Abstract

Research on vocabulary learning suggests lexical competence to be crucial for learners’ proficiency level and even more so for future EFL teachers. The presenter reviews the relationship between lexical knowledge and vocabulary use and discusses, from research findings, the effects of appropriate college vocabulary instruction. One central concern in the vocabulary research field is the relationship between receptive and productive lexical knowledge and its transfer onto vocabulary use (Nation, 1990, 2001; Laufer 1998, 2013; Laufer and Goldstein 2004). Breath of lexical knowledge across varied frequency bands is essential to lexical competence. Poor national results of secondary school students in recent years have placed EFL teaching quality and teacher proficiency in Chile under scrutiny. The presenter will offer a brief contextual overview and present the theory, method and results of a study conducted on pre-service teachers throughout an academic year on their written lexical competence. Its objective is to determine the effects of systematic vocabulary teaching and learning strategies. At the end of the session, attendees will understand the relationship between lexical knowledge and use. They will also identify efficient ways to teach vocabulary to EFL learners and strategies students have available to learn vocabulary autonomously.