How to enrich english vocabulary

Learning Vocabulary by Using Word Formation Charts .... The Roles of Vocabulary Vocabulary is core to English language teaching and learning process because without sufficient vocabulary

CODE: 13 HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF ENGLISH -

GRADUATION THESIS B.A DEGREE IN ENGLISH STUDIES

HOW TO ENRICH ENGLISH VOCABULARY

Supervisor : Le Thi Anh Tuyet, M.A Student : Pham Thi Diu

Date of birth : April 16, 1994 Course : K19A08 (2012 - 2016)

HANOI, 2016

Graduation Paper

DECLARATION

TITLE: “ HOW TO ENRICH ENGLISH VOCABULARY”

I certify that no part of the above report has been copied or reproduced

by me from any other’s paper without acknowledgemet and that the report is originally written by me under strict guidance of my supervisor

Hanoi, 15th April, 2016

Student Supervisor

Pham Thi Diu Le Thi Anh Tuyet, M.A

Graduation Paper

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First of all, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Mrs Le Thi Anh Tuyet MA, for her academic guidance and support throughout this study Without her valuable assistance, my thesis would not have been completed

I would like to sincerely thank the lectures of Faculty of English, Hanoi Open University who have provided me with not only knowledge but also the study condition during my student life, as well as their useful advice in this graduation paper

Finally yet importantly, I am indebted to my family and friends who have encouraged and supported me so much in the completion of this paper If there had not been great help from the above people, my study could not have been fulfilled

Hanoi, 15th April, 2016

Pham Thi Diu

Graduation Paper

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

L1 : The first language

L2 : The second language

ESP : English for Specific Purposes

ESL : English as a Second Language

TOEFL : Test of English as a Foreign Language CAE : Certificate in Advanced English

Etc : Et cetera

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Students’ Attitudes Toward Learning Vocabulary 28 Table 2: Students’ Learning Vocabulary Problems 29 Table 3: Students’ Common Ways in English Vocabulary Learning 30 Table 4: The Student’s Performance in Their English Vocabulary Learning 32 Table 5: Teacher’s Teaching Method and Students’ Expectation 34

Graduation Paper

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LISTS OF ABBREVIATIONS

LISTS OF TABLES

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims and Purposes of the Study 1

3 Scope of the Study 2

4 Reaseach Questions 2

5 Methods of the Study 2

6 Design of the Study 2

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 4

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

I An Overview of Vocabulary 4

1 The Definition of Vocabulary 4

2 The Roles of Vocabulary 5

3 The Aspects of Vocabulary Knowledge 6

II Classification of Vocabulary 7

1 Receptive Vocabulary 8

2 Productive Vocabulary 8

3 Active Vocabulary 8

4 Passive Vocabulary 9

III Some Common Techniques of Teaching and Learning Vocabulary 10

3.1 Teaching Vocabulary 10

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3.1.1 Teaching Vocabulary Based on Texts 10

3.1.2 Teaching Vocabulary by Using Synonyms, Antonyms 12

3.1.3 Teaching Vocabulary through Translation 12

3.1.4 Teaching Vocabulary by Using Techniques 14

3.1.5 Teaching Vocabulary Using Games 15

3.2 Learning Vocabulary 17

3.2.1 Learning Vocabulary by Using Dictionary 17

3.2.2 Learning Vocabulary by Using Flashcards 18

3.2.3 Learning Vocabulary by Using Highlighting Words 20

3.2.4 Learning Vocabulary by Making Vocabulary Tree 21

3.2.5 Learning Vocabulary by Using Word Formation Charts 22

3.2.6 Learning Collocations 24

3.2.7 Practicing and Reviewing Regularly 25

CHAPTER II: PROBLEMS OF ALMOST STUDENTS IN LEARNING ENGLISH VOCABULARY – A CASE STUDY 26

I Subject of the Study 27

II Data Collection Method 27

2.1 Interview 27

2.2 Questionnaires 27

2.3 Observation 28

III Findings 28

IV Summary 35

CHAPTER III: SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVING STUDENTS’ ENGLISH VOCABULARY 36

I Recommendation for the Teacher 36

1.1 Using Context Clues to Present Word Meaning 36

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1.2 Encourage Students to Develop Their Self-studying 37

1.3 Provide More Useful Teaching Facilities 39

II Recommendation for Students 40

2.1 Be Aware of Words 40

2.2 Read More 41

2.3 Guess Word Meanings from Each Context then Making It Personal 42

2.4 Using Dictionary and Thesaurus Handy 43

2.5 Go Backs to Your Roots 44

2.6 Learn Some Words a Day 45

2.7 Engage in Conversation 46

2.8 Play Some Games 46

2.9 Using Some Vocabulary Tools or Websites 47

2.10 Motivation 47

PART C: CONCLUSION 49

REFERENCES 51 APPENDIX

QUESTIONNAIRE

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Language is a systematic means of communication by using sounds or conventional symbols It is the code we all use to express ourselves and communicate to others Language therefore remains potentially a communicative medium capable of expressing ideas and concepts as well as moods, feelings and attitudes Besides mother tongue, we need an international language to communicate with people from other countries English is a popular language that almost countries use it It is spoken by more than 300 million native speakers, and between 400 and 800 million foreign users It is the official language of air transport and shipping, the leading language of science, technology, computers, and commerce, and a major medium of education, publishing, and international negotiation In Vietnam, English is also one of the most important languages and taught as a compulsory subject in all levels of education to make use of English to become effective means to communicate and trade In learning English, vocabulary is a very important part The more words you have, the more you can understand whatever you read and hear, furthermore you can say

study, I would like to give an overview of vocabulary and find out some difficulties that most students are facing in their learning process Then I will suggest some solutions to deal with these difficulties

2 Aims and Purposes of the Study

vocabulary

effectively

3 Scope of the Study

The study limits itself to the investigation of the difficulties in learning vocabulary of all students from elementary school, junior and senior high schools to colleges or universities

4 Reaseach Questions

vocabulary?

methods?

5 Methods of the Study

This study mainly using descriptive method, interview, questionares or observation

6 Design of the Study

The study is divided into three parts:

Part A: Introduction

In this part, the academic routines required for a graduation paper, namely rationale, aims, scope, methods and design of the study are included

Chapter 2: Problems of Almost Students in Learning English Vocabulary – a case study

It is the main part of my study, which describe the current situation of learning and teaching vocabulary for students and identifies their problem in learning vocabulary

Chapter 3: Some Suggestions for Improving Students’ English Vocabulary

The writer wants to give out some suggestions and solutions to deal with difficulties in learning vocabulary in this chapter

Part C: Conclusion

It is a brief summary of knowledge has been studied in the paper The questionnaires and the references used during the study are presented in the last part of the study

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW

The term “vocabulary” is a simple concept but in fact, it is extremely difficult to give an exact definition of vocabulary There are some linguists define the term of vocabulary in different ways According to Neuman&Dwyer (2009), “Vocabulary” can be defined as “words we must know to communicate effectively, words in speaking as expressive vocabulary and words in listening as receptive vocabulary”

Hornby (1995) defines vocabulary as “the total number of words in a language, vocabulary is a list of words with their meanings” While Ur (1998) states: “Vocabulary can be defined, roughly, as the words we teach in the foreign language However, a new item of vocabulary may be more than just

a single word: for example, post office, and mother-in-law, which are made

up of two or three words but express a single idea A useful convention is to cover all such cases by talking about vocabulary “items” rather than “words”

In addition, Burns (1972) defines vocabulary as “the stock of words which is used by a person, class or profession According to Zimmerman cited

in Coady and Huckin (1998) said that: “Vocabulary is central to language and

of critical importance to the typical language learning” Furthermore, Diamond and Gutlohn (2006) state that vocabulary is the knowledge of words and word meanings.”

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

2 The Roles of Vocabulary

Vocabulary is core to English language teaching and learning process because without sufficient vocabulary, students cannot understand others or express their own ideas Wilkins (1972) wrote that: “While without grammar, very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed” This point reflects our experience with different languages, even without grammar, with some useful words and expressions, we can often manage to communicate Lewis (1993) went further to argue: “Lexis is heart of language” Particularly as students develop greater fluency and expression in English, it is significant for them to acquire more productive vocabulary knowledge and to develop their own personal vocabulary learning strategies Students often instinctively recognize the importance of vocabulary to their language learning Schmitt (2010) noted: “Learners carry around dictionaries and not grammar books” Teaching vocabulary helps students understand and communicate with others in English Voltaire purportedly said: “Language is very difficult to put into words.” English language students generally would concur, yet learning vocabulary also helps students master English for their purposes

A good mastery of vocabulary helps the learners to express their ideas precisely By having many stocks of word learners will be able to comprehend thereading materials catch other talking, give response, speak fluently and write somekind of topics

On the contrary, if the learners do not recognize the meaning of the words use by those who address them, the will be unable to participate inconversation, unable to express some ideas, or unable to ask for information

Considering the important of vocabulary role in learning foreign language.The mastery of this element should be ensured and develop

Otherwise, the vocabulary mastery of the children will be limited and consequence of it is that they will find difficulties in learning the skills of the language Therefore, schools have a task to teach vocabulary to their students

as suggested by John Carol as showed by Margaretha MC Keown (1987) Although a considerable amount of vocabulary, learning is associated with primary language learning in early years The acquisition of most the vocabulary characteristic of an educated adult occur during the years of schooling, and infects one of the primary task of the school as far as language learning in concerned, as to teach vocabulary

The concept of a word can be defined in various ways, but three significant aspects teachers need to be aware of and focus on are “Form”,

“Meaning”, and “Use” According to Nation (2001), “the Form” of a word involves its pronunciation (spoken form), spelling (written form), and any word parts that make up this particular item (such as a prefix, root, and suffix) An example for word parts can been seen with the word uncommunicative, where the prefix “un-” means negative or opposite, communicate is the root word, and “-ive” is a suffix denoting that someone or something is able to do something Here, they all go together to refer to someone or something that is not able to communicate, hence uncommunicative Nation (2001) stated that “Meaning” encompasses the way that form and meaning work together, in other words, the concept and what items it refers to, and the associations that come to mind when people think

about a specific word or expression “Use”, Nation (2001) noted, involves the grammatical functions of the word or phrase, collocations that normally go with

it, and finally any constraints on its use, in terms of frequency, level, and so forth When teachers teach vocabulary to build students’ knowledge of words and phrases, helping them learn any and all of these different components assists them in enhancing their English vocabulary knowledge and use

There are various ways to classify the words of a language A useful way for “English as a Second Language” students is to divide vocabulary in the following three broad categories:

everyday things

mathematics, etc

subject teacher, which are not so common in everyday spoken

language and not subject-specific words

But some experts divided vocabulary into two types: “Active vocabulary” and “Passive vocabulary” Harmer (1991) distinguishes between these two types of vocabulary The first type of vocabulary refers to the one that the students have been taught and that they are expected to be able to use Meanwhile, the second one refers to the words which the students will recognize when they meet them, but which they will probably not be able to pronounce Haycraft, quoted by Hatch and Brown (1995) indicate two kinds

of vocabulary, namely “Receptive vocabulary” and “Productive vocabulary”

1 Receptive Vocabulary

Receptive vocabulary is words that learners recognize and understand when they are used in context, but which they cannot produce It is vocabulary that learners recognize when they see or meet in reading text but

do not use it in speaking and writing (Stuart Webb, 2009)

Productive vocabulary is the words that the learners understand and canpronounce correctly and use constructively in speaking and writing It involves what is needed for receptive vocabulary plus the ability to speak or write at the appropriate time Therefore, productive vocabulary can be addressed as an active process, because the learners can produce the words to express their thoughts to others (Stuart Webb, 2005)

An active vocabulary is made up of the words readily used and clearly

understood by an individual when speaking and writing Active vocabulary,

on the other hand, is vocabulary that you can recall and use at will when the situation requires it You are choosing to use the word and actively retrieving

it from memory Manser, M (2004) notes that an active vocabulary

“Consists of the words that people use frequently and confidently If someone asks them to make up a sentence containing such and such a word and they can do it then that word is part of their active vocabulary.”

In contrast, Manser, M (2004) says: “A person’s passive vocabulary consists of the words whose meanings they know so that they do not have to

look the words up in a dictionary but which they would not necessarily use in ordinary conversation or writing”

According to Corson, D (1995):

“An active vocabulary covers all those words people need to use and

have no reservations about using to communicate with others on an everyday basis The range of people’s active vocabulary is a unique reflection of their sociocultural position and the range of discursive practices engaged in In other words, it depends on the range of relations people contract as a part of everyday existence, over a lifetime Except for people who frequently make contact with the specialist meaning systems of professions or of other special knowledge categories, most people’s active words are high frequency words

in the language and need little stimulus to activate them in the mental lexicon They are ready for use in incoming and outgoing messages, with no noticeable effort.”

Laufer, B (2001) stated: “Educationists believe that using vocabulary

in communicative tasks is more beneficial to developing active

vocabulary than requiring learners to memorize isolated words, or leaving them to their own devices”

In addition, Schwab, I & Hughes, N (2010) indicated: “While studies agree that knowledge of vocabulary is important for developing reading skills, they also show it is normally extensive reading that helps develop a wide vocabulary.”

A passive vocabulary is made up of the words that an individual

recognizes but rarely uses when speaking and writing Also known as

recognition vocabulary

According to Reynolds, J and Acres, P (2013), “Your passive vocabulary is likely to contain more words than the active one One way to improve the range of the vocabulary in your own writing is to try to transfer words from your passive to the active vocabulary”

As Corson, D (1995):

“A passive vocabulary includes the words stored in verbal memory that people partially “understand”, but not well enough for active use These are words that people meet less often and they may be low frequency words in the language as a whole In other words, activating them takes longer and it demands greater stimulus than most textual contexts provide Words stop being passive if people are regularly contracting relations that activate them, since this lowers the amount of stimulus needed to put them to use A facility

in using the words develops Again constraints of another kind in the extralinguistic context may also restrict the active use of some words This can happen even when words are available for active use in principle, such as cultural taboo words that most people know but rarely use outside certain settings”

With passive vocabulary, you can listen and understand Hearing the vocabulary used prompts you to recall its meaning In other words, you are being made to recall them, so they are passive vocabulary

Guessing from context as a way of dealing with unfamiliar vocabulary

in unedited selections has been suggested widely by L1 and L2 reading

specialists (Dubin, 1993) Nation and Coady (1988) claim that there are two types of contexts:

The first type is the context within the text, which includes morphological, semantic and syntactic information in a specific text, while the second one is the general context, or non-textual context, which is the background knowledge the reader has about the subjects being read Williams (1985) agrees with Nation and Coady in considering the specific context as

‘‘the other words and sentences that surround that word, it follows that other words in the context of the unfamiliar word often “throw light on” its meaning These other words can be found in the sentence containing the unknown word or other sentences beyond the sentence of the unknown item Similarly, McCarthy (1988) sees context as within the text itself i.e the morphological, syntactic, and discourse information, which can be classified and described in terms of general features Learning from context not only includes learning from extensive reading, but also learning from taking part in

a conversation, and learning from listening to stories, films, television or the radio (Nation, 2001) In order to activate guessing in a written or spoken text, there should befour elements available: the reader, the text, unknown words, and clues in the text including some knowledge about guessing The absence

of one of these elements may affect the learner’s ability to guess Furthermore, this technique encourages learners to take risks and guess the meanings of words they do not know as much as possible This will help them build up their self-confidence so that they can work out the meanings of words when they are on their own There are many clues learners can use to establish meanings for themselves, such as illustrations, similarity of spelling

or sound in the mother tongue, and general knowledge (Walters, 2004)

3.1.2 Teaching Vocabulary by Using Synonyms, Antonyms

Synonyms and antonyms are especially important in building new vocabulary because learners are able to know vocabulary Synonyms and antonyms are useful to know because they improve reading and writing skills And since words represent thoughts, it can plausibly be stated that they allow students to understand the world at a deeper, richer level It is important to remember that synonyms are not words that have the same meaning, but rather, words that have similar meanings This means that by learning synonyms, students learn to differentiate between shades of meaning This enable them to be more precise In addition, by learning antonyms, students learn the logical opposites of important words, thus enhancing their overall command of language Synonyms are words that have the same meaning as the unknown in a given sentence There may be signals that identify the

presence of synonym for the readers They could be “or, commas, dashes, and

the unknown word in a given sentence Signals which identify the presence of

the antonyms for readers are “instead, although, but, yet, and however”

When students expand their vocabulary with sysnonyms and antonyms, thay increase thier comprehension of English and learn to express themselves with greater clarity

This is a type of teaching method has been around a very long time, and

it is called the grammar-translation method Derived from the traditional method of teaching Greek and Latin in the West, this method aims at having students completely understand the grammatical rules and vocabulary of any foreign language The method has been so popular around the world, because

you do not need native speakers to teach foreign languages It is also easy for the teacher to use Teacher only really need the student’s native teacher who has a knowledge of the grammar of the foreign language being taught The teacher is not using the foreign language for communication, because all explanations about the foreign language are in the student’s native language

ESP teachers should be aware of the importance of incorporating vocabulary teaching into their classes Vocabulary seems to be one of the most commonly misunderstood aspects of language teaching Most of the times, vocabulary is approached in a very unsystematic way which creates confusion for learners When teaching vocabulary, teachers should not focus

on every single word because there is no need and no time to do it It is fundamental to help learners build their initial vocabulary by teaching them what is meant by “learning words” and showing them how to learn the words most effectively Specialised vocabulary may not seem to be the primary goal

of ESP language, but learners in these fields need to acquire their specialised terminology in order to better perform in their professions.Vocabulary is a key element in any second language class because whereas grammar is important for meaning, without vocabulary no message is conveyed There seems to be a tendency, especially in ESP courses, to provide students with word-lists and ready-made glossaries to help them acquire specialised vocabulary Vocabulary, however, does not mean simply ‘words’ because words are seldom found in isolation For any given word, indeed, there is always a wide range of other words which can occur or collate with it Theseword combinations or relationships, often called collocations, are very important for learners and most of the time, serious errorsoccur as a result of a lack of translational equivalence between L1 and L2

3.1.4 Teaching Vocabulary by Using Techniques

There are many vocabulary teaching techniques Not all techniques are equally helpful for every student or appropriate for every course In this case, the teacher should choose the most suitable techniques The technique must enable students to improve their vocabulary knowledge One should also notice that it is not possible to use only one technique during the process of teaching vocabulary

Vocabulary teaching requires several strategies to be put into use and supported by technology, which empowers the process Thera are the most innovative and applicable strategies:

relies heavily on the interaction between words, showing students the frequency and type of words that appear in text can help them think through word relationships Free websites provide this type of word-mapping ability Potential question to students could include, “What seem to be the most important words?” and “How do these words go together?” not to mention reading comprehension questions around main idea

when a teacher presents many different sources of text to students and has them pick out and record important words which are then brought together, grouped conceptually, and discussed in various word-work ways A digital field trip puts this in students’ hands Using free websites, teachers can compile websites about a topic and makes notes on the sites to help guide students The multimedia on the sites gives students exposure to new words in many different modalities

- Let students use multimedia to show vocabulary knowledge The authors suggest that there is a word of multimedia out there that students could benefit from using to show off their vocabulary knowledge For instance, creating a podcast or short video explaining the meaning of new words Another idea is that students could create Powerpoint slides with a picture that they caption to show the meaning of a word The authors show an example of picture of three children working together that a student has captioned with a made-up conversation between the children that ends with one using the vocabulary word “contribute”

of the internet, the authors point to the websites: www.vocabulary.co.il, www.vocabulary.com and www.freerice.com as having strong resources and games for teachers and students The traditional vocabulary instruction of copying definitions, drawing pictures and writing example sentences certainly has its place The authors suggest, however, that it is time to start looking for updated, digital ways to increase students’ lexicons as well as their excitement about expanding their vocabulary

Language learning is hard work Effort is required at every moment and must be maintained over a long period Games help and encourage many learners to sustain their interest and work Games also help the teacher to create contexts in which the language is useful and meaningful The learners want to take part and in order to do so must understand what others are saying

or have written, and they must speak or write inorder to express their own point of view or give information Games encourage, entertain, teach, and promote fluency If not for any of these reasons, they should be used just

because they help students see beauty in a foreign language and not just problems that at times seem overwhelming Games are often used as short warm-up activities or when there is sometime left at the end of a lesson Yet,

a game should not be regarded as a marginalactivity filling in odd moments when the teacher and class have nothing better to do Games ought to be at the heart of teaching foreign languages Games are used at all stages of the lesson, provided that they are suitable and carefully chosen Games also lend themselves well to revision exercises helping learners recall material in

a pleasant, entertaining way All authors referred to in this article agree that even if games resulted only in noise and entertained students, they are still worth paying attention to and implementing in the classroom since theymotivate learners, promote communicative competence, and generate

fluency There are many kinds of games which can be used in teaching

English Of course, as a technique games need help from media It can be pictures, object, puppet, cassette, projector and many others object surround

us There are some common games used in teaching vocabulary such as:

3.2 Learning Vocabulary

A single word may have several possible meanings, and the appropriate one can often be determined based on context Laufer (1990) believes that a word in a sentence could look familiar to language learners, however, they may find that this meaning in the given sentence makes no sense In addition, guesses of the meaning of an unknown word are rarely accurate Kaivanpanah and Alavi’s (2008) study confirms that learners’ inferences about the meaning

of unfamiliar vocabulary are not always reliable Thus, advocates of dictionary use suggest that teachers should encourage learners to use a dictionary to find the particular meaning of an unfamiliar word in a given context Walz (1990) claim that: “Dictionaries are the essential source for information about words in a language” Hayati and Fattahzadh (2006) also recommend that learners consult a dictionary for the meaning of an unfamiliar word to make certain that their assumptions are accurate based on the contextual information Access to a dictionary helps learners become more autonomous because they can find appropriate interpretations of unfamiliar words in sentences without depending on teachers’ explanations said by Gu (2003) and Miyanaga (2006)

Most people know how to use a dictionary to look up a word’s meaning Here are some pointers on how to do this as a part of a vocabulary-building program:

- Have your own dictionary: Keep it where you usually do your

reading at home You are more likely to use it if you do not have to get it from another room At work, there may be a good dictionary available for

your use At home, most people do not have a big, unabridged dictionary; however, one of the smaller collegiate dictionaries would be fine to start with

- Circle the words you look up: After you have done this for a

while, your eye will naturally move to the words you have circled whenever you flip through the dictionary This will give you a quick form of review

- Read the entire entry for the word you look up: Remember,

words can have more than one meaning, and the meaning you need for the word you are looking up may not be the first one given in your dictionary Even if it is, the other meanings of the word will help you understand the different ways the word is used Also, the word's history, usually given near the beginning of the entry, can often give a fascinating picture of the way the word has developed its current meaning This will add to the pleasure of learning the word as well as help you remember it

Vocabulary flashcards are great tools for studying They can be fun, colorful, and creative ways to aid in memory and retention of vocabulary words You can use them as a simple one-on-one quiz session, or an exciting game for a big group Flashcards are a tried and tested teaching and learning device inside and outside the classroom, for kids and adults alike

Many websites offer vocabulary flashcards to learn various new words Some of these flashcards are designed to perfect your English, while others can help you learn a new language entierly

The key to using flash cards is to look at the word or definition on one side, and test yourself to see if you can remember the answer written on the other Each of these websites has flashcards offering both the word and the

definition so you can perfect your knowledge of the vocabulary on the list and improve your overall vocabulary

There are a few simple ideas for introducing and reviewing language using flashcards:

One of the simplest ways to engage students’ interest is to introduce new items with a Mystery Box You can give hints about what is inside and have students guess

Take two sheets of paper the same size as the picture cards Cut several small holes randomly spaced in one sheet In the second sheet, cut larger holes in the same spots, so that the holes from both sheets of paper line up Cover a flashcard with the large-holed sheet, and then place the small-holed sheet on top of that When you look at the picture, you will only be able to see small parts where the holes are Can you guess what the picture is? No? Slowly remove the large-holed sheet, revealing the picture bit-by-bit

Place three familiar cards face up in a row Turn around and ask the students

to turn one card over You return and try to name the card Turn the card face

up again, and let the students add a card to the pile Turn around again, and the students turn one card over Return and name the card

Choose 8-10 picture cards and hang them in a row on the board Have students stand Everyone stamps their feet left, right, left, right, left, right in a comfortable beat Start chanting the names of the cards After two or three rounds, turn one card over Repeat the chant, but when you reach the card that

has been turned over, everybody jumps Turn over another card and start the chant again You will jump two times now Continue turning over cards until all but one of the cards have been turned over Increase the pace or the number of cards if the students want a bigger challenge

When using simple texts for beginning ESL readers, encourage the readers to use a highlighter to mark familiar words in one color, unfamiliar words in another color This is an interaction with the text that gives the readers a sense of control (even though much of the text may be unfamiliar) and activates prior knowledge because color is a powerful cue for visual learners Once the students have identified the unfamiliar words, then they can develop a short glossary and use their dictionary (or the teacher, if the students are very young) to jot short definitions of the unfamiliar words The student should be permitted to write the definitions into the text so that the definitions are easily accessible and do not require constantly putting down the text to look up the words This is a technique called annotation and is another interaction with text that helps build comprehension

To ensure deep absorbtion of the new vocabulary words, teachers should ask the students to highlight or underline those words whenever they use them in writing assignments Correct use of a highlighted glossary word should be rewarded with extra points This practice will move the student beyond simple awareness of a new word into active use of the word in context and increase the probability that the student will memorize the word and no longer need to check the glossary or the word wall when he encounters it in future reading

Mark up the margins of your textbook with key words, symbols, and diagrams that help you remember the text Use highlighter pens of contrasting colors to "color code" the information

The vocabulary tree is a graphic organizers which can be useful in helping students build vocabulary Students are able to make connections and identify relationships between vocabulary words in the lesson through the use

of this strategy Students are able to expand on the single idea or term and create visual connections that will help them see how the many concepts or vocabulary words in a text are related

The vocabulary tree is made up of a trunk, roots, branches, and leaves The trunk holds the main concept or key term, and the branches include related terms, ideas, or examples The leaves of the tree are used for the definitions of the terms or ideas listed in the branches Finally, the roots of the tree are reserved for the definition or Latin root of the key term Students may complete a vocabulary tree individually, in pairs, in small groups, or even as a whole class The vocabulary tree strategy is helpful for students to visualize vocabulary terms and how they relate to other terms or concepts in the text

Once you have mapped out a few vocabulary trees, you will discover yourself thinking in vocabulary groups When you see a cup your mind will

quickly relate such words as “knife, fork, late, dishes, etc ” This overview to

vocabulary trees provides will help you get started Here is an example of a vocabulary tree:

3.2.5 Learning Vocabulary by Using Word Formation Charts

Vocabulary charts can be very useful in helping students widen their passive and active vocabulary based on related word group areas Nation (1990), focused on the skill aspect and outlined three skills a learner needs in order to make use of affixation: breaking a new word into parts so that the affixes and roots are revealed; knowing the meanings of the parts; and being able to connect the meaning of the parts with the meaning of the word Typically, students will often learn new vocabulary by simply writing lists of new vocabulary words and then memorize these words by rote Vocabulary charts, on the other hand, provide this “hook” by placing vocabulary in connected categories thus helping “long term” memorization Word formation

is one of the keys to success for advanced level ESL learners Advanced level English exams such as the TOEFL, First Certificate CAE and Proficiency use word formation as one of the key testing elements

These word formation charts provide the concept noun, personal noun, adjective and verb forms of key vocabulary listed in alphabetical order:

Concept noun Personal noun Adjective Verb

accused

addicted

authoritative

authorize