This is the second of a 3-part series leading up to an exciting panel discussion at the International TESOL 2025 conference in Long Beach, California called “Vocabulary Richness: Why It’s Important and How to Promote It.” Larry Zwier is the Associate Director of the English Language Center at Michigan State University and the current chair of the TESOL Reading and Vocabulary Interest Section. You can find a link to the first post in the series, as well as some of Larry’s other blog posts, at the end of this post.
Even for beginning students of English, one path to a “rich” vocabulary winds through very familiar territory—words and phrases that many already know very well. We’re talking about friendly items like face, door, stay, spread, and so on. They play a big role in the development of a flexible, precise vocabulary without requiring a big investment in new forms.
Imagine a reading or listening text with the passage, Dennis faced new challenges after moving to a new city. Your teacherly instincts might suggest calling out and working with challenges. It’s longer, right? Probably less frequent, right? Not bad thinking, but don’t overlook other opportunities.
Learning a word in one context does not ensure a student understands (or even recognizes) it in another. Since face is of very high frequency, most learners already know it in at least one meaning—probably “the front of the head, where the eyes, nose, and mouth are.” Still, did your students recognize that face here is their good old friend from earlier language lessons? If the passage was read, perhaps. If it was listened to, maybe not.
Here is a simple technique I use with my students:
- Noticing is the first step. Get your students to notice their old friend. Ask for a definition.
- Next, help students draw connections:
- Ask how face in this context relates to the word they already know. You may have to teach the connection—which is fun because it’s easily picturable, even performable.
- Stand with your back to the class, then suddenly turn around.
- Face the students and say, “Now I am facing you.”
- Make things even clearer by motioning from your face (especially the eyes) in a sweeping motion out toward the students.
- Expand even further by pairing faced with new challenges. The collocation face + challenge is strong and useful.
This technique can be useful for expanding students’ knowledge of other “body part” words that they learned early and may see in new meanings. Here are some examples, with non-basic, “rich” contexts:
- eye (as in They eyed the food on the table and hoped dinner would start soon.)
- hand (as in Can you hand me my phone?)
- shoulder (as in Soon the new workers learned to shoulder more responsibility.)
Notice that in each case, the familiar “body part” noun is connected to a verb meaning. Point this out to your students. This is a highly productive pattern in English lexis: A high-frequency noun has a related, metaphorically connected verb meaning. Knowing the pattern can help students progress to the richness they want.
If you plan to attend TESOL 2025 in Long Beach, California, and would like to hear more, come to our session (#2804) “Vocabulary Richness: Why It’s Important and How to Promote it,” on Thursday, 20 March, from 9:00 AM – 10:15 AM in Seaview Ballroom C, hosted by panelists Dr. Randi Reppen, Larry Zwier, and Colin Ward. and How to Promote it,” on Thursday
Check out the first post in this series by Colin Ward: Tips for Developing Students’ Voices of Authority in English
Other posts from Larry:
Free at Last: Bound Morphemes Make a Run for It – Larry Zwier
There’s a Lot Taking Place – Larry Zwier