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Some ways of teaching vocabulary to adult learners
Nelya PETROSYAN
Samarkand State Institute of Foreign Languages
ARTICLE INFO
ABSTRACT
Article history:
Received February 2024
Received in revised form
28 February 2024
Accepted 20 March 2024
Available online
15 April 2024
Learning and teaching vocabulary is an important part of
foreign language learning. The meanings of new words are very
frequently emphasized, whether in books or verbal
communication. There are a lot of definitions of what
vocabulary is. But vocabulary is not as simple as that. It does
not only mean understanding the definition of single words or
collocations but it also requires the knowledge of how words fit
into context. Different ways of teaching language are used in
various courses. Concerning that variety, there is a wide choice
of teaching methods (concrete techniques) that can be used for
various purposes. Some of them would work with beginners
some with advanced students.
2181-
1415/©
2024 in Science LLC.
https://doi.org/10.47689/2181-1415-vol5-iss3/S-pp22-29
This is an open access article under the Attribution 4.0 International
(CC BY 4.0) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.ru)
Keywords:
vocabulary,
teaching adult learners,
strategies,
modern techniques,
objects,
drilling,
spelling,
miming,
communication,
context,
drawing,
picture,
gestures,
contrast,
pedagogical technology.
Katta yoshdagi o‘quvchilarga so‘z o‘rgatishning ayrim
usullari
ANNOTATSIYA
Kalit so‘zlar
:
lug‘at,
katta yoshdag o‘quvchilarni
o‘qitish,
strategiyalar,
zamonaviy texnikalar,
obyektlar,
burg‘ulash,
So‘z boyligini o‘rganish va o‘rgatish chet tillarini o‘rganishda
muhim o‘rin tutadi. Kitoblarda yoki og‘zaki muloqotda bo‘lsin,
yangi so‘zlarning ma’nolari juda tez
-
tez ta’kidlanadi. Lug‘at
nafaqat bitta so‘z yoki kollokatsiyalarning ta’rifini tushunishni
anglatadi, balki so‘zlarning kontekstga qanday mos kelishini
bilishni ham talab qiladi. Turli kurslarda qo‘llaniladigan tilni
o‘qitishning har xil usullari mavjud. Ushbu xilma
-xillikka
1
PhD, Acting Associate Professor, English Language Teaching Methodology Department, Samarkand State Institute
of Foreign Languages. E-mail: nelyapetrosyan1971@gmail.com
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imlo,
imo-ishora,
aloqa,
kontekst,
rasm,
kontrast,
pedagogik texnologiya.
nisbatan turli xil maqsadlarda ishlatilishi mumkin bo‘lgan
o‘qitish usullarining (aniq texnikalarning) keng tanlovidan
ba’zilari haqida so‘z boradi.
Некоторые способы обучения лексике взрослых
учащихся
АННОТАЦИЯ
Ключевые слова:
лексика,
обучение взрослых
учащихся,
стратегии,
современные техники,
объекты,
сверление,
правописание,
мимика,
коммуникация,
контекст,
рисунок,
картинка,
жесты,
контраст,
педагогическая
технология.
Изучение словарного запаса играет ключевую роль в
освоении иностранного языка. Значения новых слов часто
акцентируются в текстах и в устной речи. Хотя существует
множество определений словарного запаса, его суть
выходит за рамки простого понимания значений слов или
фраз. Важно также знать, как слова сочетаются друг с
другом в контексте. В обучении иностранным языкам
применяются различные подходы, каждый из которых
предлагает
уникальные
методы
и
техники,
адаптированные к разным образовательным целям.
Некоторые методы идеально подходят для начинающих, в
то время как другие ориентированы на продвинутых
студентов.
INTRODUCTION
What exactly is ‘Vocabulary’? Monolingual dictionary specifies it more properly. It
says that vocabulary means: “1) all words that a person knows or uses, 2) all the words in
a particular language, 3) all the words that people use when they are talking about a
particular subject, 4) a list of words with their meanings, especially in a book for learning
a foreign language.” (Hornby, 2000:1447) Chambers Dictionary (2006:845) offers other
explanations: “words in general, words known and used by one person, or within a
particular trade or profession, a list of words in alphabetical order with meanings added
as a supplement to a book dealing with a particular subject.”
English plays a key role in human lives. Nowadays it is considered to be an
inevitable part of general education for people practically all over the world. Having at
least basic knowledge it is more or less necessary for everyone. People meet English
everywhere and every day. They need it for their job when they are dealing with their
foreign business partners; they need it for their study because many specific articles are
written in English for its wide international usage; they need it in their personal lives
because they want to meet other cultures, travel abroad and that requires the ability of
speaking another language, English preferably, because English has become an
international language - a language which is communicated and understood in nearly
every part of the world. There exist various ways of teaching language that are used in
various courses.
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Adult students are completely different form children or adolescent students.
Compared to younger group of students, adults do not need that much demonstration but
ask for more explanation and formulation of principles. They are matured, their
intelligence has already developed. They went through a whole educational system and
they dispose of rich personal experience. They have also developed specific habits and
have specific expectations. Adults are in many cases not really interested in language, but
in what they do through it. That is to say, adult students view language as an instrument
for doing other things. It is not always easy for them to make a decision of enrolling to a
language course. They know they need to learn English for some reason - they dispose of
a high degree of extrinsic motivation. But they also know that they will be in the same
class with other students. This fact can be quite stressful for some of them. They are sure
that “others’” level of English will be different from theirs, that they might not be good
enough and the “others” might see it. It is not a pleasant idea and can play a key role in
their final decision to “go for it” or not.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Researchers such as Laufer and Nation (1997); Nation (2001; 2005); Maximo
(2000); Read (2000; 2004); Gu (2003); Marion (2008); Susanto (2016); and Nation
(2001) and others have realized that the acquisition of vocabulary is essential for
successful foreign language use and plays an important role in the formation of complete
spoken and written texts. Learning vocabulary items plays a vital role in all language
skills (e.g. listening, speaking, reading, and writing (Nation, 2001). Alqahtani (2015),
furthermore, argued that the acquisition of an adequate vocabulary is essential for
successful foreign language use because without an extensive vocabulary, a language
learner will be unable to use the structures and functions we may have learned for
comprehensible communication. Some research has shown that second language readers
rely heavily on vocabulary knowledge and the lack of that knowledge is the main and the
largest obstacle for readers to overcome (e.g., Nation, 2001; Alqahtani, 2015).
Generally, there are several techniques concerning the teaching of vocabulary.
However, there are a few things that have to be remembered by most English teachers if
they want to present a new vocabulary or lexical items to their students. It means that
the English teachers want students to remember new vocabulary then it needs to be
learnt, practiced, and revised to prevent students from forgetting. Techniques employed
by teachers depend on some factors, such as the content, time availability, and its value
for the learners (Takač and Singleton 2008). This makes teachers have some reasons in
employing certain techniques in presenting vocabulary. In presenting one planned
vocabulary item, the teacher usually combined more than one technique, instead of
employing one single technique. Teachers, furthermore, are suggested to employ planned
vocabulary presentation as various as possible (Pinter, 2006). The followings are some
techniques of teaching vocabulary as proposed by some experts.
METHODS AND MATERIALS
1. Teaching vocabulary using Objects
This technique can help learners in remembering vocabulary better, because
memory for objects and pictures is very reliable and visual techniques can act as cues for
remembering words. Using this technique includes the use of visual aids, and
demonstration. (Takač and Singleton, 2008). In addition, Gairns and Redman (1986) state
that real objects technique is appropriately employed for beginners or young learners
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and when presenting concrete vocabulary. Objects can be used to show meanings when
the vocabulary consist of concrete nouns. Introducing a new word by showing the real
object often helps learners to memorize the word through visualization. Objects in the
classroom or things brought to the classroom can be used.
2. Teaching vocabulary by drilling, spelling, and active involvement
Drilling is employed to make learners get accustomed to the word form especially
to how it sounds. To make learners more familiar with the word, drilling should be clear
and natural (Thorbury, 2002). Drilling is very necessary since learners need to say the
word to themselves as they learn it to recall the words from memory (Ellis & Beaton,
1993, in Read, 2000; 2004).
The primary means of spelling is actually memorizing words (Reed, 2012). Word
spelling needs to be considered since spelling forms of English words is not always
inferred by the pronunciation. Employing this technique, the teacher encourages the
students to find out word’s meaning by elicitation (Takač & Singleton2008). Elicitation
maximizes learners’ speaking opportunities, and acts as a way of checking learners’
understanding (Thorbury, 2002).
3. Teaching vocabulary using drawing and picture
Objects can either be drawn on the blackboard or drawn on flash cards. The latter
can be used again and again in different contexts if they are made with cards and covered
in plastic. They can help young learners easily understand and realize the main points
that they have learned in the classroom. Teaching vocabulary using pictures connect
students’ prior knowledge to a new story, and in the process, help them learn new words.
There are plenty of vocabularies that can be introduced by using illustrations or pictures.
They are excellent means of making the meaning of unknown words clear. They should
be used as often as possible. The list of pictures includes: posters, flashcards, wall charts,
magazine pictures, board drawings, stick figures and photographs.
4. Teaching vocabulary using mime, expressions and gestures
The term "mime or gesture is useful if it emphasizes the importance of gestures
and facial expression on communication. At the essence it can not only be used to
indicate the meaning of a word found in reading passage, but also in speaking activity as
it stresses mostly on communication. Many words can be introduced through mime,
expressions, and gestures. For example, adjectives: "sad"," happy"; mime and taking a hat
off your head to teach hat and so on. Several studies have emphasized the role of gestures
in second language acquisition (Alqahtani, 2015). Teachers tend to gesture a lot (Sime,
2001; Hauge, 1999), especially when addressing young learners and/or beginners. It is
commonly acknowledged that “teaching gestures” capture attention and make the lesson
more dynamic. Using analyses of video recordings of English lessons to French students,
Tellier (2007) determined three main roles for teaching gestures: management of the
class (to start/end an activity, to question students, request silence, etc.), evaluation (to
show a mistake, to correct, to congratulate, etc.) and explanation to give indications on
syntax, underline specific prosody, explain new vocabulary, etc.). Teaching gestures
appear in various shapes: hand gestures, facial expressions, pantomime, div
movements, etc. They can either mime or symbolize something and they help learners to
infer the meaning of a spoken word or expression, providing that they are unambiguous
and easy to understand.
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5. Teaching vocabulary using enumeration and contrast
An enumeration is a collection of items that is a complete, ordered listing of all of
the items in that collection. It can be used to present meaning. In other words, this
technique helps when any word is difficult to explain visually. We can say "clothes" and
explain this by enumerating or listing various items. Teacher may list a number of clothes
e.g. address, a skirt, trousers etc., and then the meaning of the word "clothes" will become
clear. The same is true of ‘vegetable’ or “furniture”, ’for example (Gruneberg and Sykes,
1991).
Some words are easily explained to learners by contrasting it with its opposite, for
instance, the word" good" contrasted with the word "bad". But some words are not. It is
almost impossible to contrast the words whose opposite is the gradable one. When the
word "white" is contrasted with the word "red", there is an "in between" word “pink”.
Furthermore, verb "contrast" means to show a difference, like photos that reveal how
much weight someone lost by contrasting the "before" and "after" shots.
6. Teaching vocabulary through guessing from Context
Guessing from context as a way of dealing with unfamiliar vocabulary in unedited
selections has been suggested widely by L1 and L2 reading specialists (Dubin, 1993).
Alqahtani (2015) claims that there are two types of contexts. The first type is the context
within the text, which includes morphological, semantic and syntactic information in a
specific text, while the second one is the general context, or non-textual context, which is
the background knowledge the reader has about the subjects being read. These other
words can be found in the sentence containing the unknown word or other sentences
beyond the sentence of the unknown item. Learning from context not only includes
learning from extensive reading, but also learning from taking part in a conversation, and
learning from listening to stories, films, television or the radio (Nation, 2001). In order to
activate guessing in a written or spoken text, there should be four elements available: the
reader, the text, unknown words, and clues in the text including some knowledge about
guessing. The absence of one of these elements may affect the learner’s ability to guess.
Furthermore, this technique encourages learners to take risks and guess the meanings of
words they do not know as much as possible.
7. Using innovative pedagogical technologies
Teaching vocabulary can be effectively reached in English classes by using some
pedagogical technologies. For instance, using authentic material on the basis of reading
and writing reflection and SWOT analysis technology.
Example 1. The development of critical thinking skills through reading and writing
on the basis of an article “The New York Times” Why You Shouldn’t Worry About Studies
Showing Waning Coronavirus Antibodies. By Apoorva Mandavilli
(Published Oct. 27,
2020 Updated Oct. 29, 2020) (sample answer)
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Challenge
Understanding
Refletion
Immune cells carry a
memory of a virus and can
churn out fresh antibodies
when needed. The portion of
people
in
Britain
with
detectable antibodies to the
coronavirus fell by roughly
27 percent over a period of
three months this summer.
Several studies looking at
antidiv levels in individuals
have shown that after some
initial decline, the levels hold
steady for at least four to seven
months.
But several experts said
these
worries
were
overblown. It is normal for
levels of antibodies to drop
after the div clears an
infection, but immune cells
carry a memory of the virus
and can churn out fresh
antibodies when needed.
It’s too early to know how
long immunity to the new
coronavirus
lasts,
and
whether people can be
reinfected many months to a
year after a first bout with
the virus. Still, experts said
worries about vaccines, too,
are unwarranted.
Depending on the test used,
the small number of antibodies
still circulating in the blood may
not be enough for a positive
signal. The test used in the
study has a sensitivity of 84.4
percent, well below that of lab-
based tests that hover around
99 percent. That means it may
miss anyone who has low
antidiv levels.
The new results indicate the
prevalence
of
coronavirus
antibodies in the broader
population but not in specific
individuals.
Example 2. SWOT
–
analysis based on video materials
STRENGTHS
WEAKNESSES
OPPORTUNITIES
THREATS
Whales are the part of
our nature which cannot
be hunted because they
are the balance of
underwater life.
In the Atlantic Ocean,
a majestic minke whale
comes up for air. As she
breaches the surface, an
explosive crack sounds,
and then a thud as the
harpoon slams into her
head, penetrating half a
meter deep
Over a thousand
whales are killed
every year because
some people want to
make money from
selling their meat and
div parts. Their oil,
blubber and cartilage
are
used
in
pharmaceuticals and
health supplements.
Whale meat is even
used in pet food, or
served to tourists as
a ‘traditional dish’.
Exploiting the bodies
of whales for money
is illegal in most
countries
Expose
the
suffering
–
by supporting
WDC, you can help expose
and bring an end to the
brutal dolphin hunts.
Campaign
against
whaling
–
wherever
governments
make
decisions about the future
of whaling you’ll help us
be there to fight for the
rights of whales.
Reduce demand for
whale meat
–
you can
help us inform tourists
about the cruel slaughter
they are supporting every
time they order whale
meat while on holiday in a
whaling region.
Whale watching, not
eating
–
help us work
with local communities to
encourage
whale
watching as a kinder and
more sustainable way of
earning income from the
whales in their waters.
Despite it being
illegal
in
most
countries, dolphins
and small whales are
hunted in many parts
of the world. This is
mostly for their meat
and use of their div
parts, although in
Taiji in Japan young
animals are captured
and sold into a life in
captivity.
Deliberate
hunting of small
whales and dolphins
is
a
growing
conservation concern
for many species and
populations,
with
thousands
of
individuals killed in
countries around the
world for food, bait,
currency
or
supposed traditional
medicines
and
charms.
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III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Words are the building blocks of a language, and as such, the acquisition of
vocabulary is extremely important. Through building vocabulary, students can express
themselves more fully and with more confidence. Conversely, having a limited
vocabulary can negatively affect how students are able to communicate.
Teaching vocabulary should go beyond a focus on the direct teaching of vocabulary
through common methods such as using word searches, crosswords, gap-fills, and
vocabulary journals where students write definitions of new words. While these have
their place, other approaches such as exposure to target vocabulary in context can be
more effective. It is also useful to focus on practice that requires students to use target
vocabulary through the productive skills of speaking and writing. This aids deeper and
more permanent acquisition.
Teaching vocabulary is a broad and complex topic. This article aims to introduce
some useful and practical ideas to help make this important area of language teaching a
little easier. The article begins by introducing some simple but effective exercises for
teaching vocabulary, and then continues by discussing the issue of vocabulary
acquisition, the needs of learners according to level, learning through context, and the
use of two well-known word lists.
For successful vocabulary acquisition to occur, students require a considerable
amount of exposure to new words. The process of acquisition should follow a similar
path to first language vocabulary acquisition: through context, associations, and constant
exposure.
Students must be provided with opportunities for using vocabulary in memorable
and meaningful situations. Selecting vocabulary learning activities should be guided by
key factors such as how often the words are likely to be encountered and how necessary
they are for producing effective communication.
Learning new words involves building up vocabulary from repertoire - that is,
relating new words to previously acquired language. Try to imagine building blocks and
stacking one layer over the other to consolidate vocabulary and build a strong foundation
for future communication.
Teaching vocabulary should also take flexibility and creativity into account. The
teacher should avoid approaching words as isolated and independent objects and
preferably expose students to the way they are used in sentences and how they can
group with other words to form collocations. As an example, apart from simply working
out the meaning of the word 'go', it would also be effective to associate it with the
preposition 'to' and present it as 'go to' - preferably in a sentence.
With lessons that focus on the receptive skills of reading and listening, it is useful
to identify which words are most likely to be unfamiliar to students and do some pre-
teaching. The idea is to make sure the students find the activity not only interesting but
also meaningful and comprehensible. After students have read or listened to a text, the
new vocabulary can be reinforced in other ways such as using flashcards or asking
students to use the words in short writing or speaking activities.
CONCLUSION
This piece of work aims to highlight the importance of variety of strategies of
teaching vocabulary in foreign language learning. Some of the most important aspects of
teaching adult students’ vocabulary was presented and analyzed in this material. Lexical
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knowledge is central to communicative competence and to the acquisition of a
second/foreign language and a lack of vocabulary knowledge is an obstacle to learning.
An attempt is made to review the trends in the area of teaching vocabulary through
various techniques EFL teachers use when teaching. Before presenting the meaning or
form of vocabulary items, teachers need to notice the type of the vocabulary, the
students’ level and characteristics, and also the value of the techniques
for the learners.
In other words, students' age, level of education as well as English proficiency may affect
their learning, so teachers need to be aware of these differences when applying their
teaching technique. They can further provide their students with vocabulary learning
strategies with opportunities to encounter words repeatedly and in more than one
context.
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