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Ryeznik
Maryna
Teaching Vocabulary
As One Of The Most Important Aspects Of Teaching English
Words
are the basic unit of language form. Without a sufficient vocabulary, one
cannot express ideas or communicate effectively. In order for the students to
become proficient readers and writers, they need to enrich their vocabulary. Having
a limited vocabulary is also a barrier that prevents students from learning a
foreign language. If learners do not expand their vocabulary, they gradually
lose interest in learning.
There
are many ways to teach vocabulary. One of the most common approaches is a
contextual one. One word may have different meanings. The context can help
explain the meaning of an unfamiliar word, thus many professionals support the
idea of inferring word meanings from contexts. Kruse suggests introducing
vocabulary items in such a way as to allow the student to infer or guess the
meanings from the contexts.
It
goes without saying that different types of activities should be combined in a
language classroom. Students having to get an assignment ready are more
motivated when they need to present it afterwards in the classroom. In this
respect Leslie Cohen suggested a system to learn new words that has proved to
be both efficient and successful, as it demands a minimal amount of class time
and students can remember and use the new vocabulary with ease. The first step
here is to compile a vocabulary list with the same number of words as students
in a given class. It works best if the words are taken from the sources the
students will have to read in the upcoming year (or a shorter period). The
criteria for choosing a word would be its frequency of usage and usefulness in
nonprofessional as well as professional contexts.
When
the needs of a specific class are assessed and the words are chosen the list of
them is given to the students and they are asked to identify each word they
recognize. Next, each student is assigned a word to look up and present to the
rest of the class. To guide their efforts, a “word profile” is suggested. Some
of the items are mandatory while others are optional. Thus, the students are
required to give the definition of the word, its pronunciation, part of speech
and a defining sentence. Supplying synonyms and/or antonyms, derivatives (i.e.
different forms of the word), putting the word in a short, meaningful context
and giving personal associations is up to a student. At the next step, in each
class session, one student is responsible for presenting a vocabulary item. The
reports take about five minutes, and are usually given at the beginning of the
lesson. Students are encouraged to recall the contexts in which they have
encountered the word.
Every
few weeks, the students review the vocabulary items that have been presented in
class. It takes about fifteen minutes, and no grading is involved. Some of the procedures
suggested by L. Cohen to use are as following:
-
A simple word recognition activity,
when the teacher provides a worksheet with sentences in which one vocabulary
item is missing. The students go over their vocabulary lists and fill in the missing
word.
-
An activity that requires more
writing practice is the one when the teacher provides a worksheet with partial
sentences which need to be completed. In each partial sentence, one of the
vocabulary items is used. The task of the students is to complete the sentence
in any way that is meaningful.
Sharing
ideas and opinions is greatly encouraged. All of these activities should be conducted
in a friendly, student-oriented environment. As a result of this and other
factors like the absence of stress connected with the graded tasks, little time
required to look up one word (but learning all the new vocabulary items!), an
opportunity to give an oral presentation (playing the part of a teacher may be
an additional motivation here), the procedure described above is efficient.
Teaching
vocabulary is not an easy, but a very important task in teaching English. Any
of these techniques carefully chosen according to the abilities, needs and
purposes in every particular case proved to be successful. These approaches
increase the students’ awareness of vocabulary, they begin to notice these
words in their readings, begin to read with greater understanding, and to use
the words in their professional and common speech – the ultimate purpose for
which all the activities are designed.
Literature:
1.
Clarke D. Guessing the meanings of
words from context: strategy and techniques. // Systems 8, 1980, pp. 211-220.
2.
Cohen L. Teaching vocabulary to
English teacher trainees. // Forum, October 2003, p. 45.
3.
Kruse A. Vocabulary in context. //
Methodology in TESOL,
4.
Nation L. Teaching and learning
vocabulary. English Language Institute,