New releases
Four web-based programs designed and programmed by Laurence Anthony are now freely accessible from his web site.
The Picture Vocabulary Size Test (PVST)
https://laurenceanthony.net/software/pvstweb/
The PVST tests receptive knowledge of the most frequent 20,000 word families of English. The test can be used with native speakers of English and non-native speakers. The test can be used with both spoken and written input or spoken input alone. Learners need not be literate to sit the test. The following document describes the test in detail.
Previously the test had to be downloaded, but this web-based version now makes it more easily accessible.
Word Family Finder
https://laurenceanthony.net/software/wordfamilyfinder/
This very useful program has recently been updated to include frequency figures from a 10 million word corpus containing 7 million words of spoken English. It can be used to quickly check the frequency level of a word (1st 1000, 2nd 1000 and so on up to the 30th 1000) to see whether it is worth teaching or studying. The 30,000 word family lists and the lists of proper names (basewrd31), marginal words (basewrd32), transparent compounds (basewrd32), and acronyms (basewrd34) can also be downloaded from within the program.
Word Affix Trainer
https://laurenceanthony.net/software/wordaffixtrainer/
The program can be used to learn to recognize the most useful English derivational prefixes and suffixes (Levels 3, 4 and 5 of Bauer & Nation, 1993). Learners should do a large number of the short self-checking exercises at each level, especially Level 5 which covers fifty affixes, to make sure that they are well practised. The 10 Level 3 affixes should be studied by learners who know around 1000-2000 words. The 11 Level 4 affixes should be studied by learners who know around 4000 words, and the 50 Level 5 affixes by learners who know around 5000 words (see the CEFR table in Paul Nation’s resources under Vocabulary Lists). See the Word Parts section of Paul Nation’s resources for much more information about these word parts, along with Bauer & Nation (1993) under Publications.
Word Stem Trainer
https://laurenceanthony.net/software/wordstemtrainer/
The learners have to separate the stem from its affixes by making a space before the stem or after it, or both before and after it. The aim is to find the stem, not to correctly identify affixes. A final e is left as part of the stem. This program is useful for high-intermediate and advanced learners of English who already know more than 5,000-6,000 words. Native speakers of English may also find it useful. It provides the opportunity to practice finding the twenty-five most useful English word stems in complex words. These stems usually cannot stand as words by themselves but need prefixes or suffixes or both. Most of the words in this activity occur in the most frequent 10,000 English words. Knowing the stems will help these and other related words stick in memory. To learn more about this word part technique, see Wei, Z., & Nation, P. (2013). The word part technique: A very useful vocabulary teaching technique. Modern English Teacher, 22(1), 12-16. This article is freely available under Publications on Paul Nation's resources pages. The goals of using this program are to be able to recognise these twenty-five stems in words and to remember the meanings of the stems.