Vocabulary instruction is one of the most misunderstood aspects of language learning and language teaching. Here are some points teachers can follow to deal with vocabulary.
Students need about 3000 word families (A “word family” is a group of words that share the same meaning such as “help” “helping” “helped” “helpless” etc.). Many teachers assume that the basic words like “get” and “make” are known. But it is these words which are among the most troublesome, with their multiple meanings and idiomatic uses. Therefore, learners should work very hard on the very common words. All languages are full of short phrases made up of several words, and teachers should focus on these rather than just the “word” itself. Words are almost never found in isolation. They nearly always have partners that together form meanings in certain restricted ways. For example, we say “black and white” but not usually “white and black”. These word relationships (often called collocations) are very important for learners. Thus, teachers need to introduce lots of word relationships.
There are two main stages in learning words. The first stage is achieved when a connection is made between the meaning and the form of the word. The second stage involves knowing when to use the word, its word relationships, its shades of meaning, and so on. The first stage of learning a word is quite easy. This can be most effectively done by rote memorization such as by using word cards. Much more work should be done to deepen this knowledge at the second stage. This can be achieved by word study exercises and by mountains of graded reading.
Research also shows that learners learn best when they are made actively involved in word learning and at different levels of mental activity. Learners should be trained to work with words deeply, by working with the collocates. They should look at how the word is similar, but different from other words, by forming “networks” of word relationships in their minds, not just keeping words in isolation.
The most important vocabulary strategy to teach is to “guess unknown words from context”. The first thing to do when a learner meets a new word is to ignore it. If learners meet the word a second time and communication breaks down, then they should try to guess its meaning. Initially, it is important to make them realize its part of speech, then they should look for clues around the word to help with the meaning, and finally, they can use word-affix knowledge to confirm the guess.
It should always be remembered that “teaching does not cause learning” so teachers should not expect learners to remember every word they teach. The aims of vocabulary instruction then should be to create the conditions where the student can learn independently of the teacher. Thus, teachers should teach vocabulary learning strategies, such as “how to use a dictionary well”; “how to learn words systematically”; “how to keep vocabulary notebooks” and so on.
If teachers can do these things, learners will benefit more from their classes and will not only remember more words, but will be on the road to becoming independent learners.
