la prensa desde el
Jardín a la Universidad, en la Familia, la Biblioteca, los Medios de Comunicación, la Comunidad...
Tandil, 28,29, 30 de Septiembre y 1 de Octubre
Sede: Centro Cultural Universitario. H. Irigoyen 662
Organizadores:
Sala Abierta de Lectura infanto juvenil, Biblioteca Popular Municipal
Municipalidad de Tandil
Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires.
Auspicios y Declaraciones de Interés
Facultad de Ciencias Humanas de la Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires
Honorable Concejo Deliberante de Tandil
Poder Ejecutivo de la Municipalidad de Tandil
Ministerio de Educación de la Nación (en trámite)
Plan Nacional de Lectura (en trámite)
Comisión Nacional de Bibliotecas Populares (en trámite)
Consejo General de Educación de la Provincia de Bs. As. (en trámite)
Dirección de Educación de la Provincia de Bs. As.(en trámite)
Dirección de Bibliotecas de la Provincia de Bs. As.(en trámite)
Jefatura Distrital Tandil, Dirección Provincial de Inspección General
Red Latinoamericana de Alfabetización
Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Dirección de Educación ( en trámite)
Colaboradores
Institutos Superiores de Formación Docente de la
localidad
Destinatarios
Docentes de todas las áreas, niveles y modalidades
del Sistema Educativo- Bibliotecarios, dirigentes y voluntarios de bibliotecas
-Especialistas e investigadores- Estudiantes de profesorados- Periodistas-
Escritores- Padres y madres de familia- Personas interesadas en la temática de
la lectura, la escritura y la comunicación oral en el mundo actual.
Planteo General del Congreso
Para ser parte de la cultura letrada, participar activamente de la vida
ciudadana, atravesar con éxito los estudios académicos y afrontar las
exigencias del trabajo, la sociedad requiere una persona que hable, lea y
escriba de manera autónoma y crítica.
Objetivos
1.- Proponer y desarrollar ámbitos de
discusión y colaboración entre los diversos agentes educativos y sociales
implicados en el problema.
2.-Ofrecer ámbitos de intercambio entre instituciones y agentes sociales y
educativos a fin de encontrar puntos de contacto que posibiliten un trabajo
futuro de colaboración.
3.-Difundir conocimientos generados a través de investigaciones y experiencias
relacionadas con la lectura, la escritura y la comunicación oral, la formación
de base y la capacitación de los agentes educativos.
4.- Conocer y dar a conocer experiencias innovadoras y alternativas.
5.- Intentar un intercambio entre las bases que ejecutan y los niveles de
decisión política; entre los educadores y los padres; entre los alumnos y sus
profesores; entre diferentes niveles del sistema a fin de actuar críticamente y
diseñar posibles soluciones.
6.-Tomar conciencia de la responsabilidad social del problema.
7.-Difundir, posteriormente, las conclusiones y recomendaciones extraídas de
los distintos ámbitos de discusión.
Áreas Temáticas
1.La lectura, la escritura y la comunicación oral en la Educación Inicial, E.P.B., E.S.B. y Polimodal.
2. La promoción de la lectura, la escritura y la comunicación oral desde
las Bibliotecas.
3. La lectura, la escritura y la comunicación oral en la familia y la
comunidad.
4. Los medios de comunicación y el habla, la lectura y la escritura.
5. La lectura, la escritura y la comunicación oral en las instituciones de
formación académica: Universidad e Institutos Terciarios.
6. Las políticas públicas y la promoción de la lectura, la escritura
y la comunicación oral.
7. La política editorial y el contenido de los libros
destinados a alumnos y público en general. El libro frente a otros soportes
textuales. Las tecnologías digitales.
El Congreso "Leer, escribir y hablar hoy" pretende ser un espacio
multidimensional en el que toda la comunidad participe buscando un nuevo
sentido y responsabilidades en la alfabetización de sus generaciones jóvenes
para que ellas participen activamente en la cultura letrada.
Dinámica del Congreso
Las Áreas Temáticas propuestas y sus contenidos implícitos serán abordados
a través de:
- Conferencias magistrales a cargo de reconocidas figuras del quehacer nacional
respecto al problema central planteado.
- Talleres con temáticas pertinentes a cargo de especialistas.
- Mesas redondas y paneles a cargo de personalidades y especialistas.
-Simposios, ponencias, pósteres, relatos de experiencias y proyectos.
- Salones de exposición en los que se mostrarán trabajos de los diversos
talleres de escritura de adultos de la comunidad de Tandil, libros publicados
por autores tandilenses y trabajos de alumnos del sistema educativo de la
localidad.
Actividades de Socialización: oferta cultural y turística
1.-Sesiones de lectura y música en distintos bares de la ciudad.
Espectáculos musicales. Teatro. Muestras y Exposiciones.
2.-Oferta Turística desde la Dirección de Turismo Municipal y en un horario
determinado del calendario del Congreso.
Calendario para Presentación de Ponencias e
Inscripciones
1.. La recepción de resúmenes de ponencias y posters se hará hasta el 15 de junio.
2.. La recepción de ponencias: hasta el 15 de julio.
3.. Lectura y aceptación de comunicaciones por parte del Comité Evaluador: hasta el 15 de agosto con comunicación al interesado por correo electrónico.
4.. La inscripción de asistentes y ponentes se realizará en el formulario respectivo y a través de correo electrónico, desde el 15 de junio hasta el 15 de septiembre, acreditando el pago de los aranceles.
5.. Los organizadores pueden determinar el cierre de la inscripción cuando el cupo fijado de antemano haya sido cubierto.
Costo del Congreso
Ponentes: $80. Pago anticipado al 30 de julio $70
Asistentes: $60. Pago anticipado al 30 de julio $50
Estudiantes (cupo limitado): $40. Pago anticipado $30 con presentación de constancia de alumno regular.
Ponencias
Deben referirse a las áreas temáticas del Congreso y a las cuestiones e interrogantes que figuran en el Documento Nº 1 del evento. Las comunicaciones no podrán exceder las 15 páginas escritas en Word para PC, con tipo de letra Times New Roman, tamaño 12 e interlineado doble.
Los resúmenes de ponencias se publicarán en CD que será entregado a los congresistas con los certificados de asistencia y participación. El comité evaluador seleccionará las ponencias que serán publicadas en formato libro por la Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires.
Informes: salalectura@ciudad.com.ar , amrodi@ciudad.com.ar
, http://www.tandil.gov.ar/educacion
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16- A COURSE ON TEACHING YOUNG LEARNERS IN LA PAMPA
Our dear SHARER Graciela
Pascual from APPI has sent us this announcement:
Asociación Pampeana de Profesores de Inglés
Young Learners...teaching with a smile in your heart!
by Grace Bertolini
A workshop with practical techniques for teaching children!
Ready, Steady, Play!
• The importance of "Play" at Kindergarten and Primary
• Dramatics at Circle Time: music, instruments and movement
• Why use Drama Activities in the classroom ?
• Poems, chants and songs as instructional tools
• Fairy & Folk Tales
• Multi-sensory activities to meet different needs & learning styles
Teaching Resources
• Home-made tools to recycle a variety of activities
• Effective and creative ideas for Circle Time
• Interactive Boards, Manipulatives, Puppets, Masks
• Flash cards, Board and Dice Games
• Learning to work with "Learning Centers"
• Practical tips for Family Connection and Interactive Bulletin Boards
Saturday 3rd June 2006 – 9:00 to 12:00 am and 2:00 to 5:00 pm.
C.Gil 353. 2° piso - Santa Rosa – La Pampa.
Fees till 1st June: APPI members & students $25 - non-members $35
After June 1st : + $5
Info & Enrolment: Enseñanza Del Idioma Inglés: A.Brown 680 Project Institute: Cervantes 469 – Instituto ISI: O'Higgins 555
Phones: 414313 / 423473. E-mails: griseldaiglesias@cpenet.com.ar adrianaca@ar.inter.net - luciarivas@usa.net
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17.- 31st FAAPI ANNUAL CONFERENCE
31st FAAPI ANNUAL CONFERENCE
21, 22 & 23 September, 2006
Rosario,Argentina
Organized by APrIR – Asociación de Profesores de Inglés de Rosario
Theme of the Congress: MULTIPLE LITERACIES - Beyond the four skills
Literacies has been chosen as the central concept for this conference because it reflects the complexity and evolving nature of literacy acquisition and the influence of literacy theories on classroom practices. The term is used to remind us that as language educators we have much to consider: our own theories of academic literacy acquisition and those of our students; the ways in which our theories take pedagogical shape; and how we can encourage students to continue their literacy growth throughout their lives.
For further information, please contact:
The APrIR Office:
Buenos Aires 1127 (P.B. "A") - 2000 ROSARIO (Argentina)
Phone/Fax: (0054 341) 4475636
E-mail: aprir@ciudad.com.ar / aprir@hotmail.com
All relevant information in our Website: www.aprir.org.ar
Guest Speakers:
Charlie López - Director, Instituto Big Ben ,Boulogne, Bs.As.
Ben Goldstein - Editorial: Richmond Publishing
Andrew Walkey- Editorial: Thomson Learning
Prof. Susana Tersaghi, M.A. - Directora del Instituto "Churchill" de Rosario.
Prof. Magdalena Prinster De Botto - Cambridge ESOL Leader and Examiner
Prof. Viviana Valenti - Directora, Instituto "Let's Go" de Rosario.
Prof. Rita Zeinstejer - Regente, Asociación Rosarina de Cultura Inglesa.
Prof. Graciela Castelli - Directora, Instituto "San Bartolomé" de Rosario.
Jan Blake - British Council
Prof. Víctor Miguel Castel,Ph.D.- Director de la Maestría en Lingüística Aplicada – Universidad de Cuyo.
Prof. Daniel J. Fernández, M.A. - Universidad Nacional del Litoral.
Prof. Claudia Ferradas Moi, M.A.- Instituto De Enseñanza Superior en Lenguas Vivas "Juan Ramón Fernández"
David Graddol - British Council
Dr. Mario López Barrios - Facultad De Lenguas, Universidad Nacional De Córdoba.
Prof. Alejandro Parini, M.A. - Facultad De Lenguas Y Estudios Extranjeros, Universidad de Belgrano
Prof. Silvia Rivero, M.A., M.Phil. - Universidad Nacional de Rosario.
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18.- NEWS FROM E-TEACHING ONLINE
Our dear SHARER Alicia Lopez from E-Teaching Online has written to us:
E-teachingonline Issue # 38 is on the Internet with a World Cup 2006 Special Section loaded with activities for all levels to practise language during the Football Cup!
There are also Language GAMES & SONGS for Pre school, Kids, Teens and Adults
Colleagues are invited to update their teaching resources in the ELT World Section offering Rubrics, phrases & comments for report cards and common ELT abbreviations
Pre school Centres ideas are explained at length. There are tests for Kids, Bart Simpson´s board quotes for Teens. The Chernobyl tragedy and Evangelina´s presence at the Viena summit provide ideas to discuss with Adults.
At the Computer: Argentina Travel Guide and Intrepid South American Tours with hands- on Worsheets for the students
Visit: www.e-teachingonline.com.ar and let us help you!
Contact : 4782-2582 eteachingonline@ciudad.com.ar
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19.- HANIF KUREISHI STRIKES BACK
Our dear SHARER Ignacio Aguiló from The British Council Argentina has sent us this note:
Dear all
If you didn't make it to the Book Fair, but are interested to know what Kureishi said, you can see and hear him through the following link:
http://www.clarin.com/diario/2006/05/08/conexiones/home.html
Ignacio Aguiló
Online Information Assistant - British Council Argentina
T +54 (0)11 4311 9814 - F +54 (0)11 4311 7747 - ignacio.aguilo@britishcouncil.org.ar
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20.- THE BUENOS AIRES PLAYERS IN MAR DEL PLATA
Our dear SHARERS from ET Team wish to invite all SHARERS to:
A play for Teachers and Advanced Learners
Get your chance to watch a Shakespearian' s play!
Presented by "The Buenos Aires Players"
“Taming Caterina”
Based on "The Taming of the Shrew" by William Shakespeare, in a free version by Celia Zubiri
Duration: A 75-minute musical comedy . Level: Advanced
Music: Marcelo Andino, Script and Lyrics: Celia Zubiri. Directed by: Marcelo Andino
Synopsis:
Petruchio, a rich and brutal fortune hunter, decides to wed Caterina, the eldest daughter of good and wealthy Baptista. Although Baptista warns Petruchio of Caterina's indomitable character, he accepts the challenge to tame her so as to get her dowry. Will he succeed in his attempt? And if he does so, what will his physical and emotional cost be?
31st May 18.30 pm at Nuevo Teatro Güemes, Güemes 2955, Mar del Plata.
Ticket Price: $12 - Students attending "Profesorados" and ELTeamembers $10.
Tickets available at: Bookshop, Gascón 2629.
ELTeam Consultancy, Rio Negro 4413 - Mar del Plata
or write to: rep1_elteam@yahoo.com.ar
Organized by ELTeam Consultancy
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We would like to finish this issue of SHARE with this quotation that we learnt in Italian (unfortunately we do not know who its author is):
"It is not necessary to burn books to destroy a culture. Just find a way to make people quit reading"
HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEK
Omar and Marina.
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SHARE is distributed free of charge. All
announcements in this electronic magazine are also absolutely free of charge.
We do not endorse any of the services announced or the views expressed by the
contributors. For more information about the characteristics and
readership of SHARE visit: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/ShareMagazine
VISIT OUR WEBSITE : http://www.ShareEducation.com.ar
There you can read all past issues of SHARE in the section SHARE
ARCHIVES.
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