Uni1

Read the following assumptions about vocabulary in English learning and decide if you agree with them or not.
A vocabulary item can be more than one word.
√
2.Languages consist of “ words ” with equivalents from one language to another.
3.Vocabulary cannot be taught. It must be learned by the individuals.
×
√
4.Both teachers and students need to know that there is a difference between active and passive vocabulary.
√
5.The best way to explain vocabulary is to translate.
6.English- English explanations are the best for vocabulary teaching.
×
×
7.An English-English dictionary is an important aid for students.
8. Words can be taught and learned most effectively in groups of words which are related to each other in meaning.
√
√
8. Words must be learned in language contexts.
9. If we do not use words, we will forget them.
√
√
Vocabulary and vocabulary building
1. Passive vocabulary and active vocabulary
Passive vocabulary :
the words they know
Active vocabulary :
the words they use
II. Presenting new words
I. Some suggestions for teachers
1) prepare examples to show meanings.
2) Ask students to tell the meaning first
3) Think about how to show the meaning of a word with related words such as synonyms , antonyms etc.
4) Think about how to check students’ understanding.
5) Think about the context in real life where their words might be used.
6) Think about possible misunderstanding and confusion that may have.
II. Words are best taught in groups.
a. Synonyms.
b. Antonyms.
c. Complements.
d. Converse.
e. Hyponyms.
III. Here are more ways to present and explain vocabulary :
a. Draw pictures, diagrams and maps to show meanings or connection of meanings.
b. Use real objects to show meanings.
c. Mime or act to show meanings, e.g. brushing teeth, running , swimming ect.
d. Use synonyms or antonyms to explain meanings.
e. Use lexical sets , e.g. cook: fry, boil, brake,grill ;
f. Translate and exemplify , especially with technical words or words with abstract meaning.
g. Use word formation rules and common affixes.
Homework setting
1. Look at task 2 on page 73. Discuss in groups which way is more effective.
2. Please look at the task 3 on page 74. Discuss what techniques or combination of techniques you would use to present the following vocabulary items. Next period, we would ask some students to give a mini-teaching.




Part II
III. Consolidating Vocabulary
Below are some activities that can be done in class to consolidate vocabulary.
Labeling.
2. Spotting the differences.
3. Describing and drawing.
4. Playing a game.
5. Using word thermometers.
6. Using word series.
7. Word bingo.
8. Word association.
9. Odd man out.
10. Using word categories.
11. Synonyms and antonyms
12. Using word net-work.
IV. Developing Vocabulary building strategies
teacher needs to help students develop their own vocabulary building strategies so that they can effectively acquire more vocabulary on their own.
Review regularly. Evidence shows that regular review helps students to maintain largest amount of recall.
2. Guess meaning from the context, especially using sentence hints for word meaning.
a) Some sentences tell the definition for a difficult word by means of punctuation or certain help words. For example, dashes(------), parentheses ( ),Brackets [ ], commas , words like that is, meaning, such as, or is called.
Origima------Japanese paper folding---is family fun.
Mary felt perturbed, that is, greatly disturbed, by her sister’s action.
b) Some sentence tells the opposite of what a new word means. From its opposite we can figure out the meaning of the word.
A frugal person would never spend money so freely.
If you are frugal you do not spend freely, Frugal must mean “ to be careful about spending money”.
c) Using your own experience to figure out the definition of a word.
Feeling depressed, Carl frowned.
You know from your experience that a frown usually means “unhappiness”. So “unhappy” should be a good guess for the meaning of depressed.
d). Sentence before or after a sentence containing a difficult word sometimes explain the meaning of the word.
Mary had a bubbling personality. Her enthusiasm, her lively actions, her excitement at new ideas always attracted people. I never knew such an ebullient woman.
These sentence helps you put together a definition of ebullient----overflowing with excitement.
e) Some sentences are just written to give definition of difficult words– words readers need to know in order to understand what they are reading.
Impediments are objects that stand in the way of some goal.
f) Because some sentences give examples for a new word, you can build a definition.
Select any one of those periodicals: playboy, Readers’ Digest, Time Magazine.
This sentence doesn’t say that a periodical is a magazine, but you can figure that out easily from the examples.
g) Some sentences use a word you do know to help explain a word you don’t know.
A formidable enemy is one to be feared.
Formidable--- through the clue in this sentence– means “fearful”, or “ dreadful”.
3. Organize vocabulary effectively
If information is organized and stored in a special way, e.g. related information is stored together or new information is related to previously stored information, it is more likely to be retained and easier to retrieve.
4. Use learned vocabulary
Students should be encouraged to used active vocabulary items in real language use. By trying to use the words or expressions correctly and appropriately, students can get a deeper and better understanding of the meaning and the use of the vocabulary. Successful attempts at word use definitely help vocabulary consolidation.