Tom Cobb Universit du Qubec Montral Vocab Symposium

Tom Cobb Université du Québec à Montréal Vocab Symposium - Getting the Word Out AAAL April ‘ 07 “Vocab learning in a video game? ”

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Context (1) n n While much is known about making vocab learning + growth efficient Little of it has an effect on language learners « Who proceed in largely hit-n-miss fashion 7

Context (2) n Word Knowledge has many interlinked facets 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. n Meaning(s) Phonological form Orthographic form Syntactic combinability Collocative combinability Procedural (access speed) Initial acquisition points are 1, 2, or 3 8

Context (3) n Pop culture u Spelling-bee mania of recent years « n Films etc Education culture u Decline of spelling in age of SMS + spell-checker Obvious impact on writing « Subtle on reading « n Gaming culture u Gamers target learning market Some seriously « Huge potential to get research “out” « 9

Spelling games - a non-learning approach u Game presents endless streams of unusual words u Exclusive focus on form u Patterns with little generalizability u Words with minimal communicative value u Only big L 1 lexicons can play 10

Spelling games - a learning approach u Game words at player growth edge u Spelling patterns generalize u Game skills = language-use skills – Form cued by meaning – Access speed rewarded u Words with communicative value u Any size lexicons can play • L 2 included 11

Desiderata of a learning approach 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Entire lexicon scaled by level Game-compatible testing Semantic based cueing Recycling of inputs Incorporate access speed Incorporate social nature of language Provide motivating interactions 12

1. Known lexicon categorized by level n From corpus get frequency list « n No problem since 1960 s But unlemmatized = unuseful « Except GSL + AWL • Make Vocab. Profile possible n Solved by Nation (06) « n BNC corpus 14 lemmatized k-lists Cobb (07) carries job up to 20 k « The fringe of adult educated lexicon • Goulden, Nation & Read 13

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u RECENTLY AVAILABLE u n n 100 million word Brit. Nat Corpus (BNC) => 17 MB word list n 694, 807 different word types GAME NEEDS n 20 lemmatized lists by k-level n 3000 n 4000 n 5000 … 15

u NATION’S WORK u n 14 lemmatized lists u To drive Vocabprofile program MY WORK n EXPAND LISTS TO n 15 -20 lemmatized lists by k-level n 15, 000 n 16, 000 n 17, 000 n 18, 000 n 19, 000 n 20, 000 16

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2. Game compatible level testing n Meara et al, Yes/no Checklist Many words in short time « PNW’s as honesty check « n PNW’s for other languages « Duyck’s Word. Gen Website • http: //users. ugent. be/~wduyck/Wouter%20 Duyck/wordgen. html n Some issue of size… 25

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3. Semantic cueing n Word meanings integrated • As help / reminder • As game element n From high grade L 2 -learner dictionary « n E. g. , Cambridge Advanced Learners Dictionary (CALD) Whose definitions blend simple language with fairly low frequency words • (15 k plus) 27

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4. Principled recycling of both hits and misses n Classic memory research Pimsleur et al in psychology « Mondria in L 2 « n Forgetting is rapid at first, then slows « n Geometric progression This information can be used to prevent forgetting « Retrieval practice at forget-points • Expanding intervals • Goal: minimum number of retrievals to LTM 29

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5. Lex accessspeed as game component n Research shows lexical access can be trained « Snellings, van Gelderen, de Glopper (2002) n So, progressively reduce time for game completion « According to power-law algorithm 32

6. Focus on social nature of language learning / use n Wireless capacity of DS players « Up to four players « Competition, collaboration… 33

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7. Provide motivation to persist n n Language consultant provides content + learning theory Game professionals provide game elements « Exploit DS’s potential • Sound • Stylus • Split screen 35

Extension projects n n Transport game concepts to other languages Transport game concepts to other language interfaces « French ESL learners « Spanish ESL learners « Japanese ESL learners… 36

Further reading n Frequency lists – Leech et al, Word Frequencies in Written & Spoken English n Lemmatization procedures – Nation n 20 k as size of adult educated lexicon – Goulding, Nation & Read (1990) n Yes-No Test – Buxton & Meara (1987) n Spaced recycling – Mondria & Mondria-Wit de Boer (1993) n Reaction-time & practice – Snellings, van Geldeen, & de Glopper (2002) n Easy and hard spelling – Connor (c. 1986), N. Ellis (c. 1996), Cognitive processes in spelling 37

n n n Goulden, R. , Nation, P. , & Read, J. (1990). How large can a receptive vocabulary be? Applied Linguistics 11, 341 -358. Meara, P. , & Buxton, B. (1987). An alternative to multiple choice vocabulary tests. Language Testing 4, 142 -154. Nation, P. (2007). How large a vocabulary is needed for reading and listening? Canadian Modern Language Review 63 (1), 1 -12. Mondria, J. -A. & Mondria-De Vries, S. (1993). Efficiently memorizing words with the help of word cards and 'hand computer': Theory and applications. System 22, 47 -57. Snellings, P. , van Gelderen, A, , & de Glopper, K. (2002). Lexical retrieval: An aspect of fluent second language production that can be enhanced. Language Learning 52 (4), 723 -754. 38

Stay tuned for upcoming developments… www. lextutor. ca/aaal_07 cobb. tom@uqam. ca