What matters in vocabulary learning?

The two basic conditions needed for effective vocabulary learning are repetition and quality of processing. Repetition is so important that it needs to be planned into a language course in a principled way. This talk will describe various ways to do this. Around one-third of the course time should be spent coming back to previously met material and language items. Quality of processing refers to the conditions involved in each meeting with a word. These conditions include noticing, spacing, retrieval, varied meetings and varied use, elaboration and deliberate attention. This talk shows how these conditions can be part of typical teaching and learning activities, and how teachers can make sure they occur.