Synopses & Reviews
This text offers a comprehensive introduction to vocabulary for language teachers who would like to know more about the way vocabulary works. It provides the background knowledge necessary for practitioners to make informed choices about vocabulary teaching and testing. The overall theme is making research and theory accessible, and then drawing on it to suggest effective classroom applications. Chapters 1 and 2 provide linguistic and historical background. Chapters 3-7 describe the various kinds of knowledge a person can have about a word, how vocabulary behaves in context, and how it is acquired. Chapters 8 and 9 focus on issues in teaching and testing vocabulary. The chapters include teaching applications, exercises, and suggestions for further reading. The appendices include a word list of academic vocabulary and a vocabulary test.
Review
'This is the book many of us have been hoping for during the past decade: a clear introduction to what vocabulary research has to offer the language teacher. I would say this book lives up to its promise. Any teacher interested in vocabulary acquisition will benefit from reading it.' VVLE Newsletter, Belgium
Review
'This is a very good introduction to recent research on vocabulary. It provides the background knowledge needed to understand current issues in vocabulary research, teaching and testing. I would recommend [it] to anyone wanting to get to grips with the major issues being discussed in the field of vocabulary studies.' ELT Journal
Table of Contents
1 Introduction; 2 History of Vocabulary in Language Learning; 3 Aspects of Knowing a Word - Meaning and Organization; 4 Aspects of Knowing a Word - Word Form and Grammatical Knowledge; 5 The Use of Corpora in Vocabulary Studies; 6 Vocabulary in Discourse; 7 Vocabulary Acquisition; 8 Teaching and Learning Vocabulary; 9 Assessing Vocabulary Knowledge.