Building a Vocabulary through Academic Reading

This paper reports a series of longitudinal case studies designed to address the question of how language learners build their vocabularies. Students who were enrolled in an anthropology class were asked to record the words that caused them difficulty as they read their anthropology texts, and to write down, if they could, what they thought the words meant. The resulting lists are analyzed in terms of the kinds of words listed, the accuracy of the glosses, and the probable reasons for misinterpretation; the analysis is considered in relation to data collected in protocols and a translation task. The conclusions are that a range of strategies may be used for learning vocabulary, each involving liabilities as well as assets. Students need to be aware of the range so as to develop flexibility in their responses to unfamiliar words.