Learning words

Learning words

1. Building up vocabulary in children is paramount in ESL. Children are able to learn grammar and vocabulary through participation in discourse of classroom activities and so on.

   • Vocabulary development in children's language learning
     • Word as unit
       • Role of words begins with the early use of nouns for naming objects and the use infants do when they express their wants and needs.
         • Naming objects increase the word rate and reinforce adults and children since making names for things help adults to label the world for them (children)
           • Learning words is a cyclical process of meeting new words and initial learning. That means meeting those words over and over to expand its knowledge of what they mean and how they are used in the foreing language
     • Vocabulary size
       • Building up vocabulary size is important in children's language development. Usually, the word amount is measured in how many words theyu can recognize and match with their respective meaning.
         • To reach a good learning conditions is necessary for children to learn at least 500 words in a year which is a realistic target number
     • What it means to know a word
       • Word knowledge is a matter of degrees rather than all or nothing
         • Even though the student does not know the word is refering to, he always is beefing up more knowledge about the word given (Protractor)
           • A further type of knowledge about a word is metalinguistic, concerning the formal propeties of the word.
             • E.g. Acknowledge that a protractor is a noun
     • Developing meaning in childhood
       • Children who are immersed in a context in which their L1 is not spoken has less meaning aspects in their L2 and even in their L1 compared to children whose context is equal to their L1
         • Learning a word takes a long time and many exposures to the word used in different situations.
           • As children are growing up affects the nature of conceptual knowledge about L1 vocabulary.
             • Syntagmatic-paradigmatic shift refers to the types of associations that children make between words and ideas. What the word brings to mind seems to be different as they get older.
               • E.g. Dog - Can make syntagmatic associations selecting a linking idea in a different part of speech like bark or eat
                 • Then, children develop paradigmatic responses which are related to abstract connections such as 'a dog is a kind of animal'. These responses works with higher thinking that they learn in the school.
       • Categorization and word learning
         • The categories are develop into the most general to the most particular word which are:
           • Superordinate
             • Basic level
               • Subordinate
                 • Rocking chair
                   • Spaniel
                 • The most important one for children is the 'basic level' which refers to the most commonly used words. They recognize and use those words even before words higher or lower in the hierarchy
               • Chair
                 • Dog
             • Furniture
               • Animal
       • Cultural content in word meanings
         • Words and meanings are connected in syntagmatic and paradigmatic patters. These patters create networks of connections in the mind that are called schemas.
           • These schemas are usually being constructed throughout childhood within the first language culture. When foreign language words are leant, they are mapped on to L1 schemas and therefore, to schemas that have already been built up.
             • This could lead into problems because words from L2 mapped into the L1 schemas can interfere how L2 aspects can organize the world
       • Function and content words
         • Words of a language are sort depending on their function:
           • Content words are those that carry a lexical meaning, even out of context. On the other hand, Function words seem to be mainly use to carry grammatical meaning
             • Content words form an 'open set' in new content words can be invented while the set of functions words is 'closed'.
               • Research into reading is showing that function and content words may be stored in different parts of the brain
                 • This words are stored in networks or schemas that are less important for understanding and remembering function words. Function words are a smaller set and are very frequenly used.
                   • Content and function words need different teaching approaches. While meaning of content words can be explained and talked about; something that is complex to do with function words.
                     • Made by Juan Felipe Arias Ángel
         • Sense relations
           • Content word meanings in a language can relate each other in a range of ways, called 'sense relations'
             • Sense relations are labelled into 'semantic relations' or 'lexical relations'. These include:
               • Antonymy - opposite in meaning e.g. alive - dead
                 • Synonymy - closely the same meaning e.g. rich - wealthy
                   • Hyponymy - one is an example or type of another e.g. furniture - chair
                     • Meronymy - one is part of another e.g. Army - soldier
         • Organization of words in the language
           • Content and function words work differently in the language, and have to be taught and learnt differently
             • Function words will be acquired through repeated use in different contexts. On the other hand, content words could be taught more directly
               • Content words could be linked as sets of related ideas in various ways. This as teachers could help to choose teaching activities in extending learners' vocabulary beyond the text book.
                 • We can also use text books to analyze the content and demand on learners