Myths Series – serie

In Vocabulary Myths, Keith S. Folse breaks down the teaching of second language vocabulary into eight commonly held myths. In debunking each myth, he introduces the myth with a story based on his 25 years of teaching experience (in the United States and abroad), continues with a presentation of what empirical research has shown on the topic, and finishes with a list of what teachers can do in their classrooms to facilitate true vocabulary acquisition.The goal of Vocabulary Myths is to foster a paradigm shift that correctly views vocabulary as fundamental in any second language learning process and demonstrates that research supports this goal-that in fact there is a wealth of empirical evidence to support these views. In addition, an important theme is that teachers have overestimated how much vocabulary students really understand, and as a result, the so-called "comprehensible input" is neither comprehensible nor input.The second language vocabulary acquisition myths reexamined in this book are:*In learning another language, vocabulary is not as important as grammar or other areas.*Using word lists to learn L2 vocabulary is unproductive.*Presenting new vocabulary in semantic sets facilitates learning.*The use of translations to learn new vocabulary should be discouraged.*Guessing words from context is an excellent strategy for learning L2 vocabulary.*The best vocabulary learners make use of one or two really specific vocabulary learning strategies.*The best dictionary for L2 learners is a monolingual dictionary.*Teachers, textbooks, and curricula cover L2 vocabulary adequately.

This volume was conceived as a first book in SLA for advanced undergraduate or introductory master’s courses that include education majors, foreign language education majors, and English majors. It’s also an excellent resource for practicing teachers. Both the research and pedagogy in this book are based on the newest research in the field of second language acquisition. It is not the goal of this book to address every SLA theory or teach research methodology. It does however address the myths and questions that non-specialist teacher candidates have about language learning. Steven Brown is the co-author of the introductory applied linguistics textbook Understanding Language Structure, Interaction, and Variation textbook (and workbook).The myths challenged in this book are: § Children learn languages quickly and easily while adults are ineffective in comparison.§ A true bilingual is someone who speaks two languages perfectly.§ You can acquire a language simply through listening or reading.§ Practice makes perfect.§ Language students learn (and retain) what they are taught.§ Language learners always benefit from correction.§ Individual differences are a major, perhaps the major, factor in SLA.§ Language acquisition is the individual acquisition of grammar.