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A Deeper Understanding of L2 Vocabulary Learning and Teaching: A Review

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DOI: 10.11648/j.ijll.20160401.16

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International Journal of Language and Linguistics
2016; 4(1): 40-46
Published online February 25, 2016 (http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/ijll)
doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20160401.16
ISSN: 2330-0205 (Print); ISSN: 2330-0221 (Online)

Review Article
A Deeper Understanding of L2 Vocabulary Learning and
Teaching: A Review Study
Fooziyeh Rasouli1, 2, Khadijeh Jafari1, 2, *
1
Department of English Language Teaching, Golestan Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Gorgan, Iran
2
Department of English Language Teaching, Gorgan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Gorgan, Iran

Email address:
nastaran.rasouli17@yahoo.com (F. Rasouli), khadijehjafari2002@yahoo.com (K. Jafari)

To cite this article:

Fooziyeh Rasouli, Khadijeh Jafari. A Deeper Understanding of L2 Vocabulary Learning and Teaching: A Review Study. International Journal
of Language and Linguistics. Vol. 4, No. 1, 2016, pp. 40-46. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20160401.16

Abstract: Teaching vocabulary is one of the most important ways of developing students’ vocabulary knowledge. This paper
provides a thorough review of vocabulary learning and teaching from a research perspective. A great body of scientific research
has supported the fact that vocabulary is one of the most significant components of any language which must be dealt with much
care and attention in early stages of second/foreign language learning. As an introduction, we describe the role and importance of
vocabulary in second language learning. Then, how different methods and approaches have dealt with teaching vocabulary in the
classrooms are discussed. Then, two types of vocabulary, incidental and intentional, are thoroughly described. Finally, we
elaborate vocabulary learning strategies and explain in detail four factors affecting vocabulary learning strategies of
second/foreign language learners.

Keywords: Vocabulary Learning, Vocabulary Teaching, Second Language Acquisition

Generally, vocabulary means knowledge of words as well

1. Importance of Vocabulary in Language as explanations of meanings of words. Word refers to a sound
Learning or combination of sounds which communicates a meaning and
is represented in written or spoken form (Schmitt & Schmitt,
Language includes four basic skills: listening, speaking, 2005). But knowing a word is far beyond knowing the
reading and writing. Apparently, it seems that everyone who meaning of the word. Nation (1990) suggested that word
intends to master a language, either L1 or L2, must only knowledge includes the mastery in several sets of information:
attempt these four skills. But in addition to these skills, the fact Meaning: to know the explicit and implicit (if any)
is that language has three more components: vocabulary, meaning of a word.
pronunciation and grammar. Vocabulary is fundamental to Written form: to know the spelling or dictation of a word.
English language teaching. Without adequate vocabulary, Spoken form: to know the pronunciation of a word.
students cannot understand others or express their own Part of speech: to know if the word is noun, verb,
thoughts Vocabulary is defined as the words of a language, adjective, etc.
including single items and phrases or chunks of several words Frequency: to know if the word is old-fashioned,
which covey a particular meaning (Lessard-Clouston, 2013). common or rare.
Regarding the critical role of vocabulary in communication, Collocations: to know the certain words that accompany
Wilkin (1972, pp. 111-112) pointed out that “while without a word.
grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary Register: to know if the word is formal or informal;
nothing can be conveyed.” Lewis (1993, p.89) also wrote that general or technical.
“lexis is the core or heart of language”. The importance of Associations: to know how does a word relate to other
vocabulary in language learning is also known to students. As words.
Schmitt (2010, p.4) stated, “learners carry around dictionaries Therefore teachers and learners are expected to learn these
and not grammar books”. aspects of each new word which is technically referred to as
 International Journal of Language and Linguistics 2016; 4(1): 40-46 41

"vocabulary depth". On the other hand, the number of words vocabulary, as Zimmerman (1997) explains, must consider the
that learners must learn is also an important issue which is learners’ needs, their level of learning and their academic or
called "vocabulary breadth". In addition to vocabulary depth professional goals. The choice of words must be done with
and breadth, there are other challenges that teachers, learners, regard to three factors:
and educationalists deal with. McCarten (2007) refers to a Word frequency
number of needed words as well as an appropriate list of Salience in course content
words besides other challenges in the field. Corpus (Zimmerman, 1997)
According to Zimmerman (2009), it is not easy to find out A word with high frequency is an important word in
how many words are there in English because, as he language. To have access to a solid body of frequent English
exemplifies, items such as differ, difference, different, and words, teachers deal with different word lists such as GSL
differently are considered one word or four? A major problem (General Service List), UWL (University Word List) or AWL
with counting word families is deciding what should be (Academic Word List). GSL is a high frequency word list
counted as a member of a word family. The most conservative including 2000 word families in a variety of contexts, such as
way, according to Nation (2000), is to count lemmas. A lemma conversations, novels, news programs, etc. Nation (2001)
is a set of related words that consists of the stem form and believes that 80% of written texts and 90% of conversations
inflected forms that are all the same part of speech. So, differ, are made up of GSL word list. For general academic
differs, differed, and differing would all be members of the preparation, there is another word list known as academic
same lemma because they all have the same stem – all are word list (AWL) which is selected from a 3.5 million corpus.
verbs. Despite such difficulties, researchers have attempted to AWL contains 570 word families in the fields of business,
find out how many words native speakers know, so that they humanities, law, the physical and life sciences.
can realize the number of words needed for EFL or ESL Words that are selected to be studied in EFL or ESL classes
learners. An estimation is that native speakers of English must have a key role in the content of the passage. So a word is
know between 12,000 to 20,000 words depending on their salient when it is of central importance in a given context.
educational level. Goulden, Nation and Reed (1990) believe Unnecessary and unimportant words rarely motivate the
that native graduate students of university know about 20,000 students to learn them (Mehring, 2005). Core words of a
words. These native speakers of English obtain 4,000 to 5,000 context encourage the students to frequent retention, repetition,
words when they are five years old and then they roughly learn and discussion of such words.
1,000 words each year. But it does not mean that The final factor for choosing the words is corpus. Corpus is
communication in English language with limited word the “large, principled collection of naturally occurring texts
knowledge is impossible. It is said that a large section of texts (written or spoken) stored electronically” (Reppen, 2010, P.2).
in English can be understood by relatively little vocabulary In conducting research on vocabulary and also in providing
and this is good news for non-native speakers of English since word lists to teach in EFL /ESL classes, corpus plays a vital
their vocabulary knowledge cannot exceed 5,000. Francis and role and gives the following set of information:
Kucera (1982) claim that learners who know 5,000 words can Frequency: which words, phrases or expressions are
understand 88.7 percent of an average text. more frequent than others;
To put more emphasis on importance of vocabulary Differences in speech or writing: which words are used
knowledge, Laufer and Ravenhorst-Kalovsky (2010) show in spoken context and which words in written ones;
that vocabulary knowledge is a key predictor of reading Contexts of use: the situations and conditions in which
success and the great deal of vocabulary growth is a direct people use special words;
result of reading. According to Hu and Nation (2000), learners Collocations: which words usually accompany one
need to know about 98% of the words in an oral or written text another; and
to comprehend it. Therefore, Schmitt (2008 a) concludes that a Strategic use of vocabulary: which words or expressions
vocabulary size between 8,000 and 9,000 words is needed to are more suitable for certain classrooms (McCarten,
comprehend novels and newspapers. Schmitt continues, to 2007).
have 98% coverage of spoken English, between 6,000
and7,000 words are needed.
Selecting the words that must be taught is not an easy task. 2. A Historical Look at Vocabulary
When it comes to the question of which words must be taught, Instruction
teachers tend to differentiate between two types of
vocabulary: The role of vocabulary in second language instruction has
Increasing vocabulary changed over the time. In order to show the fluctuations in the
Establishing vocabulary function and importance of vocabulary instruction in EFL
Considering Nation’s (1990) idea that “old material in any /ESL classes, Schmitt (2000) investigates the vocabulary
lesson is the most important” (P.7), it is wise to give more instruction in six main approaches to language learning. The
attention to known words. Therefore, teachers prefer to teach following paragraphs will demonstrate the role and function of
the words that are familiar for their students but students vocabulary from the early twentieth century onwards:
cannot use them in their own production. The choices of target Grammar-Translation Method. In this approach, the
42 Fooziyeh Rasouli and Khadijeh Jafari: A Deeper Understanding of L2 Vocabulary Learning and Teaching: A Review Study

primary goal is to prepare the students to study literary works language because they know some words of that language
and to be able to pass standardized language exams. In GTM, (Richards & Rodgers, 2000).
students are not required to use language for communication Communicative Language Teaching: This approach
purposes. Teachers ask the learners to translate a classical text includes various methods and its central belief is that language
into their own mother tongue, and vocabulary instruction is is a means of communication. CLT advocates believe that
limited to a definition of the word and its etymology. Little understanding the structures of language is not as important as
attention was given to other aspects of word knowledge such the ability to communicate by language. Vocabulary is
as pronunciation, collocation, register, etc. One of the selected from authentic materials according to their usefulness
achievements of this approach which is related to vocabulary in real life communicating situations. But what is certain now
is bilingual dictionaries as reference tools for translation from is that experts of language teaching and learning consider a
target language into learners’ native language. strategic role for vocabulary in language learning success.
Reform Approach. In contrast to GTM in which sound or
phonetic training is completely ignored, in the reform 3. Learning Vocabulary in SLA Context
approach the emphasis is on phonetic training or oral language
fluency. Vocabulary selection is made according to word Undoubtedly, learning vocabulary is an essential part of
simplicity and usefulness. Since in this approach the focus is language mastery (Schmitt, 2008). Developing rich
on sentence rather than isolated words, the words are simple vocabulary is a necessity for both L1 and L2 learners but due
and practical, such as names of different parts of an to incremental nature of word learning, it is an on-going
automobile, or articles of clothing, because phonetic training challenge. Therefore, so far there has not been a method that
of such simple words is easier than complex technical words. best enhances vocabulary learning (Yongqui – Gu 2003;
Direct Method: Both the direct method and reform Schmitt, 2008 b).
approach were reactions against the grammar-translation
method. DM can be said to be the first approach that 3.1. Intentional and Incidental Learning
emphasized a communicative role in language. The purpose of Word learning involves both intentional (explicit) learning
this approach is to train students who can communicate in a which is the focused study of words and incidental learning.
foreign language, and the mechanism of choosing vocabulary Incidental learning happens when the words are picked up
is their familiarity and their use in classroom interaction. while the learner’s attention is on language use (Zimmerman
Therefore, the classroom context is the criteria for both in Celce-Murcia, 2014, p. 297). There are different ideas about
vocabulary selection and students’ interactions. the best way to learn vocabulary. Nation (2001) believed that
Reading Approach: Extreme attention to and complete form, collocation and word classes should be taught / learned
ignorance of a language skill or component is proved to be incidentally but aspects of meaning, register and other
ineffective in teaching or learning practice (Richards & constraints are better learned through direct explicit
Rodgers 2000). In the reform approach, complete attention is instruction. Schmitt (2008 b), however, puts more emphasis
given to pronunciation and in the direct method oral on intentional learning.
communication is the primary concern. The reading approach Brown et al. (2008) and Mins (2008) state that vocabulary
is a response to declining reading scores in the U. S. schools. gained from reading is relatively small and not necessarily
To select the target language context, the advocates of reading efficient. Conscious attention and noticing are generally the
approach favored a scientific and quantifiable perspective in first steps of learning but it is highly possible that while
language classes. They criticized that focusing on speech reading, learners may not notice the unknown words. That’s
without selecting the content in a principled way is not useful. why incidental vocabulary learning through reading is not
They believed that vocabulary expansion can lead to reading always successful. To improve the effectiveness of incidental
improvement. It can be said that the reading approach played a learning, Bowels (2004) suggests using gloss because it helps
great scientific role in drawing attentions to vocabulary. to direct learners’ attention to particular words.
Vocabulary Control Movement is a result of this approach
which later led to the advent of frequency-based word lists. 3.2. Effective Vocabulary Instruction
Vocabulary was emphasized in language instruction and they
were selected according to their usefulness and frequency. As mentioned earlier, vocabulary learning is an on-going
West (1953) introduced a General Service List of English challenge which demands much time to achieve a mastery
words which includes 2000 most frequent words in English. level. Relying on different research studies, there are four
Audiolingualism: Based on the behavioristic view of habit tasks for vocabulary learning:
formation, the audiolingual approach emphasized listening Repetition
and speaking skills as well as syntax and language structure. Focus on both meaning and form
Charles Fries, the founder of ALM, believed that language Engagement
learning starts with syntactic structure. According to Fries, Interaction and negotiation
vocabulary is an object of illustrating grammatical points. In Repetition: repeated exposure to target word is of great
this approach, too much focus on words must be avoided importance for vocabulary learning. There is a lot to learn
because learners may mistakenly believe that they know the about a single word, so the learners need to meet it several
 International Journal of Language and Linguistics 2016; 4(1): 40-46 43

times to gain the required information. Webb (2007) explains classifies them into four groups: 1) strategies of memorization,
that for each repetition of a word, at least one piece of word 2) strategies of practice, strategies of dictionary, 3) strategies
knowledge is acquired; therefore, a typical learner should of note-taking and 4) strategies of group work.
meet a word about 8 to 10 times to obtain full word knowledge. Gu and Johnson (1996) studied the strategies used by
What is worth mentioning here is the intervals between the Chinese students and came up with a list of 91 vocabulary
repetitions. Nation (2001) refers to the conducted studies on learning strategies (VLS). They classified these 91 VLS into
memory and reports that “most forgetting takes place two groups: Metacognitive VLS and cognitive VLS. Schmitt
immediately after first encounter with new information. That (2000) introduced and diffrentiated between discovery
is, the older the piece of knowledge, the more slowly it will be strategies (strategies for learning the meaning of unknown
forgotten. This suggests that the first several encounters words) and consolidation strategies (strategies for both
should be close together, with later encounters spaced farther learning word meaning and integrating it into the vocabulary),
apart” (p.24). and then he added another group of strategies called
Focus on meaning and form: Learners should be provided "determination of meaning strategies". These VLS
with opportunities to focus both on form and meaning. Nation classifications combine direct strategies (memory, cognitive,
(2008) has introduced the idea of “the four strands” which compensation) with indirect strategies (metacognitive, social,
proposes a balance between form and meaning: and affective) that were introduced by Oxford (1990) and
Focusing on meaning-focused input O’Malley and Chamot (1990). Niyokos and Fan (2007)
Focusing on meaning-focused output introduced four factors that affect VLS use:
Focusing on language-focused learning Proficiency level of the learner
Focusing on fluency development Individual variation and gender
Nation believes that it is necessary to provide the learners Strategy use development
with opportunities to focus on these four strands so that they Learning environment
can produce a word and focus on its form and meaning.
Engagement: When learners reflect on words and their use, 4.1. Proficiency Level of the Learners
it means that they thoughtfully analyze the words. This is Hosefeld (1997) studied the behavior of good readers and
technically referred to as engagement. When learners pay bad readers of texts and observed that good readers read at the
enough attention to a task and have to manipulate it, they learn phrasal level and can keep a general meaning of the passage in
or do the task more effectively and this is true also for word mind while skipping and ignoring unessential words. Hosefeld
learning. Stirling (2003) found that “learners who used target understood that good readers do not use the glossary and guess
words in a writing task remembered them better than those the meaning of words by the help of the context. On the other
who saw them only in a reading task, partly because they hand, poor readers read the text word by word (unlike good
needed to understand a linguistic aspect of the word to readers who read at the phrasal level). It was also reported that
complete the task and they were required to search for the instead of guessing the meaning from the context, they
information” (p.4). frequently referred to glossary.
Interaction and negotiation: the other effective task for Sanaoui (1995) indicated that successful learners follow a
vocabulary instruction is interaction and negotiation. As structured approach while learning new words. For example,
discussed in the previous paragraphs, word learning is a successful students actively monitored and reviewed the words
consequence of exposure, attention, time, and manipulation. they were learning. In their free times, they used every
Oral interaction and negotiation can effectively include opportunity to practice and review the newly-learned words.
exposure, attention, time and manipulation. Zimmerman Predictably, unsuccessful learners did not have any structured
(1997) explains that learners typically acquire the words that approach and instead of spending time to review the new words,
are commonly used in interaction; and there is no they wasted their time doing actions that were not required by
improvement of the words that learners see only on the course and had little contribution to their learning.
worksheets. Vocabulary knowledge cannot be taught and transferred
only by the teacher. The greater part of the vocabulary
4. Vocabulary Learning Strategies learning success depends on the learner himself/herself.
Activities outside the classroom lead to more effective
According to Nation (2001, p.217), vocabulary learning vocabulary learning and this is what was shown by
strategies (VLS) are part of “general learning strategies” (p. Kojic-Sabo and Lightbown (1999). They investigated the
217). Cameron (2001, p.92) also defines VLS as “actions that participation of 47 ESL and 43 EFL learners and found out
learners take to help themselves understand and remember that more frequent and more elaborate strategy use, such as
vocabulary” (p. 92). VLS deal with lexical dimension of practicing the vocabulary outside the classroom context, leads
language learning and are usually measured through four to higher levels of vocabulary learning.
methodological approaches: questionnaire, interview, Ahmed (1989) also supports the idea that more successful
self-report and think aloud (Niyokos & Fan in Cohen & language learners use more complicated vocabulary learning
Macaro, 2007, p.8). Ahmed (1989) observes that his Sudanese strategies. He believes that good learners differ from
students used 38 strategies in vocabulary learning, and unsuccessful learners in terms of their frequent use of
44 Fooziyeh Rasouli and Khadijeh Jafari: A Deeper Understanding of L2 Vocabulary Learning and Teaching: A Review Study

‘practice’ strategy category. According to him, when elicitation (social elicitation strategies), planning and rehearsal
successful language learners learn a new word, they use it in strategies and consolidation strategies than the range used by
real or imagined situations; while less successful or weaker males (cited in Cohen and Macaro 2007, p.257). Therefore,
learners showed little awareness of what they could learn when very different students are equally successful in a given
about new words. Another common behavior among less task or situation, the justification would be the implementation
successful learners was that they were not interested in of various vocabulary learning strategies (Gu, 2003).
learning or using new words in context or real situation.
In another context, to study the strategy use among more 4.3. Strategy Use Development
proficient students, Fan (2003) used a VLS questionnaire and Another aspect of vocabulary learning strategies is related
a simultaneous vocabulary test. 1067 Hong Kong ESL to time. The related literature in the field does not provide us
students who have been newly admitted to the universities with enough proof that whether strategy use changes over the
took part in her study. The results of the study revealed that time or not. Schmitt (2008 b) compared different age groups
more proficient students plan to learn the vocabulary both of students at high school and university. These participants
inside and outside the class. They used both guessing reported that at the early stages of word learning, they were
strategies and dictionary strategies. Guessing strategies they dependent on word repetition, word spelling, word lists,
used were along with their knowledge of grammar and textbook vocabulary activities and flashcards. But as they
morphology. Dictionary strategies they used included became more proficient, the use of these strategies were
searching for English definitions of the new vocabulary, decreased and replaced by using bilingual dictionaries,
pronunciation and appropriate use of those words in sentence. guessing form context, asking teachers for more explanations,
Teng (2015) examined the relationship between vocabulary paying attention to parts of speech and establishing relations
learning strategy use and vocabulary knowledge. The or connections between the words and their own personal
researcher explored the correlation between direct and indirect experiences.
vocabulary learning strategies along with the depth and Harley and Hart (2000) explored the VLS use from
breadth of vocabulary knowledge. To measure the breadth of elementary up to advanced level among 9th grade and 11th
vocabulary, the Vocabulary Levels Test (Schmitt et al., 2001) grade early immersion French class. 9th grade students favored
and to measure the depth of vocabulary repertoire, Word doing list learning and English translation which was regarded
Associates Test (Read, 1993) was administered for 145 low as useless by 11th grade learners. Thanks to their greater
proficiency students. Concerning the vocabulary learning proficiency, 11th grade students preferred using l1-like
strategy use, another questionnaire was used to gather data strategies (strategies that L1 students use to learn vocabulary).
about the learners’ preferred strategies. This study lead to For 11th grade students, hearing a new word in spoken English
these findings: (a) direct strategies were more favored by EFL context was more helpful than reading that word in a reading
students (except for direct cognitive analyzing strategy), and context, but 9th grade students found reading new words in
(b), indirect strategies were less frequently used strategies. A context to be more useful than hearing them in oral context
significant and positive correlation was also found between because they needed more processing time. Finally, it is wise
the participants' scores in strategy use and breadth and depth to conclude that as the proficiency improves, the learners tend
of vocabulary knowledge. Another finding was that EFL to use more meta-cognitive strategies.
students with a higher level of depth and breadth of lexical Seddigh (2012) conducted an empirical study to investigate
repertoire tended to use strategies that were more indirect; vocabulary learning strategies of medical students in Iran
therefore in Thailand’s context, use of indirect strategies, e.g., where English is considered as foreign language. She
self-planning, self-monitoring, and self-evaluating were administered a questionnaire to 120 medical students (53
reported to be highly important and effective. males, 67 females) to collect a couple of data: 1) the effective
To sum up the findings of these studies, it can be concluded types of vocabulary learning strategies used by the learners
that more proficient students apply a greater range of and 2) the differences in vocabulary strategy use based on
strategies in the process of learning new words, compared gender. The results revealed that guessing and dictionary
with less proficient learners. strategies were the most frequently used VLS and study
4.2. Individual Variation and Gender preference strategies were the least used ones. A statistically
significant difference was observed in the mean scores of the
Individual differences play an important role in the process eight vocabulary learning strategies. From the gender
of language learning (Dornyei, 2005). More proficient perspective, the females utilized more VLS than males
language users use a more diverse set of vocabulary learning especially in the case of guessing and note-taking strategies.
strategies. It should, however, be mentioned that even among She finally figured out that there is a significant difference
proficient learners, VLS use differs due to their gender and between the students' gender and their choice of VLS.
individual variations. Gu (2005) reported that the performance
of female students was significantly better than that of male 4.4. Learning Environment
students in both general proficiency and vocabulary size. There is a relationship between learning environment and
Catalan (2003) showed that female students use a greater strategy use that reflects the communicative demands and
range of VLS including formal rule-related strategies, input
 International Journal of Language and Linguistics 2016; 4(1): 40-46 45

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