Teaching Vocabulary based on Thematic Topics

Tinkham, T, (1997) The effects of semantic and thematic clustering on the learning of second language vocabulary. Second language research 13(2) 138-163

Nation(2004) summarizes several articles warning teaching semantic related vocabulary in one time. One of importance evidences of it is in this article. He compares test scores between semantic and thematic clustered items, and confirms that semantic related vocabularies takes longer time to get the correct answers than thematic one. In terms of stats, he used sophisticated way to measure the data. He set independent variables, condition4(semantic clusters, thematic clusters, and the like), modality(oral or written), task(recall task or recognition task), form (counterbalanced A form and B form), and order of test students take. And then he set dependent variables, scores of recall test(oral and written) and recognition test (oral and written). So he used MANOVA to calculate the data. Also, He precisely assessed interaction effects of a variety variables mentioned above.

Although i could not fully understand the way of measuring it, it is good to remember what i learned in a stats class. Moreover, it seems to support the rationale for teachers to implement task-based learning, because TBL's syllabus is mainly centered around thematic topics.