Tashkent state pedagogical university named after б \июолnizami foreign languages faculty department of Practical Course of English Language

What Is This Post About?

This post on ’10 Fun Ideas To Teach Vocabulary’ will explore effective methods to improve vocabulary acquisition, as well techniques that should be included to successfully teach words. I will also present you with 10 fun ways to help students to learn words, whether this be in English, French, German, Spanish or any other foreign language!

(Condensed) Theory And Research Into Language Acquisition

According to Wyner (2014), ‘to improve your vocabulary, you need to learn vocabulary’. Whilst this concept might sound self-explanatory, there are actually a number of approaches that could be taken to achieve this aim.

Clark states that increasing vocabulary ‘does not begin and end with a work sheet on vocabulary’, whilst, Folse (2004), in contrast, believes that word lists or the use of translation, if used in moderation, are effective ways to learn new vocabulary. This begs the question, should we actually use vocab lists to teach lexical items? Graves (2016) suggests another way to build students’ vocabulary is to ‘immerse students in a rich array of language experiences so that they can learn words through listening, speaking, reading and writing’.

In order to understand written or spoken language, students do not need to know the meaning of every single word they see (as is evident from my aforementioned trip to Spain), especially since a native speaker only tends to use around five thousand words in every day speech (Frost, 2004). Graves (2016) concludes that ‘explicit vocabulary teaching’ should be included in vocabulary instruction; meaning that a maximum of 4-5 ‘useful’ words should be taught at any one time, in order to ‘attack’ vocabulary acquisition. This could include using visuals, semantics or mnemonic strategies.

Stewart (2004) is clear, however, that vocabulary is something that students must own. They need to have the opportunity to appreciate, be encompassed by, and truly see words for the dynamic presence that they hold. Giving students many chances to understand and use words will change the way they look at words, and open their understanding.