Dynamic Group Vocabulary

FLTeachers can find exciting opportunities in building a collaborative dynamic vocabulary in an intense task-based workflow. A basic framework of a wiki vocabulary is the following:

1. A teacher develops a template that includes all the aspects of a word unit that needs to be covered in a group vocabulary. Typically, the template would include translation, synonyms, antonyms and contexts. Teachers need to build a rather thorough template to make it a challenging task to fill it with actual data.
2. A teacher publishes a list of words that are required for the course/module/unit. Students get a task to create vocabulary entries for the words using the pre-designed template. Each vocabulary entry is a separate wiki page linking to the vocabulary index page.
3. As a group, students decide which words each of them works with. Then each student individually creates pages for the designated words, linking them to the word index. As a result, the word index becomes interactive, each word linking to the word pages.
4. To track their progress and contribution, students list the words they worked on in their portfolio, linking to the word pages.

By the time a certain section of the vocabulary is cleared, students have worked rather intensely on parts of it. Next, the teacher needs to use a traditional vocabulary control task with all word units in scope, so that students need to study each other’s word units and learn the section in its entirety. Thanks to a detailed and intensive word unit structure, students are engaged in a much closer and more informative learning process.

Learn more about Dynamic Group Vocabulary:
Creating a classroom vocabulary with templates on TFLW (Teaching Foreign Languages with Wikis)