2008 Strategies and Success in Technical Vocabular

INDIANJOURNALOFAPPLIEDLINGUISTICSVOL.34,NO.1-2,JAN-DEC2008StrategiesandSuccessinTechnicalVocabularyLearning:Students’ApproachesinOneAcademicContextMICHAELLESSARD-CLOUSTONBiolaUniversity,U.S.A.ABSTRACTRecognizingtheimportanceoflexisandvocabularylearningstrategies(VLS)inacademicstudies,thisarticlepresentsadescriptivecasestudyoftechnicalvocabularylearninginEnglishoveroneacademicterminanintact,requiredfirstyearcourseinagraduateschooloftheologyinCanada.Afteroutliningbackgroundinformationanddescribingtheresearchmethods,thearticlediscussesthevocabularylearningstrategiesandsuccessoffivenon-native(NNES)andsixnativeEnglishspeaker(NES)participants.Datawerecollectedusingpre-andpost-TestsofTheologicalLanguage(TTL),throughmid-andend-of-terminterviews,andattheendofthecourseusinganApproachtoVocabularyLearningQuestionnaire.AnalysesaddressedtheVLSthatNNESandNESstudentsuseinlearningthetechnicalvocabularyoftheirdiscipline,howtheseVLSmaybeclassifiedinrelationtopreviousresearch,whattypesofwordsparticipantsreportlearning,andwhetheraparticularapproachtoorstrategyintechnicalvocabularylearningpredictssuccessinacquisition,asreflectedinscoresontheTTL.ResultsindicatethatparticipantsusedavarietyofVLS,thoughnoonestrategyappearedtodominate.Detailedportraitsofparticipants’approachestotechnicalvocabularylearningareincluded.WhiletherewerenoconsistenttrendsinapproachestoorstrategiesinsuccessontheTTL,overallparticipantswhoapproachedtheirtechnicalvocabularylearninginanunstructuredmannertendedtoobtainhigherscoresontheTTL.Intermsofgrowthindepthofvocabularyknowledge,however,TTLresultssuggestthatastructuredapproachmaybehelpfulforNNESs.INTRODUCTIONForsometimenow,ithasbeenestablishedthatlanguage-learningstrategiesplayanimportantroleinsecondand/orforeignlanguageMICHAELLESSARD-CLOUSTON32(L2/FL)learning(e.g.,Chamot2004;Chen2007;Cohen1998;Cohen&Macaro2008;Cohen&Weaver2006;Gu1996;Lessard-Clouston1997;Macaro2001;O’Malley&Chamot1990;Oxford1996a).Relevanttothepresentstudy,vocabulary-learningstrategies(VLS)arekeytoL2/FLvocabularylearning,soteachingthemisencouragedintheliterature(e.g.,Coady1997;Coxhead2006;Gu2003a;Hunt&Beglar2002;Mercer2005;Nation2001,2006;Schmitt2000).YettodaterelativelyfewstudieshavebeencompletedonVLS,andperhapsnoneonnaturalacademicvocabularylearningbeyondtheL2/FLclassroom.Thegoalsofthisarticlearethereforetobegintobridgethisgapbyreportingonadescriptivecasestudyofbothnon-nativeandnativeEnglish-speaker(NNESandNES)students’approachestotechnicalvocabularyacquisitioninoneacademiccontext,andtorelateparticipants’reportedstrategyusetotheirsuccessinvocabularylearningintheirchosenfield.BACKGROUNDInthevocabularyliterature,authorssuchasNation(2001)andCoxhead(2006)distinguishbetweengeneral,academic,technical,andlowfrequencyvocabulary,notingthattechnicalorspecializedwordsappearwithrelativelyhighfrequencyinalimitedrangeoftextsineachacademicdiscipline(Fraser2005).ScarcellaandZimmerman(1998)makesimilardistinctions,andreferto“technicalwordsthatareusedinspecificacademicfields”(p.28).Carlson(1999)andCoxheadandNation(2001)havewrittenaboutspecializedvocabularylistsforspecificpurposes,andlearningsuchtechnicalacademicvocabularyisthefocusofthisarticle.ThisissueisimportantbecauseCasanave’s(1992)studyrevealedthat“acquiringthecultureofadisciplinarycommunityinvolveslearningthatcommunity’sspecializedlanguage”,andresearchbyParry(1991,1993)documentedthechallengesoftechnical,academicvocabularylearning.Fan(1998)notedChineseEFLlearners’difficultyin“recodingtechnicalvocabulary”,andinwritingonstrategiesandlong-termrecall,LawsonandHogben(1996)discussedtheimportanceofVLSinawaythatisrelevanttolearningthetechnicalvocabularyofone’sacademicfield:Intheearlystagesoflanguagelearning,whenthetasksbeingundertakenbythestudentaremorenovel,thisprocessingactivityismoredeliberatethanautomatic(Hasher&Zacks1979).Thedeliberateprocedures,orstrategies,developedduringthisperiodareprobablyretained;thesestrategiesshouldbeapparentinthebehaviourofstudentsastheyundertakeavocabularylearningtask(p.104).TECHNICALVOCABULARYLEARNING33Strategieswhichlearnersuseinapproachingearlytechnicalvocabularylearningintheirchosendisciplinesmaythusinfluenceboththeiracquisitionofitandtheiracademicsocialization.InausefulsummaryonESL/EFLvocabularyacquisition,Nation(1993)notedfourkeypoints.First,aperson’sskillwithwordsisrelatedtohisorhervocabularysize,and,second,tofluentaccesstothevocabularywithwhichheorsheisfamiliar.Third,itisnotenoughtoknowthehighfrequencyandgeneralacademicvocabularyinEnglish,asonemustalso“dealwiththespecializedtechnicalvocabularythatispeculiartoaparticularfieldofstudy”(p.121).ThepresentstudyisconcernedwiththetechnicalvocabularyofChristiantheology,andwithNation’s(1993)fourthpoint,VLS.Nation(1993:124)statedthat“broadvocabularygrowthdependsonvocabularystrategiesthatareindependentofsubjectmatterknowledge”,andthereareanumberofrelatedVLSstudiesfromtheliteratureofthelastdecadeorso.ResearchbySanaoui(1995)amongbothEnglishandFrenchasasecondlanguagestudentsinCanadarevealedthatwhilealearner’slevelofproficiencyandtypeofi