Vocabulary project: Analysis of vocabulary Lena Shvidko Ling 675 Fall 2010

Vocabulary project:Analysis of vocabulary

Lena Shvidko Ling 675Fall 2010

Ling 675: Analysis of vocabulary

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The need: • Name of the class: Reading Foundations A at the English Language

Center

• Ethno-linguistic make-up of the students: 16 students from the following countries: Mexico, Taiwan, Venezuela, Japan, Korea, Columbia, Honduras, Chile, Guatemala, and China.

• Skill levels of the students: Low beginning

• What English: Foundations A track is focused on building the language skills and knowledge necessary for basic interpersonal communication.

• Texts: 9 narrative texts (register: fiction, length: 30-60 pages)


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Leather S. “Just Like a Movie”


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Lobel A. “Days With Frog and Toad”


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Lobel A. “Frog and Toad All Year”


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Lobel A. “Frog and Toad Are Friends”


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London J “The Call of the Wild”


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Nesbit E. “The Railway Children”


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Prowse P. “Help”


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Verne J. “Round the World in Eighty Days”


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Vicary T. “Mary, Queen of Scots”


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General readability

Book Readability (Avg. Grade Level)Leather S. “Just Like a Movie” 2.24

Lobel A. “Days With Frog and Toad 1.58

Lobel A. “Frog and Toad All Year 1.76

Lobel A. “Frog and Toad Are Friends” 1.88

London J “The Call of the Wild” 4.00

Nesbit E. “The Railway Children” 3.36

Prowse P. “Help” 2.36

Verne J. “Round the World in Eighty

Days”

3.86

Vicary T. “Mary, Queen of Scots” 3.26


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012345 Readability (Average Grade Level)


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Coverage

WORD LIST TOKENS/% TYPES/% FAMILIES

one 38896/84.84 1136/48.67 615

two 2239/ 4.88 319/13.67 233

three 871/ 1.90 118/ 5.06 97not in the lists 3843/ 8.38

761/32.60 ?????Total 45849 2334

945


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Specialized words inventory

• Most of the items are names of people, countries, and places.

• Almost no evidence of derivational and inflectional relationship.

• Very low proportion of Greek and Latin based words.


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Frequent phrases inventory“Call of the Wild” (3 phrases)

• on the ground• a thousand dollars• again and again• around his neck• in front of• in the north• away from the• in the snow• pulled the rope• a long rest• barked at him• behind the sledge• down the river• in the middle• into the woods• like this new• stopped next to• very happy with• were afraid of

“Help” (3 phrases)• i looked at• angry with me• second half of• closed the door• finish the book• i got up• i sat down• i want to• in the kitchen• looked at me• we're going to• went into the• at the table• go to work• lots of rich


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Teaching tool • Bingo activity for words not in list • Example: “Toad and Frog Are Friends”, “Toad and Frog All

Year”, and “Days With Toad And Frog”.


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Rationale for using this activity:

• 1) The specialized words in these books (just like in other books of the course) are concrete and visual and thus can be effectively learned by the means of images.

• 2) The selected activity has multiple variations that allows learners to activate several types of word knowledge (i.e. meaning, use in the context, pronunciation, and spelling).

• 3) The activity by its nature is targeted towards the lower level of learners.


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Bingo grids


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Sentences with the words: • They walked back to the large meadow. • Today you look very green even for a frog. • They sat on the riverbank. • He put his bathing suit back in the closet. • He wrote a letter and put in the mailbox. • It was a perfect day to run a kite in the sky. • He had wide red pants on.• The little dragonfly was sitting on the flower. • It was dark outside, so he took a lantern with him. • The snake was friendly and not dangerous. • Toad sent you a letter. • He received a gift from the crow. • The turtle did not think it was funny. • The green lizard was hardly to see in the grass. • He found an old horn in the attic. • Two snails were sitting nearby.


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Thank you!

Documents

Vocabulary project: Analysis of vocabulary Lena Shvidko Ling 675 Fall 2010