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Batia Laufer - University of Haifa
1. Do not rely too much on uninstructed acquisition
Picking up words from context has limitations, unless learners are flooded with
input. When the main source of vocabulary is classroom learning, enhance it
by form-focused instruction such as the explanation and study of
words both in lists and in contexts of various lengths.
2. Create your own lexical syllabus
Unless your institution has provided you with a lexical syllabus, create your
own based on your teaching materials, frequency lists, and learners’ specific
needs. Check a word on your syllabus whenever you expose students to it. Try
to provide six to ten exposures to each word during the course.
3. Do not count on guessing strategies to replace
vocabulary knowledge
Guessing is useful, but the most important condition for inferring word
meaning from context is the understanding of the surrounding words that
include the clues. Knowing 98% of the surrounding vocabulary is optimal for
effectively guessing unknown words from context.
4. Increase learners’ vocabulary size
Some researchers suggest that learners need to know 5000 word families to
reach a reasonable comprehension (70%) of authentic non-fiction texts. Others
say that knowing 10,000 word families is the minimum for comprehending
academic texts. When class time is limited, encourage learners to keep
individual vocabularynotebooks or computer files as a strategy for increasing
vocabulary size.
5. Recycle words that have been introduced earlier in
the course
Students are likely to forget words that are not repeatedly encountered or used.
Therefore, reinforce their memory from time to time. Several minutes per
lesson devoted to reviewing “vocabulary oldies” will improve the retention of
these words.
6. Give frequent vocabulary tests
Even if words are practiced in class, they are remembered much better after an
additional stage of intentional memorization, and testing is one way to
encourage students to do this. Suggest to students that they prepare and review
cards with a word on one side and its meaning, grammar, and examples of use
on the other side.
7. Draw learners’ attention to “synforms”
Synforms are word pairs or groups of words with similar (though not identical)
sound, script, or morphology, which learners tend to confuse. Examples are:
cancel/conceal/counsel, embrace/embarrass, unanimous/anonymous, and
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sensible/sensitive/sensual. Do not teach several new synforms together;
instead, have the students practice them after all members of the pair or group
have been encountered individually.
8. Pay attention to interlingual semantic differences
An L1 word may have several alternatives in English, an English word may
have several unrelated translations in the L1, or have no L1 equivalent
whatsoever. Many lexical errors, including fossilized ones, stem from such
differences.
9. Do not ban the L1 translation of words
Use translation judiciously with words that have an exact or close equivalent in
the L1. Learners translate unconsciously anyway. Research shows that L1
glosses provided by teachers or looked up in a good bilingual dictionary are
beneficial for text comprehension and word learning.
10. Practice the use of collocations that differ from the
learners’ L1
Since collocations are easy to understand (e.g., strong coffee, make a copy),
their difficulty is often unnoticed or underestimated. Learners, even advanced
ones, make mistakes in the use of collocations that differ from their L1.
Batia Laufer is professor and chair of the English
Language and Literature Department at the
University of Haifa, Israel. Her areas of research are:
vocabulary acquisition, lexicography, cross linguistic
influence, reading, and testing. She has published
several books and numerous articles in various
professional journals, presented at many international
conferences, and given invited lectures at over 30
universities in different countries.

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Paul Meara - University of Swansea
1. Teach your students to use a mnemonic system
Learning words is hard work, and anything that makes it easier is an advantage
for students. Mnemonic systems, like the keyword method, are amazingly
effective, counteract forgetting, and help students remember words long
enough for them to become part of their active vocabulary.
2. Set demanding vocabulary targets for your students
Serious language teaching outfits insist on students rapidly learning a large
number of words. The British Army, for example, sets a target of 60 words for
homework every day, and they test that students have actually achieved this
target.
3. Teach words in context
Learning lists of words by heart in context is sometimes easier than working
with single words. A good way of doing this is to learn newspaper headlines
containing just one word you do not know. The headlines provide a topical
context that makes it easier to remember what the unknown word might mean
and shows you how it is used.
4. Get the students to read something new every day
You cannot learn all the vocabulary you need just by attending classes.
Research shows that most people increase their vocabulary by reading, and this
works for second language learners, too.
5. Get your students to write something every day
Writing is a good way to consolidate your knowledge of words. It ensures that
you know how to spell the words you think you know, and it reinforces the
connections between the words you use in the same context. Also, writing does
not put you under time pressure, so it lets you access and rehearse vocabulary
that you can then use later in speech.
6. Get students to review their vocabulary regularly
You will forget vocabulary if you do not review it regularly. You can now get
computer programs that let you automatically review vocabulary lists and
remind you of words that you are likely to forget.
7. Play word association games
Links between words are what make your vocabulary active, so any activity
which involves students in making links between words is going to help turn
passive vocabulary into an active lexicon.
8. Watch videos with subtitles
Subtitled videos are easy to watch and usually fun. If you watch them three or
four times, you will probably know the dialogue by heart. Then watch the video
without the subtitles. You should understand most of it. Avoid dubbed movies
at all costs!
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9. Listen to songs
Music is stored in a special part of the brain, and things you learn with music
are often more resistant to attrition than other kinds of learning. People with
aphasia can often sing, even when they cannot talk, and people who forget their
first language can often still sing in it.
10. Learn a book by heart
This is an amazing way to ensure that you will learn many words. Work with a
book that is important to you, and learn whole sections by heart. This method
is particularly good if you already know the book well in your L1. Even a short
book will give you a vocabulary of thousands of words.

Paul Meara is head of research in the Centre for

Applied Language Studies at the University of
University of Swansea. Paul is best known for his
innovative vocabulary assessment tools, some of
which can be downloaded from the Swansea website
<www.swan.ac.uk/cals/calres/lognostics.htm>. Paul
also maintains a large bibliographical
database on <www.swan.ac.uk/cals/calres/varga/>.
This database covers almost everything that has been
written on second language vocabulary acquisition.

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Paul Nation – University of Wellington
My ten best ideas for teaching vocabulary do not consist of a list of vocabulary
teaching techniques. This is largely because I believe that teachers
should not do a lot of teaching of particular words and should not spend a lot
of time makingvocabulary learning exercises, such as find the hidden word,
crossword puzzles, or match the word and meaning. There are much better
ways of using valuable learning time.
1. Apply principles of teaching and learning
Principled planning of vocabulary learning is more important than particular
techniques. In the ideas that follow, I will mention some of these principles.
The principles can be applied in a variety of ways according to the
circumstances in which the language course is taught.
2. Approach high and low frequency words differently
Teachers should deal with high frequency and low frequency words in quite
different ways, and teachers and learners should know whether they should be
focusing on high or low frequency words. High frequency words deserve a lot
of attention from teachers. When these are all known, teachers should
concentrate on training the learners to use strategies for learning and dealing
with low frequency words.
3. Use the four strands
A well-balanced vocabulary course (and indeed a language course) should have
roughly equal proportions of opportunities for learning in each of the four
strands of meaning-focused input (learning through communicative listening
and reading activities), meaning-focused output (learning through
communicative speaking and writing activities), language-focused
learning (form-focused instruction), and fluency development in the four skills
of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. This means that about three-
quarters of the course time should be spent on communicative, message-
focused activities, and about one quarter on the deliberate learning of language.
4. Implement an extensive reading program
As part of the meaning-focused input strand of a course, there should be a
substantial extensive reading program making use of a large number of
interesting graded readers. Learners should read at least one book every two
weeks and a major aim should be to gain pleasure from such reading with
as little interference as possible from the teacher. An extensive listening
program would also be a very good idea.
5. Carefully design speaking and writing activities
The teacher should design speaking and writing activities so that there are good
opportunities for vocabulary learning. This involves making sure
that there is written or spoken input in the activities, that each piece of input
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contains about 12 words that may be new to the learners, and that the input is
used several times in some changed way (e.g., use the word in an original
context) in spoken or written output.
6. Use a variety of activities aimed at fluency
development
The fluency development strand of the course involves activities where the
learners do not meet or use any new vocabulary; instead, they become more
fluent at using what they already know. The fluency techniques I like are the
4/3/2 technique for speaking, speed reading, ten-minute writing, and listening
to easy stories.
7. Provide extended training and practice in guessing
unknown vocabulary from context
This can begin as a very deliberate strategy, but the eventual goal is to become
fluent at guessing. Like the strategies described in the next two
ideas, this strategy is very useful for dealing with both high frequency and low
frequency words. It can be approached in many ways, but generally,
it is best to use a bottom-up guessing strategy that relies on language clues
rather than background knowledge.
8. Train students to use word cards
Learners should be trained in the strategy of learning words using word cards.
Word cards are small cards with the foreign (English) word or phrase on one
side and the L1 translation on the other. Using cards is a form of rote learning
and it is an excellent way of quickly increasing vocabulary size. Forget all the
criticism you have heard about rote learning and translation; research has
repeatedly shown that such learning is very effective.
9. Teach the high frequency affixes of English
Get learners to learn the most useful 15-20 English prefixes and suffixes. These
affixes can be a very effective tool for helping learners remember the
meanings of the many Latinate words of English. This word part strategy
involves relating the meaning of the affix to the meaning of the whole word.
10. Encourage learner autonomy
Encourage students to take informed responsibility for their own vocabulary
learning. If students know what vocabulary to learn and how to learn it, their
learning can be much more effective than if they are reliant on teacher
prepared exercises and material. Students also need to be motivated and
encouraged to make their own vocabulary learning decisions. I had to limit
myself to ten ideas so I had to leave out some that I would have added if I had
written this on another day. They include avoid interference between related
words, encourage depth of mental processing when learning vocabulary, and
provide training in the strategy of effective dictionary use.

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Paul Nation is a professor of Applied Linguistics in
the School of Linguistics & Applied Language
Studies at Victoria University of Wellington, New
Zealand. He has taught in Indonesia, Thailand, the
United States, Finland, and Japan. His specialist
interests are language teaching methodology and
vocabulary learning. His latest book is Learning
Vocabulary in Another Language published by
Cambridge University Press (2001).

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