ABSTRACT
Words in a language are generally referred to collectively as vocabulary. Probably vocabulary learning is the most time-consuming part of learning a foreign language. It can be time-consuming, because people – not only learners but also native speakers – never cease to learn words. For instance, new words are continually being added to languages. New words have to be created and learned in order to describe new experiences or phenomena or to refer to new artefacts or concepts (e.g. biodegradable, spamstering, spin-doctor(ing), downloading, DVD, cyberspace). For this reason, vocabulary building is perhaps a more appropriate description than vocabulary learning. People with a high school education are said to know, on average, about 60,000 words, and children as young as six may know over 10,000 words. Those with higher education or in professional occupations probably know more than 60,000 words. When learning a foreign language, students aim to acquire the control of an equal number of ‘new’ words. The sheer number of words to be learned – usually in a short period of time – suggests that this involves much more than just practice or hard work. It also requires a remarkable feat of memory.
