Book Review: The Routledge Handbook of Vocabulary Studies

The study of vocabulary is a fast-growing area that is playing an increasingly important role in second language (L2) acquisition research. Furthermore, it has attracted the interest of scholars from various disciplines. With this increased importance, we have seen a similar increase in books and journal articles on vocabulary studies. Updated topics and cutting-edge research approaches are emerging in this field, which provides fresh perspectives and appealing research opportunities for those interested in L2 acquisition, processing and representation.

The Routledge Handbook of Vocabulary Studies, edited by Stuart Webb, provides a comprehensive coverage of vocabulary studies from key researchers who are from different backgrounds and perspectives, which is the most unique and compelling aspect of this book. The diverse and comprehensive themes broaden new researchers’ horizons and stimulate experienced researchers by highlighting important areas for future research.

In addition to an introduction chapter, the book consists of four sections. The first section, Understanding Vocabulary, is composed of 13 chapters, and covers the heart of researching, learning and testing words. Specifically, these chapters introduce the kinds of vocabulary knowledge concerned with theoretical models of the L2 mental lexicon, such as the shared asymmetrical model (Pavlenko, 2009), the learning and processing of the different types of words (e.g. academic, technical, formulaic language, single words and multiword items) and their corresponding influencing factors, such as word frequency (Nation, 2001; Schmid and Jarvis, 2014) and vocabulary size in the first language (L1) and the L2, and theories of L2 vocabulary learning.

The second section is designed to explore approaches to teaching and learning vocabulary. It first introduces the critical topics and future directions of two different vocabulary learning methods: incidental vocabulary learning and intentional vocabulary learning. Then it moves to narrower topics, such as learning vocabulary inside the classroom, learning vocabulary with word cards, vocabulary learning strategies, resources for learning different types of words (e.g. single-word items and multiword items), word lists and evaluating exercises. The chapters in this section are related to pedagogy and its corresponding research, and propose effective methods for English vocabulary teaching and learning.

The third section, Measuring Knowledge of Vocabulary, comprising six chapters, opens with a chapter on measuring depth of vocabulary knowledge, before exploring issues related to measuring knowledge of multiword items. It also expounds on measuring vocabulary learning progress, the ability to learn words and lexical richness. Furthermore, this section reviews some online methodologies of measuring vocabulary knowledge (e.g. reaction time measures, the coefficient of variability and eye-tracking measures) and presents an extension of Nation's framework (Nation, 2013) of what it means to “know” a word (p.433). This section introduces some newer approaches to measuring knowledge of vocabulary and provides directions for future research.

The fourth section, Key Issues in Teaching, Researching, and Measuring Vocabulary, does not delve into related issues on vocabulary studies as the previous sections have done. Rather, it provides an overview of important themes in the field. It begins with a consideration of key issues in teaching single words and multiword items. The next two chapters focus on key issues in researching single words and multiword items. The final two chapters explore key issues related to measuring vocabulary knowledge and resources for researching vocabulary. Compared with other sections, this section contains a great number of basic professional terms and detailed explanations, which can help new researchers to learn relevant knowledge in this field faster.

The editor and authors are to be heartily congratulated on producing a handbook that provides informative and stimulating accounts of a wide range of areas within vocabulary studies. The first particularly noteworthy and praiseworthy feature of the collection is the variation in discussion of subjects. It brings together the original contributions from internationally renowned scholars and innovative research approaches from different theoretical perspectives. This book lists the background and research area of all contributors, which help readers grasp the work of the outstanding scholars in the field more effectively and conveniently. Each chapter also provides the reader with further reading and related topics, which gives the book a contemporary and comprehensive vision.

Another positive feature is that this book is instructive and forward-looking. Each chapter tells readers what the general theme is, and then tells them what the critical issues and topics are related to the theme, so that the reader can gain some basic knowledge of the area under discussion. Each chapter also contains a section on future directions that demonstrates the editor’s intention that the handbook should shed light on aspects of vocabulary studies that are in need of further development.

Nonetheless, the book is not without some flaws. The arrangement of some chapters is sometimes questionable. The study of vocabulary size is bound to involve measuring, which is consistent with the theme of part III. Another potential drawback to the book is that some research perspectives and contents are conspicuously absent from the volume. The book would have benefitted from the inclusion of vocabulary research from a neurolinguistic perspective. Neurolinguistics is playing an increasingly important role in the study of the neural mechanisms of language acquisition, comprehension and production in the human brain. It would have been useful if it had been given at least a cursory review in this collection.

These limitations not withstanding, the book succeeds in providing a variety of perspectives and approaches to the study of vocabulary. It is likely to become an essential resource for people interested in L2 vocabulary research, regardless of whether they are new to the field or an experienced researcher.