Awell-balancedlanguagecourseshouldcontainfourstrandsthatoccupyroughlyequalmaountsoftime.Thesefourstrandsareasfollows:
Learningfrommeaning-focusedinput.Thisinvolveslearningandestablishinglanguageitemsthroughlisteningandreading.Thelearnigninthisstrandislargelyincidentallearningbecausethelearners#39;mainfocusofattentionisonthecontentofwhattheyarelisteningtoorreading.
Learningfrommeaning-focusedoutput.Thisinvolveslearningorestablishinglanguageitemsthroughspeakingorwriting,andlikethemeaning-focusedinputstrandthelearningislargelyincidental.
Language-focusedlearning.Thisstrandinvolvesdeliberatelearningwhichisfocusedonlanguageitems.Itincludesstudyingvocabularyandgrammar,learningandpractisingnewsounds,andstudyingdiscoursefeatures.Thisstrandinvolvesstudyofthelanguagesystem.
Developingfluency.Thisstrandinvolvesnounknownlanguageitems,andcoversthefourskillsoflistening,speaking,readingandwriting.Inthisstrandlearnerspractisemakingthebestuseofwhatisalreadyknown.
Thesefourstrandsallprovideopportunitiesforvocabularylearning.
HowwouldImakevocabularyapartofmycourse?Therearenumerousoptionsforfocussingonvocabularyasapartofalanguageproficiencycourse.Theremaybespecificlessonsdevotedtovocabularydevelopment,orthefocusonvocabularymaybeintegratedwithetheskillsoflistening,speaking,readingandwriting.Alternatively,vocabularymaybejustdealtwithasitoccurs,butisdealtwithinaprincipledway.ThefollowingtaskgetsyoutoreflectonhowIwoulddealwithvocabularyinmylesson.
PLANNINGTHEVOCABULARYCOMPONENTOFACOURSE
1.thinkaboutalanguagecourseIteachandanswerthequestions:
a.WillIhavespecialclassesonvocabularyorwillIdealwithvocabularyinthevariouspartsofthecourse?
b.WhatlevelofvocabularywillIbefocusingonthe1st1000words,thesecond1000words,academicwords,technicalvocabulary,lowfrequencywords?
c.Howlongismycourseandhowmanywordsdoyouexpectlearnerstolearnduringthecourse?
2.Whichstrandwouldbethehardestformetoimplementinmycourse?WhatsolutionscanIthinkoftoovercometheimplementationproblems?