Paul Nation
Encyclopedia
Paul Nation is a leading language teaching methodology and vocabulary acquisition linguist researcher, mainly for English as a Foreign Language. He has taught in Indonesia
, Thailand
, the United States
, Finland
, and Japan
. He is a professor in the School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies at Victoria University
of Wellington
, New Zealand
. Key concepts of his works are frequency vocabulary lists
as guidelines to vocabulary acquisition, the learning burden of a word, the need to teach learning strategies to students in order to increase their autonomy in vocabulary expansion for low frequency items, support to extensive reading
of accessible texts (≥95-98% of known words), the usefulness of L2
→L1 tools (dictionaries, word cards) for their clarity. After the communicative approach of the 80's, his works have been instrumental for second language
courses design and current teaching methods, relying mainly on a quick vocabulary acquisition of frequent words. Together with Batia Laufer, James Coady, Norbert Schmitt
, Paul Meara, Rebecca Oxford, Michael Swan, his position is linked to Stephen Krashen
's Natural approach (emphasis on frequent grammatical and lexical items first) and to the proposed Lexical approach
(emphasis on vocabulary) of language teaching.
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. He is a professor in the School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies at Victoria University
Victoria University
Victoria University may refer to:* Victoria University, Australia, Melbourne, Australia* Victoria University of Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh* University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada...
of Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. Key concepts of his works are frequency vocabulary lists
Word lists by frequency
Word lists by frequency are lists of a language words grouped by frequency, either as a whole, or as a ranked list, serving the purpose of vocabulary acquisition. Word lists by frequency "provides a rational basis for making sure that learners get the best return for their vocabulary learning effort"...
as guidelines to vocabulary acquisition, the learning burden of a word, the need to teach learning strategies to students in order to increase their autonomy in vocabulary expansion for low frequency items, support to extensive reading
Extensive reading
Extensive reading is an approach to language learning, including foreign language learning, by the means of a large amount of reading. The learners view and review of unknown words in specific context will allow the learner to infer the word's meaning, and thus to learn unknown words...
of accessible texts (≥95-98% of known words), the usefulness of L2
Second language
A second language or L2 is any language learned after the first language or mother tongue. Some languages, often called auxiliary languages, are used primarily as second languages or lingua francas ....
→L1 tools (dictionaries, word cards) for their clarity. After the communicative approach of the 80's, his works have been instrumental for second language
Second language
A second language or L2 is any language learned after the first language or mother tongue. Some languages, often called auxiliary languages, are used primarily as second languages or lingua francas ....
courses design and current teaching methods, relying mainly on a quick vocabulary acquisition of frequent words. Together with Batia Laufer, James Coady, Norbert Schmitt
Norbert Schmitt (academic)
Norbert Schmitt is a Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom. He is renowned for his work on Second language acquisition and second language vocabulary teaching...
, Paul Meara, Rebecca Oxford, Michael Swan, his position is linked to Stephen Krashen
Stephen Krashen
Stephen Krashen is professor emeritus at the University of Southern California, who moved from the linguistics department to the faculty of the School of Education in 1994. He is a linguist, educational researcher, and activist.-Work:...
's Natural approach (emphasis on frequent grammatical and lexical items first) and to the proposed Lexical approach
Lexical Approach
The Lexical Approach is a method of teaching foreign languages described by M. Lewis in the 1990s.The basic concept on which this approach rests is the idea that an important part of learning a language consists of being able to understand and produce lexical phrases as chunks...
(emphasis on vocabulary) of language teaching.