Page 118 - English - Teaching Academic Esl Writing

104 CHAPTER 5
Research has demonstrated that gaining initial familiarity with the meanings of 30 words per hour is possible when variousvocabulary learning techniques are combined (e.g., word lists, vocabulary logs, and keywords; Schmitt, 2000). However, this rate of learning requires learners to be focused and motivated; but as vocabulary grows, so does the ability to increase the vocabulary range. The greater the stu- dents' vocabulary repertoire, the wider the possible exposure to new vocabulary through reading. Thus, learners with a vocabulary range of 5,000 service and academic words combined are likely to have an easier time learning new words than those with 1,500.
ARTICLES AND SINGULAR/PLURAL CHOICES
The English article system is highly lexicalized and context-bound. That is, in many cases, it is difficult to tell whether a definite or an indefinitearticle is appropriate in different contexts or even if an article is required at all. Comprehension is far easier than production. One of the solutions to the ar- ticle dilemmas in production can be to encourage students to use plural in- stead of singular count nouns. This teaching technique does not do away with all the article problems, but it reduces their frequencies. For example,
Taking risks can produce bad result. For example, the investor buys stocks from new company, and he expects to gain their capital. These people, however, may lose some of their money on stock if their estimation about the stock isfalse. Stock price declines from $10 to $6 after they bought the stocks at $10 each. Despite the bad result of taking risk, people can succeed and accomplish their goal because the stock market can give them chance to become successful. (From a student's assignment on investmentrisk.)
This excerpt contains nine errors in article and singular/plural noun uses. Most of these can be avoided (or corrected) if the excerpt relies on the usage of plural instead of singular nouns.
Taking risks canproduce badresults. Forexample, investors buystocksfrom new companies, and they expect to gain (break even on) their capital (investment). These people, however, may lose some of their money on stocks if their estimations (evalua-
[If] stock prices declinefrom $10 to $6 after they bought[buy] the stocks at $10 each, [investors lose money]. Despite bad results of [from] taking risks, people can succeed and accomplish their goals because the stock market can give them the/a chance to become successful.
An important difference between learning how to cope with difficulties in production and learning general rules that apply to most (or many) arti- cle uses in English is this: In the broad-based approach, the tendency is to gloss over the problem areas that students encounter in real language pro-
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