The document discusses personal phrasebooks (PPBs), which are collections of phrases tailored to a learner's specific needs and situations. PPBs can help increase fluency and reduce cognitive load. One example is an "email phrasebook" created by a student, Michal, to collect useful phrases for writing emails at work. The teacher helps identify good phrases from emails and suggests additions. PPBs are part of a personalized learning environment (PLE) and involve setting goals, managing content and learning independently. Teachers can help learners identify suitable phrases and develop autonomy in maintaining their own PPBs.

1. Personalizing the Phrasebook
I have been focusing on working with phrases with my students (and also in my own Chinese
learning), and in both cases I have realized that phrasebooks can offer some support with
language learning.
The significance of phrases
Phrases are especially important in language learning because they increase fluency for both
native speakers and language learners alike. This is because there is a limit to the length of
sentences we can create without using pre-constructed phrases as shortcuts; phrases reduce the
cognitive load and so speed up our talking. Personally, I find some peace of mind when using
phrases in a foreign language, because I know that they will be grammatically correct without my
needing to think about it.
Learners tend to gain new phrases through repeated use (presumably in real-life situations, but
also in simulations/role-plays and any related class-work), just as native speakers do. But how
can learners find the right phrases when they need them? Two classic solutions are the travel
phrasebook and the business writing guide (book). Both are kept to hand: in the traveler’s pocket
or on the office desk; and both are organized according to themes or situations. These reference
books are very useful and with web and mobile phrasebooks appearing, they will become easier
to use exactly when needed.
The need for a “personal” phrasebook
However, published phrasebooks are very general and will often not respond to the specific need
of a particular learner. When I went to the post office in China last month I found my travel
phrasebook useful for considering initial requests, but preparation in lesson was what enabled me
to have a more complete list of phrases for my exact situation. I found that I needed my own
Personal Phrasebook (PPB), tailored precisely to me and my needs.
A student’s “email phrasebook”
One of my students, Michal, wanted help in using English at work – especially when writing
emails. I’ve noticed from my own use of English at work that there are a lot of phrases that I use
again and again, so I suggested she keep a notebook with useful phrases that she can use when

2. emailing. Essentially it is her own, personal phrasebook that she creates uses and expands
according to her needs as they arise (see screenshot below).
The phrases are organized into sections in a similar way to a phrasebook with situations and
tasks as headings. The new phrases are added in three main ways…
1. Michal shows me emails she has written and we check them (for accuracy, lexis and
appropriateness) and identify good phrases for the phrasebook
2. Michal explains what she wants to say and we jointly create some text and extract good
phrases from it
3. Michal shows me emails she receives and we consider any questions or doubts she
has. We then copy good phrases into the phrasebook.
Perhaps it is worth considering what a “good phrase” actually is. Obviously this is highly
subjective, but I would include the following attributes…
• simple – the construction is within easy reach of the student so it is easy to remember
• appropriate – the phrase is appropriate to the (business) situation at hand
• flexible – some phrases can be used in a wider range of situations. Such phrases are
more useful and they are probably easier to learn (because they are naturally repeated
more often)
Personal phrasebooks as a process
So in part, Michal needs a PPB so that she can more easily organize the content and make it
easier to find when she needs it. Perhaps an electronic/online phrasebook with a good index or
search function would suffice. However, a PPB is more than just a reference source; it is also the
content, medium and activity through which the learner learns the phrases and language. It is
also an ongoing reference source for future occurrences of similar situations. Put another way,
the student writes his/her own phrasebook, and that very task is part of the learning process. As
the PPB grows it becomes a more useful reference source and Michal will find herself looking up
phrases more often than she creates content for the PPB.

3. PLEs and PPBs
PPBs share ground with PLEs; consider Cann’s definition of a PLE…
a system that helps learners take control of and manage their own learning. This includes
providing support for learners to set their own learning goals, manage their learning,
manage both content and process, and communicate with others in the process of
learning.
PPBs seem to me to be a component of a learner’s broader PLE. As such, a PPB is a concept
that encompasses resources, tools, activities, goals and outputs: it is not just a tool or a place, but
an approach to learning.
Format
As with PLEs, PPBs can make use of many different formats or tools. For example word
documents, Google Docs, paper-based notebooks and text programs on cell phones. The
important issues are that it is both easy to add to and edit and then easy to access for reference
when it is needed.
These details will depend on each person’s situation – Michal’s phrasebook is to help her when
writing emails and so it doesn’t really need to be accessible on her phone, nor offline; and so hers
is in Google Docs. Other learners may need to have access when offline or when on the move,
so they may choose other tools.
Teacher’s role
My role with Michal has been mainly to suggest creating a PPB, encourage its use and help
identify suitable phrases to put in it. As a native speaker, students will find me especially useful
for checking the correctness and suitability of the phrases. But learners can also check phrases
themselves to see how often they are used in the way the learner wants to: Google searches can
give a good indication as to whether a phrase/word is commonly used and what context they are
usually used in. If Michal’s native language were German she could use Linguee.de to look up a
phrase in German for an equivalent phrase in English and then select from the results. There are
also other tools that can be used to suggest phrases and explore their suitability and contexts; my

4. recent blog post on phrase-based dictionaries describes a few. These tools can also be explored
in lesson to help the learner develop more autonomy in creating their PPB.
Conclusion
Personal Phrasebooks draw on the PLE concept to focus the student’s learning on phrases
(rather than at the level of words or grammar). It is a very practical tool to solve everyday
linguistic problems. However, it is also an approach (like PLEs) that requires a certain level of
learner autonomy. Teachers can suggest and encourage, but the PPB needs to be student
driven if it is to become part of their out-of-class learning and included in everyday life.
Learners need to become good at both ‘noticing’ phrases that they would be able to use
themselves and also at ‘noticing’ gaps in their language knowledge, so that they seek out a
phrase or structure to fill the gap. There are online tools that can help learners decide on a
phrase’s applicability to their situation. However, it seems that the teacher will also have a role to
play in helping the learner gain these skills to learn more autonomously out-of-class.
http://www.avatarlanguages.com/blog/ppb/