Namangan davlat universiteti ingliz filologiyasi fakulteti amaliy ingliz tili kafedrasi

Activity 3, Handout 3
Some principles of vocabulary teaching
Students should be encouraged to notice how certain words perform in different contexts, preferably at the level of a text or paragraph. Words don’t exist in isolation. Students’ dependence on their first language in clarifying the meaning of English words should be diplomatically discouraged. Understanding the meaning of a certain word in context can often be prevented by word-for-word translation. Therefore, where possible they should use a monolingual (English-English) instead of a bilingual dictionary. Students should be encouraged to guess the meaning of unknown words where possible and to deduce the principles of vocabulary use in English on their own. This develops their awareness of how words work in context. Spoon-feeding meanings doesn’t usually help.


LESSON 12: STUDENTS' VOCABULARY LEARNING STRATEGIES DEVELOPMENT; ASSESSMENT OF LEXICAL TASKS; LEXICAL TASK, ASSIGNMENT AND CREATE TESTS.


Aim: to explore different types of vocabulary learning tasks
Objective:

• 
  to explore some vocabulary learning activities
  
• 
  to enable participants to have practice in developing vocabulary tasks
  

Activity 1 Knowing words and phrases
Objective: to enable students to explore what it means to know a word
Time: 15 min
Materials: flipchart/whiteboard, markers
►Procedure:
- ☺(1 min) Remind participants of Activity 1 in Teaching Vocabulary where they were asked to think about one word or phrase which they could remember learning.
- ☺ (1 min) Ask them to remember one word that they know and confidently use and one word that they know but do not use.
- ☺☺ (5 min) Put participants in pairs and ask them to discuss their words and to consider possible reasons why some known words are used and others are not.
- ☺ (2 min) Elicit a few random responses. Say that there are different ways to know a word or phrase. However, the main distinction is between passive and active vocabulary – related to receptive and productive skills (or recognition and use) respectively.
- ☺ (1 min) Ask participants the following question:
~ How many words can you recognise and how many words can you actually use?
- ☺ (5 min) Elicit several random responses. Say that average native speakers of English have 6 to 7 thousand words in their active vocabulary and about 25 thousand in their passive vocabulary. However, the current estimate of the English vocabulary resource is over one million words. Establish that the ratio between active and passive vocabulary with English learners is similar to that of native speakers and that learning vocabulary entails two interdependent objectives:
~ To increase passive vocabulary, i.e. the number of words students can recognize, understand and remember.
~ To increase active vocabulary, i.e. the number of words students can confidently use in speaking and writing.
Say that another way of looking at it is to consider quantity (vocabulary resource) and quality (accuracy and appropriateness) of vocabulary learning and use. Say that you would like participants to explore a few vocabulary learning activities in order to decide what objectives they serve better.