TEACHING VOCABULARY

I. ACTIVE AND PASSIVE VOCABULARY

- Point out that we do not need to spend the same amount of time and care on presenting all
new vocabulary; some vocabulary will be more important to students than others. In general,
we can distinguish two types of vocabulary:
o Words which students will need to understand and also use themselves. We call this
active vocabulary. In teaching active vocabulary, it is usually worth spending time
giving examples and asking questions, so that students can really see how the word is
used.
o Words which we want students to understand (e.g. when reading a text), but which
they will not need to use themselves. We call this passive vocabulary. To save time, it
is often best to present it quite quickly, with a simple example. If it appears as part of
a text or dialogue, we can often leave students to guess the word from the context.
- Emphasise that students should understand far more words than they can produce so we
should not try to treat all new words as active vocabulary.

II. WHAT NEEDS TO BE TAUGHT?

1. Pronunciation and Spelling
The learner has to know what a word sounds like (its pronunciation) and what it looks like (its
spelling). These are fairly obvious characteristics, and one or the other will be perceived by the
learner when encountering the item for the first time. In teaching, we need to make sure that both
these aspects are accurately presented and learned.

2. Grammar
The grammar of a new item will need to be taught if this is not obviously covered by general
grammatical rules. An item may have an unpredictable change of form in certain grammatical
contexts or may have some idiosyncratic way of connecting with other words in sentences; it is
important to provide learners with this information at the same time as we teach the base form. When
teaching a new verb, for example, we might give also its past form, if this is irregular (think,
thought), and we might note if it is transitive or intransitive. Similarly, when teaching a noun, we
may wish to present its plural form, if irregular (mouse, mice], or draw learners' attention to the fact
that it has no plural at all (advice, information]. We may present verbs such
as want and enjoy together with the verb form that follows them (want to, enjoy -ing), or adjectives
or verbs together with their following prepositions (responsible for, remind someone of).

3. Collocation
The collocations typical of particular items are another factor that makes a particular combination
sound 'right' or 'wrong' in a given context. So this is another piece of information about a new item
which it may be worth teaching. When introducing words like decision and conclusion, for example,
we may note that you take or make the one, but usually come to the other; similarly, you throw a
ball but toss a coin; you may talk about someone being dead tired but it sounds odd to say *dead
fatigued.
Collocations are also often noted in dictionaries, either by providing the whole collocation under one
of the head-words, or by a note in parenthesis

4. Aspects of meaning (1): denotation, connotation, appropriateness/formality

The meaning of a word is primarily what it refers to in the real world, its denotation; this is often the
sort of definition that is given in a dictionary. For example, dog denotes a kind of animal; more
specifically, a common, domestic carnivorous mammal; and both dank and moist mean slightly wet.
A less obvious component of the meaning of an item is its connotation: the associations, or positive
or negative feelings it evokes, which may or may not be indicated in a dictionary definition. The
word dog, for example, as understood by most British people, has positive connotations of friendship
and loyalty; whereas the equivalent in Arabic, as understood by most people in Arab countries has
negative associations of dirt and inferiority. Within the English language, moist has favourable
connotations while dank has unfavourable; so that you could describe something as 'pleasantly moist'
where 'pleasantly dank' would sound absurd.

A more subtle aspect of meaning that often needs to be taught is whether a particular item is the
appropriate one to use in a certain context or not. Thus it is useful for a learner to know that a certain
word is very common, or relatively rare, or 'taboo' in polite conversation, or tends to be used in
writing but not in speech, or is more suitable for formal than informal discourse, or belongs to a
certain dialect. For example, you may know that weep is virtually synonymous in denotation
with cry, but it is more formal, tends to be used in writing more than in speech, and is in general
much less common.

5. Aspects of meaning (2): meaning relationships

How the meaning of one item relates to the meaning of others can also be useful in teaching. There
are various such relationships: here are some of the main ones.
- Synonyms: items that mean the same, or nearly the same; for example, bright, clever, smart may
serve as synonyms of intelligent.
- Antonyms: items that mean the opposite; rich is an antonym of poor.
- Hyponyms: items that serve as specific examples of a general concept; dog, lion, mouse are
hyponyms of animal.
- Co-hyponyms or co-ordinates: other items that are the 'same kind of thing'; red, blue,
green and brown are co-ordinates.
- Superordinates: general concepts that 'cover' specific items; animal is the superordinate of dog,
lion, mouse.
- Translation: words or expressions in the learners' mother tongue that are (more or less) equivalent
in meaning to the item being taught.
Besides these, there are other, perhaps looser, ways of associating meaning that are useful in
teaching. You can, for instance, relate parts to a whole (the relationship between arm and body); or
associate items that are part of the same real-world context (tractor, farmer, milking and irrigate are
all associated with agriculture).
All these can be exploited in teaching to clarify the meaning of a new item, or for practice or test
materials.

6. Word formation
Vocabulary items, whether one-word or multi-word, can often be broken down into their component
'bits'. Exactly how these bits are put together is another piece of useful information - perhaps mainly
for more advanced learners.
You may wish to teach the common prefixes and suffixes: for example, if learners know the meaning
of sub-, un- and -able, this will help them guess the meanings of words like substandard,
ungrateful and untranslatable. They should, however, be warned that in many common words the
affixes no longer have any obvious connection with their root meaning (for example, subject,
comfortable]. New combinations using prefixes are not unusual, and the reader or hearer would be
 expected to gather their meaning from an understanding of their components (ultra-modern, super-
hero).
Another way vocabulary items are built is by combining two words (two nouns, or a gerund and a
noun, or a noun and a verb) to make one item: a single compound word, or two separate, sometimes
hyphenated words (bookcase, follow-up, swimming pool). Again, new coinages using this kind of
combination are very common.
A good modern dictionary should supply much of the information listed in this unit when you look
up a specific item.

III. PRINCIPLES OF TEACHING VOCABULARY

1. Teach and practice words in their spoken form first, otherwise students will try to pronounce the
words as they are written.
2. Always check if students have understood the new words, no matter how they have been
presented.
3. Unless you only want students to have a passive knowledge of the lexical items, you must put
them into context and students to practice them.
4. Students will remember the new vocabulary better if it is presented in a memorable way to start
with and then put to regular practice.
5. As with teaching anything else, revision is essential, otherwise the new words you have taught
will be forgotten.
6. High frequency words should be given more teaching time and attention than low frequency
words because they are more useful. They should be fluently accessible for both receptive and
productive use and become part of learner's active vocabulary.
7. For people beginning to learn a language, a way of quickly developing fluency is learning groups
of words as units.
8. Learners should be trained in vocabulary learning strategies (using word cards, learning by
means of word association, guessing meaning from the context, using dictionary...) for effective
self-study.

IV. TECHNIQUES OF SHOWING THE MEANING OF VOCABULARY

A. Ostensive means/Visual techniques

1. Realia/Real objects
We call real objects realia, real things. Realia can often be brought to school: a piece of
bread or fruit, a whistle, a stick, toys, eggs and so on are easily carried. They also create
interest. Use your imagination too. Puddles are found in the street when it rains, but you
can bring a small bottle of water and create a puddle by pouring some water onto the floor.

2. Pictures
Objects that are not easily carried or which are unavailable can be represented pictorially.
You will be collecting useful pictures from magazines as a matter of course, but often you
will not have the one you need, or the one you have may contain too many unnecessary
details. For presentation purposes, simple pictures are better because the focus is clearer
and the meaning is less ambiguous. Use the blackboard to make rapid sketches of simple
things such as a tyre, a cabin or a cat. It takes more time to draw more complex items such
as a telephone, a zebra, a skyscraper or the beach. These should be drawn at home on a
flashcard, using a thick felt tip pen and a large sheet of paper. Abstract concepts such as
 last week, tomorrow, late or early can be conveyed by use of a cardboard clock and a
calendar.

3. Body
Your body and those of the students’ can be used to get meanings across. These are
techniques you will use:

* facial expression, to show feelings (e.g. happy, smiling, hot, thirsty, angry, tired)
* gesture, using hands and arms to show a range of meanings (e.g. fast, small, curving,
wide, rolling)

* mime and actions, to show many verbs and some adverbs (e.g. to stagger, to eat, to slip,
to wake up, slowly, angrily)

B. Verbal techniques
1. Word sets
Word sets are groups or related words, such as child, boy, girl, infant, youngster,
teenager. You can use the words in a set that the students already know in order to
introduce new related words. A concept such as clothing can easily be conveyed by
giving different examples of items of clothing. The same would apply to other general
words of that sort (transport, furniture, vegetables).

2. Synonyms
Synonyms are words that mean more or less the same thing.

fierce = savage unhappy = sad

shore = beach residence = home

3. Antonyms
Antonyms are words that have an opposite meaning.
hot  cold full  empty

4. Cognates
Cognates are words in the students’ own language that have the same or very similar form as the
English.
Examples: photo, TV, phone…

5. Illustrative sentences
You can contrive a sentence or a sequence of sentences to create a linguistic context in
which the meaning of the unknown word is illustrated (becomes clear). Most words that
cannot be explained in the easier ways above can be presented in this way.

Example: Hates.

My father hates potatoes, but he loves rice. He likes carrots, beans and most other
vegetables, but he refuses to eat potatoes. He hates them.
 6. Build on general knowledge
The names of local towns and villages will help learners understand the meaning. We can
make use of the students’ interest and their knowledge of music, sports, school affairs anf
personalities to introduce new words.

7. Scales
You can show the meaning of some types of words by sequencing them along a scale
between two antonyms.

Never Sometimes Often Generally Always

8. Translation

V. STEPS OF TEACHING VOCABULARY

1. Show the meaning
2. Say the word/show the pronunciation
3. Ask Ss to repeat the word in chorus and individually
4. Write the word on the board/show the spelling
5. Give examples
6. Check understanding (Yes/No questions, eliciting)
7. Activate the word (games/vocabulary activities)

VI. VOCABULARY PRACTICE ACTIVITIES AND GAMES

After students have seen and heard a new lexical item for the first time, they will need opportunities to
become more familiar with it, to practice recognizing, manipulating and using it. Many simple
vocabulary practice activities are based around the following ideas:
- Matching pictures to words
- Matching parts of words to other parts, e.g. beginnings and endings
- Matching words to other words, e.g. collocations, synonyms, opposites, sets of related words.
- Using prefixes and suffixes to build new words from given words.
- Classifying items into lists
- Filling in crosswords, grids or diagrams
- Memory games
VII. TECHNIQUES FOR CONSOLIDATING AND CHECKING VOCABULARY
A. Rub out and remember
- Teaching aim: to help learners to memorize new vocabulary

1. Present or elicit the new vocabulary and build up a list on the board.

2. After each word put the Vietnamese translation.

3. Get learners to copy into their books and ask them to close their books.

4. Rub out the new word once at a time.

5. Each time you rub out a word in English, point to the Vietnamese and ask, ‘What’s this in
English?’

6. When all the English words are rubbed out, go through the Vietnamese list and get learners to call
out the English word.

B. Slap the board

- Teaching aims:
o To get learners to recognize new vocabulary through listening
o To check if learners understand the meaning of new vocabulary

1. Put the new words all over the board – not in a list.
2. If you want to check understanding, put the Vietnamese translation of the new words or pictures
on the board.
3. Call two teams of learners to the front of the class.
4. Ask them to stand at equal distance from the board.
5. Call out one of the new words with a loud voice.
6. The two learners must run forward and slap the word on the board.
7. The one who slaps the correct word first is the winner.
8. If you are playing in teams, the winning team gets a mark.

9. Then ask two more learners to come forward etc.

C. What and Where

- Teaching aim: To help learners memorize new vocabulary or to revise vocabulary
1. Elicit words to do with the classroom from the learners.
2. As the learners give you the word, write it on the board inside a circle.
3. Do not write the words in a list.
4. When all the words are on the board, rub out one of the words but do not rub out the circles.
5. Get the learners to repeat the word including the rubbed –out word by pointing.
6. Rub out another word but leave the circle.
7. Point to the words or empty circles.
8. Ask learners to read or remember the words.
9. Continue until all the circles are empty.
10. The learners now have to remember all the words.
11. Ask the learners (6 or 8 at a time) to come to the board and fill in the circles with the correct
words.

D. Matching
- Teaching aims:
- To get learners to match the new vocabulary with definitions, translations of pictures
- To save time pre-teaching
1. Write the new words in a list on the left side on the board.
2. Write definitions, translations or draw pictures, on the right side of the board.
3. Get learners to come up the board and match items in the left side list with item in the right side
list by drawing a line between them.
4. 4 or 5 learners can work at the board at the same time.
5. Check answers by asking the class, “Do you agree?”
 E. Guess the picture
- Teaching aim: to get a lot of learners to practice saying the new words in a meaningful way
1. Make A4 pictures of new words you are going to teach.
2. Put the pictures in a file.
3. Get learners to come to the front and choose one of the pictures.
4. Make sure nobody else can see which picture has been chosen.
5. Get the rest of the class to guess which picture it is.
6. Learners ask, “Is it a...?”
7. The 1st learner who guesses the picture correctly comes up to the front, chooses a new picture and
the game continues.

F. Ordering
- Teaching aim: to get learners to recognize the pronunciation of new words and give them listening
practice
1. Teach the new words and write them on the board in the wrong order.
2. Get learners to copy the words in their books.
3. Read or tell the story with the new words in it. Get learners to put the words in the correct order by
numbering them.

G. Bingo
- Teaching aim: To get learners to practice listening to new words and to match sounds with spelling
1. The teacher gets learners to brainstorm a list of 10-15 new words and puts them on the board.
2. Learners choose 5 words to copy them in their notebooks.
3. The teacher reads out the words in any order.
4. Each time the learner has one of the words the teacher reads, s/he puts a tick next to that word.
5. The first learner to tick all five words shouts “Bingo!”

H. Noughts and Crosses

- Teaching aim: To get learners to put new vocabulary into a sentence
1. The teacher puts a grid on the board with nine new words in it.
2. Learners work in pairs. ONE of the learners copies the grid in his/her book.
3. One learner is “noughts” (‘O’); the other is ‘crosses’ (‘X’).
4. One learner starts. S/he chooses a word and makes a sentence with it. If the sentence is correct,
she/he puts her/his mark (“O” or “X”) in that square.
5. The 1st learner to get three-in-a-row (across, down or diagonally) wins.

Alternatives
You could use pictures, definitions, opposites, synonyms, translation
I. Jumbled words
- Teaching aim: To get learners to practice spelling of new words
1. The teacher writes 5 or 6 words with jumbled letters on the board and tell learners what the topic is.
2. Learners write the words correctly in their books.
3. Learners come to the board to write the correct words there to see if everyone agrees.
Example: Topic SCHOOL SUBJECTS
HSICPSY= physics RUTELARITE= literature
TYHOSIY= history RTYHSEICM= chemistry

J. Network
- Teaching aims:
 o To get learners to revise lexical sets
o To put words from different sections into one context, so learners remember them better.
1. Write the network like in the example on page 24 and put some more words below it.
2. Don’t use just concrete nouns-remember to include some verbs.
3. Get the learners to put the given words in the appropriate circles.
4. Learners fill in the remaining empty circles with their own words.

K. Wordstorm
- Teaching aim: To get learners to put new vocabulary into a sentence
1. Get learners to work in pairs and brainstorm all the words they know on a topic, e.g. ‘CITIES’.
2. Learner A thinks of a word and tells learner B.
3. Both learners write down the word.
4. Learner B thinks of another word, tells learner A and both write it down.
5. When they have thought of all words they can, put two pairs together to share their lists.
6. One pair reads to the other pair who ticks off the same words or adds any new words. The group
with the most word is the winner.

L. Word Square
- Teaching aim: To get learners to recognize the spelling of new words.
1. The teacher writes the word square on the board or make a poster of it.
2. The teacher tells the learners what the topic is and how many hidden words there are. The learners
come to the board and circle any words they can see.

M. Word Snake
- Teaching aim: To revise random words
1. Divide the class into group of 4-6.
2. The teacher writes a word on the board e.g. tiger.
3. In each group student 1 writes a words beginning with the final letter or the last two or three letters
of the first word
Example: tigerateapple

N. Finding friends
- Teaching aim: To teach collocation of new words
1. Put a table on the board with one set of words down the side and the words they collocate with
along the top.
2. Get students to come to the board and put a tick in the box if they think the words go together
(e.g. dark/eyes). If the words do not go together then leave the box empty (e.g. long eye). If they
are not sure, put a question mark (?). If it takes too long to check all the boxes, focus on the ones
which have a ....? or are wrong

O. Back to board
- Teaching aims: to revise / consolidate earlier vocabulary work
1. Divide the class into two teams. One team sends one member out front, who then sits facing the
class, with his/her back to the board. Thus everyone except this person can see what the teacher
writes on the board.
2. The teacher writes a word on the board.
3. His/her team must define the word or give examples of its use- without saying the actual word
itself. As soon as he guesses the word, the teacher writes another word up- and so on until a time
limit is reached. at which the team change over

P. Word Pies
1. Before the class, prepare a number of 'Word Pies' - (see picture)
2. Ask students to add the missing letter to the 'pie' to make a complete word from a previous lesson.
When they have done this, you could ask them to find their own words from the textbook and to
make their own 'pies' to test their class mates.

Q. Alphabet Board Race

1. Teacher writes letters from the alphabet down two sides of the black board
2. Divide the class into 2 teams and appoint one secretary from each team.
3. Choose a category, e.g. “jobs”.
4. Secretaries have 2 minutes to write the names of jobs on the board starting with each letter of the
alphabet. Other team members should help by shouting out suggestions. The team with the most
'job words' after 2 minutes is the winner.
R. Chain story
Give students the start of a sentence, e.g. "I went to the shop and I bought a banana......". Ask the next
student to repeat the whole sentence and to add one extra vocabulary item, e.g. "I went to the shop and
I bought a banana and some milk.....". The next student repeats and adds a word e.g. "I went to the
shop and I bought a banana, some milk and a packet of noodles......". Continue until the chain is too
long to remember! (might be an idea to put students in groups to do this activity).