Category Archives: CTE319

Keyness, multi-concs, and concordances

DISCUSSION POINTS from http://cte319.pbworks.com/activity+-+intro+to+vocabulary+profiling

  • How useful is it to learn what the computer things are ‘key words’ in a text?  Is the computer better at picking out key words than you?
  • Is the use of a concordance useful in seeing words in context in a text?  How does this give you a different perspective on the words that you can’t get from just reading the text?  Give an example for the text you used.
  • To what extent can a tool like Multi-conc help students discover the lexico-grammar of a word?   Would students need special training to use this tool effectively?  Give the link to a multi-conc you created for the text you used.

Vocabulary profiling as a teaching tool

DISCUSSION POINTS from http://cte319.pbworks.com/activity+-+intro+to+vocabulary+profiling

  • How could you use a vocabulary profiler as a teacher?
  • Is it possible to get students as learners to use a vocabulary profiler?  What tasks would you give to them?
  • To what extent is a word cloud generated from http://wordle.net the same as a vocabulary profile from http://lextutor.ca?  What are the key differences.  When would you use a word cloud, and when would you use a vocabulary profile?

Word frequency

DISCUSSION POINTS from http://cte319.pbworks.com/activity+-+intro+to+vocabulary+profiling

  • Who would score better results in such a test – a native speaker or a non-native speaker? Why?
  • Were you surprised by the frequency levels of some words?  Would word frequency vary according to the type of English, e.g., American versus British English?
  • To what extent would it be good for teachers to develop their sense of word frequency in terms of teaching?

Common words

DISCUSSION POINTS from http://cte319.pbworks.com/activity+-+intro+to+vocabulary+profiling

  • How can knowing the most commonly used words help in teaching English?
  • Is it necessary to teach the common words–they are common, so won’t students just learn them naturally?
  • Should we explicitly focus on learning vocabulary? How effective is decontentextualized teaching of vocabulary?
  • To what extent are word lists useful in learning vocabulary? Aren’t dictionaries good enough?

The context paradox

DISCUSSION POINTS from http://cte319.pbworks.com/activity+-+intro+to+vocabulary+profiling

  • How often do your students fail to guess the meaning of an unknown word?
  • Did the coursebooks you’ve used include lots of ‘guess the meaning from context’ activities?  What strategies do they advocate?  Is the “9 out of 10” rule in guessing from context observed?
  • To what extent would it be good for teachers to develop their sense of word frequency in terms of teaching?