Research
My main research field is TESOL, or Teaching English as a Second or Other Language. Vocabulary is my main focus, with four topics now in progress.
Vocabulary: High Frequency English Words Unknown to University Students in Japan
In a series of research projects with support from the Faculty of International Studies joint research budget, Katsuhiro Chiba and I investigated what high frequency English words were commonly unknown to first year university students. High frequency words are those that come up in almost any authentic English materials read, and therefore are key to comprehension. However, we found that university students were missing both certain words in common from this list, and that many students also had a wide range of unique gaps in their knowledge.
In a self-checking familiarity survey of 84 second-year students, an average of 33 out of the first 1000 most frequent English words were found to be unknown. The words chosen as unknown showed wide variety, with a total of 461 unique words being flagged as unknown by at least one student. This indicated that students did not have a firm grasp of the most frequent English words, and that this might be hindering their English comprehension. This prompted the following studies.
- Kitano, M. and Chiba, K. (2018, August 26). 大学生が知らない高頻度語彙：NGSL1000からの発見. Paper presented at the 全国英語教育学会第44回京都研究大会, Kyoto.
To follow up on student understanding of words after a semester of instruction in words found to be commonly unknown, testing showed that the students then understood the core meanings of the words that they were instructed on. However, this test used a write-in format, where the students wrote in the Japanese equivalent of English words given. Problem answers for words that students had not indicated as unknown showed that there were many more words that were unknown to the students than had been found in the original study.
- Kitano, M. and Chiba, K. (2019, August 18). High-frequency English words commonly unknown to university students in Japan: implications for secondary and tertiary education. Paper presented at the 全国英語教育学会第45回弘前研究大会, Hirosaki.
Further testing of the first 1000 most frequent English words in 2018 and 2019 confirmed the extent of the problem. This data resulted in a list of 139 words that were unknown to more than 10 percent of students. These words were then compared with words found in textbooks used in Japan. It was found that 74 of the 139 words did not appear in the junior high school textbooks of any of the domestic publishers. For high school textbooks, 66 of these words still did not appear within the textbooks of two publishers. As these words appear naturally in any authentic text, this indicates that the language being given to learners in Japan does not meet the needs of learners who would then desire to read authentic materials in English after graduation.
To determine the nature of gaps in knowledge, write-in test results were coded for type of error. While most words were simply unknown to the students (613 of 1381), the second most common error was part of speech (287). Also a problem was form misidentification (208), where the student writes the meaning of a word that is a little similar in form to the target word (ex. おそらく(probably) for property, and 芸術的な (artistic) for article). Similar to that was meaning misunderstanding (180), where a definition close in concept yet incorrect was written (ex. 調査する (investigate) for report, and 告白する (confess) for propose). Spelling misreading (93) is another problem (ex. 読む (read) for lead, 貝 (shell) for shall). These results indicate that in addition to vocabulary, there is a need for training in phonics and a much wider base of input, such as through extensive reading.
Vocabulary: What Is the Most Efficient Way to Study?
It is generally accepted in the field of second language acquisition that flashcards are a more effective way of learning words than looking at a printed list of words or writing the words repetitively. However, Japanese learners of English tend to use the latter. In two experiments, we found that for Japanese learners, learning words from a list was in fact more effective.
- Kitano, M. L. and Chiba, K. (2019). Comparing the effectiveness of word cards and list learning with Japanese learners of English. Vocabulary Learning and Instruction, 8 (1), 70-75.
- Kitano, M. L. & Chiba, K. (2019). Comparing the Effectiveness of Deliberate Learning Strategies. Poster session presented at Vocab@Leuven, Leuven.
How to Encourage Low Level Learners to Study for Vocabulary Tests
Acquisition of vocabulary depends on repeated encounters with a word over time, and teachers can encourage this through setting goals and testing throughout a semester. However, students without study skills often do not prepare for weekly vocabulary tests. In these studies, a new method was attempted to encourage such students. Weekly tests were personalized, and all words mistaken in the previous tests were added to the new words for the week. In this way, making mistakes one week increases the amount of work necessary for the next. This method found more students preparing for weekly tests, and in a second study (not yet published), also found increased vocabulary acquisition.
The Effects of Long-term Extensive Reading on Productive Vocabulary
Considering the amount of high frequency English words that are unknown to Japanese university students, Katsuhiro Chiba and I decided to investigate whether extensive reading (ER) is a way for students to pick up those words. ER is reading large amounts of materials at an easy level for pleasure. As high frequency words are those that appear in any text and as it takes multiple exposures to learn a word, ER by definition would be a way for students to fill their personal gaps in high frequency words.
In our current study, we are testing productive and receptive knowledge of the first 2000 words of the NGSL, comparing university students who have read more than 400,000 words of ER with those who have not participated in ER (or have read less than 30,000 words of ER) but are at the same CEFR level of English. Our preliminary data showed no significant difference between the two. However, within the ER reading group, we found that the more words of ER they had read, the higher their scores were on vocabulary.
This is an ongoing study, but we presented our preliminary findings at VOCAB@VIC 2023 at Victoria University of Wellington.
- Chiba, K. and Kitano, M. (2023, December 14). The effects of long-term extensive reading on productive vocabulary. Presentation at VOCAB@VIC 2023, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, NZ.