Fostering vocabulary acquisition through self-learning tools and electronic dictionaries

FOSTERING

VOCABULARY ACQUISITION THROUGH SELF-LEARNING TOOLS AND ELECTRONIC DICTIONARIES

Isabel Pérez

Torres & Mª del Mar Sánchez Ramos

It is important to accept that CALL can genuinely lead to autonomy,

to a state in which learners exercise as much control as possible over

the learning process and are as little dependent on the teacher as possible

(Jones 2001)

INTRODUCTION

The acquisition of vocabulary occupies a key position in learning a second

language. As teachers of English we should offer a fairly wide range of

possibilities in order to improve and reinforce lexical competence. It

is also evident that New Technologies offer a great number of resources

for the English classroom. Thus, several studies (Al-Seghayer 2001; Aust

1993; Chun & Plass 1996) have proved that CALL and multimedia environments

are really helpful in order to learn vocabulary. At this point it seems

necessary to know how to integrate multimedia materials to increase lexical

competence.

This paper will demonstrate

how to use two interactive tools in the English classroom. On the one

hand, we will use electronic dictionaries. Though traditionally viewed

as a demotivated resource, dictionaries are one of the most valuable vocabulary

strategies. In fact, they offer all the linguistic information a student

needs to understand words. On the other hand, we will work with one specific

authoring tool called Hot Potatoes. This resource allows teachers to design

activities without being particularly skilful in computers. In short,

our proposal is to connect both tools and show a sample of activities

to be developed in a multimedia environment, which will promote learner

autonomy and increase learner motivation.

THE IMPORTANCE OF TEACHING

AND LEARNING VOCABULARY

Lexical competence is an

important aspect in English Language Teaching-ELT. Nevertheless, vocabulary

has not been systematically taught in the English classroom and therefore

lexical aspects have been undervalued and subordinated to the study of

grammatical structures (Nation 1998). Everybody would agree that words

are essential components when learning a second language-L2. One of the

main principles in EFL is that the number of words will delimit the understanding

of a L2. Taking into account this last statement, different researchers

(Laufer 1997; Nation 2000) warn about the importance of acquiring a minimum

of vocabulary so that students can understand a text. We can take Laufer

(1997:20) as an example. She states that “no text comprehension is

possible, either in one’s native language or in a foreign language, without

understanding the text’s vocabulary”. The aim of her research is

to establish the close relation between the level of vocabulary and reading.

Briefly, her final results set about 5,000 words in order to understand

98% of a text. D. Hirsh and P. Nation (1992) obtain similar conclusions.

They propose an approximate number of 2,000-3,000 words to ensure the

comprehension of texts.

Although most methods devoted

to Bachillerato pay great attention to the study of vocabulary, when it

comes to practice it has been an abandoned aspect in favour of the study

of syntax and other language aspects. This is due, mostly, to the relatively

minor importance of the lexical section in the university entry exams

in our country. In spite of this, teachers should offer opportunities

of achieving a minimum of vocabulary.

ELECTRONIC DICTIONARIES

(ELDS) AS STRATEGIES TO LEARN VOCABULARY

When we revise ELT syllabuses

from a lexical perspective, one of the general aims is the development

of learner autonomy. Therefore, as teachers, we should assure that students

are aware of the importance of guiding their own learning in a L2 and,

particularly, their own lexical learning. In order to develop this learner

autonomy A. Hunt and D. Beglar (1998) present two well-known strategies

related to vocabulary:

a) Experiment with guessing from context.

b) Examine different types of dictionaries and teach students how to use

them.

In the present article we

pay specific attention to the latter strategy. On the one hand, dictionaries

are an extremely important vocabulary strategy, although they have been

almost neglected in the English classroom. A dictionary is like a “big

answer”: it offers the solution to a great number of our students’

questions about words. It will be beyond the scope of this article to

explain all the information a dictionary offers, but in general terms,

we can point out that this reference material provides morphological,

syntactic, semantic, lexical, and, finally, pragmatic information (Rizo

Rodriguez, 1991:112-125). On the other hand, dictionaries are tools for

autonomous learning. According to T. Herbst and G. Stain (1987:125), dictionaries

are a tool of achievement control […]. The dictionary is an institution

which enables language learners to check their own knowledge, and to eliminate

weaknesses in spelling, pronunciation, grammar and meaning […]. The

dictionary is a tool that will wean learners away from the classroom teacher

and guide them towards further independent study.

Taking into consideration

the needs and level of students of Bachillerato, in this article we will

deal with bilingual dictionaries, as this type of dictionaries are useful

at low-intermediate level. In support of this selection, we can refer

to a study by S. Luppescu & R.R.Day (1993:263). They focus on the

relation between vocabulary acquisition and the use of bilingual dictionaries

during reading. Their final results show that “students who use a

dictionary scored significantly better on a vocabulary test that students

who do not use a dictionary”. Taking a similar starting point of

departure, S. Knight (1994) tries to establish dictionary use in two different

groups: those with lower verbal ability in the target language and those

with higher verbal ability. Final results corroborate that there was a

significant improvement in levels of reading comprehension for students

who use a dictionary. “Subjects who used the dictionary not only

learned more words but also achieved higher reading comprehension scores

than those who guessed form context” (Knight 1994:295). The research

concludes that bilingual dictionary use should be encouraged for students

of low verbal ability, for whom guessing the meaning of a word from context

can be a difficult task.

Up to this point, it is worth

noting that new types of reference material have appeared in the last

few years. Thus, along with traditional printed dictionaries, we can also

find electronic dictionaries-ELDs- and the so-called online dictionaries.

ELDs offer a wide range of possibilities for the EFL classroom and can

be effectively integrated with CALL activities. This type of reference

material offers the same information as printed dictionaries, but it differs

in terms of accessibility. Generally speaking, we can highlight some features

regarding English electronic dictionaries (Perez Torres & Sánchez

Ramos 2002):

a) Interactivity. It clearly

implies students´ involvement.

b) Hypertextuality. It is related to the structure of the dictionary.

All the information is interconnected and the student can get access

to the information just clicking a key.

c) Quick access. ELDs` accessibility allows a user friendly search and

lexical units can be found more easily.

d) Multimedia effects. While design in printed dictionaries is related

to letter size and type as well as page layout, ELDs make the most of

colour, movement, sound and the use of icons that take the student to

different sources of information. Some ELDs have the facility of listening

to the pronunciation of a word. Sound could be very useful to learn

certain words (eg. whistle).

e) Extra features. ELDs contain many other extra features which cannot

be found in printed dictionaries, such as video and audio material,

corpus examples and interactive exercises and games.

In addition, it has been proved that ELDs increase the potential of

learning and motivate students to know more about English (Pérez

Torres 2002:68).

Despite all the features

described above, ELDs are still under-used and under-exploited in the

English classroom. As we will comment later on, it is still very difficult

to integrate them into our English classrooms, along with other CALL resources.

OXFORD STUDY DICTIONARY

To put into practice the

activities that we will present later on, we have chosen one of the bilingual

dictionaries currently available in the market: Oxford Study Dictionary/

Diccionario Oxford Study Interactivo para estudiantes de inglés.

Taking into account the general level of students of bachillerato, Oxford

Study Dictionary seems one of the best options. To start with, it is suitable

for Spanish students at an intermediate to advanced level, which is the

one expected for our students of bachillerato. This interactive dictionary

encompasses the full text of its printed counterpart, plus other additional

features. In short, we can underline the following features:

– Hyper linked entries,

clearly offering a quick and easy access to other related entries.

– Hundreds of useful grammar notes and a large number of idiomatic expressions.

– Option of listening to the words, as well as recording one’s own pronunciation.

– Images, appendixes and maps. Multimedia features, such as videos to

reinforce vocabulary.

– Interactive exercises to work on use of English, vocabulary and reading

comprehension, language learning games (crosswords, phrase finder, memory,

and phrase blaster).

Another interesting point

is the user-friendly design and practical format. As a final remark, we

consider that the use of interactive dictionaries, such as the one we

have used to work with our students, not only contributes to the acquisition

and reinforcement of vocabulary but also to the promotion of learner autonomy.

AUTHORING PROGRAMS

Our proposal for improving

lexical competence involves the use of a second computer learning tool:

the authoring program Hot Potatoes. The activities we have designed consist

of using the electronic dictionary as a strategy for learning vocabulary

in combination with interactive exercises created with an authoring program;

in doing so the students are impelled to use the dictionary in order to

answer the quizzes and exercises accurately. Authoring programs allow

teachers to create interactive exercises specially designed for their

classes without any need to be very skilful with computers. In the last

decades several authoring tools have been developed in support of educational

projects that had the intention of introducing computers as a teaching/learning

tool in the classroom without being restricted to close software, like

multimedia CD-Roms, and without any knowledge of computer programming.

One of the tools that has become increasingly popular among second language

teachers is Hot Potatoes. This is a software suite that comprises the

following six programs:

– JBC to create multiple

choice quizzes.

– JQuiz for short-answer quizzes.

– JMix for jumbled-sentences exercises.

– JCross to create crosswords.

– JMatch for matching exercises.

– JCloze for gap-filling exercises

In comparison with other

authoring programs, Hot Potatoes is not just a testing tool, but a self-access

learning tool that allows teachers to include feedback prompts to guide

students in wrong answers or add useful information when the answer is

correct. There are other characteristics that recommend the use of this

program. We will summarise them following what M. Holmes and S. Arneil

explained about the development of Hot Potatoes (2002).

a) The programs present an easy interface for beginner users:

– Data are entered in the main window by typing the questions and answers

or also by copying and pasting them from a word processor document.

It also allows inserting pictures and sounds.

– There is a configuration window where authors can set instructions,

colours, button captions, etc. easily.

b) The resulting exercises are web pages that are displayed on standard

browsers, such as Netscape and Explorer. This is a great advantage that

encourages use, since both browsers are freeware and usually installed

on computers. The exercises can be changed or corrected later on, as

each of the six programs create a Hot Potatoes format file that may

be transformed afterwards.

c) Having a web page format does not mean that we need to host the exercises

on a web site. We neither need to work online. The only requirement

is opening the exercises with a browser, such as Netscape or Explorer.

d) License terms permit free use and sharing of the software and materials

among the academic community, so that anyone can download and use the

program for free if it is for non-profit educational purposes .

From a pedagogical perspective

the main reason for using this program suite is that it is an excellent

self-learning tool. It helps students test their lexical knowledge and

encourages them to take control of their own learning process, which indirectly

increases motivation. This way, using both learning tools, electronic

dictionaries and self-evaluating Hot Potatoes exercises, the students

go through a reversible path autonomously: do the exercise to use the

dictionary and use the dictionary to complete the exercise.

We have used Hot Potatoes

to design activities applied to vocabulary learning, but, obviously, it

is suitable for many other language aspects. Besides, although Hot Potatoes

was initially designed for language teaching, it has been used for a wide

range of different subject areas and at levels from elementary school

to university (Holmes & Arneil :2002).

LEARNING A LANGUAGE AUTONOMOUSLY

AND MOTIVATION

According to research there

is evidence that learners’ active and independent involvement in their

own learning autonomy increases motivation to learn and consequently increases

learning effectiveness (Dickinson 1995:165). Both steps in the activities

proposed in this paper, using electronic dictionaries and doing Hot Potatoes

quizzes are autonomy and self-assessment strategies. The students can

decide when to use the dictionary and the exercises are self-checked and

can be done, as many times as they want, till they are completely correct.

This self-evaluation feature, as well as the feedback provided by the

quizzes and dictionary entries, helps students to understand that they

are in control of their own learning if they decide to take advantage

of the information offered by the software. This idea, together with the

fact of perceiving that their learning successes or failures depend on

their own efforts and strategies are characteristics of learner autonomy

as described in applied linguistics (Dickinson 1995:174).

Being an autonomous learner does not mean that the students learn alone.

In fact, as P. Nation states (Nation 1998:17), teachers should help learners

foster the three factors that autonomy relies on, attitude, awareness

and capability. He establishes a set of learning principles that will

help in the process of taking control of vocabulary learning. We have

taken these into account when designing the activities with the authoring

tool Hot Potatoes. However, we would like to underline the eighth principle,

which refers to monitoring and assessment, “learners should be aware

of and excited by their progress in vocabulary learning” (Nation

1998:16). We consider that the activities we propose provide an opportunity

to apply this principle, as the learner monitors his own progress, being

able to fulfil the exercise successfully. Furthermore, in our experience,

using computers in language learning has been proved to be a motivating

factor among teenagers due to the fact that it increases attention and,

consequently, effectiveness is enhanced. Of course, the task has to be

well monitored by the teacher. Working with computers requires the teacher

and the students to develop some computer skills and new learning strategies,

but it is worthwhile investing some effort in it, as the results can be

remarkable.

SAMPLE ACTIVITES CREATED

WITH HOTPOTATOES TO IMPROVE VOCABULARY ACQUISITION

The group of activities proposed

has two general aims: to increase vocabulary in the level of bachillerato

and make students aware of the value of using dictionaries as a strategy

to learn and understand words better. Throughout the activities, students

will realise how a dictionary helps learners with word formation, pronunciation,

collocations, use, etc. by means of informative notes (morphology, phonetic

transcription, grammar, sound, register, use) and contextualised examples

(idiomatic expressions, sentences, images, videos). Therefore, after doing

the exercises, students will have improved their vocabulary and dictionary

skills.

In order to fulfil these goals, we have created a taxonomy of tasks which

are focused on the three main aspects pointed out by P. Nation (2000:26)

when he establishes what is involved in knowing a word: form, meaning

and use. In doing so, we have designed nine different activities covering

the following aspects.

FORM

1) Working with word families

Items: aimless, attraction, encouragingly, astonishment, fear,

die, alive, profitable, conclusively, disturb.

Specific aims:

to work with some of the most common suffixes. To make students aware

of the importance of knowing those suffixes in order to classify words

(nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs)

Activity: this

is a gap-filling exercise. The student has to complete the table with

the correct form of the item for each function: noun, verb, adjective,

and adverb.

Image 1

2) Word formation: Prefixes

Items: unfair, unaware,

unclear, impolite, indirect, impossible, independent, immature, inconvenient,

illegal, illiterate

Specific aims: to work with the most common prefixes in English.

To help students learn when they can use each of them.

Activity: this

is a gap-filling exercise. The students have to choose the right prefix

for each word and fill in the gaps in the contextualised sentences.

3) Working with sounds

Items: hut, hot; luck,

lock; cuff, cough; gun, gone; colour, collar; wonder, wander.

Specific aims: to

practise sound-contrast between à and . To make students

aware of the differences between these two sounds and some of their common

spelling.

Activity: this

is a multiple-choice quiz. Students have to decide which of both sounds

is pronounced in each case. They have to check the phonetics transcription

in the dictionary as well as to listen to the word.

Image 2

MEANING:

4) Recognising false friends

Items: actually,

fabric, realise, eventually, sensible, spectacles, idiom, career, notes,

succeed.

Specific aims:

to work with false friends, usually cognates sharing form with Spanish

words but not meaning. To help students avoid mistakes.

Activity: this

is a contextualised multiple-choice quiz. The students have to choose

the right translation for the underlined item in each sentence.

5) Learning some common

phrasal verbs

 

Image 3

Items: bring up, find out, give away, keep on, put off, put up

with, take off, look forward to, break down, get over.

Specific aims: to learn the meaning of some common phrasal verbs.

To understand what information dictionaries include about phrasal verbs.

Activity: this activity consists of a non-contextualised memory-matching

quiz. The students have to match some phrasal verbs in English with their

meaning in Spanish.

6) Understanding confusing

words

Items: advise/advice;

beside/besides; dessert/desert; lose/loose; feel/fill; whether/weather;

all/whole; alone/lonely; waiting/expecting; accept/except.

Specific aims: to understand differences among commonly confused

words. To understand that words may be confusing because of many factors:

sound, form, meaning, etc.

Activity: this is a short-answer quiz in context. The students

have to write the correct word to substitute the gap in each sentence.

Image 4

USE

7) Working with prepositions

Items: rely on, scared

of, interested in, enthusiastic about, take advantage of, amount of, risk

to, fall in love with, deal with, laugh at.

Specific aims: to learn that prepositions translate differently

in Spanish, depending on the word in front of them. To learn that, in

most cases, words accompanied by prepositions should be learnt as a whole

item.

Activity: this is a matching exercise. The students have to match

the noun, adjective or verb with the correct preposition.

Image 5

8) Learning uses of make/do

Items: make an effort,

make your bed, do a favour, make a living, do the exercise, make friends,

do your work, do business, make an arrangement, make a cake, make a fuss,

do the washing up, make a choice, make sense, do some shopping

Specific aims: to make students aware of lexical collocations and

how dictionaries can be used to learn about them.

Activity: this is a gap-filling exercise where the students have

to complete the sentence with make or do, after looking up in the dictionary.

9) Distinguishing British

and American English

Image 6

Items: candy, biscuit,

film, chips, crisps, sidewalk, lorry, vacation, cheque, note.

Specific aims: to identify dialectal differences and how they are

shown in the dictionary.

Activity: this is a multiple-choice exercise. The students have

to decide if the words are used in American or in British English.

As we said previously, it

is not necessary to host these activities on the Web to be implemented

by the students, as they can be carried out off-line. However, in case

you would like to see how they work, they are hosted at the following

address http://www.isabelperez.com/dictionaries.htm

CONCLUSIÓN

To conclude, we may well

admit it is possible to promote learner autonomy and self-assessment in

a multimedia environment. Both electronic dictionaries and authoring programs

offer a new way to improve and reinforce vocabulary if used appropriately.

Our aim in this article has been to analyse the main features of these

two resources and, finally, to show how we can integrate them in a multimedia

environment to improve lexical acquisition.

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