CHAPTER 4

LEARNING VOCABULARY

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Task 1. Discuss the following questions in groups.
 Why it is important to learn vocabulary?
What are some techniques for learning vocabulary?
How can enhance our vocabulary memory?

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Objectives
By the end of the lesson, students will be able to
- Be aware of the importance of vocabulary learning
- Identify learning styles and choose appropriate personal techniques for
learning vocabulary
- Explore and apply 11 techniques for learning new words
- Foster vocabulary learning skills
- Foster critical thinking skills
- Demonstrate enthusiasm, integrity, serious manners and styles in learning

- Foster learner autonomy and sense responsibility for learning

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Outline
Why Learn Vocabulary?
How ‘Actively’ Should You Be Studying
Vocabulary?
Understanding Your ‘Learning Type’
Learning According to Your Style: 11 Techniques
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Why Learn Vocabulary?
1. Languages are made of words

- Without a decent-sized vocabulary you will find yourself restricted in what you can

talk about in your new language.

- Vocabulary size and CEFR levels in English based on Vocabulary size and the

common European framework of reference for languages (Milton & Alexiou, 2009):
A1 <1500; A2: 1500–2500; B1: 2750–3250; B2: 3250–3750; C1: 3750–4500; C2: 4500–5000

Vocabulary size test link: https://my.vocabularysize.com/

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Test your vocabulary level and size:

https://www.oxfordonlineenglish.com/english-le
vel-test/vocabulary
https://www.arealme.com/vocabulary-size-test/
en/

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2. It can be enough to communicate just with vocabulary

- If you gesticulate and sound urgent enough, you can almost

express yourself without any grammar at all.

- “Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without

vocabulary nothing can be conveyed.” (Wilkins 1972, pp.

111–112)
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3. Broader vocabulary broadens your horizons

Vocabulary enables us to express our ideas about different topics more

easily and comfortably.

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How ‘Actively’ Should You Be Studying Vocabulary?

- Avoid either over-focusing or under-focusing on it.

- Concentrate to much on learning lists of words 
counterproductive effects

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Why Make A Special Effort?

- Actively learning vocabulary means you can be thorough in

your approach

- Learning vocabulary is great exercise for the brain

- Learning new words gives you a huge confidence boost

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Why let it sink in gradually?
- It is not helpful to sit and learn thousands of words
that in the end you might never need to use.
- Everything should be about improving your
speaking & writing.

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Learning a new language really is a very personal process, and
certainly to begin with, a lot of your time will be spent
experimenting and trying to work out what exactly suits you best.
Which type of language learner do you think you are?

Identify your learning styles. VAK Learning Styles Self-Assessment

Questionnaire: VAK_Learning_Styles_Self_Assessment_Ques.doc

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Task 2. Match the following descriptions with their correct vocabulary learning
techniques.
a. You write words on various cards with its meaning, phonemic transcription and an
example of its usage in context.
b. You make a mono-lingual or bilingual list of words.
c. You learn words by repeating it orally again and again.
d. You write a little story using the word you learn or associate the word with your real-
life experience.
e. This is an app which facilitates vocabulary learning.
f. You remember a short passage, dialogue or story.
g. You learn new vocabulary through listening to the target language music.
h. You listen to something in the target language and illustrate it with physical
movements.
i. You write words on small pieces of paper and post them on the wall of your house or
room.
j. You use the vocabulary you’ve to create a story.
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k. This vocabulary learning technique visualizes your new words using a diagram.
VAK learning styles

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 Learning According to Your Style: 11 Techniques
1. Lists – V. K.

Simplest and most ‘traditional’ methods of learning new vocabulary. Write out lists

of new words that you come across, with the original on one side and the translation

on the other.

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Pros
- Strength lies in its simplicity.
- Allowing you to keep a note of new vocabulary alongside
whatever other activity you’re done, so long as you have a pen
and paper to hand.
Cons
- Not the most exciting way to learn vocabulary in the world.

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2. Flashcards – V. K.
- Get a deck of note cards from a stationery shop and write each word out on a
different card, with the translation, picture, definition, explanation and an example
of the word usage on the back.
Pros
- Lots of room for creativity
- Perfect for kinaesthetic learners who can turn them over and see them in different places.
Cons
- Carrying around large packages of flashcards everywhere, which becomes inconvenient
- Being impractical to review enormous number of flashcards as regularly as you once could.

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3. Learning by rote – A. (K.)
When you learn by rote: you recite and memorize it

Pros

- Helpful for learning vocabulary

- Useful for auditory learners

Cons

- Biggest challenge for this method is how to convert what

is learned into language that can be used spontaneously
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4. Spaced Repetition Software – V. (K. A.)
- Spaced Repetition Software (or S.R.S.) are apps and websites that calculate
how often you need to see something in order to remember it.

Pros
- Visual learners especially benefit from the presentation of these flashcards,
which are often very colourful.

Cons
- Requiring you to be on your computer, phone or tablet, which means that a

world of distractions is only just a click away

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5. Memorisation – A. V. (K.)

- Memorising short passages in the language you’re learning e.g. stories or

dialogue

Pros

- All learners can use it differently

Cons

- Struggling to find short texts that use the vocabulary you want to learn, but

you can solve this simply by writing your own.

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6. Music – A.
- One of the most effective ways of learning new words
- Catchy, and even those of us who are not natural auditory learners are more likely to
remember a song than ordinary speech
Pros
- Ending up hearing a word so many times without realising it that when you eventually
come to learn what it means, it’s already fixed in your memory!
Cons
The challenge can be finding songs with lyrics that are relevant, as this is not always
possible

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Task 3. Listen to the songs and list 10 word you learn
from it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hgm_nY96yCA

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7. Listen On The Move – K. A. (V.)

- Make use of all the moments you’ve got by listening to vocabulary lists and

dialogues from your textbook while you’re on the move

Pros

- Perfect activity for kinaesthetic learners with auditory tendencies.

Cons

- Not always the most efficient way of learning vocabulary

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8. Put Stickers Around The House – K. V.
- If you’re trying to learn a new set of vocabulary, try writing
words on Postit notes and stick them around the house in places
you know you’ll look at.
Pros
-Visualising and memorising the Post-it notes is great for visual
learners, and the spatial associations of putting them in different
places makes this a great activity for kinaesthetic learners too.
Cons
- Make sure you remember to keep updating your stickers with
new vocabulary that is still relevant to what you are trying to learn
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9. Storytelling – V. A. K.

Create or retell the story you’ve known using the vocabulary you’ve learned.

Pros

-Appealing to creative people, no matter what their learning preferences are

- Kinaesthetic and auditory learners: prefer to tell their stories aloud with
lots of actions, while visual learners will prefer to write them down.

Cons

- Challenge to not naturally creative people

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10. Mnemonics – V. A. K.
- A way to learn new words based on words you already know
and what they remind you of. Try telling yourself a little story
about each word to make it memorable.
Pros
- The key thing with mnemonics is that they should always be
very personal to you.
Cons
- You may end up remembering the mnemonic, but not the word!

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11. Mind map
A diagram used to visually organize vocabulary.
Pros
- “Multisensory tools that may help students organise, integrate, and retain
information.” (D’Antoni et al. 2010, p. 1)

Suitable for visual learners: requiring a great deal of visual stimulation

(pictures, drawings, colours) and prefer reading.
Cons
- Not suitable for auditory learners: processing information without visual
aid and profit from auditory input (recordings, discussions)
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Ex.

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Task 4. Read the story carefully and then act it out in
groups of three.
The Lion in Love
A lion fell in love with a beautiful girl who lived in the village. He
demanded her hand in marriage from her father, a woodcutter. The
father didn't want his daughter to marry a lion, but he was too
frightened to say no, so he said to the lion, "She can marry you, but
only if you let me take out your big teeth and claws, because she is
very frightened that they might hurt her.“ "Very well," said the lion,
without thinking, and the woodcutter took them out. "Now, when shall
we arrange the wedding?" asked the lion. The woodcutter laughed
and picked up his biggest axe. "What wedding?" he said, and chased
the lion out of the village!
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Assignment
1. Choose 10 words you want to learn from your course and then
design flash cards for learning them. Your flash card should include
the word’s meaning, phonemic transcriptions, part of speech and
one example to show how it is used in context.
2. Choose a topic whose words you want to learn. Arrange them into
a mind map. A word should include its part of speech, phonemic
transcription and one example to show how it is used in context.
3. Choose 5 new words and then write little stories to help you learn
them.

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