Methods to teach vocabulary

Additionally, another question is raised,that is, whether students can be motivated with visual teaching aids, verbal aids,and combining different methods - According to old method only

I The organization of the study

The thesis consists of three parts

Part A: Introduction

In this chapter, we would present the rationale for choosing the area forstudying, the aims of the study, the research questions and the hypotheses Theorganization is also included here to serve as an outline of the study

Part B: Contents

1 Types of vocabulary

2 Principles for teaching vocabulary

3 Steps for teaching vocabulary

4 Practice

Part C: Conclusion and recommendations

1 Result of study

2 Present resolution to problem and recommendation

II Study method

USING AIDS TO TEACH VOCABULARY

2 Vocabulary in real high school

In real high school When introducing new vocabulary, the teacher justexplains the meanings quickly with Vietnamese equivalents and asks thestudents to take notes Although this translation technique is time- saving, it isnot effective at all The students may find it sheer torture to stuff their pitifulheads with meaningless words and rigid definitions

Since teaching method determines learners’ success in learning English, itshould be updated so that every vocabulary lesson becomes more interesting andeffective In fact, more teachers have lately begun to adapt visual techniques,verbal techniques and combine different techniques in presenting newvocabulary However, not many teachers have known how to make the best ofthis newly-employed technique Some teachers even belittle the importance ofinnovating teaching methodology and refuse to update or apply new techniques

to teach new words

While the traditional method is being criticized and discouraged, the newmethod also demonstrates many shortcomings It is unquestionable that the newteaching method makes a lesson more fun and lively to both the teacher and thestudents However, it can be very time-consuming There may be not much timeleft for the students to do the tasks in their textbooks and they will not rememberthe main grammatical points “The lesson cannot be effective enough with thenew method if the load of knowledge is so overwhelming while the teachercannot find a sensible way to arrange the time properly between revision andpractice” (Anh, 2006).

Practically, the two techniques are co-existing and each has its own meritsand defects What matters is whether visual aids – the new technique mentioned

in Anh (2006) are really beneficial to students’ vocabulary improvement ascompared with translation technique Additionally, another question is raised,that is, whether students can be motivated with visual teaching aids, verbal aids,and combining different methods

- According to old method ( only translate new vocabulary) In realityteaching vocabulary gets the following results ( Unit 2 –personal experiencesand Unit 7 world population period A : reading- class 11a1- Nguyen Thi Loihigh school- Thanh Hoa province)

II Aims of the study

The present study aims at assessing the effectiveness of visual aids inimproving students’ performance as compared with translation technique.Equally important, the authors make an attempt to find out whether thisapproach positively contributes to creating a good motivation for students inlearning vocabulary With the aims of the study, we try to seek the answers tothe following questions:

1. Is there any difference in high school students’ performance whenlearning vocabulary with visual aids and when being taught with translationtechnique?

2 Are high school students motivated in vocabulary lessons that employ visual aids , and verbal method and combine different methods in teaching?

In accordance with the above research questions, two main hypotheses are made

by the researchers: (1) Teaching vocabulary with visual aids, verbal aids andcombine different methods does positively enhance high school students’performance as compared with translation technique; (2) High school studentsare highly motivated when visual aids, verbal methods and combine differentmethods are applied in vocabulary lessons

B CONTENT

I Types of vocabulary

1 Active and passive vocabulary

Vocabulary items can be classified into two types: active and passivevocabulary Active vocabulary is defined as “words which students will need tounderstand and also use themselves.” (Doff, 1988, p 19) 1 In teaching this type

of vocabulary, it is necessary that teachers spend time giving examples andasking questions to check students’ understanding Teachers also need to showthe students the possible contexts where these words can occur so that studentsknow how to use them appropriately and effectively Active vocabulary wordsare vital for the productive skills such as speaking and writing

On the other hand, passive vocabulary is characterized as “words which

we want students to understand (e.g when reading a text), but which they willnot need to use themselves.” (Doff, 1988, p 19) 1 Therefore, teachers onlypresent passive items quickly with simple examples or leave them for thestudents to guess from the context Passive vocabulary words are especiallyuseful for receptive skills of reading and listening

By carefully picking out the important words to teach, teachers canimprove students’ vocabulary learning ability and make students become moreeager to learn new words

2 Concrete and abstract vocabulary

Vocabulary can also be classified into concrete and abstract types.Concrete vocabulary represents “the entity that can be physically perceived

through the sense either in the form of objects or in the form of events”(Mallikarjun, 2002) In other words, people can see or touch the things Incontrast, vocabulary items representing “the entity like love, soul, and fear can

be called abstract vocabulary” (Mallikarjun, 2002) 7 This is because theseconcepts cannot be physically perceived People need to use their imagination tosense them mentally In other words, people can only feel or experience thembut can not touch such concepts as real objects In terms of teaching, due to thediverse features of concrete and abstract words, teachers have to apply variousways of teaching to present their meaning For concrete ones, teachers can showmeaning visually such as using miming, realia, pictures, actions, gestures, facialexpressions or objects Meanwhile, the meaning of abstract ones can be showedthrough examples, situations or translations Teachers have difficulty inexplaining abstract words to students because they are not physicallyrepresented in teaching environment (Igbaria, n.d) “It is easier to rememberconcrete words like a chair and a dog than abstract words” (Přibilová, 2006, p.18) 10

3 Aspects of vocabulary

As mentioned above, learning vocabulary is a big challenge for students

in high school Students need a lot of guidance right from the very beginning.Therefore, the teacher’s role in teaching vocabulary is very important Inaddition to selecting the essential vocabulary to teach, the teacher must knowwhat aspects of lexis need to be taught in the classroom Vocabulary knowledgeshould include such aspects as the form of the word, its grammar, collocation,different aspects of meaning and the word formation (Ur 1996, as cited inSussane Flohr, 2008) 2 Basic dimensions of a lexical item are presented asbelow

4 Form

The first important aspect that defines vocabulary is the form of words,consisting of pronunciation and spelling Pronunciation refers to the way a word

is spoken It includes word stress, sentence stress, intonation, and word linking

“Pronunciation has been seen as the Cinderella of language teaching due to itscomplexity” (Kelly, 1969, as cited in Qian-Mei Zhang, 2009) 1 “It is believedthat only few learners can ever attain native- like pronunciation in the foreignlanguage, especially those who learn to speak a second language after puberty”(Lenneberg, 1967, as cited in Qian-Mei Zhang, 2009) 1 Generally, not everylearner is capable of sounding like a native speaker, yet it is possible to developcorrect pronunciation Bad pronunciation often confuses the listener andsometimes causes unexpected misunderstanding That is why it is crucial toteach students the right pronunciation so that they will not come up against anydifficulties in expressing themselves

Spelling is another factor contributing to a learner’s languagecompetence As defined by Kress (2000), “spelling is knowing how to write

words correctly” (p 1) In fact, an English word is not always written exactlythe way that people would expect from its pronunciation Students’pronunciation is often confused by the spelling of a word Hence, the solution is

to introduce spoken form before written form so that students can learn topronounce the word correctly first

5 Grammar

The next aspect that requires teacher attention is the grammar of

vocabulary As defined in the Oxford Advanced learner’s dictionary, grammar is

“the rules in language for changing the form of words and joining them intosentences.” ( Hornby, 2005) 8 Grammar knowledge of a word includes part of

speech, tense and word forms Mastering the basic rules of grammar enableslearners to know where the word stands in a phrase, a clause or a sentence, andwhat form of the word to be used in different contexts For example, whenteaching a noun, the teacher has to show its plural forms if any, i.e goose-geese,child-children, ox-oxen, etc Or when teaching verbs, the teacher should presenttheir past forms Learners should be taught how to build the past forms of a

regular verb by adding “ ed” at the end of the word or of an irregular verb by

memorizing the forms of each single verb as there is no common rules for verbs

of this type

6 Collocation

Why do people say “a handsome man” and “a beautiful woman” but not

“a beautiful man” and “a handsome woman”? This is a matter of wordcollocation “A collocation is a combination of two or more words whichfrequently occur together” ( O'Dell & McCarthy, 2008, p 6) 9 For instance, it’s

considered appropriate to talk of high mountains and tall trees, not tallmountains and high trees One can make a big or great mistake but cannot make

a large or wide mistake Indeed, collocation is an endless list that one cannotmaster overnight As a matter of fact, most English learners have very limited

‘collocational competence’, especially high- school students who are at anintermediate level or below They may know the meaning of individual wordsbut do not know which words can go together as word partners Thus, a teachershould never forget to teach common and important collocations to the students.This is part of vocabulary knowledge and cannot be ignored

7 Aspects of meaning

Understanding of vocabulary also involves knowledge of different aspects

of meaning Those aspects are denotation, connotation appropriateness andmeaning relationships such as synonyms, antonyms, hyponyms, co-hyponyms,

superordinates and translation (Ur, 2006, p.23) 2

According to the Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary, denotation is

“the actual object or idea to which the word refers” ( Hornby, 2005) 8 Simplyput, it is the literal meaning of the word that we can look up in the dictionary Onthe other hand, connotation is the association (emotional or otherwise) that

the word evokes For example, the words house and home all have the samedenotation, that is, the place where one lives, but the connotation of each word isvery different The denotation of house is just an actual building used for aparticular purpose while home is associated with something cozy, loving andcomfortable Sometimes students know what the word denotes but are not fullyaware of its connotation, which causes failure in language use Therefore, theteacher should teach students both of these concepts so that they can make gooduse of the words they’ve learned.

Appropriateness is another aspect of vocabulary that should be covered Itconcerns the matter of politeness and formality A learner has to know whether it

is suitable to use a certain word in a certain context For example, when talking

to a foreign stranger at the airport, it is more polite for a person to say “Wouldyou mind telling me the time, please?” than to say “What’s the time?” Thisaspect is extremely complex, partly due to differences in culture What a teachercan do is to expose learners to a wide variety of language and contexts withinwhich that language can be used In this way, learners do not acquire only thelanguage itself but the actual use of the language as well

In addition to the aspects that have just been discussed above, there areareas of meaning relationships that a teacher should bear in mind when teachingvocabulary First, the teacher should be aware of the synonym and antonym of aword Synonyms are “items that mean the same, or nearly the same” (Ur, 2006,p.23) 2 For example, the synonyms of the word “sad” includes “unhappy”,

“gloomy”, “depressed” or “sorrowful” On the other hand, antonyms are “itemsthat mean the opposite” (Ur, 2006, p.23) 2 For example, honest-dishonest,wealthy-poor, hopeful-hopeless are pairs of antonym Word meaning alsoincludes such aspects as hyponyms, co-hyponyms and superordinates.Hyponyms are “items that serve as specific examples of a general concept” (Ur,

2006, p.23) For example, scarlet, vermilion, carmine and crimson are allhyponyms of red In this case, scarlet, vermillion, carmine and crimson are

called co-hyponyms as these words share the same hyponym, namely “red”.

Another term related to this area is superordinates which is “red” in this

case Specifically, superordinates are defined as “general concepts that coverspecific items” (Ur, 2006, p.24) 2 Metaphorically, a superordinate term acts as

an “umbrella” term that includes within it the meaning of other words The lastarea to be mentioned is translations which are defined as “words or expressions

in the learners” mother tongue that are (more or less) equivalent in meaning tothe item being taught” (Ur, 2006, p 24) 2 Some examples of translation can be:Moon Lady - chị Hằng, moon cake – bánh trung thu, etc

of words and multi-words, particularly prefixes and suffixes, so that learners canreadily interpret words in context such as ‘disrespectful’, ‘ungrateful’,

‘mismatch’ (McDonough & Shaw, 2003, p 113) Knowing the meanings ofsuffixes and prefixes can help students widen their vocabulary This knowledgehelps them to guess the meaning of some unfamiliar words and remember thosewords quite at ease

9 Procedure of teaching vocabulary

In order to have an effective vocabulary lesson, teachers should follow astep-by-step procedure There are 8 basic steps that are often mentioned inliterature to be involved in this process (Doff, 1988, p.11, Flohr, 2010, p.5) 1First of all, the teachers need to identify a list of words that needs presentingfrom the reading text that they intend to teach Both active and passive itemsshould be selected As highlighted earlier in this chapter, the teachers have to bevery careful when selecting words to teach In the book entitled “Literacy:Helping students construct meaning”, David, Nancy and Kathryn (2008) suggestsome techniques that a teacher can use to decide on a to-teach-list First, theteacher has to review the text to identify the story line(s) or main idea Next, theteacher goes on starting to compile a list of words related to the story line(s) ormain idea As for words that are adequately defined in the text and words thatstudents can determine through the use of prefixes, suffixes, roots words or basewords, teacher does need to conduct direct teaching Only words that are likely

to cause difficulty may require direct teaching ( Cooper & Kiger, 2008, p 255)11

Actually, this is a key step because it influences other steps anddetermines the effectiveness of the lesson

After the word selection step, it is time to choose an appropriate technique

to show the meaning of the word There is no best technique, but the techniqueschosen should “help students relate new knowledge to old knowledge, activelyinvolve students in the process of learning, help students thoroughly learn wordsand support students in the process of learning to use their own strategies forindependently inferring word meanings.” (Cooper & Kiger , 2008, p 259) 11 Inother words, selecting a suitable technique to present a new word should serve

as a good means to facilitate students in their vocabulary learning and enhancetheir language competence Some common techniques will be discussed later on

in this section

The next step is saying the word aloud and writing it on the board “It isalways important that the teacher pronounces the new word before he spells it orwrites it on the board” (Flohr, 2010, p 5) This is because “the students shouldknow how to pronounce and use the word in spoken language before they use it

in written language and write the whole texts using new words” (Flohr, 2010, p.5) Saying the word aloud is a useful technique as “information that is verballyrehearsed is much more likely to be remembered.” (Manning, 1991, p 181)

“Statistics indicate that students remember 20 percent of what they hear fromthe external source, 70 percent of what they themselves repeat aloud, and 90percent if they speak aloud to themselves about a task as they are performing thetask.” (Manning, 1991, p 181) 5 In addition, the board is also considered anessential tool in this step “Whenever a new word is introduced, it should bewritten down on the board This will help the pupils to retain the visual image ofthe word” (Baruah, 1991, p 296) 5

Afterwards, the teacher should moves to the step of showing the form.What matters here is that the teachers have to distinguish between active andpassive items so as to present the form of a particular item in the right way Asfor active vocabulary, the teachers should give not only key transcription butalso stress and word class However, if the presented word is passive, theteachers do not need to spend too much time showing its form Only keytranscription and stress should be shown in this case

After both the meaning and form have been shown, it is time for theteacher to give examples in which the word is used When the word is placedsomewhere amid a sentence, its affective meaning is clear and the word is morereadily absorbed by the students The number of examples should be considered

as well As for a passive item, only one simple example should be given;however, if the item is active, it is advisable to introduce two or more modelsentences so as to “provide the student with multiple exposures to the word indifferent contexts or settings” (Thompson & Vaughn, 2007, p 92) 4

Next, to ensure that the students have known the word clearly, the teachershould ask questions to check the students’ comprehension Or the teacher cangive hints for the students to make their own sentences using the newly-learntword Questions of this kind aims at 3 purposes: (1) to ensure students’understanding of the word, (2) to show how the word is used in specificcontexts, and (3) to let students practice other language (Doff, 1988, p 17) 1Moreover, the teacher must bear in mind that “questions using a new wordshould be simple and requires only short answers” (Doff, 1988, p 17) 1

After presenting all the new words selected, the teacher conductsrepetition of the word list and model sentences During this stage, the studentsare asked to repeat the words and examples first chorally and then individually

In the book entitled “Cognitive self-instruction for classroom processes”,Manning (1991) 3 describes the mechanisms by which a new word comes to andfixes in a student’s mind when that student speaks the word aloud by himself:

As the sound waves leave the mouth and return back into the ears, thecycle stimulates the memory capacity The word is spoken and received Thebrain is activated as the word is spoken and heard The spoken wordsemantically sets up associations of meanings as the word is stored for retrieval.(p.181)

This mechanism indicates that repetition is essential in a vocabularylesson as repeating new words and examples many times can help stick thewords to the students’ mind.

“Memory clearly plays a key role in vocabulary learning and the benefits

of revision and repetition have been clearly demonstrated in studies ofvocabulary learning” (Schmitt & McCarthy, p.276) 6 And revision could beencouraged by means of consolidation activities Practically speaking, there aremany ways of reviewing vocabulary Exercises of this kind may range frommultiple choice, matching, gap-filling, network, translation to sentencecompletion or hidden words and more What matters here is whether the teacher

is clever enough to design meaningful activities to help the students effectivelyrevise new items of vocabulary

In practice, there is no fixed procedure in teaching vocabulary The

eight-step procedure suggested above should not be regarded as the “right” or “ideal”

method that can be applied for all teachers and students The teachers, actually,can be flexible in their teaching process by adding or ignoring some steps

II Principles for teaching vocabulary

1 Showing the meaning visually

A Drawing- On the backboard the teacher can draw a picture of some

words that will quickly convey the meaning, for example, happy, sad, a map, aflower, an animal, preposition of location, ect

 

B Realia or real objects

Teacher can show the meaning of the words by using thing available inthe classroom or anything that can be brought into the classroom, eg a hat, ties,food, toy or small objects from home These are not only for seeing, but also forholding and passing around

C.pictures

Using photographs, prints or painting, the teacher can communicate aboutmany types of words, eg photographs from magazines, personal photographs offamily members, ect