APPLIED LINGUISTICS for BA Students in English
Vocabulary
Presenting Vocabulary
There are three important stages of vocabulary teaching. The first of them is conveying meaning. The way of conveying meaning depends on the type of word. Visual presentation can be used if we want to present something concrete such as verbs like ‘climbing’, nouns such as ‘a doctor’ or adjectives such as ‘slim’ or ‘fat’. Various visual aids can be used at presentation: pictures, drawings, real objects, video extracts, acting out and miming. The other important way of presenting vocabulary is verbal presentation. Teachers can use word relations such as antonyms (slim – fat), synonyms (drink coffee – have coffee), lexical sets in another word semantic mapping (the word ‘clothes’ is in the center and you can join a lot of pieces of clothes to the superordinate such as ‘trousers’, ‘skirt’, ‘fur coat’, etc.). Further ways of verbal presentation are giving definitions or descriptions or putting the target word into context. When teachers are presenting new words they usually use different memory strategies such as creating mental linkages (grouping, associating, placing new words into context), they can apply images and sounds (using imagery semantic mapping, using key words, representing sounds in memory) and employing actions (using physical response or sensations) and using mechanical techniques (rods). Teachers presenting new vocabulary are supposed to take the various learner types into consideration. It is not enough to present a new word in one way with one technique but several different techniques must be used so that the meaning of the word can be grasped by different learner types such as visual, auditive, kinesthetic learners. In addition to taking the learner types into consideration, the teachers have to personalize the new vocabulary item to make it more memorable for the students. If teachers use the private context of the students, the learners will get more motivated, so the new word will stick to their memories.
The next stage of teaching new vocabulary is checking understanding. Teachers can ask students to translate the new word into Hungarian or students can give synonyms, antonyms, definitions of the word so that the teacher can see whether the students have understood the meaning of the new word.
The last stage of vocabulary teaching is consolidation consisting of different types of practice such as controlled, semi-controlled and free practice. During this stage the values and connotations of words must be clarified. At the controlled and semi-controlled practice stages language accuracy is very important so mistakes in usage must be corrected. The third stage of consolidation is free practice which can be a role play activity, a language competition or description of somebody, etc. At this stage delayed or gentle correction is used. The most popular activities are gap-filling, writing a story, matching or sorting exercises, problem solving activities and discussions.
Another way of teaching vocabulary goes on by discovery activities. Students are asked to discover the meaning of a word. This technique is more suitable for more advanced students because discovery activities presuppose some knowledge of language, some experience in learning it. Teachers must not forget the fact that constant revision of the same vocabulary items is necessary so the recycling of new words is inevitable. By recycling vocabulary we mean regular repetition of the same vocabulary items at higher and higher levels expanding the core vocabulary with more and more new words belonging to the topic.
