Myths about Teaching and Learning Second Language Vocabulary: What Recent Research Says

Abstract

Learning a language entails learning numerous aspects about that language, including its pronunciation, writing system, syntax, pragmatics, rhetorical modes for reading and composition, culture, and spelling, but the most important aspect is vocabulary. Recent second language (L2) research reflects this importance, as seen in the abundance of articles during this last decade. This research has looked at methods of vocabulary instruction (e.g., natural context or direct instruction) (Laufer & Shmueli, 1997; Zimmerman, 1997), learners' vocabulary learning strategies (Gu, 1994; Lessard-Clouston, 1994; Sanaoui, 1995; Nassaji, 2003), the development of L2 learners' vocabularies (Laufer, 1998; Schmitt, 1998; Nesselhauf, 2003), the use of Ll or L2 for initial word presentation (Prince, 1995; Grace, 1998), the effect of different practice activities on learning (Joe, 1995, 1998; Folse, 1999), the number of words L2 learners need to know (Hazenberg & Hulstijn, 1996), and which words students need to know (Coxhead, 2000; Liu, 2003).