View Content #23929

By Misaki Kato, CASLS Fellow, PhD Student, Department of Linguistics

Objectives: Learners will be able to:

• Brainstorm and share possible vocabulary learning strategies.
• Apply the vocabulary learning strategies to new vocabulary learning.
• Assess their own vocabulary learning strategies and determine their functionality.

Materials needed:

• Vocabulary cards of 10 words (Table 1)
• Vocabulary quiz (Table 2)
• Vocabulary learning strategies handout
• Optional: new vocabulary words (5-10 words) with their definitions

Procedure:

1. Explain to students that they are going to memorize 10 English words and their definitions in 5-10 minutes (You could decide the exact time, but 10 minutes would be the maximum). There will be a quiz after 5-10 minutes. Students can use any strategy or resources that they have (e.g., the instructor, dictionary, cell phones, etc.).
2. Give students the 10 words (see Table 1).
3. Do the quiz (see Table 2). Students compare answers with partners/group members. Check the answers with the whole class.
4. Analyze: Have students discuss the following questions in groups. You can put the questions on the board:
   • What kinds of strategies did you use to memorize the 10 words?
   • How well did they work?
   • Do you use the same strategies when you memorize new vocabulary at home? If not, what other strategies do you use?

5. Ask students what they talked about in groups (i.e., their answers to the 3 questions). If students do not speak up, you could ask one person from each group to share their ideas - it’s up to you how you want to do it. You could write down students’ ideas on the board or type them and project them on the big screen.
6. Observe and Analyze: Introduce the Vocabulary learning strategies handout. Review the handout as a class, modeling each strategy and then ask students to do the task.
7. Extend: Students try using the strategies that they just discussed to memorize the new 10 words. Students could try to memorize the 10 words from the earlier activity better. Alternatively, introduce a new set of 10 or so words (e.g., words for the next vocabulary quiz).
8. Do the quiz. After the quiz, ask students whether they found the strategies that would work well and encourage them to keep working on finding ones that work for them.

Notes/Modifications:

This activity is modified and extended based on the one introduced in Cohen and Weaver (2005). Cohen, A. D., & Weaver, S. J. (2005). Styles and strategies-based instruction: A teachers’ guide. Minneapolis, MN: Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition.