Includes a glossary, bibliographical references, and indexes.

"This volume examines the area of second language vocabulary studies from three broad perspectives: description, acquisition and pedagogical context. The book's fifteen chapters are grouped together to achieve a balance between descriptions of what vocabulary is and how it behaves, how the mind learns new vocabulary and then uses it when it is learned, and pedagogical issues of teaching and testing L2 vocabulary. Some of the specific topics addressed in these three general areas include:
word frequency and vocabulary size, multi-word units, variation between spoken and written language models of lexical acquisition, first language influences on second language vocabulary acquisition, vocabulary learning strategies vocabulary and the syllabus, trends in teaching vocabulary, testing vocabulary, lexical reference resources

All the contributors are leading authorities in their respective areas and the editors have provided an introductory review to the book and commentaries on the chapters." (Book Cover)

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Introduction

PART 1 Vocabulary and description

1.1 Vocabulary size, text coverage and word lists / Paul Nation and Robert Waring

1.2 Written and spoken vocabulary / Michael McCarthy and Ronald Carter

1.3 Vocabulary connections: multi-word items in English / Rosamund Moon

1.4 On the role of context in first- and second-language vocabulary learning / William Nagy

1.5 Receptive vs. productive aspects of vocabulary / Francine Melka

1.6 Editors' comments - description section

PART 2 Vocabulary and acquisition

2.1 Towards a new approach to modelling vocabulary acquisition / Paul Meara

2.2 Vocabulary acquisition: word structure, collocation, word-class, and meaning / Nick C. Ellis

2.3 What's in a word that makes it hard or easy: some intralexical factors that affect the learning of words / Batia Laufer

2.4 The influence of the mother tongue on second language vocabulary acquisition and use / Michael Swan

2.5 Learning the orthographical form of L2 vocabulary - a receptive and a productive process / Ann Ryan

2.6 Vocabulary learning strategies / Norbert Schmitt

2.7 Editors' comments - acquisition section

PART 3 The pedagogical context

3.1 Current trends in teaching second language vocabulary / Anita J. Sokmen

3.2 Incorporating vocabulary into the syllabus / Felicity O'Dell

3.3 Vocabulary reference works in foreign language learning / Phil Scholfield

3.4 Vocabulary and testing / John Read

3.5 Editors' comments - pedagogy section

Glossary

References

Author index

Content index