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 LEXICAL GOALS & TOPICAL KNOWLEDGE.
The number of lexical items listed here represents a rough average of the
number of words in typical introductory college textbooks. This estimate
exceeds some textbooks, but we felt that as extra topical knowledge is
introduced, the number of lexical items may increase as well.
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Productive: approx. 750 words
Receptive: approx. 1000 words
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In a typical school setting, the suggested minimum for productive knowledge
works out to approximately four words per day.
The interpretation of this goal requires two caveats. First, just as no
college learner actually knows all of the words in the textbook, our expectations
for learners entering our programs should not exceed what we expect of our
"own" students. Second, following from principle 2 in the LLF that our programs
be learner centered, we must expect that each learner's lexicon will be
idiosyncratic. There really is no reason to expect at the elementary level of
proficiency, for example, that a learner will be able to rattle off a list of ten
professions. A learner may know two or three professions relatively well at this
stage (those of parents and one of personal interest, for example), but may
know others only passively.
We hesitate to specify this domain too precisely, however, because
lexical knowledge is perhaps the easiest domain of all in which to do remedial
work (even independently). This is not to say that learning vocabulary is either
trivial or easy. We would argue, however, that it makes almost no pedagogical
sense to hold back a learner solely for perceived deficiencies in lexical
knowledge. There may, of course, be extreme cases, but in the vast majority of
cases, we would urge that the inclination be to remediate rather than to retreat.
As with functional abilities, the list of topics here should be viewed neith-
er as minimal nor exhaustive, but as an indication of the range of topics appro-
priate for the elementary stage. Given the Novice level of proficiency at this
stage, in most domains productive knowledge is restricted to self. Learners will
do best knowing their own pets, hobbies, sports, etc., and probably will have a
harder time managing more exhaustive knowledge at this stage--that is for the
next stage.
There are some recommendations that go beyond many standard text-
books. The objects and descriptors listed are all either directly accessible or
easy to make accessible through pictures.
Further, the list requires two interpretations--for production and
reception. Production will focus primarily on self; reception can be expected to
be a little broader, but still far from exhaustive. However, unlike the functional
abilities, at least for reception, we would expect knowledge of more than a
single lexical item. Unlike functional abilities, knowledge is only truly topical if
the learner knows a range of items in each category.
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