3.2 Depth of knowledge
As well as breadth of vocabulary (or size) a useful concept when thinking about vocabulary knowledge, both with words in your receptive and in your productive vocabulary, is depth of knowledge. Match the different aspects of what it means to know a word with their definition (based on Qian, 1999).
Activity 2 Depth of word knowledge matching activity
Allow about 5 minutes
The following relate to different aspects of depth of knowledge of words. Match each one with their meaning:
So, when you learn vocabulary, it is important that you think about what it means to know a word, and that you pay attention to the features we have just highlighted. And when you buy a dictionary (or chose one online), have a look at how much ‘depth of knowledge’ about the words it provides.
OpenLearn - How to learn a language
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