Paul Nation is a leading language teaching methodology and vocabulary acquisition linguist researcher, mainly for English as a Foreign Language. He has taught in Indonesia, Thailand, the United States, Finland, and Japan. He is Emeritus Professor in the School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.[1] Key concepts of his works are word frequency lists as guidelines to vocabulary acquisition, the learning burden of a word, the need to teach learning strategies to students in order to increase their autonomy in vocabulary expansion for low frequency items, support to extensive reading of accessible texts (≥95-98% of known words), the usefulness of L2→L1 tools (dictionaries, word cards) for their clarity. After the communicative approach of the 80's, his works have been instrumental for second language courses design and current teaching methods, relying mainly on fast vocabulary acquisition of frequent words.[2] Together with Batia Laufer, James Coady, Norbert Schmitt, Paul Meara, and Rob Waring, his position emphasises having a balance of learning opportunities including the 'four strands' approach to language courses and classes (Taylor 2004, Nation & Newton 2008), with study time devote about 25% to each of :

input from reading and listening,

output through writing and speaking,

study of formal language instruction i.e. grammar and vocabulary, and

practice for fluency in all four of the basic skills.

《詞匯教學設計》是一本介紹如何在課堂中安排詞匯教學的實用書。作為詞匯教學的基礎手冊，《詞匯教學設計》涉及詞匯教學的基本原理和方法，對教學有具體的指導作用。全書共分七章。第一章 是對課堂詞匯教學的引入，主要討論如何將詞匯教學融入課堂教學的四個組成部分。針對不同的組成部分，作者提供瞭不同的詞匯教學思路，以幫助教師建立詞匯教學的整體概念和啓發教學思路。第二章 到第七章 具體討論如何實施詞匯教學。作者首先在第二章 介紹瞭如何決定教什麼詞，從教學內容的角度為詞匯教學策略的選擇提供依據。作者從介紹詞匯的不同類型和劃分依據入手，將詞匯分為高頻詞、通用術語、專業術語和低頻詞。針對每一類詞匯的教學提供指導，重點介紹高頻詞和低頻詞不同的教學思路。

第三章從學習者的角度為詞匯教學提供幫助，即根據學習者詞匯水平決定教學內容和策略。作者介紹瞭詞匯水平測試的原理、依據、實施方法、評價方法和應用。本章的落腳點在應用，分彆指齣瞭針對高頻詞和低頻詞的教學方法。

第四章和第五章 介紹瞭如何實施精讀和泛讀詞匯教學，這是目前詞匯教學的主要手段，並且已存在相當數量的學習和教學資源。作者對精讀和泛讀進行瞭比較和區分，並根據各自的特點和目標歸納齣進行詞匯教學需要遵循的原則和指導性方法。在每一章內，教師可以通過完成相關任務和操作具體例子來體會教學的具體方法和步驟。作者在第四章 和第五章 分彆提到瞭要反思自己的精讀詞匯教學，以及提倡在泛讀教學中使用分級讀本。

第六章專門討論與閱讀密切相關的一種詞匯學習策略，即根據上下文猜測單詞的意思。這是一種常用而有效的詞匯學習策略。作者依然從理論入手，闡述該策略的原理、條件和總體思路，然後提供瞭三種猜測詞義的方法及具體步驟。最後，作者指齣應通過反復練習以熟練運用該策略。

第七章專門討論通用術語詞錶，對詞錶進行瞭說明和學習指導，並指齣通用術語詞錶的教學也應貫穿不同的語言技能和課堂四個階段。