>The 1000 word list for Taiwan... Any comments?
>
>Kenneth
>
>Kenneth J. Dickson
Yes. I wrote the following letter to the Taipei Times, it was
published on January 25, 2003.
Vocabulary list flawed
The Ministry of Education might inadvertently be sending the wrong
message in releasing a list of 1,000 English words that every high
school student must know ("Ministry releases pocketbook of basic
English vocabulary," Jan. 22, page 1).
An official list of words will, I fear, stimulate rote learning of
vocabulary as well as a parade of commercial vocabulary workbooks,
promising to build vocabulary with fill-in-the-blank exercises and
flash cards.
The research, however, as well as common sense, says that it is more
efficient to acquire vocabulary by reading than by direct study of
vocabulary lists.
Not only does reading build vocabulary, it also builds grammar,
writing style and knowledge at the same time. And it is very
pleasant. If students were provided with genuinely interesting books
and were encouraged to read them, they would have no trouble
acquiring 1,000 words.
Those students with large vocabularies did not get them from
vocabulary lists and workbooks; they got them from reading.
Stephen Krashen
University of Southern California
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Sent by
Forums@TESOLTeachers.org (
http://TESOLTeachers.org)
Modules
Total Members: 131
