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LongShiKong
Joined: 28 May 2007
Posts: 1082
Location: China
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 Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 3:53 pm Post subject: Vocab Lists - Actual vs Recom'd for ESOL A1 - C2 Thoughts? |
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Recently, I've come across 2 different sets of vocabulary lists for Cambridge ESOL exams. I don't teach test prep nor do my students take such exams but I find the vocabulary lists extremely useful as a suggested or recommended (?) guide to active vocabulary and as a means to evaluate courseware appropriacy. Years ago, I located KET and PET (A2, B1) vocabulary lists on Cambridge's website as I was teaching YLs but since switching to adults, I couldn't seem to locate any such lists for B2-C2 other than what test prep books provide which obviously is not a comprehensive list. I do realize that such lists for higher levels are mere guidelines and I should be taking frequency data as well as cultural and learner interests into account too if I'm to recommend vocabulary but these lists do provide a good starting point, for both students and teachers.
The British Council's is in table format conveniently ordered according to word family. The other is based on Cambridge English's actual learner corpus of those who sit their exams int'ly. It not only includes lexis but also specific structures used or known by learners at each level.
I don't know about elsewhere but, as many of you know, here in Asia, many students (the ones that don't deserve to be called learners) waste far too much paper and time writing incidental vocabulary they will neither remember nor be able to use appropriately. They're schooled to confuse such studiousness for learning. They're the ones I struggle to ween from their blank-filling habit when all I want them to do is 'speak in the blanks' of a dialogue with their partner. They know I won't look at their books/handouts.
Instead of courses, I teach lessons to random groupings of mixed level learners ranging from elementary to intermediate and there's often someone not used to unplugging themselves from the text. I could be wrong, but perhaps these tools might help me substantiate my argument that writing words like 'igloo' with the intent of memorizing them is not such a great idea if they want to become fluent in English. Knowing what lexical items are high frequency and what register they are isn't easy so I think these lists serve a real need there.
Thoughtlets, anyone? |
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scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343
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| Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 4:05 pm Post subject: |
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| "Fill in the blanks." Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh ! I hope there is a special place in Hades reserved for whoever it was that came up with that piece of nonsense. |
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scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343
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| Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 4:41 pm Post subject: |
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| Vocabulary lists ? WTF ? |
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fluffyhamster
Joined: 13 Mar 2005
Posts: 3292
Location: UK > China > Japan > UK again
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| Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 8:10 pm Post subject: |
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I noticed recently that Cambridge has incorporated CEF level indications into its online ALD. Presumably the latest print edition is the same, and you can hopefully search its CD-ROM version by CEF level. It'd be interesting anyway to compare to the BC's list to see if they exactly overlap.
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/ |
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buravirgil
Joined: 23 Jan 2014
Posts: 967
Location: Jiangxi Province, China
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| Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2015 12:43 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| "Fill in the blanks." Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh ! |
*ahem* clozure
Only a precise use of pedagogical term can sanction an excessive dependence.
Please surrender your consultant's credentials. /sarcasm
This is very useful for teachers tasked to evaluate appropriacy and independent learners preparing for IELTS/TOEFL who are curious about derivations and sense meanings and their own "reference" level.
But there is little, if any, controversy that learning words in isolation is with limited value to acquisition. I think the only way to overcome long held expectations about learning habits is to create engaging alternatives.
Which has never ceased to be a cruel mistress in my experience.
And these tools are a means to that end. |
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LongShiKong
Joined: 28 May 2007
Posts: 1082
Location: China
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| Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2015 3:25 pm Post subject: |
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| scot47 wrote: |
| "Fill in the blanks." Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh ! hope there is a special place in Hades reserved for whoever it was that came up with that piece of nonsense. |
Scot47, what infuriates you so about blank-fills? In my lessons, nonsense is good. Ink blobs, abstract art, weird sound effects, and gibberish are all nonsense that can be exploited for their communicative potential.
| buravirgil wrote: |
*ahem* clozure |
Cloze tests are one kind of blank fill, limited only by your imagination as to how they can be used to serve the needs of your class. When I wrote that I was thinking of both those and open-ended sentence prompts that can be turned into pair speaking.
| scot47 wrote: |
| Vocabulary lists ? WTF ? |
No, it's WFF. 
| FH wrote: |
| It'd be interesting anyway to compare to the BC's list to see if they exactly overlap. |
Have you noted the same discrepancy I did? Upon closer inspection, I discovered a lot more inconsistencies (just on the first page) so I've sent them an inquiry. I suspect their data shifted cells on them during a macro edit or when file converting. |
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buravirgil
Joined: 23 Jan 2014
Posts: 967
Location: Jiangxi Province, China
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| Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2015 4:27 pm Post subject: |
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| LongShiKong wrote: |
| scot47 wrote: |
| "Fill in the blanks." Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh ! hope there is a special place in Hades reserved for whoever it was that came up with that piece of nonsense. |
Scot47, what infuriates you so about blank-fills? In my lessons, nonsense is good. Ink blobs, abstract art, weird sound effects, and gibberish are all nonsense that can be exploited for their communicative potential.
| buravirgil wrote: |
*ahem* clozure |
Cloze tests are one kind of blank fill, limited only by your imagination as to how they can be used to serve the needs of your class. When I wrote that I was thinking of both those and open-ended sentence prompts that can be turned into pair speaking. |
Okay, you're opening up distinctions only familiar to me from coursework in pragmatics...
Open-ended prompts indicate a taking of turn, while a cloze is as often applied to testing as exercise-- and that's both its charm and weakness. My sarcastic response to Scot47's minimally expressed anguish was both a commiseration and an affirmation-- they tend to be overused. I think it's optimistic to characterize them as limited only by imagination, and I dig that, but it's not been my experience they're applied imaginatively as prescriptively, and the distinctions between learning by cognitive processes and conditioning (pattern matching) become very interesting.
And Scot47's use of nonsense wasn't about the use of nonsense in a classroom, but a cursory condemnation. I'd wager Scot47 has read Carroll and Lennon. I'll invite Scot47 to peruse the thread again for how wordlists, and purposefully using them, merits something more than wtf.
I think what you're doing is fantastic. It's an audit really. Maybe they'll hire you, or maybe you're careening into procedures more nuanced than they appear, more flawed than a for-profit entity would like known, and they'll ignore you. Or maybe I'm wrong about it all. But I'd like to thank you for sharing both your objectives and methods in a truly collegiate spirit. Learning from others such as yours | | |
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