© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press; all rights reserved.
Examining learner vocabulary notebooks
James McCrostie has been teaching in Japan for nine years. Observations of language acquisition by his two daughters currently absorb most of his time. He teaches at Kwansei Gakuin University in the School of Economics
Email: jamesmcc{at}kwansei.ac.jp
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Abstract |
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Most vocabulary teaching literature advises learners to keep vocabulary notebooks to help promote vocabulary acquisition as well as learner autonomy. Yet, there have been few studies of the vocabulary notebooks kept by students studying English as a foreign language. This study examined the vocabulary notebooks kept by 124 first year English majors at a Japanese university to determine: (1) the sources from which students choose words, (2) the types and frequency of words selected, and (3) the reasoning behind word selection. The study found that students draw the words for their notebooks overwhelmingly from textbooks, favour certain parts of speech, have difficulty identifying high frequency words, and view all words they do not know as equally important. These findings provide teachers and researchers with new information about vocabulary notebooks and show how standard notebook strategies do not always meet students' vocabulary learning needs.