[ELTWeekly Volume 7, Issue 18 | October 26, 2015 | ISSN 0975-3036]

What are the key characteristics of this situation?

• Learners’ vocabulary development is still at the 3,000-word level.
• Learners lack knowledge of collocational patterns.

Vocabulary development plays a vital role in making the transition from an intermediate to a more advanced level of language proficiency, but many learners appear to have reached a learning plateau in relation to vocabulary. This may be seen in the overuse of lower-level vocabulary and failure to acquire more advanced-level vocabulary, as well as limited awareness of collocational usage. In terms of the quantitative dimension of vocabulary learning, vocabulary development can be thought of as involving acquisition of a core vocabulary that is common to many different domains, genres, and text types. In addition, learners build up more specialized vocabulary related to their own needs and fields of interests, whether these be academic, occupational, or social. How big is this core vocabulary? (more…)