Abstract
The purpose of this chapter is to discuss ways in which soft systems methodology (SSM) may be applied to the field of vocabulary learning and teaching. It begins by addressing the current problematic situation in this field and then attempts to approach the problem by borrowing the transformation processing model from SSM. In this chapter, I argue that teachers may benefit from focusing on fostering students’ vocabulary learning ability which contributes to effective vocabulary learning, rather than their vocabulary knowledge per se, because teachers typically do not have enough time to deal with vocabulary in class. I also suggest that vocabulary instruction should be seen as part of a broader language education system. More specifically, I propose that vocabulary and grammar instruction may be interconnected with each other within the framework of Meaning-order Approach to Pedagogical (MAP) Grammar, and explore ways in which vocabulary is learned effectively for communicative purposes using the MAP Grammar model.
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Notes
- 1.
The transformation process is one of Checkland and Scholes’ (1999) CATWOE elements (C, customers; A, actors; T, transformation process; W, weltanschauung; O, owner(s); E, environmental constraints). The transformation process plays a critical role in SSM, because it conceptualizes the change that SSM attempts to make (see Tajino (2002) for further discussion).
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Sasao, Y. (2019). Vocabulary Teaching: A Systemic Perspective. In: Tajino, A. (eds) A Systems Approach to Language Pedagogy. Translational Systems Sciences, vol 17. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6272-9_4
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