The ministry of higher and secondary special education of the republic of uzbekistan termiz state university course work theme: approaches to teaching vocabulary

CHAPTER I Theoretical background of teaching vocabulary to elementary pupils
1.1. Vocabulary teaching and its importance in language learning

Vocabulary instruction entails much more than looking up words in a dictionary and using them in a sentence. Vocabulary is learned inadvertently through indirect word exposure and consciously through explicit training in specific terms and word-learning procedures.The understanding of words and their meanings is referred to as vocabulary. 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 something that can never be entirely grasped; it evolves and deepens over time.

Vocabulary can be defined as '' words we must know to communicate effectively; words in speaking (expressive vocabulary) and words in listening (receptive vocabulary)'' [Neuman, S. B., & Dwyer, J. 2009]. Hornby defines vocabulary as ''the total number of words in a language; vocabulary is a list of words with their meanings”. While Ur states: “Vocabulary can be defined, roughly, as the words we teach in the foreign language [Harmon, J. M., Wood, K. D.,,&Keser, K. 2009] A new piece of vocabulary, on the other hand, may consist of more than one word: for example, post office and mother-in-law, both of which are made up of two or three words yet represent the same idea. A useful approach is to refer to vocabulary "things" rather than "words" in all such circumstances. Furthermore, Burns defines vocabulary as "a person's, class's, or profession's collection of words."According to Zimmerman cited in Coady and Huckin [Coady, J., &Huckin, T. (Eds.).1997] ‘vocabulary is central to language and of critical importance to the typical language learning.
From the definitions above, it can be concluded that vocabulary is the total number of words that are needed to communicate ideas and express the speakers' meaning. That is the reason why it is important to learn vocabulary.