Event
HomeApplying Research When Making a University-Wide Vocabulary Program: Doing What Works, Not What Is Easy
Sunday, March 25th, 2018, 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Speaker: Stuart McLean (Osaka Jogakuin)
This presentation will briefly introduce empirical research findings which all too often fail to influence university vocabulary program design. The presentation will then describe the challenges the presenter found when planning, implementing and then further developing a university-wide research based bilingual vocabulary program. While research posits that participants who learn vocabulary increase their vocabulary knowledge, implementing meaningful vocabulary learning across an entire institution is rare. The most important aspects of the vocabulary program were the expanding (not changing) test ranges and the use of productive tests to monitor learning. The program aimed to fill in gaps of students knowledge of high-frequency general English vocabulary, academic English vocabulary, and TOEIC vocabulary. Collectively, learners spend tens of thousands of hours studing vocabulary, and teachers and administrators spend hundreds of hours organizing vocabulary learning. As a result, the second half of the presentation discusses how to appropriately measure different aspects of vocabulary knowledge for different purposes.
Organization: Hiroshima Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching (Hiroshima JALT)
Cost: JALT Members: free
Non-members: 1,000 yen (500 yen for students)
Venue: International Conference Center Hiroshima (map)
Location: Hiroshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan
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