2.

1 THE NATURE OF VOCABULARY LEARNING: KEY ISSUES

A. INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT ENGLISH VOCABULARY

1. How many words are there in English? At least:

(a) 100,000 (b) 250,000 (c) 500,000 (d) 1,000,000

2. How many words does an average native English speaker use in

their everyday speech?

(a) 2,500 (b) 5,000 (c) 7,500 (d) 10,000

3. How many words does a native English speaker know?

(a) 5,000) (b) 7,500 (c) 10,000 (d) 20,000-35,000

4. How many words constitute 45% of all texts written in English?

(a) 50 (b) 250 (c) 1,000 (d) 2,500

5. A new word enters the English language every __________.

(a) two minutes (b) two hours (c) two days (d) two weeks

Sources: McCarthy, M. & F. O’Dell. 2001. English vocabulary in use.

https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/05/29/lexical-facts;
https://englishlive.ef.com/blog/language-lab/many-words-english-language/;
https://englishstudio.com/blog/5-fascinating-facts-english-vocabulary/

B. SO, YOU THINK YOU KNOW ENGLISH….

Choose the correct word using your intuition:

1. How much is the taxi _________ to the airport?

A. price B. fare C. tariff D. cost

2. Wow! That train ticket cost me __________ .

A. an egg B. an eye C. a kidney D. an arm and a leg

3 This train ___________ here.

A. stops B. finishes C. terminates D. closes

4. Can I __________ you to a coffee?

A. invite B. treat C. pay D. buy

5. Why don’t we get a __________ to eat before the flight?

A. combined plate B. meal deal C. daily menu D. day offer

6. ________ a cool Heineken on today’s flight.

A. savour B. taste C. drink D. refresh

7. When I go on holiday, I like to be a real beach bum. Do I….

A. collect rubbish. B. go to nudist areas C. sunbathe all day D. take selfies

8. The toilets are at the __________ of the plane.

A. bottom B. rear C. back D. end

9. Please do not alight here. Does this mean

A. no smoking B. no mobiles C. no camera D. no getting off

10. A __________ holiday includes no food or meals.

A. package holiday B. self-catering C all-inclusive D. all-included

C. THE CHANGING AND FLEXIBLE NATURE OF VOCABULARY: LOANWORDS

Try to guess which languages the following words came from:

maternal assassin beef psychology Trousers pyjamas
 D. NEOLOGISMS
New words are constantly appearing in the English language, which is a feature
of the constantly changing nature of language. See if you can imagine what the
following terms could mean:

Sheeple trolleyology earworm Smirt

Sofalising ghost kitchen quarantini

E. COLLOCATIONS & LEXICAL CHUNKS

The London Underground: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVU79ki9ftc

Put the words in 8 pairs that you can see when travelling on the London
Underground

bridge card map alarm

exit tube fire London
line priority circle point
help travel seat emergency

Correct the mistake:

• Obstructing the doors can be fun.
• If you see a train being robbed, call the British transport police on 0800
40 50 40.
• Open / closed [beside the train door]
• Dogs must be taken on the escalator]
• Stand on the left [on the escalator]
• You are being watched.
• Lift flap and push button to start train.
• Take car after drinking alcohol

F. HOW CAN WE ACQUIRE, AND LEARN, NEW VOCABULARY?

Brainstorm different strategies:

G. WHAT IS REALLY KNOWING A WORD?

1. How many meanings and uses can you think of the word light?

2. What about head?

3. Can you pronounce enough / through / thought / although / cough / bought?

4. What is the difference between thin / slim, or boy / youth, or terrorist /

freedom fighter?

5. What words follow ‘depend’, ‘fluent’, ‘good’, ‘command’ or ‘married’?

6. What can you have a box / carton / can / tube / packet / cup of?

7. Merry Birthday? White and black? Chips and fish?

H. ACTIVE AND PASSIVE VOCABULARY

There are many words you don’t need at all and there are other words that you
simply need to understand when you read or hear them. There are, however,
words which you need to be able to use yourself. Clearly, you need to spend
most time learning this last type. In the text below, choose 5 new words which
you think would be useful for you to learn as active vocabulary. (McCarthy &
O’Dell, 2001, p. 4)

English vocabulary has a remarkable range, flexibility and adaptability.

Thanks to the periods of contact with foreign languages and its readiness to
coin new words out of old elements, English seems to have more words in its
core vocabulary than other languages. For example, alongside ‘kingly’ (from
Anglo-Saxon) we find ‘royal’ (from French) and ‘regal’ (from Latin). There are
many such sets of words which add greatly to our opportunities to express
subtle shades of meaning at various levels of style.

Did you know that 85% of what we say is communicated with

only 200 basic words?

What is core vocabulary?

Core vocabulary is a list of words that have been determined to be highly
useful for communicating in both social and academic contexts. A core
vocabulary is comprised of the words that are used most commonly in
communication (Yorkston et al., 1988).

CHARACTERISTICS:
 - Relatively big/small in size
- It varies little/a lot across individuals or environments.
- Limited/Open set of highly useful words
- Very few nouns/verbs are included in core vocabulary

I. WHAT DOES KNOWING A WORD MEAN

It is not enough just to know the meaning of a word. To really be able to know a
word in a foreign language as well as a native speaker means the ability to:

a. recognise it in its s and w forms.

b. r it with ease when you need to use
it.
c. r it to an appropriate object or concept.
d. use it with the correct g .
e. in speech, p it in a recognisable way.
f. in writing, s it correctly.
g. use it with other words it is associated with, i.e. in the correct
c______________.
h. use it at the appropriate level of f .
i. be aware of its c and associations.

What would you need to know about the following words?

scissors advice

weather lose

teach trousers