Some second language theorists have argued that second language learners, like children learning their first language, can learn a great deal of vocabulary with little intentional effort. Stephen Krashen (1985, 1989) has asserted that the best source of vocabulary growth is reading for pleasure.
L&S p. 100
The chapter discusses how it is almost impossible to guess the meaning of the words from the context without prior knowledge of at least 90% of the vocabulary. I agree, I have read somewhere that you need to see the word 50 times before being comfortable using it. What I find strange, however, is that the chapter does not make a very important distinction between active and passive vocabulary. If you see a word in the text, look it up in the dictionary, write it down and learn it, or even just see it and guess the meaning, it is most likely (I'd give my personal 99%, but I don't have scientific proof for that) that the word will enter your passive vocabulary. You will be able to recognize it, from now on, but you will hardly use it in your own sentences, especially in oral speech. It is, no doubt, great to have a large passive vocabulary, but it makes you a magnificent reader and not-so-magnificent speaker. I believe in learning vocabulary from meaningful contexts and reinforcing it with games, guided practice, matching exercises; then words become actively used.
Reading for pleasure in your L2 is a wonderful thing, but it's primary advantage is not enriching your active vocabulary.
2 comments:
You're right about the difference between active and passive vocabulary. Unfortunately, it's impossible to conduct activities with a large quantity of words to transfer them to active status, hence the efficiency of reading to enrich our passive vocabulary.
I agree with you that reading for pleasure may not be the best way to learn new vocabulary. But still we should consider that reading in L2 provides most of input in language learning process. In the bible there is a story about this it basically states that "rich are getting richer and poor poorer" in terms of reading in L1 this is called "Mathew affect." if you are competent in the sense of literacy that means you will to read more and more on the contrary if you are not motivated and encouraged to read more you stay where you are. So the gap between two is getting larger and day by day.
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