Teaching Vocabulary

Outline:
1. The importance of teaching vocabulary.
2. Difficulties learners experience in assimilating vocabulary.
3. Psychological and linguistic factors which determine the process of
teaching vocabulary
4. Key concepts and language teaching classroom.
5. How to teach vocabulary: approaches.

Glossary: contraction, feature, skill, focus on form, accuracy, compound,

collocation, idiom, chunk, synonym, antonym, lexical set, word family, false
friend, homophone, homonym, varieties of English.

1. The importance of teaching vocabulary.

To know a language means to master its structure and words. Thus,
vocabulary is one of the aspects of the language to be taught in school.
The problem is what words and idioms learners should retain. It is
evident that the number of words should be limited because learners
have only 2-4 classes a week; the size of group is not small enough to
provide each learner with practice in speaking, etc.
Scientific principles of selecting vocabulary have been worked out. The
words selected should be: (1) frequently used in the language, (2) easily
combined (nice weather, nice girl, nice room), (3) unlimited from the point
of view of style (oral, written), (4) included in the topics of the syllabus
sets; (5) valuable from the point of view of word-building (use, used,
useful, useless, usefully, user, usage).
The words selected may be grouped under the following two classes
(M.West):
- words that we talk with or f o r m (s t r u c t u r a l) w o r d s which
make up the form (structure) of the language;
- words that we talk about or c o n t e n t w o r d s.
In teaching vocabulary for practical needs both structural words and
content words are of great importance. That is why they are included
in the vocabulary minimum.
The number of words and phraseological units the syllabus sets for a
student to assimilate is 800 words.
The selection of the vocabulary although important is not the teacher’s
chief concern. It is only the ‘what’ of teaching and is usually prescribed
for him/her by textbooks and study guides he/she uses. The teacher’s
concern is ‘how’ to get his/her students to assimilate the vocabulary
 prescribed. This is a difficult problem and it is still in the process of being
solved.
It is generally known that school leavers’ vocabulary is poor. They have
trouble with listening, speaking, reading and writing. One of the reasons
is poor teaching of vocabulary.
The teacher should bear in mind that a word is considered to be learned
when: (1) it is spontaneously recognized while auding and reading; (2) it
is correctly used in speech, i.e., the right word in the right place.
2. Difficulties learners experience in assimilating vocabulary.
Learning the words of a foreign language is not an easy business since
every word has its form, meaning, and usage and each of these aspects of
the word may have its difficulties. Indeed, some words are difficult in
form (daughter, busy, bury, woman, women) and easy in usage; other
words are easy in form (enter, get, happen) and difficult in usage.
Consequently, words may be classified according to the difficulties
learners find in assimilation. In methodology some attempts have been
made to approach the problem.
The table below shows examples of some of the form and meaning
relationships of two words.
lexical features clear paper
denotation 1. easy to understand 1. material used to write
2. not covered or blocked on or wrap things in
3. having no doubt 2. a newspaper
3. a document containing
information
synonyms simple (of denotation 1) (none)
certain (of denotation 3)
antonyms/opposites confusing (of denotation 1) (none)
untidy, covered (of denotation
2)
unsure (of denotation 3)
lexical sets well-written (of denotation 1)
stone, plastic, cloth, etc.
word families clearly, unclear, clarity (none)
homophones (none) (none)
homonyms (none) (none)
false friends French ‘clair’, i.e. light in color
possibly in some
languages
prefixes + base word unclear (none)
base word + suffixes clearly, a clearing paperless
compounds clear-headed paper knife, paper shop,
paperback
collocations clear skin, a clear day lined paper, white paper
figurative meaning a clear head on paper (e.g. It seemed a
good idea on paper)
idioms to clear the decks (to start to put pen to paper
afresh)
 We can see from this table that words sometimes have several
denotations. The context in which we are writing or speaking makes it
clear which meanings we are using. Words can also change their
denotations according to what part of speech they are, e.g. the adjective
clear and the verb to clear. We can also see from the table that not all
words have all the kind of form or meaning relationships.
The analysis of the words within the foreign language also allow us to
distinguish the following groups of the words: concrete, abstract and
structural.
Words denoting concrete things (book, street, sky), actions (walk, dance,
read), and qualities (long, big, good) are easier to learn than words
denoting abstract notions (world, home, believe, promise, honest).
Structural words are the most difficult for Ukrainian-speaking learners.
In teaching learners a foreign language the teacher should bear this in
mind when preparing for the vocabulary work during the class.
3. Psychological and linguistic factors which determine the process of
teaching vocabulary
Words are elements of the language used in the act of communication.
They are single units, and as such cannot provide the act of
communication by themselves; they can provide it only when they are
combined in a certain way. Sometimes separate words may be used in the
act of communication, however, for example:
- You have relatives, haven’t you?
- Yes, a grandmother.
The word grandmother is used instead of the sentence pattern Yes, I have
a grandmother.
Charles Fries says: ‘It is not the meaning of the words themselves but an
intricate system of formal features which makes possible the grasp of
what we generally call ‘meaning’. Train, boy, house, take – conveys no
meaning. ‘The boy takes a train to his house’ is full of meaning. He
concludes, ‘The meaning is not in the words themselves but in the words
as a pattern.’
Rule 1 for the teacher: While teaching learners vocabulary, introduce
words in sentence patterns in different situations of intercourse. Present
the words in keeping with the structures to be taught.
Information is composed of two kinds of elements: simple (words) and
complicated (sentences).
A word may be both a whole which consists of elements (speech sounds)
and at the same time an element which is included in a whole (a sentence).
In teaching words attention should be given both to a word as an element
 (in sentences) and a word as a whole (isolated unit) with the purpose of
its analysis.
Rule 2 for the teacher: Present the word as an element, i.e., in a sentence
pattern first. Then fix it in the learners’ memory through different
exercises in sentence pattern and phrase patterns.
Speech is taken in by ear and reproduced by the organs of speech.
In teaching learners vocabulary both the ear and the organs of speech
should take an active part in the assimilation od words. Learners should
have ample practice in hearing words and pronouncing them not only as
isolated units but in various sentences in which they occur.
Rule 3 for the teacher: While introducing a word pronounce it yourself
in a context, ask learners to pronounce it both individually and in unison
in a context, too.
Any word in the language has very complicated linguistic relations with
other words in pronunciation, meaning, spelling, and usage.
Rule 4 for the teacher: In teaching words it is necessary to establish a
memory bond between a new word and those already covered.
For instance: see – sea, too – two, one – won (in pronunciation), answer –
reply, answer –ask, small – little (in meaning), bought – brought, caught –
taught, night – right (in spelling), to fight somebody – to doubt something
– to mention something (similar word combination).
4. Key concepts and language teaching classroom
 Fully knowing a word involves understanding its form and meaning, e.g.
what part of speech it is, how it is pronounced and spelt, all the meaning
it can have. This cannot take place the first time a learner meets a new
word. At first they will probably just learn its most frequent denotative
meaning, its spelling and its pronunciation.
 Learners need to meet the same words again and again as they advance
in their language learning. In this way their memory of them will be
consolidated and they will get to know more about the word, e.g.
meanings, collocations, the lexical sets they are part of. They can meet
words again in texts, or in vocabulary extension activities (i.e. activities
that give more practice), such as brainstorming, labelling, categorizing,
making lexical sets.
 Whether we are learning our first or our second language, we often
recognize a word before we can use it, and we can often recognize the
meaning of many new words than we can use. The words we recognize
are called our ‘receptive’ vocabulary; the words we can use are called our
‘productive’ vocabulary. A teacher usually teaches learners key
(important) words and exposes them to many more. The learners pick
 these words up, initially only recognizing their meaning, then eventually
using them productively.
 As words can get part of their meaning from context, and context helps
to show the meaning of words, it is useful to teach them in context rather
than in isolation, e.g. through texts, stories or descriptions of events that
we tell the students about.
 We can use the relationships in meaning between words (synonyms,
lexical sets, word families, etc.) and the ways in which they can be built
(prefixes, suffixes, compounds) to make activities to help our students
extend their knowledge of words, e.g. making opposites, building words
through affixation, brainstorming lexical sets and word families.
 When we teach learners new words we can check if these words have any
false friends in their language or if these words are homophones or
homonyms of others they know. Then we can point this out to the
learners and help to save them from misunderstanding.
 At beginner level and with young learners, we often teach general words
for categories first, then gradually introduce different items from that
category. For example, we may teach clothes before teaching jeans, shirt,
T-shirt, etc.
 A lot of language often occurs in chunks, e.g. collocations, fixed
expressions. Experts think that children learning their first language
learn the chunks as a whole rather than in parts. This helps them to
remember them better and recall (remember) them more quickly. As
teachers we can highlight (draw learner’ attention to) chunks of language
for learners.
 It is useful for learners to keep vocabulary records in which they record
the meaning of the new words, their part of speech, examples of use, any
collocations, their pronunciation, any synonyms, etc. Students can return
to add information about individual words as they learn more about them.

5. How to teach vocabulary: Approaches

Lexical Approach
View of language: vocabulary is the most important aspect of language.
Vocabulary consists of individual words and different kinds of chunks
such as collocations, idioms, fixed expressions.
View of language learning: language is learnt by learning chunks as whole
and complete units. Chunks need to be notices by learners in order to be
learnt, i.e. learners need to become aware of chunks and focus on them.
Classroom practices:
- The syllabus focuses on lexis.
- Learners work with authentic written or spoken texts in the
classroom.
- Learners are given activities which encourage them to notice chunks
in texts, e.g. noting them down, underlining them.
- After noticing chunks, learners are asked to carry out tasks which will
involve them in using the chunks.
Total Physical Response (TPR)
View of language: grammatical structures and vocabulary are the most
important aspect of language.
View of language learning:
- Learners learn by being exposed to language. Comprehension comes
before production.
- Learners often need a silent period (a period of time during which
learners hear language rather than produce it, as babies do) to take in
language, so they should not be forced to speak before they are ready.
- Language is learnt best when it is accompanied by doing things
physically.
- Learning takes place when learners are relaxed.
Classroom practices:
- Used mainly with young learners and beginners.
- The syllabus focuses on grammatical structures and vocabulary
involved in giving and following instructions.
- Lessons involve the teacher giving instructions and the learners
physically carrying out the instructions in the classroom, e.g. ‘Walk to
the table’, ‘Open the door’.
- At more advanced stages and after their silent period, learners give
one another instructions.
As you can see, the approaches outlined above vary in how specific they
are about view on language and language learning and their typical
classroom practices. Some are more developed in some areas than others.
While these features are typical of these approaches, they are not always
totally accurate descriptions of them, as approaches change and
individual teachers use them differently.
Many language teachers these days do not use one single approach. They
may use one approach one week and a different approach the next., or
they may include in one approach practices typical of another. For
example, you sometimes see lessons in which the teacher asks learners
to carry out a task before giving a PPP lesson on the same area, or you see
a communicative lesson in which the learners are asked to do a drill on a
common mistake. This ‘mix and match’ approach is called an eclectic
approach, i.e. an approach which mixes techniques from different
approaches. Many teachers, course books and syllabuses use an eclectic
approach because they think that it is not clear exactly how languages are
learnt, so it may not be helpful for learners to use only one approach. Also,
different learners have different learning styles and different ideas about
how language should be learnt. Using an eclectic approach can allow the
teacher to teach learners more appropriately. Experience shows that
some approaches work better in some contexts than others. What works
in one teaching context may not work in another.