Dimensions of Vocabulary Knowledge

Book reviews / System 46 (2014) 176e182

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Nonetheless, this is a timely book, appearing just when the need is felt for more clarification regarding the various approaches encompassed by CBLT and for more detailed definitions with respect to its unique features and differences. Reference Dalton-Puffer, C., Nikula, T., & Smit, U. (2010). Introduction. In C. Dalton-Puffer, T. Nikula, & U. Smit (Eds.), Language use and language learning in CLIL classrooms. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Francesca Costa Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy Universita E-mail address: [email protected]

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2014.08.001

Dimensions of Vocabulary Knowledge, James Milton, Tess Fitzpatrick (Eds.). Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, UK (2014). xiv þ 207 pp.

A comprehensive journey through Nation's taxonomy of word knowledge set in up-to-date research, this edited volume is a thorough, in-depth and compact review of current knowledge about vocabulary acquisition. The intended aim is ‘… to bring together our knowledge of research across the entire range of our attempts to investigate the mental lexicon as it relates to language learning’ (p. xiii). Although the first chapter is of general interest, the book is a solid academic text clearly intended for students and teachers of applied linguistics. A clear, coherent and uniform structure centres on the three components of Nation's framework e form, meaning and use e creating an accessible text. Detailed methodological discussion and descriptions of analysis and instruments, including their sources, make this an invaluable resource. The editors begin deconstruction of word knowledge by mapping out different attempts at its characterisation: from the detailed component approach of Nation (2001), through broader conceptualisation of word knowledge as dimensions such as breadth, depth and fluency (Anderson & Freebody, 1981; Meara, 1997) to those emphasising its development (Dale, 1965; Paribakht & Wesche, 1993). The area is complex, better characterised as a dynamic system, still to be defined and clearly described. With its detailed taxonomy, Nation's component approach provides the most sophisticated framework, with better testing mechanisms and assessment instruments than other approaches. The process of deconstruction of word knowledge is followed through nine chapters, each concentrating on a sub-category of form, meaning and use. Each chapter has the same structure, discusses current research with suggestions for further research, states the practical implications and lists questions for discussion. Sections on research follow the format of research papers whilst each introduction begins with the relevant heading from Nation's table with the appropriate subsection. This is useful, connecting each aspect of word knowledge with the broader context of the main headings. Chapters 2, 3 and 4 concentrate on the form aspect of lexical knowledge. The first (Milton, Alexiou and Mattheoudakis) focusses on spoken form recognition. The authors discuss how words are stored and accessed in the mental lexicon and how vocabulary knowledge interacts with knowledge of form with the switching from spoken to written form occurring at different times for learners from different L1's. The chapter contains detailed discussion of the Aural-Lex test, the spoken equivalent to the written word recognition X-Lex (Meara & Milton, 2003) and will be of interest to those interested in the relationship between vocabulary size and learning strategies. Chapter 3 (Miralpeix and Meara) covers written word recognition focussing on accuracy and speed of recognition in L2. The chapter will be of particular value to researchers interested in mechanisms for increased speed of recognition with description of the method to measure ‘automaticity’. The chapter contains details about native speaker reaction time and a discussion of Q-Lex e a program suitable for lexical decision study outside laboratory conditions. Knowledge of morphology is discussed in Chapter 4 (Mantyla and Huhta). The authors report on a study of L2 derivational knowledge and its relationship to language proficiency. The value of non-word-based testing is discussed. The chapter has an excellent literature review with discussion on storage and processing of words comprised of stem and affixes and word forms of various frequency. The following chapters focus on meaning. Chapter 5 (Pilar, Llach and Moreno Espinosa) deals with the productive aspect of the form-meaning link including detailed discussion of the Vocabulary Levels Test (Laufer & Nation, 1999). The authors discuss how learners forge this link and show that it can be placed along various continua. The chapter reports on a study of development of productive knowledge of form and meaning leading to a rather alarming result, which, in line with other studies, shows that at the end of compulsory education learners' productive vocabulary is about 900 words, a gain of 1 word per hour. The authors argue for explicit teaching of the most frequent words in English. Some sentences in the last section of

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this chapter have possibly escaped the editors' notice. This reader, at least, found that their form obscured their meaning. Depth of word knowledge is the focus of Chapter 6 (Pajoohesh) which concerns cognitive processes underlying development of word-referent relationship in L1 and definitional skills important in the academic context. The chapter gives insight into the role of L2 as the curricular language, learner differences at definitional knowledge transfer from L1, the influence of language imbalance on task performance and L1 attrition. Formal Definitional Quality Scale (FDQ) (Snow, 1990) used to analyse responses is usefully given in an Appendix. The author emphasises the need for explicit instruction in the use of decontextualised language. Chapter 7 (Fitzpatrick and Munby) focusses on word associations linking individual lexical and semantic networks. The negative impact of a paper by Kruse, Pankhurst, and Sharwood Smith (1987) questioning the usefulness of word association tasks for L2 research is covered in detail. A report of a study challenging Kruse's findings includes detailed discussion about materials and scoring norms and is of particular merit. Association tests for L2 research were rescued, demonstrating how accuracy and sensitivity of L2 association tasks can be improved. Chapters 8, 9 and 10 deal with the use aspect of word knowledge. Chapter 8 (Treffers-Daller and Rogers) looks at the grammatical patterns illustrating their complexity with reference to motion verb patterns e ‘run’ in English and ‘courir’ in French, based on corpus linguistics. The authors review research supporting theories of acquisition in which syntactic development is driven by lexical development including a useful discussion on methodological approaches. This is an important chapter for anyone interested in language teaching with implications for L2 learning and teaching and salient points for textbook writers and material developers, endorsing sufficient breadth of vocabulary as prerequisite for acquisition of grammatical structures. Chapter 9 (Brown) focusses on collocations, which some consider lexical items in their own right. The author discusses the importance of collocations for L2 learners and different approaches to teaching. Native-speaker use of collocations as the norm for L2 learners is often questioned but the author draws attention to the challenge of systematic description of non-native collocations. The chapter contains a discussion of the psycholinguistic status of formulaic language and explains why collocations are difficult for learners. Focussing on studies of collocations favoured by native and L2 learners and techniques to measure strength of association (MI), the author reports a study challenging claims that advanced L2 users favour high frequency collocations over those with high MI scores. Detailed analysis of collocations found unacceptable by native-speakers demonstrates the influence of a learner's linguistic environment and experience with English as a taught language. Importantly, the author suggests that most frequent collocations should be taught at lower levels. Chapter 10 (Wilks) is devoted to the last sub-category of the ‘use’ heading of word knowledge e ‘constraints on use’. The author explores Nation's original text in an attempt to arrive at a more precise description of constraints on use in terms of ‘register and frequency’, emphasising the illusive nature of the terms highlighted mainly to inform language teaching. The chapter includes an interesting personal observation as a starting point for psycholinguistic questions relating to lexical storage and influence of L1 transfer in implicit learning. The chapter reviews the debate on frequency constraints of use. It will be of interest to researchers into other aspects of word knowledge since some conclusions lend credence to models emphasising organisation of the mental lexicon around formulaic chunks. The author expresses the need for a precise operational definition for register and greater emphasis on context in studies of language use by native and non-native speakers drawing on sociolinguistic theories. Learner confidence, an aspect outside Nation's framework, is the topic of Chapter 11 (Ronald and Kamimoto). The relationship between confidence and accuracy in word knowledge rating is explored and a study of personal effects on confidence using Nation's Vocabulary Levels Test is discussed. The detailed analysis comparing two types of scoring: dichotomous (DS) and cluster objective probability scoring (COPS) is extremely useful. A case study exploring two conditions for L2 vocabulary learning completes the chapter. It is demonstrated that confidence is an important dimension of word knowledge which is a clear concept to learners and can be assessed reliably. This was a complex study, requiring great perseverance to grasp it, and a graph to illustrate the study would have been welcome. With its thorough mapping of the problem space, this book would be a good first port of call for research on vocabulary and a key text for a course on vocabulary learning. Researchers will not only find detailed description of current methodological debates, research tools and analyses in a single volume but also the remaining questions. The topics for discussion concluding each chapter are of interest to students of applied linguistics and potentially language teachers. Sections on practical implications provide an evidence-base for classroom practice. Also, with the running theme of assessment of the mental lexicon, this should be important reading for language testing and assessment. Aware of alarming findings from largescale observation, I would assert that the practical applications reported in this volume should be compulsory reading for textbook writers and those developing materials and guidelines for classroom practice. A separate psycholinguistic chapter on lexical access and processing would have completed this book as a reference for students and teachers. Researchers would also have been grateful for a list detailing and summarising all instruments referred to. References Anderson, R. C., & Freebody, P. (1981). Vocabulary knowledge. In J. T. Guthrie (Ed.), Comprehension and teaching: Research reviews (pp. 77e117). Newark, DE: International Reading Association. Dale, E. (1965). Vocabulary measurement: techniques and major findings. Elementary English, 42, 895e901. Kruse, H., Pankhurst, J., & Sharwood Smith, M. (1987). A multiple word association probe in second language acquisition research. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 9(2), 141e154. Laufer, B., & Nation, P. (1999). A vocabulary-size test of controlled productive ability. Language Testing, 16, 33e51.


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Meara, P. (1997). Towards a new approach to modelling vocabulary acquisition. In N. Schmitt, & M. McCarthy (Eds.), Vocabulary: Description, acquisition and pedagogy (pp. 109e121). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Meara, P., & Milton, J. (2003). X_Lex, the Swansea levels test. Newbury: Express. Nation, I. S. P. (2001). Learning vocabulary in another language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Paribakht, T. M., & Wesche, M. (1993). Vocabulary enhancement activities and reading for meaning in second language vocabulary acquisition. In J. Coady, & T. Huckin (Eds.), Second language vocabulary acquisition: A rationale for pedagogy (pp. 174e200). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Snow, C. (1990). The development of definitional skill. Journal of Child Language, 17, 697e710.

Dorota E. Campfield rczewska 8, 01-180 Warsaw, Poland Foreign Language Section, The Educational Research Institute, Go E-mail address: d.campfi[email protected]

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2014.08.003

What is English? And Why Should We Care?, Tim William Machan. Oxford University Press, Oxford (2013). viii þ 404 pp.

Tim William Machan's What is English? And Why Should We Care? is a remarkable work that takes the reader on a journey through the English language, both in time and space. It's a journey by water. The author compares English to a river, and continues this metaphor throughout the 330 pages of text in the volume. The book is divided into four main sections, plus an introduction. The first part focuses on the consequences of a reduced definition of English, “with some kind of English in effect being more English than others” (p. 6) on the one hand, for example when gaining admission to universities or being offered a good job is concerned, and the unmistakable, massive presence of all global varieties, interlanguages, “pronunciations or words that are non-standard, regional, or non-English” (p. 23) on the other. Part Two deals with English “by the books”. Broadly speaking, it is about what a monolingual dictionary should (or should not) include, from Cawdrey's “Table Alphabeticall” of 1604 to Johnson, Murray, Webster, just to name the major lexicographers. Should dialects, slang, new words, words which have become obsolete, literary expressions and quotations be included? Professor Machan thinks that “imagining the history of the language also frames and imagines its political, aesthetic, and social heritage e the things we Anglophones most care about” (p. 89). History and heritage are key words in his study, the former being more or less identified with facts, the latter with a “memorable past” (p. 25). Of course the two very often twirl into one. Part Three is titled “English in Action” and recounts the spreading of the English language from Europe to the other side of the Atlantic and worldwide. The author offers a range of historical examples for the different varieties of English spoken, northern and southern hemispheres: the English of the Welsh or the Irish dispossessed of their native language and the English of the first Puritan settlements in New England; the one forced upon Native Americans, the one of Italian and Polish immigrants who had sailed for the New World bringing their language with them; the English taught in Christian missions in Tahiti, Hawaii's classrooms, industrial schools in the United States, and more. The pages on the radio as the most popular form of entertainment and of English-language propaganda during World War II, and the section on Lord Haw Haw and Tokyo Rose in particular, are priceless. However, given its importance in preserving civilization during the Middle Ages, I would have expected the author to give more relevance to the social and cultural role played by the Catholic, i.e., universal, Church: for adding English glosses to Latin texts, for patronizing drama, but especially as ‘monasteries’ came to mean ‘communities’. The final section is about “defining moments” in the genesis and development of English, from Middle English to the present. These paragraphs are amongst the most interesting of the whole book. English originated from a combination of Latin, Anglo-Saxon, Norman-French and borrowings from other languages, left there to brew, like tea, while, before the advent of the printing press, written forms varied, sometimes significantly, and the modern-looking expressions of Chaucer went hand in hand with the exotic ones of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (p. 309). Then the Renaissance and the Reformation, which meant that English took the place of Latin and was thus channelled into grammars; add to this the growth of American English, the increased number of readers, global English. Et cetera. Professor Machan disapproves of “histories of the language, which need to decide what the language's history is before they can select data that will confirm it” (p. 322). His is an approach based not on the language but on those who speak it, always for some social purpose. He stresses the importance of words, the first thing we notice about language: young parents talk about “when babies utter 'mom' or 'dad', not when they produce voiced fricatives” (p. 35), obviously. The author then talks about words that come and go, marking a different stage of life like a teenage song or hairstyle, such as ‘cheddar’ for ‘money’ and ‘noob’ for an ignorant person (p. 67); and he discusses the changes the English language has undergone, with emphasis put on word order, the disappearance of inflections and grammatical gender (p. 142). Incidentally, in terms of L2

Dimensions of Vocabulary Knowledge

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