AKITA – December 2012 – The Role of Vocabulary in the Language Classroom – Adrian Paterson. Vocabulary is an essential part of language, however it is also an often-neglected part of language teaching. Adrian Paterson, a student of Paul Nation – the foremost expert on vocabulary, began the presentation by introducing some of the basic principles and concepts, in particular; defining what vocabulary is, what it means to know a word, and how vocabulary is acquired, stored, and retrieved. In the second part of the presentation he led a discussion on ways that teachers can help students to improve their vocabulary knowledge. He covered such terms as Token, Type, Lemma, Collocation, Metaphor, and Formulaic Language. He emphasized that vocabulary is one of the few skills best acquired through rote memorization. Alas, he had but a short time to touch on the neurolinguistic theories of the Network Model and Emergence in Complex Adaptive Systems.

Reported by Stephen Shucart