According to Wilga Rivers, vocabulary is not
something that can be taught but can be expressed, offered, and experienced via
activities in the class or extensive resources. As language teachers, we use
tricks to advertise words so that learners sense enthusiasm towards content and
this accelerates the word acquisition by learners. But, at the end, the learners, themselves, acquire
the vocabulary with certain ways. Here, I share some techniques so as to shed
some light on vocabulary learning.
Once two or three thousand most
used words are learned by the reader, these words are used in dictionaries to make description,
the reader, himself, can make guesses about unknown words from the context,
itself. One of the reasons why it smooths away for the reader is that common two
thousand words constitutes about eighty to ninety percent of each English sentence.
This is not a skill that needs to be taught and almost everybody with the
knowledge of most common two thousand words can predict the meaning of other
words. To give an example, “I couldn’t solve the test, because it was so
gawkun.” As it is obvious, anyone knowing other words can easily predict
the meaning of made-up word as “hard” or “difficult” like solving an
equation problem with unknowns in mathematics.
We can say that the reader experiences a few
steps. First, the reader looks under the hood and anticipates the class (verb,
adverb, noun, or adjective) of the unknown vocabulary. Then, he finds its
role in the sentence and its collocation. And then he investigates the usage of
the relation of sentence with unknown vocabulary with other sentences (if there
are any). Punctuation and conjunctions play an important role on discovering these
relations. And in the end, the reader
with this knowledge predicts the meaning of the vocabulary. If words guessed
can be used interchangeably in place of unknown vocabulary without deformation
in the meaning, then most probably it is correct. They can use breaking word
into prefix, root, and suffix and check root word meaning as a verification
method.
The problem we face while teaching is that
learners are less confident about guessing L2 words. So, we should implement
more guesswork in our activities so that students can embrace this strategy. It
should not be reduced to reading. Listening is also favorable for guessing.
Known as keyword technique also, mnemonics can be described as getting
help from an L1 vocabulary with similar sound. L2 (English) word and with auditorily
similar word from L1 are put into an unusual association together in learner’s
imagination. When this association is remembered, so is it the meaning.
Although this technique seems to be bizarre at first, it is effective thanks to
using imagination. Moreover, it even can be used for remembering words from L1.
(Here is an example) By this aspect, this technique is thought to
be superior to the other techniques. It is easier to remember and can be used
for any parts of speech.
To have learners activate this
technique, we should give a few minutes to think with their inner sound and advise
them to generate their own mnemonics with a visual element -not just by sound.
However, it can be still borrowed from someone or somewhere else (Here is an example) and it can strengthen connections and help
the learner understand this technique.
This is a beneficial activity for the students who have problems with
imagining words (using mnemonics or reflection). In this activity words
are learned or memorized by intermittent repetition as a result of retrieval
practice effect. Students’ vocabularies are testes by “student to students” or
“teacher to students” interaction. One side of the cards are written with L1
words while the other ones with target language (L2) counterparts. Cards can be
prepared by the teacher or students, or it can be provided from somewhere else.
There is no specific rule that person preparing should consider such as
choosing the words from same context. Any word can be written down regardless
of context. Important parts are that cards should be around 20 to 50 and words
with difficulties should be put the top of the pile. Another thing is, words
already learned I should be put aside for focusing on unknown ones. Students or
teachers can benefit from online resources for creating word cards for testing
themselves by which they can add and omit words from their virtual card pile. (Example
for Android | IOS)
When looked at the big picture, it
can be seen that this strategy is based on guessing. To implement this
strategy, we, teachers, can create pairs in the class and get students to test
each other. They can get clues from each other asking whether the word is an
adjective, noun, verb, or adverb, or by asking syllable count. Other clues that
can be shared are giving the word without syllables and using ghost writing
technique, which is writing in the air or on pair’s back. The more it turns into
a game, the more they like the strategy.
Users of this technique mainly aims
to fortify the words in mind by focusing on important and effective usage and
reflecting on how they are used in context.
They know learning cannot occur in a minute and are aware of the fact
that they are not able to use some words while speaking and writing although
they understand them easily when they read or listen. Moreover, they are fully
aware that they avoid using some words because they know that they do not have
a grasp of collocation, punctuation, or pronunciation of these words.
Leaners make stride in vocabulary learning in
six stages: from “I have never seen the word before.” to “I use the
word with confidence, both and speaking and writing.” To overcome these
stages, they endeavor to notice and learn polysemes (multiple meanings of a
word). For example, the
word reinforce is used in the meaning of giving more support to
something in “This evidence reinforces my view that he is a spy.” and
used for increasing the military strength in this example “Our defense
is must be reinforced against attack.”.
It is important for us to students to experience
authentic material and notice how people respond to the use of their words. When
people respond unexpectedly, they can think that they have said something wrong
or there are other meanings for word they used. We can also suggest our
students to watch movies and series because equivocal words or phrases are used
much in series to make expression more quizzical.
Using dictionary is useful for studying
vocabulary in terms of reaching them quickly and learning accurately when
getting from context does not work (So the learner is familiar with parts of
speech). It is also favorable for self-studying even after years following
education completion.
To integrate dictionary using in vocabulary
learning, the learner needs to get familiar with dictionary layout. Reading
dictionary guide, which is in the first pages in a dictionary, would be helpful
to embrace explanation and abbreviation style of the dictionary. On the other hand, phonetic transcription may
variate between dictionaries although it is believed that there is an
international standard. Cross checking (checking backwards) is also important
for bilingual dictionary users in order to use suitable and fully covering
vocabulary.
Learners should be careful about polysemes
(the fact of having more than one meaning) such as “digest” in “digesting
the food” and “digesting the words”, and homonyms (a word
that is spelled the same as another word but that does not have the same
meaning). For example, marine /məˈriːn/ meaning “found in or produced by
sea” and marine meaning “member of a body of soldiers trained to fight
on land or sea.” are completely different words but spelled and pronounced
the same. We can put homographs [or heteronyms (they are almost the
same)] in this category.
They are like homonyms but pronounced differently. Then you can see the trick
here: “Why would you desert /dɪˈzɜrt/ your dessert /dɪˈzɜrt/ on the desert
/ˈdez·ərt/?”
We, teachers, can set tasks or give examples in which learners have distinguish polysemes.
We can create groups from students sharing same L1 to prevent or diagnose interference
problems. To prevent this, learners should be encouraged to crosscheck the
words from bilingual dictionaries. On the other hand, we can integrate
vocabulary learning into writing activities. Students check each other’s assignments
and correct their spellings by using dictionaries.
In this strategy, learner creates a
personal dictionary to recall words from their long-term memory.
In this strategy, learner prepares adhesive
labels on which he writes L2 equivalent of the vocabulary. Every time he interacts
with objects turn into a repeat rehearsal and he procedures retrieval
practice effect.
Motivations for vocabulary learning
cannot be distinguished from language learning itself because approximately
half of the words in a sentence are content words (words from dictionary not
grammar). By this sense, I decided to regard motivations for language
learning in this category. From
cognitive aspect, we can regard exploration, knowledge, ego enhancement as
motivation drives for language learning. From constructivist view, we can put
belonging, social status in this category. To give tangible examples, some learners learn
to read Harry Potter in English, watch movies without subtitles or just because
they love English culture. Some learns
for studying abroad, getting better job opportunities, or because their parents
told them to do so. It can even be a parent living abroad who wants attend
meetings in school. So, learners should have a
purpose and try to reach it.
·
Akar, N. (2010). Teaching Vocabulary. Özel Eğitim Hizmetleri
Yayıncılık ve Danışmanlık Tic. Ltd. Lti.
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Harmer, J., & Thornbury, S. (2002). How to Teach Vocabulary
(1st ed.). Pearson Education ESL.
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Zimmerman, B. C. (2008). Word Knowledge: A Vocabulary Teacher’s
Handbook (1st ed.). Oxford University Press.
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Nation, I. (1990). Teaching & Learning Vocabulary (Teaching
Methods) (1st ed.). Heinle ELT.
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Hornby, A. S. (1994). Oxford
Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Oxford Univ Pr (Sd).
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Brown, D. H. (2014). Principles of Language Learning and Teaching
(6th Edition) (6th ed.). Pearson Education ESL.
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Elini
Kaldır! | Karsu Dönmez | TEDxIstanbul. (2016, January 4). YouTube. https://youtu.be/D7LxuEODkys?t=443
·
Dünyanın En Hızlı İngilizce Öğrenme Metodu! (2017, July 1).
YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa4Eac5bpUQ
·
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/polysemy
·
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/homonym
·
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homonym
·
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polysemy
·
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ef-mentor-words/id928429152
·
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ef.mentorapp
·
https://www.udemy.com/course/tefl-essentials-learners-and-learning/
Polysemy. (n.d.).
Https://En.Wikipedia.Org/. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polysemy
Hornby, A. S. (1994). Oxford
Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Oxford Univ Pr (Sd)
Wikipedia contributors. (2020,
December 3). Homonym. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homonym
Brown, D. H. (2014). Principles
of Language Learning and Teaching (6th Edition) (6th ed.). Pearson
Education ESL.
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