Storms, Ameel, and Malt [2015. "Development of Cross-language Lexical Influence." "International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism" 18: 529-547] compared the development of naming patterns in monolingual and bilingual children. They concluded that bilinguals' naming patterns in their two languages become…

In this article Paul Nation responds to Thomas Cobb's "Numbers or Numerology? A Response to Nation (2014) and McQuillan (2016)" (EJ1117024). Nation begins by clarifying his own position on vocabulary learning and goes on to highlight points made in Cobb's article with which he is in agreement, while drawing from his 2014 article,…

Thomas Cobb's 2007 applied linguistics paper, "Computing the Vocabulary Demands of L2 Reading" dealt with whether reading alone can build an adequate reading lexicon in a second language, or whether some sort of extra vocabulary training will normally be required. In the article, Cobb proposed that in the case of adult academic ESL…

In his 2016 article, "What Can Readers Read after Graded Readers?" (EJ1098660), Jeff McQuillan provided data to show that there is an adequate amount of reading material that can be read at or above 98% vocabulary coverage to provide sufficient input to acquire most of the word families from the 2,000- to the 9,000-word-family levels.…

In her interesting article, Stoel-Gammon (this issue) reviews studies concerning the interactions between lexical and phonological development. While the focus of the review is on vocabulary production from children acquiring American English, she also suggests that cross-linguistic research be undertaken to examine how universal and…

Claims that mere frequency of presentation is not enough for efficient vocabulary learning to take place. Each item should be presented in a wide range of syntactic contexts. It should also be noted that even apparent synonyms may not be substituted one for the other in any sentence-frame. (AMH)

Describes possible modes of a diskette vocabulary review system as replacement for flash cards for students learning Russian. Disadvantages are that not everyone has microcomputers and that not all software is compatible with all microcomputers. (BK)

Discusses the role of the lexicographer in assisting the translator and the technical writer and in vocabulary control. (AM)

Discusses three major differences between the vocabulary of reading lessons and content area lessons. Discusses the implications these differences make in instruction. (MG)

Presents a model of the hierarchy or gradations of a student's knowledge of things and the words that signify them, ordering these variations in terms of difficulty. Offers strategies for matching vocabulary instruction to student's prior knowledge, promoting natural growth in meaning vocabulary, lifelong vocabulary learning, and teaching specific…

Uses students' amusing vocabulary mistakes to discuss vocabulary development. (SR)

Explores the various meanings of the English nominal suffix "-ist" and their interaction with the concepts represented by the words to which the suffix is appended. Analyzes the meaning of specific words throught their semantic components, in order to discover the most suitable choice for a given context. (MES)

There is debate about whether preschool-age children interpret words as referring to kinds or to classes defined by shape similarity. The authors argue that the shape bias reported in previous studies is a task-induced artifact rather than a genuine word-learning strategy. In particular, children were forced to extend an object's novel label to…

Describes the Spoken Words Vocabulary Activity. Recommends ways to implement this activity in class and shows how to use it to teach students traditional strategies for determining word meanings. (RBW)

Ways are discussed in which foreign words are stored in learners' mental lexicons. Then several activities and exercises, which aim at improving learners' receptive and productive vocabulary skills, are presented. (42 references) (LB)