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Teach English in Xiaoqiu Zhen - Tongchuan Shi

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Teaching Vocabulary Vocabulary can be understood as a database of words or the range of a language where the range is defined by the number of words known, either for a person or for a group. The impact a word can make on any particular is well understood and as said by David Crystal “Vocabulary is a matter of word-building as well as word-using”, thus vocabulary not only provides a mechanism for building word-stock but also in bringing, those learnt words, to practice. Teachers adopt various ways for building the vocabulary of students however; it has been observed that building vocabulary is a major challenge for most of the students as well as teachers. One of the most common way adopted to teach vocabulary is “look and remember” technique which relies primarily on the memory of the students but due to lack of practice, for the learnt words to be used, in everyday life, the students forget the words and are unable to add to their vocabulary. Another technique similar to this is the “rote verbal rehearsal” where instead of remembering the words as done in the former technique, students keep on repeating the words within the same context they have learnt to do so and thus eliminates the complete meaning and understanding for the word which could be used in different contexts but both these techniques do not create a sustained increase in the vocabulary of the student. The issue while adopting those techniques is the focus on the number of words instead of understanding of the words, another issue is the lack of teaching within the central theme of the unit which results in loss of meaning and value of vocabulary and also leads to decline in confidence of students as lack of vocabulary disables them to express themselves. Therefore, vocabulary must be taught in a meaningful context where the learning process is an experience for the students or becomes part of their experience. However, new words are required to be remembered but this could be taken a step forward where the words remembered by the students become a part of their experience. In consideration to the necessity of making teaching and learning an experience it is required to make the words familiar to the students which can be done through deliberation of examples or using the words in expression of the language during the teaching process itself. There are several ways of doing so among which the technique of developing rational and relational understanding of the words taught is very widely adopted. During this process, the teacher is required to propose examples to teach the words in relation to the contemporary time. For instance, while teaching words like capitalism, socialism etc, if the teacher decides to bring forth examples from the 19th century references then it would be difficult for the students to relate to the concepts and thus the understanding will be confused but despite that if the examples are taken from present scenarios then it will lead to better understanding of the concept. Let us take another example, like teaching the concept of globalization which in today’s time is very different than the time of its onset so, using present references would not only lead to better understanding of the concept but also lead to updated knowledge of the concept as these and various other concepts have evolved or are evolving with time. On the other hand other technique such as using meaningful contexts can also be adopted which can lead to better understanding of the words and concepts. This can be furthered by using exposure techniques where using relevant present world issues leading to increase of vocabulary. One can also adopt technique such as breaking the words to their origin words for instance Gynecology, whose origin is from Greek Gyne-Woman and Logia-study, and then using these words to build the vocabulary. Thus, the underlying idea with effective methods and techniques of teaching vocabulary is the focus on learning the essence of the words and not alone on the number of words. Once stated these techniques, still teaching vocabulary is challenging which requires adopting the techniques to build experience collaborated with reading, listening, speaking and writing exercise which will create an overall experience leading to enhanced understanding of the words and within the process will build vocabulary. However, skills like commitment and patience becomes critical for the success of teaching vocabulary but considering the importance of words to learn and express in a language, the process must be given due time and importance. References: 1. Masterminds Publishing, LLC Concepts. What are the challenges of teaching vocabulary? Retrieved February 11, 2019, from, http://www.calhoun.k12.al.us/makes sense/adobe reader/do not open program files/using gos/program files/Concepts/CT OVERVIEW/FAQ concepts.pdf


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