Following learning task was given to learners in different groups. Find out…

Concept

Thematic Vocabulary is a vocabulary-teaching technique in which learners are given a topic heading (a theme) and asked to generate or collect words and phrases that relate to that topic, building up a theme-anchored set of vocabulary. The same procedure can be repeated separately for several different theme headings, often in a group setting.

Application

In the pictured task, learners working in different groups are given three separate theme headings — Family, Relationship, and Feeling — each enclosed in its own oval, and are instructed to find words and phrases that relate to each one. This matches the Thematic Vocabulary procedure exactly: each given heading anchors one theme, and the group compiles vocabulary that belongs to it, repeating the process once per given heading.

Contrast

• Word Web names a graphic-organiser (mind-map) technique in which one given word is placed at the centre of a diagram and related words branch outward from it in a visual spoke pattern; the pictured task sets up plain topic headings for group vocabulary-collection, without that branching-diagram structure.

• Word clusters refers to words that already share a semantic or grammatical relationship (synonyms, antonyms, or a word family) presented together as a ready-made set, rather than to vocabulary generated by learners around an assigned topic heading.

• Cluster Vocabulary is a near-duplicate phrasing of word clusters — grouped, semantically related items presented as a set — and likewise names an outcome grouping rather than a topic-anchored vocabulary-building activity.

Because learners are organised into groups and each group builds up vocabulary around one given topic heading, the pictured learning activity is Thematic Vocabulary.