Teaching English Vocabulary

Vocabulary:“Vocabulary is a glue that holds stories, ideas and content together making comprehension accessible for children”

Vocabulary is all about wordsA person’s vocabulary is the set of words within a language that are familiar to that person. A vocabulary usually develops with age and serves as a usual and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge.Vocabulary is so important; it is of much more importance than grammar. It is the key to communicate successfully with other people. To have mastery over vocabulary is of much importance because the people judge you by the words you use. Secondly, having a better vocabulary really improves your ability to think.

English Language:

English is a rich language having more than 5,00,000 words.

Acquiring an extensive vocabulary is one of the largest challenges in learning a second language.

To make children learn English language and its vocabulary, teachers must set a pattern, for

example to teach 2,500 to 3,000 words during a six year course.

Robert A .Heinlein Says:

“English is capable of defining sentiments that the human nervous system is quite

incapable of experiencing.”

Selection of words(Words are the currency of communication)

In order to teach English Vocabulary we need to select words which are governed by following principles.

1. Word’s Frequency2. Word’s Usefulness

3. Word’s Structural Value4. Word’s range of Applicability

5. Word’s Productivity6. Word’s Regional Value

Word’s Frequency: Shows the popularity of a word in daily life i.e. the number of times a word is used in normal reading.For Example:The, sometime, every, how, are and etc

Word’s Usefulness:It depends on the mental level of a student like how suitable is itfor his mental condition to learn a specific word .For Example:A toddler know how to speak mama, papa and toys . But grown ups like us cant survive with these words only.

Word’s Structural Value: Words are of two kinds Structural words and Content words

Word’s Regional Value:

Certain words are taught because they are needed in a particular region for the adjustment.

Words Range of Applicability:

Deals with the application and usage of word, either it is appropriate in a situation in which it is used.

Word’s Productivity:The capability of a word to produce words from it

like prefixes and suffixes.Prefix:

Over : Overflow, OverchargeTo: To-night, To-morrow

Suffix:-ness : Darkness, Sweetness, Goodness, Boldness

-ship: Hardship, Friendship, LordshipWords Power = Words Building

Gradation Of VocabularyGradation:

Anything with a bunch of levels or stages.The process of moving from freshman to senior year.Your position in the series of steps.For Example: The MilitaryThe words selected for the school stage have to be taught in five or six years.

PRINCIPLES:

There are four principles of gradation1.Usefulness2.Structural value3.Teach ability4.Simplicity

Usefulness

•Some words are more useful for the child at a particular stage.For Example: The first year of teaching English.The child uses words for things like Book, PenFor Example: Common relationships Father, Mother

Environmental areas like School, Home.Everyday actions like Sit, Stand, Go

Certain qualities like Good, Bad.

Structural words Structural words are graded.

The basic structural words taught earlier.For Example:

Prepositions on and in are taught earlier than at.

teach ability

Some words are easier to teach than others. The word, table is easier to teach than others.

For Example:Teacher can show the word table but he will have

to create verbal situation to teach honest.It is easier to teach ‘open’ than to teach ‘kill’.

Showing the meaning visually

Table

Watch

Window

Table

Watch

Window

SHOWING THE MEANING VISUALLY

The simplicity of a word depends on its spelling and pronunciation.

E.g. Strange is simple than Mysterious. Only one meaning of a word be taught at a

time. That meaning should be simple one.

E.G. THREE MEANING OF WORD ‘HAVE’

SIMPLICITY

(showing permanent possession). I have two hands.

(as helping verb). They have gone. (followed by infinitive).They have to work.

ACTIVE AND PASSIVE VOCABLURAY

• General and academic words.• Those words that a man can use correctly in his own speech

and writing.• He fully understands the meaning of those words.• Its also called working or functional vocabulary.

Active Vocabulary:

PASSIVE VOCABULARY

Passive vocabulary consists on those words of a man which he recognises when he meets them in prints or in the speech of others.

He can make out the meanings of those words. It is also called recognition vocabulary.

“Content and Structural Words”

Words are of two kinds

Content Words Structural Words

CONTENT WORDS Content words are usually nouns, verbs, adjectives, and sometimes adverbs.

Those are the words that help us form a picture in our head.

They give us the contents of our story and tell our listener where to focus his or her attention.

We want our listener to be able to quickly grasp the main content of our story, so we make the content words easier to hear by bringing attention to them with added stress.

Category Description Examples

nouns people, places, things, and ideas Patty, Washington, cars, happiness

main verbs verbs without auxiliaries ran, swim, thinks

adjectives words that describe nouns red, soft, careful

adverbs (except adverbs of frequency)

words that describe verbs calmly, quickly, carefully

question words words that denote a question who, what, where, when, why

negatives words that negate not, never

Structural Words

Structural words are those which have little or no meaning in themselves, but they bind together other words to make

phrases, clauses and sentencesThey are also called functional words and are about 300 in number.

Words like the, a, it, and but are found in almost every text and are known as Structural Words.

For Example:

All the pronouns: I, You, He, Her etc All the prepositions: on, under, with,

behind ,etc All the auxiliary verb: do, does, did, shall,

will , etcAll the conjunctions: and, but, or, lest, etc

All the relatives: whose, which, where, etc

Some structural adjectives: this, that, some, any, etc Some structural adverbs: ago, again, even,

more, etc

HOW TO TEACH MEANINGSWHAT IS MEANING?

Meaning is the communication through the use of language.

How to teach Meaning:

Some devices to

teach meaning

Picture Associatio

n

Words Associatio

n

Knowledge of Prefixes & suffixes

Use in context

MATERIAL DEMONSTRATION

The child learn the meaning of a word very easily if it is associated with object for which it stands.For Example:

Show various classroom objects. Take model of certain things. Take few things to the class. Demonstrated the Quantities.

CLASS ROOM OBJECTS:

CHAIR

BENCH

TABLE

BAG

BOOKS

PENCIL

TAKE FEW THINGS TO THE CLASS LIKE

FLOWERS

SOME FRUITS

LEAVES

DEMONSTRATED QUANTITIES LIKE

LONG RIBBON SMALL RIBBON

A Big book , a small book

PICTURE ASSOCIATION

Student will learn the meanings easily if they are shown the relevant picture.For Example:

Show some pictures. Chart of fruits. Draw some matchstick figures on the

blackboard.

SHOW RELEVANT PICTURES

Chart of fruits

Chart of vegetable

s

Chart of birds

DRAW SOME MATCHSTICK FIGURES

A tree

A hut

Boy climbing up the Tree

WORDS THROUGH ACTION

Action words, that is verb. Verb is taught by performing action. Performing action in front of children

make clear the meaning of the word.

PERFORMING ACTIONS LIKE

RUNNING

WRITTING

JUMPING

ACTIONS OF ILLNESS

ACTION VERBS

Use in context:The best way to explain the meanings of a word is to

explain it in its appropriate context.For Example:

(i) Afford: He is a poor man . He earns only 300/- per month. He cannot afford to buy a scooter

(ii) Late: The school opened a t 8o’clock. Rashid reached

the school at half past eight. He was late .

Words Associations• Meaning of new words may be taught by

associating the new words with the words already known to the students. For Example:

Telling synonyms: correct, right, accurate and exact.

Telling antonyms: right, wrong coward, brave.

• In senior classes when the students have got sufficient defining vocabulary, meanings of words may be explained in English itself e.g. errand, essence

Errand = Short Journey to take or get something.Essence = That which makes a thing what it is : the inner nature or most importantly quality of a thing .

Definition and Explanations

• Knowledge of prefixes and suffixes help students in enriching their vocabulary.

For Example:A student knows that ir is

negative prefix, he knows the meaning of regular and he can understand the meaning of irregular.

A student knows that the suffix -ness indicates a noun ,he knows the meaning of kind and he can understand the meaning of kindness.

Knowledge of Prefixes and Suffixes

• If the teacher finds that it is economical to tell the meaning of a word in the mother-tongue , he should not hesitate to do so . The teacher should give the mother tongue equivalents for the word is it is beneficial and help student to learn .For Example:Meanings of abstract nouns like Joy, contentment, greed may be given in the mother-tongue.

Mother tongue equivalents

Expansion of vocabulary

Ways of expanding vocabulary are as follows:

Expansion through reading Expansion through families of wordsExpansion through patterns of form

Expansion through word listsExpansion through word groups Expansion through word games

Expansion through reading• Reading is one of the best ways of expanding

vocabulary.• The teacher tells the students how they use the words

in their sentences.• After reading the supplementary books the students are

able to guess their meaning from the context.

Expansion through families of words• Students are asked to build several derived

words from a basic one by analogy, e.g.• We can derived several words from word

“care”.• care • Careful• Carefully• Carefulness• Careless

• Vocabulary is increased by giving example of a derivation pattern and asking the students to build derived words by analogy.

Expansion through patterns of form

For Example:

• Words• Hope• Care• Faith• Cheer• Doubt

Adjective Hopeful Careful Faithful Cheerful Doubtful

Expansion through word list:These are the words grouped around a key word.

Example: Key word=STATIOION

WORD LISTbooking Window coolies ticket-Checkwaiting room tea stall

guardticket hawkerspassengers train whistle

Expansion through word Groups: Student may be asked to arrange word according to certain groups.1 . Word groups with similar ideas like end, finish and close.2. Word group with opposite ideas like Slow ,fast ; upper, lower.

Expansion through word Games:Some word games may also be used to expand vocabulary

1 .MEMORY GAME.In this game teacher show15 objects in the class room and the teacher writes some words on the blackboard. The student see these word for awhile and later on reproduce them on their notebook.

2. COMPLITION GAME.The class is divided into two groups. A student from first group speaks a letter. A student from second group add letter to it. Then another student from first group adds another letter to it and so on till the word is completed.

Teaching

English

Vocabular

y ConclusionVocabulary building is of the utmost importance for almost anybody who wishes to succeed in their career and have a successful social life. Listening, speaking, reading and writing are all affected heavily by vocabulary.

Our communication in English is therefore dependent on our word knowledge. The more words we know, the easier it will be for us to communicate and express ourselves. This is why “Teaching English Vocabulary” is a key role in developing your English vocabulary and leading one’s life to the heights of success.

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