Teaching & Learning Vocabulary (Teaching Methods) [Paperback]

I.S.P. Nation (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0838428630 | ISBN-13: 978-0838428634 | Publication Date: January 1, 1990 | Edition: 1

TEACHING & LEARNING VOCABULARY examines the underlying principles of vocabulary acquisition, including the most effective teaching and learning techniques currently available, and presents a unified approach to vocabulary teaching and learning. The author draws on a hundred years of research, experimentation, and classroom experience and provides relevant applications to the teaching of listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Heinle ELT; 1 edition (January 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0838428630
• ISBN-13: 978-0838428634
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #762,515 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the best book there is on how to teach vocabulary, August 19, 2000

By 

Chris Elvin (Kanagawa, Japan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Teaching & Learning Vocabulary (Teaching Methods) (Paperback)

Paul Nation is probably the most authorative figure in vocabulary acquisition in the English-speaking community, and this is his book distilled from a large amount of research findings of teachers and researchers from around the world. Nation informs us as to what learning a word actually entails, which words need to be learned, how to teach them, which words do not need to be learned, and how to train one's students to cope whenever they encounter such low-frequency words. "Teaching & Learning Vocabulary" breaks up vocabulary learning into the four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) and there are answers in each section to most of the questions that teachers typically ask, such as what to do when students don't have enough vocabulary to understand. Finally, Nation presents his personally developed and efficient test format for assessing vocabulary, which I find very useful. (I still think it's back to front, though. What do you think?). I was also a little bit baffled about his penchant for using the keyword technique to remember words, but then again he's a funny guy and must enjoy learning words himself that way. All in all, it's an excellent book. If you are a language teacher or a researcher, then this book is well worth reading.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Readable, well-researched, and useful, July 26, 2000

By 

Brett Reynolds - See all my reviews

This review is from: Teaching & Learning Vocabulary (Teaching Methods) (Paperback)

Nation wrote this using only the word's from Michael West's General Service List. As a result, it is a great way for English teachers whose L1 isn't English to get improve their knowledge of vocabulary theory and teaching. As always, Nation give practical ideas and guidelines that can be applied in the classroom, but backs it up impecably with research findings. This book includes one form of Nation's vocabulary levels test that readers can use to diagnose their students' or their own English vocabulary (the test isn't really sensitive if the testee knows less than 3000 words).

He's currently working on either a new book, or a new edition of this one.