Vocabulary Instruction Techniques

Introduction

• Vocabulary teaching can seem daunting due to the vast English vocabulary.
• However, the average native speaker uses only around 5,000 words in everyday speech.
• Therefore, focus on frequency and usefulness for students' needs.
• Key steps: identifying essential vocabulary, understanding item features, and effective teaching methods.

What a student may need to know about an item

• Meaning: Crucial to ensure comprehension, using checking questions.
• Form: Knowing if a word is a verb, noun, etc. is essential for usage.
• Pronunciation: Crucial, using phonemic script and drilling/highlighting stresses.
• Spelling: Problematic in English, especially considering pronunciation.
• Grammatical Patterns: Considering if a word takes certain prefixes, suffixes, or prepositions.
• Connotations: Subtle meanings or associations a word may hold.

Ways to present vocabulary

• Illustration: Effective for concrete concepts.
• Mime: Useful for action verbs.
• Synonyms/Antonyms: Using known words helps explain meaning.
• Definition: Should be clear.
• Translation: Use if the L1 knowledge will be beneficial for the student(s).

Alternative ways of teaching vocabulary

• Student-led learning: Students work in groups to understand, pronounce, and use new words.
• Matching activities: Pair words to definition or category (e.g. transportation).
• Identifying different categories: Classifying words by type, group, etc.
• Create worksheets or activities: Use vocabulary words in exercises and activities.
• Finding new words: Get students to find new vocabulary from assigned reading.

Other things to consider

• Review: Use games and activities, encourage repetition at home.
• Encourage autonomy: Students to read, listen, and watch.
• Color-coded vocabulary boards: Organize words by category (part of speech, etc.).
• Use dictionaries: Encourage students to use a good dictionary.
• Highlight important aspects: Focus on related meanings together.

Teaching Vocabulary: Tips & Techniques

• Matching synonyms: Identify words that have similar meanings.
• Matching opposites: Identify words that have opposite meanings.
• Fill-in-the-blank sentences: Provide sentences where students fill in missing words.
• Choose all possible answers: Give choices to select the correct vocabulary word.
• Complete phrases: Provide the necessary word to complete the sentence.
• Correct mistakes: Correct errors and highlight errors in use.
• Label pictures: Label images or visuals.
• Cross out words: Choose from a group of words, and determine which word doesn't fit.
• Categorizing words: Give a list of words and ask the students to place each word in a category (e.g., actions, body parts).
• Analogies: Show relationships between similar words (e.g., Easy/Difficult, Hot/Cold).
• Choose possible answers (Semantic): Example "she longed for..." with possible answers.
• Choose possible answers (Grammatical): Example "He pondered..." with possible answers.
• Semantic Categories: Create categories to organize words (e.g. break/damage).
• Which is stronger: Identify the stronger or more intense word from a pair.
• Synonym/Paraphrase identification: Look for synonymous or similar wording in other sentences.
• Identify slang words: Find and isolate slang terms.

Miscellaneous examples

• Follow-up to a radio interview of a psychologist: Categorize words related to money attitudes.
• Follow-up to an article on health: Match terms to body parts.

Vocabulary

• Nature: Definitions and relationships.
• Main Targets: Core vocabulary, academic vocabulary, and technical vocabulary.

Learning vocabulary

• Effective methods: Direct versus indirect; Use of vocabulary lists, memory, and context.
• Vocabulary acquisition strategies: Memorisation, noticing, spaced repetition

Assessing vocabulary

• Test types: multiple choice, matching, sentence completion, gap-filling.
• Vocabulary tests should reflect the level of difficulty, appropriate for placement.
• Learners should understand that guessing can affect accuracy on vocabulary tests.
• Include elements of testing vocabulary in context (i.e., a reading passage—multiple choice, sentence completion, or gap-filling format).

Conclusion

• Vocabulary knowledge is essential for all language skills.
• Review and repetition are vital for vocabulary retention.
• Diverse activities and encouragement of student autonomy should help students.
• Teachers should consider whether learners need direct or indirect strategies.

This quiz explores various techniques for vocabulary development and teaching methodologies. It covers the use of word sheets, the Categories Game, and the importance of activities like pantomime and crossword puzzles in enhancing vocabulary learning. You will also examine the role of first languages and extensive reading in vocabulary acquisition.