Learning vocabulary is a central and time-consuming endeavour for a language learner and it has thus been suggested that the foreign language classroom has to supply explicit support for students’ vocabulary development. A major source of explicit word focus is vocabulary exercises in teaching materials and students’ learning can be facilitated if they are designed in a way that is conducive to learning. Few studies have so far sought to establish what learning opportunities tasks in materials provide. The present study reports an analysis of the vocabulary exercises in three series of Swedish intermediate EFL materials, focusing on target vocabulary and learning conditions. The target vocabulary was analysed in terms of frequency distribution in general English and the learning conditions provided were studied using a modified version of the Involvement Load Hypothesis. The results indicate that learning is facilitated through extensive retrieval opportunities in the material. However, it was also found that the exercises seldom require students to use the target vocabulary and that it comprises primarily high-frequency words, that is, words that the learners are likely to already know. It is therefore concluded that a more systematic approach to vocabulary has to be adopted by materials developers to ensure that word-focused tasks contribute significantly to students’ learning.

Given the complexity of EFL vocabulary development, learners need structured support in this endeavor (e.g., Schmitt, 2008). School can play a central role in providing this support, as the classroom is the shared language learning environment for students. It is therefore important that the EFL classroom is organized in a way that facilitates vocabulary learning (Newton, 2020). Although there is a large body of research relating to how vocabulary is learned and what vocabulary students need to learn (cf. Nation, 2011), there is a considerable research gap relating to how vocabulary learning is approached and supported in the classroom and thus the learning opportunities provided to learners. This paper presents the results from a doctoral dissertation situated in Swedish secondary school that seeks to understand vocabulary instruction by studying factors impacting classroom practice, namely conceptualizations of vocabulary learning and learning support in EFL teaching materials. 

This paper reports a synthesis of the results from four studies; two qualitative interview studies with Swedish EFL teachers and materials developers, one corpus-based analysis of the texts in EFL teaching materials and one analysis of vocabulary exercises in materials using word frequency and the Involvement Load Hypothesis (Laufer & Hulstijn, 2001) as analytical tools. The synthesis shows two main themes in the findings, namely that vocabulary instruction is not seen as a central concern for the classroom and that vocabulary instruction is not guided by a systematic approach. The paper discusses these findings in relation to contextual factors, such as communicative language teaching (Schurz & Coumel, 2020) and extramural English (Sundqvist, 2020), and their implications for the learning support provided in the classroom. As the results indicate a gap between vocabulary theory and EFL teaching practice, the paper also reflects on how this gap can be bridged by directing attention to the research community.  

References:

Laufer, B., & Hulstijn, J. (2001). Incidental vocabulary acquisition in a second language: The construct of task-induced involvement. Applied Linguistics, 22(1), 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/22.1.1

Nation, I. S. P. (2011). Research into practice: Vocabulary. Language Teaching, 44(4), 529–539. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444811000267 

Newton, J. (2020). Approaches to learning vocabulary inside the classroom. In S. Webb (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of vocabulary studies (pp. 255–270). Routledge. 

Schmitt, N. (2008). Instructed second language vocabulary learning. Language Teaching Research, 12(3), 329–363. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168808089921 

Schurz, A., & Coumel, M. (2020). Grammar teaching in ELT: A cross-national comparison of teacher-reported practices. Language Teaching Research. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168820964137

Sundqvist, P. (2020). Sweden and informal language learning. In M. Dressman & R. Sadler (Eds.), The handbook of informal language learning (pp. 319–322). John Wiley & Sons.

Vocabulary is a central but difficult aspect of learning English. EFL students face a considerable challenge in acquiring a vocabulary sufficient for communication, which means knowing many words and having a deep and varied knowledge of them. Researchers therefore argue that students need support to succeed in this endeavor, especially in an instructional context, where time and language exposure are limited. Although vocabulary research has provided many insights as concerns the nature of vocabulary learning, little is known about vocabulary learning in school. This thesis investigates vocabulary learning support in the Swedish secondary school EFL classroom in four empirical studies. The overall purpose of the studies was to illuminate the vocabulary component in areas that structure and organize the EFL classroom. It comprises two qualitative interview studies with teachers (n = 14) and materials developers (n = 8) respectively, and two content analyses of teaching materials focusing on the target words and learning conditions provided in the reading texts and the accompanying vocabulary exercises. 

The results illuminate how vocabulary is positioned and how the vocabulary component is treated in the classroom. The findings from the interview studies show that although the teachers and the materials developers stated that vocabulary is important, they attested to not perceiving vocabulary as a prominent aspect of the EFL classroom. This was found to be a result of their understanding of vocabulary development as an incidental process. Much in the same vein, the interviewees expressed that they do not prioritize working explicitly with vocabulary in class and rely on words to be acquired when students engage in other activities. The results also show that the vocabulary component in the classroom is mainly unplanned, both in regard to both target words and vocabulary learning activities. Neither the teachers nor the materials developers reported any systematic approaches to planning vocabulary instruction. Similarly, the teaching material analyses reveal that the vocabulary component is not structured in a way that is in accordance with research-based suggestions. The thesis indicates that the Swedish EFL classroom is unlikely to provide sufficient vocabulary learning support, which, in turn, can have considerable implications for students’ learning in school. The findings are discussed in relation to central contextual factors such as communicative language teaching, the Swedish curriculum and extramural English. 

Learning vocabulary is a central but yet complex aspect of learning a language. Hence, researchers stress the importance of facilitating vocabulary development via a structured approach to target words and recycling. While teaching materials have the potential to provide this structure to all students in a classroom, few studies have investigated the vocabulary component of textbooks and the learning opportunities they provide. In the present study, the texts in five series of EFL materials aimed at intermediate learners in Swedish secondary school (years 7–9) were investigated, using corpus-based methods. The results indicate that the texts encompass a suitable amount of unknown vocabulary for vocabulary learning from reading and provide exposure to mid-frequency vocabulary. However, it was also found that these items are not recycled sufficiently. Rather, the materials mainly recycle lexical items that students are likely to know already. It is therefore concluded that although the materials offer input suitable for the target students, they are not structured in a way that supports vocabulary development.

The importance of word frequency for vocabulary development is generally agreed on (e.g., Ellis, 2002; Webb, 2014): the more frequently learners encounter a lexical item, the more likely they are to acquire it. As a result, it has been argued that it is beneficial for language learning if vocabulary input is structured in a way that ensures repeated encounters with target vocabulary. In the foreign language classroom, where the language input is limited, it can be difficult for the individual teacher to ensure that learners are encountering target words frequently enough (cf. Schmitt, 2019). Teaching materials can thus play a valuable role in the language classroom by being the source of structured vocabulary input, where target vocabulary is systematically recycled. Studies have evaluated teaching materials and their function as learning tools by investigating the amount of recycling in the books, using either the raw frequency of words or a type-token ratio. However, given that some words are inherently more frequent in the language, figures representing the extent of recycling may be misleading, as the recycled items may be words already known to the target students. 

This paper presents a corpus-based textbook analysis where recycling is investigated numerically and the nature of the recycled items is also considered, that is, how frequent the recycled items are in general discourse. The corpus encompasses the texts from five series of intermediate EFL materials used in Swedish secondary schools (years 7–9)­. Lemmas occurring ten or more times were considered frequently recycled and thus possible to learn from the exposure. As the target students are intermediate learners, particular attention was paid to the amount of recycled mid-frequency vocabulary (cf. Schmitt & Schmitt, 2014) in the materials.

The results indicate that although a considerable proportion of the lexical input is recycled ten or more times in the materials, the vast majority of the recycled items are high-frequency words, which students are likely to already know. Considering the target students, this means that the recycling figures cannot be considered favorable for vocabulary development. It thus appears that investigations of the recurrence of words may have to be complemented with analyses of their frequency profile to understand the vocabulary learning opportunities in language learning materials.

One core aspect of learning a language is developing vocabulary, an endeavor that requires a structured and principled focus in the classroom. As the EFL textbook has a central position in the language learning classroom, it should have an important role to play in structuring vocabulary development. Yet, what guides decisions concerning the vocabulary content in textbooks has not been thoroughly studied. This paper presents an interview study with eight Swedish materials developers of frequently used EFL teaching materials aimed at school years 7–9. The results show that the materials developers focus primarily on providing engaging texts and base the vocabulary content on end users’ opinions and their own intuition. The study also indicates that word lists are construed as a tool primarily for reading comprehension rather than for vocabulary learning. The study concludes that vocabulary research findings appear to have a limited impact on decisions about vocabulary content.

Vocabulary is a core feature of language proficiency, requiring explicit attention in the language classroom. As teachers’ conceptualizations influence their teaching, their understanding of vocabulary deserves closer attention. Yet, few teacher cognition studies focus on vocabulary, and even fewer on non-native teachers’ conceptualizations of vocabulary. This paper presents an interview study with Swedish EFL teachers at secondary school level. Fourteen teachers were interviewed about their beliefs and practices in relation to vocabulary development in the classroom. The study shows that despite a general understanding of the importance of vocabulary in language learning among the teachers, vocabulary was not seen as a learning objective in its own right. Closely connected to this understanding, the teachers showed a great reliance on incidental vocabulary learning, where words were understood as “picked up along the way” while doing other things, such as reading and playing games. It was also found that although the teachers showed an awareness of the many aspects involved in word knowledge, they mentioned few methods to work with them. The study suggests a need for a more explicit focus on vocabulary instruction in the language learning classroom.

English proficiency is a core skill for Swedish students today, as is visible in the curriculum for compulsory school where it is stated that school has a responsibility for ensuring that each student can “communicate in English, both in the spoken and written language” (Skolverket,2022, p. 13, our translation). To reach English language proficiency a substantial knowledge of vocabulary, both in terms of size and depth (Nation, 2022), is necessary. Vocabulary is, however, not prominent in the syllabus for English in Swedish compulsory school and studies have indicated that Swedish EFL teachers do not prioritize vocabulary instruction (Bergström et al., 2022). It has also been found that vocabulary learning is facilitated by systematicity and structure (Schmitt, 2019). The teaching material used in the classroom can be of support in reaching this structure in vocabulary learning, if it provides well-planned input. We have carried out a number of analyses of the vocabulary learning opportunities provided in Swedish EFL teaching materials for compulsory school. Taken together, the results indicate that thereis a lack of systematic approach to vocabulary in textbooks throughout compulsory school. Combined with the vague writings in the curriculum, this questions the support given to students in this respect. In this paper, we report on the compiled research findings and discuss the implications for equal opportunities in Swedish schools. We also present future directions for lexical analyses of teaching materials, informed by advances in linguistic research.  

References:

Bergström, D., Norberg, C., & Nordlund, M. (2022). “Words are picked up along the way” –Swedish EFL teachers’ conceptualizations of vocabulary knowledge and learning. Language Awareness, 31(4), 393–409. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658416.2021.1893326

Nation, I. S. P. (2022). Learning vocabulary in another language (3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Schmitt, N. (2019). Understanding vocabulary acquisition, instruction, and assessment: Aresearch agenda. Language Teaching, 52(2), 261–274. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444819000053

Skolverket. (2022). Läroplan för grundskolan, förskoleklassen och fritidshemmet 2022 [Curriculum for the compulsory school, preschool class and the recreation centre 2022].Skolverket. 

The school day does not have to begin only when the school bell calls. It could actually start already when pupils leave their homes, as their way to school could be used to promote language learning as well as physical health. In this paper, we present the development of quests aimed to support teachers in working with EFL learning in an active school transportation intervention. Active school transportation (AST), such as biking or walking to school, is a programme developed to promote more daily physical activity (Lindqvist & Rutberg, 2018), as it has been shown that a majority of Swedish children do not meet the WHO recommendations of 60 minutes of daily physical activity. The idea behind AST is that pupils are given quests to perform on their way to school, to gamify the transportation route and enhance motivation. In the English quests, current EFL research and the curriculum were used to form activities that would facilitate learning and empower pupils by using their experiencesas a starting point for working with, for example, grammar or vocabulary. We present tasks developed to support physical activity and language learning and reflect on how learning English can be a motivational tool in health promotion. By integrating learning activities to the quests on the way to school and using the quests as a starting point for teaching, the intervention can be a way to facilitate pupils’ learning, both in and outside of the classroom.  

Reference:

Lindqvist, A. K., & Rutberg, S. (2018). One step forward: Development of a program promoting active school transportation. JMIR Research Protocols, 7(5), e123. https://doi.org/10.2196/resprot.9505