詞彙知識是如何逐步增加呢？

在Xanthou (2010) 回顧過往的研究中，其認為使詞彙知識能夠逐步增加的幾個要點：一、激發先前的知識；二、在脈絡下學習；三、對詞彙進行主動地加工、處理；四、多次、反覆的接觸。

學習新詞的時候，之所以要激發先前的知識的因為它以經是個連結綿密的資訊網，一但新的詞彙能夠整合到這個資訊網裡頭，只要有一點點連結，學習者就容易喚回詞彙。許多研究都支持這樣子的說法(Stahl, 1983; Stoller & Grabe, 1993; Martin,Martin & Ying, 2002)，Schmitt and Schmitt (1995) 也將這個作為設計詞彙班時應該強調的原則。

在脈絡下學習詞彙的目的則是因為這促進學習者更容易全面理解一個詞(Nation, 2013)。當學習者在有意義，且容易理解的語言環境下，更容易使學習者掌握詞彙的知識(Coady, 1996)。

當學習者在脈絡下運用新詞的時候，「學習過程」(process of learning)就會啟動(Mezynski, 1983)。

Nation (1990) 從許多研究的結果中歸納，能夠學習新詞的接觸次數範圍在5到16次之間。第一次接觸到新詞的時候，可能是聽到這個語音，可能會記得它有幾個音節。接著，可能在課本上看到它怎麼寫，就會記得它由哪些字母組成。再更多次數的接觸後，屬於這個詞彙的形式、意義就會慢慢被鞏固起來(Schmitt, 2000)。

掌握這幾個要點，就能夠促進我們新詞的學習。

References

Coady, J. (1996). L2 vocabulary acquistion: A synthesis of the research. In J. Coady & T. Huckin (Eds.), Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition: A Rationale for Pedagogy. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Martin, M. A., Martin, S. H. & Ying, W. (2002). The Vocabulary Self-Collection Strategy in the ESL Classroom. TESOL Journal, 11(2), 34-35.

Mezynski, K. (1983). Issues concerning the acquisition of knowledge: Effects of vocabulary training on reading comprehension. Review of educational research, 53(2), 253-279.

Nation, I. (2013). Learning words from context. In (), Learning Vocabulary in Another Language. Cambridge University Press.

Nation, I. S. (1990). Teaching and Learning Vocabulary. Heinle ELT.

Robinson, P. J. (2005). Teaching key vocabulary in geography and science classrooms: An analysis of teachers’ practice with particular reference to EAL pupils’ learning. Language and Education, 19(5), 428-445.

Schmitt, N. (2000). Vocabulary in language teaching. Cambridge University PRess.

Schmitt, N. & Schmitt, D. (1995). Vocabulary notebooks: Theoretical underpinnings and practical suggestions. ELT journal, 49(2), 133-143.

Stahl, S. (1983). Differential word knowledge and reading comprehension. Journal of Reading Behavior, 15(4), 33-50.

Stoller, F. & Grabe, W. (1993). Implications for L2 vocabulary acquisition and instruction from L1 vocabulary research. In (), Second Language Reading and Vocabulary Learning. Ablex.

Xanthou, M. (2010). Current trends in L2 vocabulary learning and instruction: Is CLIL the right approach. Advances in Research on Language Acquisition and Teaching: Selected Papers, Thessaloniki, Greece: Greek Applied Linguistics Association (GALA), , 459-471.