How to Present Vocabulary

Scott Thornbury
Presenting Vocabulary
Decision 1: How many words to teach.
 This depends on:
 The level of the learners (beginners, intermediate, or advanced)
 The learners' likely familiarity with the words (e.g. receptive vocabulary).
 The difficulty of the items (abstract meaning, different to L1, difficult to
pronounce).
 Whether items are being learned for production (in speaking and writing)
or for recognition/receptive vocabulary only (as in listening and reading).

 The number of new words presented should match learners' capacity to

remember them.
 The presentation should be short and leave time to put the words to work.
Presenting Vocabulary
 Decistion 2: Sequence of presentation.
 Meaning first:
 The teacher could, fer example, hold up a picture of a shirt (the meaning), and then say
It's a shirt (the form).
 Presenting the meaning first may create a need for the form, opening the
appropriate mental 'files', and making the presentation both more efficient
and more memorable.
 Form first:
 She could say shirt several times, have the students repeat the word, and only
then point to the picture.
 'form first' presentation may work best when the words are presented in
context, so that learners can work out the meaning for themselves.

 Both options are valid.

Presenting Vocabulary
Decision 3: Degree of learner involvement.

For example:

 Should the teacher provide both the meaning and the form herself?

 should the teacher present the meaning and attempt to elicit the form?

 should the teacher present the form and attempt to elicit the meaning?

 should the learners repeat the form, and if so, when?

Means of presentation
 Translation

 Realia (real things)

 Pictures

 Actions/gestures

Definitions Situations

Examples
How to explain meaning
Translation:
 Most widely used means of presenting the meaning of a word in
monolingual classes.
 Advantages:
 Most direct route to a word’s meaning assuming that there is a close match
between the target word and its L1 equivalent.
 It very economical.
 Suitable for dealing with incidental vocabulary that may crop up in a
lesson.
 Disadvantages:
 An over-reliance on translation may mean that learners fail to develop an
independent L2 lexicon, with the effect that they always access L2 words
by means of their L1 equivalents, rather than directly.
 Learners don’t have to work very hard to access the meaning, it may
mean that the word is less memorable. A case of ‘no pain, no gain’
How to explain meaning
Using
 Visual Aids:

Flashcards

Wall charts

Images projected
 on the board,
Board drawing.

Realia:

Authentic objects from real life that one uses in the classroom to teach a specific

concept.

Apply the distributing practice principle when using visual aids


It is better to distribute memory work across a period of time than to mass it
together in a single block.
Present the first two or three items, then go back and test these, then present

some more, then backtrack again, and so on.
Distributing practice principle:
1. Present 6. Present

2. Present 7. Review

3. Present 8. Present

4. Review 9. Review

5. Review 10. Review

How to Explain Meaning
 Reliance on real objects, illustration, or demonstration, is limited. They don’t
work for some abstract words like intuition or trustworthy.
 Teachers may need to teach words that come up incidentally, and she may not
have visual aids or realia at hand.
 An alternative way of conveying the meaning of a new word is simply to use
words - other words. Non-visual, verbal means of clarifying meaning include:
Provide an example situation
Giving several example sentences
Giving synonyms, antonyms, or superordinate terms
Giving a full definition
Situational Presentation
Catherine saw a man at the bus stop. His back was
turned but she was sure it was her brother, so she tapped
him on the shoulder with her umbrella and shouted
‘Look out! The police are after you! The man turned
around. He was a complete stranger. SHE WAS
TERRIBLE EMBARRASSED. IT WAS A VERY
EMBARRASSING EXPERIENCE.
Example sentences
Look at these sentences and see if you can work out
what the verb fancy means:

1. He’s really nice, but I don’t fancy him.

2. I fancy eating out tonight. Don’t you?
3. Do you fancy a cup of coffee?
4. Fancy a drink?
5. That guy on the dance floor- he really fancies
himself
6. I never really fancied package holidays much.
Giving synonyms, antonyms, or
superordinate terms

…Fancy? it means “like”

…Outgoing? It is the opposite of shy, introverted

…A tuna? It is a kind of fish

Giving superordinate terms

Levels 1, 2 and 3 can be described as superordinate (level 1),

coordinate (level 2) and subordinate (level 3).
Giving full definition
Layered definition

Teacher:
If you feel petrified you are very frightened. Someone
can be petrified by fear. Petrified literally means turned
to stone. Petrified wood is wood that has become stone.
In some places you can see petrified forests.
Concordances antconcdemo.WMV
 Choose the best strategy for each of the
following words:

Hop (v) :
Viability (n):
Exhausted (adj.):
Kiwifruit (n):
Bitter (adj.):
Imitate (v):
Skyscraper (n):