Topic: Teaching Vocabulary

How we learn the vocabulary of an additional language has been the focus of intense research in recent years. Researchers have looked at what it means to know a word, the types of words we should be teaching our students, and the types of activities we should be using to teach those words. The results of this research are presented in the courses in this section.

Using Flashcards to Teach Vocabulary

When teaching vocabulary we want to reinforce the information we are giving students verbally and in writing with visual information. This allows us to provide further visual information that visual learners can process to go along with the verbal information for auditory learners. We can also address the needs of tactile and kinesthetic learners by using activities that require student interaction with the learning materials. We can accomplish all of these goals through the use of flash cards. This session will present 20 flash card activities that allow us as teachers to meet the needs of students with all language learning styles.

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Teaching the Academic Word List

In 2000, Averil Coxhead determined that there was a set of words that was crucial for success in an English academic context, the Academic Word List. This brought about a large change in the way vocabulary for English for Academic Purposes was viewed. In this course, we will look at what the Academic Word List is, the background to its development, why it is important for both instructors and students to be aware of it, and finally some strategies and activities to use when teaching the Academic Word List.

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