I really struggle to remember words in German, where I am only B1 as they are often so alien to an English speaker. It has recently started to get much easier because I now know enough that I can often guess the meaning of new words.
As an example, the verb tragen means to carry, amongst other things. There are many words whose meaning can be guessed at from the components:
der Vortrag means the lecture, vor, meaning before or in front of, and trag, relating to carrying.
der Beitrag means the contribution, bei can mean by, and so the meaning can be guessed.
And we have similar words for the verb stellen. to place or put:
die Ausstellung means the exhibition, or the out+putting.
die Vorstellung means the presentation or the putting in front.
Of course this is all old hat for students of German. But it is quite different to French where meanings are often obscure e.g. the verb tourner and nouns le tourneur, le tour, la tour, le tournant, le tournage, la tournure, la tournée, le tourbillon, la tourelle and so on. Most of those French nouns cannot be guessed.
Is anyone aware of any SLA theories that explicitly advocate learning word groups? In other words, lessons are explicitly constructed to teach vocabulary that is closely related, rather than vocabulary that relates to tasks - Task Based Learning and Competency Based Learning - or grammatical structures. Or is this standard practice in traditional teaching?
This does seem to be one weakness in the LingQ approach of jumping in aimlessly, with no real direction other than trying to use input with an appropriate level. Traditional teaching can guide the student in a manner that might make their progress easier.