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Previous scholarship in the field of second language acquisition (SLA) confirms that the 3,000 most frequent words in a language comprise approximately 95% of vocabulary coverage in most spoken and written texts. Thus, in the context of US universities’ language courses, these high-frequency words should be prioritized during the first two years of language classroom to ensure a smooth and successful transition to content courses, where texts will be exclusively in the L2. Nevertheless, in order to encourage the teaching of those frequent words, it is necessary to first make an accurate diagnostic of the vocabulary learning opportunities in the classroom and the current lexical knowledge of the students enrolled in language courses. Therefore, this presentation explores three factors that are essential for understanding the efficiency of vocabulary teaching and learning in our current Spanish language courses: (1) how language textbooks approach high-frequency vocabulary teaching, (2) students’ knowledge of the 3,000 most frequent words at all proficiency levels in a college context, and (3) current Spanish language teachers’ practices and beliefs with regard to vocabulary teaching and learning. Pedagogical implications of these results will be discussed, highlighting the importance of implementing a more lexically driven syllabus in the language classroom and raising awareness about the importance of research-based vocabulary teaching methods in teacher training programs.
Bio: Pablo Robles-García is an Assistant Professor of Spanish Linguistics at the University of Toronto, Mississauga. He graduated from the University of California, Davis, with a dissertation that proposes the first Yes/No vocabulary test that measures knowledge of the 3,000 most frequent words in Spanish. He has published several articles on topics related to vocabulary acquisition and textbook analysis.
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