Birthday boy

Im sorry. Im working on your birthday, Tom.

Toms mother is leaving the house. She isnt looking at Tom. Shes
thinking about work.
Have a nice day, love. See you tonight, she says.
Goodbye, Mum, Tom says. He feels sad. He doesnt want her to go.
Toms sister, Annie, comes down from her room.
Happy birthday, little brother! she says. Twelve today!
Tom smiles. He likes being twelve.
Can't I give you your birthday present this afternoon? Annie asks. Im
going shopping this morning with my friends. She goes to the door.
I want to go shopping, Tom starts to say, but Annie doesnt hear.
Enjoy your birthday, she says. Then she leaves too.

Now Toms father is the only person at home. Tom finds him at his desk.
Hes working on his computer. Toms father works at home, and he works all the
time. Tom walks into his fathers office and his father turns and looks at him.
Hello, Tom, he says, What are you going to do with your birthday
money?
I dont know. Dad, Tom says. Can we go shopping?
Toms father is looking at his computer again. Not today, Tom, he says.
I must finish this work. Wheres Annie?
Shes shopping with her friends, Tom says.
He knows his father isnt listening. Hes reading an email on his computer.
Thats nice, he says, but he doesnt look at Tom. Have a good time!
OK, says Tom and he leaves the room.

Tom phones his friend, Neil. Neils mother answers. Can I speak to Neil?
Tom asks.
Im sorry, Neils mother says. Hes playing football in Western Park. Is
that Tom?
Yes, says Tom.
Neil tells me its your birthday today, Neils mother says. Happy
birthday!
Thank you, says Tom.
I must go, but have a good day! says Neils mother.
Thank you, Tom says again and he puts the phone down.
No one has any time for me today, he thinks. Its my birthday and no one has
any time for me.
Nation has provided the most comprehensive list to date of aspects of vocabulary
knowledge which are systematically categorized into form, meaning and use (2001: 27), as
follows:
Form: pronunciation, spelling, word parts
Meaning: form-meaning relationship, concept and referents, associations
Use: grammatical functions, collocations, constraints on use (e.g. register, frequency)

Zareva (2005) set out to test a three dimensional model of vocabulary knowledge by using a
revised Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (Wesche/Paribakht 1996: 551), as follows:
1) I have never seen this word before.
2) I have seen this word before but I dont remember what it means.
3) I think this word means _______. (synonym, translation, or brief explanation)
4) I know that this word means _______. (synonym, translation, or brief explanation)
5) I associate this word with ______, ______, ______.

One of the most widely known scale checklists is the Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (VKS)
(Wesche/Paribakht 1996: 30), as follows:
I. I dont remember having seen this word before.
II. I have seen this word before, but I dont know what it means.
III. I have seen this word before, and I think it means _________. (synonym or translation)
IV. I know this word. It means _________. (synonym or translation)
V. I can use this word in a sentence: ______________________. (If you do this section,
please also do Section IV.)

A continuum view of vocabulary development along the partial to precise dimension assumes
that knowledge moves from less to full, which suggests the following arrangement (Waring
2002: 9):
a) I do not know this word.
b) I know a little of the word meaning.
c) I know this word meaning quite well.
d) I know this word meaning very well.

Version A
I. I dont remember I have seen or heard of this word before.
II. I have seen or heard of this word before, but I dont know what it means.
III. I recognize this word, it has something to do with __________.
IV. I know this word. It means _________. (translation)

Version B
I. I dont remember I have seen or heard of this word before.
II. I have seen or heard of this word before, but I dont know what it means.
III. I have seen or heard this word before, and know its meaning a little. What I know about
it is ____________________.
IV. I know this word well enough to give its definition: _________ (translation or
explanation in L1)

The depth dimension indicates a comprehensive word model which includes three categories
of knowledge aspects listed as follows:
_ form orthographic, phonological and morphological aspects
_ semantic association antonymy, synonymy, hyponymy and gradation
_ pragmatic factors collocation restrictions, register and frequency

FORM
An example of the receptive version is as follows:
(a) dirrect (b) diret (c) direct (d) derict

MORPHOLOGICAL ASPECT
Noun He made an ____________ that she likes meat.
Verb He can _____________ that she likes meat.
Adjective He had an ____________ idea that she likes meat.
Adverb He decided _____________ that she likes meat.

Ishii and Schmitt (2009: 10) published another simple and decontextualized
task to measure the morphological aspect, as follows:

Target word Noun Verb Adjective

stimulate stimulation stimulate stimulating
educate

SEMANTIC ASSOCIATION

BEAUTIFUL
enjoyable expensive free loud education face music weather

COLLOCATIONAL ASPECT IN PRAGMATIC FACTORS

COMFORT
Synonym Collocation
favor relief help tell large great fetch offer

Animal idioms
to have ants in your pants
to take the bull by the horns
to let the cat out of the bag
to have the cat get your tongue
to be raining cats and dogs
the straw that broke the camel's back
to have a cow
to wait until the cows come home
to be in the doghouse
to let sleeping dogs lie
to be in a fine kettle of fish
to seem a little fishy
to live high on the hog
to look a gift horse in the mouth
to eat like a horse
to hear it straight from the horse's mouth
to hold your horses
to put the cart before the horse
to change horses in midstream