Appendix A: Vocabulary Teaching Survey
I.
Teacher Background Information
1. Your major at college/university: ______________________________________
2. Professional development experience (any training program, workshops, national or
international convention, or any other similar kind of professional development experience you
ever had):
____________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
3. Years that you have been teaching at high school(s): __________
4. Grades that you have taught so far (Check all that apply): 1st 2nd 3rd
II. Vocabulary Teaching
1. Is teaching vocabulary one of you focuses in class? Yes No
2. How do you choose which words to teach? Check all that apply
 I teach the words that are included in the Word List for the College Entrance Exam.
 I teach the words that are included in the Word List of Senior High School English
Curriculum Standards.
 I teach the words that I assume are hard or new to the students.
 I teach the words that appear in the vocabulary activities in the textbook.
 I teach the words that I think have high frequency in general.
3. Do you usually allocate class time to teach vocabulary or expect the students to study
vocabulary on their own after class?
 I spend class time explaining and teaching vocabulary
 I spend class time explaining new/unknown words and but expect the students to study
them after class.
 I leave all the new words to the students and expect them to learn and study on their own.
4. When are you more likely to teach vocabulary? Please rank the four skills listed below.
4 = most likely; 1= most unlikely
__ When I teach reading
__ When I teach writing
__ When I teach listening
__ When I teach speaking
5. When you show the meaning of the new/unknown words, what would you usually do?
Check all that apply.
 I tell the definition (including word knowledge such as the part of speech, )
 I give examples of the word and students figure out the meaning
 I give a description and the students figure out the meaning
 I use realia (object or picture)
 I perform the action (act out the meaning)
 I contrast the new word with a known word
Thank you for participating in this survey. I appreciate any help you would offer.
If you have any questions regarding answering the survey questions, please email me at [email protected].
Minghao Zhang
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
When you teach vocabulary, do you usually use the vocabulary activities offered in the
textbook or create your own activities?
 I use the activities in textbook (e.g. fill in the blanks, match the word and the definition, etc.)
– Go to question 6.1
 I prefer to create my own activities – Go to question 6.2
6.1 If you prefer to use the activities offered in the textbook, how would you usually deliver
the activities? Check the one that is the most similar to what you usually do.
 I would lead the whole class to do the activities, call on students to elicit answers, and
explain if students have questions.
 I would have the students do the activities in small groups/pairs first, then elicit answers
from volunteers, and explain if students have questions.
 I would assign the activities as homework and lead a whole-class discussion about the
answers in the following class meeting.
 I would do something different from above. (Please specify) ___________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
6.2 If you prefer to create your own activities, please describe one vocabulary activity that
you designed for one skill area.
Choose one skill area: Reading Writing Listening Speaking
Describe your activity: ______________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
After delivering the teaching activities mentioned in question #6, do you usually have some
follow-up activities for the students to be able to acquire and retain the word knowledge?
 Yes
No
If yes, please describe one of the follow-up activities you usually use.
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
When you teach a new word, do you only teach it one time in class or you get the students
to be exposed to the new word for multiple times in different activities?
 Only one time Multiple times in different activities
If you teach the new word for multiple times in different activities, please describe those
activities: __________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
What word knowledge do you usually teach? Check all that apply
 Form and Meaning
 Part of speech
 Pronunciation
 Derived forms (e.g. education – educational)
 Collocation
 Connotation
 Other - Please specify: _____________________________________________________________
Do you teach your students any vocabulary learning strategies?
 Yes
No
If yes, what strategies do you usually teach your students?
Please list at least 3 strategies: ________________________________________________________
Thank you for participating in this survey. I appreciate any help you would offer.
If you have any questions regarding answering the survey questions, please email me at [email protected].
Minghao Zhang