Introduction chapter I. The ways of teaching vocabulary

particular context. Such a prospect may seem formidable. There are no instant
recipes. No quick and easy method is guaranteed


1.3 LANGUAGE, LEARNING, AND TEACHING Learning A second language is
a long and complex undertaking. Your whole person is affected as you struggle to
reach beyond the confines of your first language and into a new language, a new
culture, a new way of thinking, feeling, and acting. Total commitment, total
involvement, a total physical, intellectual, and emotional responses are necessary
to successfully send and receive messages in a second language. Many variables
are involved in the acquisition process. Language learning is not a set of easy steps
that can be programmed in a quick do-it-yourself kit. So much is at stake that
courses in foreign languages are often inadequate training grounds, in and of
themselves, for the successful learning of a second lan¬guage. Few if any people
achieve fluency in a foreign language solely within the confines of the classroom.
It may appear contradictory, then, that this book is about both learning and
teaching. But some of the contradiction is removed if you look at the teaching
process as the facilitation of learning, in which you can teach a for¬eign language
successfully if, among other things, you know something about that intricate web
of variables that are spun together to affect how and why one learns or fails to
learn a second language. Where does a teacher begin the quest for an
understanding of the principles of language learning and teaching? By first
considering some of the issues.
LANGUAGE TEACHING METHODOLOGY One of the major foci of applied
linguistic scholarship for the last half a century has been the foreign or second
language classroom. A glance through the past century or so of language teaching
gives us an interesting picture of varied interpretations of the best way to teach a
foreign lan¬guage. As schools of thought have come and gone, so have language
teaching trends waxed and waned in popularity. Pedagogical innovation both
contributes to and benefits from the kind of theory-building described in the
previous section. Albert Marckwardt (1972: 5) saw these "changing winds and
shifting sands" as a cyclical pattern in which a new paradigm (to use Kuhn's term)
of teaching methodology emerged about every quarter of a century, with each new
method breaking from the old but at the same time taking with it some of the
positive aspects of the previous paradigm. One of the best examples of the cyclical
nature of methods is seen in the revolutionary Audiolingual Method (ALM) of the
late 1940s and 1950s. The ALM bor¬rowed tenets from its predecessor by almost
half a century, the Direct Method, while breaking away entirely from the
Grammar-Translation para¬digm. (See "In the Classroom" vignettes to follow, for
a definition of these methods.) Within a short time, however, ALM critics were
advocating more attention to rules and to the "cognitive code" of language, which,
to some, smacked of a return to Grammar Translation! Shifting sands indeed. Since
the early 1970s, the relationship of theoretical disciplines to teaching methodology
has been especially evident. The field of psy¬chology has witnessed a growing
interest in interpersonal relationships, in the value of group work, and in the use of
numerous self-help strategies for attaining desired goals. The same era has seen
linguists searching ever more deeply for answers to the nature of communication
and communicative competence and for explanations of the interactive process of
language. The language teaching profession responded to these theoretical trends
with approaches and techniques that have stressed the importance of self-esteem,
of students cooperatively learning together, of developing individual strategies for
success, and above all of focusing on the commu¬nicative process in language
learning. Today the term "communicative language teaching" is a byword for
language teachers. Indeed, the single greatest challenge in the profession is to
move significantly beyond the teaching of rules, patterns, definitions, and other
knowledge "about" language to the point that we are teaching our students to
communicate genuinely, spontaneously, and meaningfully in the second language.
This book is intended to give you a comprehensive picture of the the¬oretical
foundations of language learning and teaching. But that theory remains abstract
and relatively powerless without its application to the practical concerns of
pedagogy in the classroom. In an attempt to help to build bridges between theory
and practice, I have provided at the end of each of the chapters of this book a brief
"vignette "on classroom considerations. These vignettes are designed to acquaint
you progressively with some of the major methodological trends and issues in the
profession. The vignettes are obviously not intended to be exhaustive (refer to such
books as Brown 2000; Richard-Amato 1996; Nunan 1991b; Richards and Rodgers
1986 for more specific treatments), but they should begin to give you a bit of
history and a picture of the practical consequences of developing the theoretical
principles of language learning and teaching. Today, language teaching is not
easily categorized into methods and trends. Instead, each teacher is called on to
develop a sound overall approach to various language classrooms. This approach is
a principled basis upon which the teacher can choose particular designs and tech-
niques for teaching a foreign language in a particular context. Such a prospect may
seem formidable. There are no instant recipes. No quick and easy method is
guaranteed

2.1 The basic reason for learning foreign languages that all people have in common

is communication - communication in any mode. It is a two-sided process, which

requires the ability to understand each other, to be able to code a message that

someone wants to convey to someone else in a way, which will be comprehensible

to the receiver and also appropriate to a concrete situation and status of all

participants. Vice versa the person should be able to interpret a message that

someone else is conveying to them. To acquire a good skill of communication in

foreign language it is necessary to be familiar not only with vocabulary (single

words and their meanings, collocations, phrases and phrasal verbs etc.) but also

with language structures and above all with strategies for using them in right

context according to concrete situations. Learners can generally communicate well,

having learnt all the basic structures of the language. However, they need to

broaden their vocabulary to express themselves more clearly and appropriately in a

wide range of situations. Students might even have a receptive knowledge of a

wider range of vocabulary, which means they can recognise the item and recognise

its meaning. Nevertheless, their productive use of a wide range of vocabulary is

normally limited, and this is one of the areas that need greater attention. At this

stage we are concerned not only with students understanding the meaning of words,

but also being able to use them appropriately, taking into account factors such as

oral / written use of the language; degree of formality, style and others.

Perhaps the most important factor in a successful vocabulary-building program is

motivation. It will be very difficult for you to study words month after month

without a strong feeling that it is worth doing, that a larger vocabulary will help you

in school and on the job, and that it can well lead to a more exciting and fulfilling
life. For the first according to the topic of our research paper we identify four basic

steps to a better vocabulary: 1. Be Aware of Words 2. Read 3. Use a Dictionary 4.

Study and Review Regularly While there are not any magic shortcuts to learning

words, the larger your vocabulary becomes, the easier it will be to connect a new

word with words you already know, and thus remember its meaning.

1. Be Aware of Words 2. Read 3. Use a Dictionary 4. Study and Review Regularly

While there are not any magic shortcuts to learning words, the larger your

vocabulary becomes, the easier it will be to connect a new word with words you

already know, and thus remember its meaning. 1. Be Aware of Words Many

people are surprised when they are told they have small vocabularies. “But I read

all the time!” they protest. This shows that reading alone may not be enough to

make you learn new words. When we read a novel, for instance, there is usually a

strong urge to get on with the story and skip over unfamiliar or perhaps vaguely

known words. But while it is obvious when a word is totally unknown to you, you

have to be especially aware of words that seem familiar to you but whose precise

meanings you may not really know. Instead of avoiding these words, you will need

to take a closer look at them. First, try to guess at a word's meaning from its

context—that is, the sense of the passage in which it appears; second, if you have a

dictionary on hand, look up the word's meaning immediately. This may slow down

your reading somewhat, but your improved understanding of each new word will

eventually speed your learning of other words, making reading easier. Make a

daily practice of noting words of interest to you for further study whenever you are

reading, listening to the radio, talking to friends, or watching television

2.2 vocabulary is the knowledge of words and word meanings. As Steven
Stahl (2005) puts it, "Vocabulary knowledge is knowledge; the knowledge
of a word not only implies a definition, but also implies how that word fits
into the world." Vocabulary knowledge is not something that can ever be
fully mastered; it is something that expands and deepens over the course of
a lifetime. Instruction in vocabulary involves far more than looking up
words in a dictionary and using the words in a sentence. Vocabulary is
acquired incidentally through indirect exposure to words and intentionally
through explicit instruction in specific words and word-learning strategies.
According to Michael Graves (2000), there are four components of an
effective vocabulary program: wide or extensive independent reading to
expand word knowledge instruction in specific words to enhance
comprehension of texts containing those words instruction in independent
word-learning strategies, and word consciousness and word-play activities
to motivate and enhance learning Vocabulary is one of the aspects of the
language to be taught in school. It is evident that the number of words
should be limited because pupils have only two-four periods a week. It
depends wholly on the syllabus requirements. The latter is determination by
the conditions and methods used. The vocabulary, therefore, must be
carefully selected in accordance with the principles of selecting linguistic
material, the conditions of teaching and learning a FL in school. Principles
of selecting vocabulary have been worked out. The words selected should
be: Frequently used in the language. Easily combined Unlimited from the
point of view of style Included in the topics the syllabus sets Valuable from
the point of view of word-building. The number of words and
phraseological units the syllabus sets for a pupil to assimilate is 800 words.
The analysis of the words within the foreign language allows us to
distinguish the following groups of words: concrete, abstract and structural.
+ Words denoting concrete things, actions and qualities are easier to learn
than words denoting abstract notions. Structural words are the most
difficult for Russian-speaking pupils. The teacher should bear this in mind
when preparing for the vocabulary work during the lesson.


2.3 Assessing Reading Proficiency Reading ability is very difficult to assess
accurately. In the communicative competence model, a student's reading level is
the level at which that student is able to use reading to accomplish communication
goals. This means that assessment of reading ability needs to be correlated with
purposes for reading. Reading Aloud A student's performance when reading aloud
is not a reliable indicator of that student's reading ability. A student who is
perfectly capable of understanding a given text when reading it silently may
stumble when asked to combine comprehension with word recognition and
speaking ability in the way that reading aloud requires. In addition, reading aloud
is a task that students will rarely, if ever, need to do outside of the classroom. As a
method of assessment, therefore, it is not authentic: It does not test a student's
ability to use reading to accomplish a purpose or goal. However, reading aloud can
help a teacher assess whether a student is «seeing» word endings and other
grammatical features when reading. To use reading aloud for this purpose, adopt
the «read and look up» approach: Ask the student to read a sentence silently one or
more times, until comfortable with the content, then look up and tell you what it
says. This procedure allows the student to process the text, and lets you see the
results of that processing and know what elements, if any, the student is missing.
Comprehension Questions Instructors often use comprehension questions to test
whether students have understood what they have read. In order to test
comprehension appropriately,
Using Textbook Reading Activities Many language textbooks emphasize product
(answers to comprehension questions) over process (using reading skills and
strategies to understand the text), providing little or no contextual information
about the reading selections or their authors, and few if any pre-reading activities.
Newer textbooks may provide pre-reading activities and reading strategy guidance,
but their one-size-fits-all approach may or may not be appropriate for your
students. You can use the guidelines for developing reading activities given here as
starting points for evaluating and adapting textbook reading activities. Use
existing, or add your own, pre-reading activities and reading strategy practice as
appropriate for your students. Don't make students do exercises simply because
they are in the book; this destroys motivation. Another problem with textbook
reading selections is that they have been adapted to a predetermined reading level
through adjustment of vocabulary, grammar, and sentence length. This makes them
more immediately approachable, but it also means that they are less authentic and
do not encourage students to apply the reading strategies they will need to use
outside of class. When this is the case, use the textbook reading selection as a
starting point to introduce a writer or topic, and then give students choices of more
challenging authentic texts to read as a follow up.