Building Concept Maps at the Elementary Level Maryna TsehelskaKryvyi Rih State Pedagogical UniversityEducational Centre “Interclass”Kryvyi Rih

Key Points1. How to develop concept maps.

2. Speaking maps and cards.

3. Important steps in developing speaking and vocabulary.

Before speaking about concept maps let’s examine common ways of vocabulary

teaching.

What do we teach?Nation and Gu claim that “in terms of usefulness, all words are not created equal” (Nation, 2007: 20). The concept of ‘usefulness’ in this context refers to communicative usefulness. Put it another way, the primary and ultimate goal of language learning is communication. Communication is possible in the greatest part thanks to vocabulary. In this regard, vocabulary learning should focus on words that provide students with the greatest benefit.

So, most researchers propose frequency as the main or one of the main criteria regarding vocabulary selection in course books. Vocabulary input in EFL textbooks is based on frequency criterion.

Nation (2001) states that primary attention should be paid to the most frequent words in General English. In a narrow sense, low frequency words would not really deserve classroom time, and the rest of instruction after dealing with those frequent words should be mostly devoted to different learning and guessing strategies.

An example of vocabulary list

Advantages: a learner can quickly communicate at a basic level.Disadvantage: this method does not help to create a robust construction in the long-term memory.

So, how many Ukrainian children will start communicating in English shortly after they started learning it? ?? Even if they learn the phrases, they will just have no chance to do it

Let’s examine what modern cognitive science tells about it.

M.Karpenko (2008)defined the interdependence between the neurophysiological mechanisms and the principles of building the curriculum, which should be built on four phases – impressing, memorizing, authorization and initiation.

ImpressingThe first phase called “impressing” allows building the schematic neuronet in the brain and forms the motivation to learning. At this stage we can only give the scheme of the topic we are going to teach.

As an example we’ll take topic “Food”. This map is used as a reference/ portfolio map during the first three – four years of studying English.

MemorizingAt the second stage a new neuronet is being formed with the help of various exercises, listening and watching films, working with computer programs, etc.

Authorization The third stage – authorization will edit the neuronet in the brain and at this stage we can start asking students to display the knowledge they got by making presentations, giving talks, reports or participating in the seminars.

Initiation At the fourth stage the official representation of knowledge is relevant – it is the time for tests and grades.

So, now we understand how a student will learn vocabulary, but what exactly should be in the map?

To group material for all four phases of learning, we have to group it into a concept map with meaningful categories for this concept.

Such maps group vocabulary, develop speaking and may be

easily accessed during the period of learning.

How do we compile them?

Firstly, we need symbols for the parts of speech (sentence):Adjective Noun (Who?) Verb Noun (What?) Adverb

An important detail – e.g. a preposition

These symbols allow building sentences. Here is a scheme of

Present Simple:

Next – find the principles to compile your vocabulary:

The qualia structure, interpretation of the aitia of Aristotle, are as the modes of explanation associated with a word or phrase in the language, and are defined as follows:• formal: the basic category of which distinguishes the meaning of a

word within a larger domain;• constitutive: the relation between an object and its constituent

parts;• telic: the purpose or function of the object, if there is one;• agentive: the factors involved in the object's origins or ``coming

into being”.

A mental or physicalmodel of an object is organized around the properties, actions andinteractions with otherobjects.Actually we say:

1. What an object is (qualities + hyper system)

2.What an object has (subsystem + possessions)

3. What an object does

Using these principleswe can different kinds of maps:- portfolio concept maps,- speaking maps,- speaking cards.

Now, let’s study come back to the topic “Food”.

What are the meaningful categories?

Portfolio Concept Map “Food”

Questions:Main categoriesObjects, verbs, people, adjectives

Important: the underlined root of a word suggests word building and later – paraphrasing: To bake – a baker – bakery.

Concept Map “Food”:1. Divides the topic into the meaningful categories.2. The categories may be studied separately.3. Promotes word building skills. 4. Helps to memorize vocabulary in games:Odd Man out: an apple, a tomato, a banana.Analogy: an apple : a fruits :: a marrow : ___________________________(an apple to fruits is like a marrow to ______________________ )Making riddles:I’m buying cereals, what shop am I in?

Locate:• It is next to turkey: _________________• It is between rice and wheat:

________________• All vegetables that start with “p”:

______________• It is the last in the category “grains”:

___________• It is under trout: __________________

Odd Man OutMilk, cheese, chickenBroccoli, lettice, cauliflowerGrocer, green grocer, dairy sellerBanana, lemon, sweet

Analogies an apple : a fruits :: a marrow : ___________________________(an apple to fruits is like a marrow to ______________________ )

a shrimp : sea food :: corn : ________________________

A fishmonger : fish :: a _________________ :: bakery

Name all:• Sweet foods• Sour foods• Salty foods• Red foods• etc.

SpeakingConcept map + speaking cards

At Level 1 we adjust the map to young learners:

This speaking map contains:

- Basic categories.

- Categories peculiar to this topic.

At Level 2 learners are able to talk about a dish:

This speaking map contains:- Categories from

the previous year.- New categories.

At Level 3 students can talk about the ingredients:Describe a Dish/ Food

I want to describe________________ by such categories as: Cuisine This dish is typical for ____________________________ cuisine.

(global, Ukrainian, French, Italian, ……. ) Meal It is usually eaten for _________________________________

(breakfast, lunch, dinner, supper, snack) Ingredients It contains: ……provide …….. and help to……

Food

Gro

up Fruits/ Vegetables such as…. vitamins and minerals stay healthy Dairy such as…. calcium have strong bones Meat / Fish/Nuts such as…. protein build muscles Grains such as…. carbohydrates give energy Sweets such as…. sugar give energy for the brain Oils such as…. fats

Way of cooking

__ We cut: peel, chop, cut, core, slice, dice, grate, mash, mince ….. with …………..

__ We cook: we boil, stew, fry, roast, toast, bake, grill, smoke……..with……………….

__ We process: we cool, freeze, mix, blend, stir, whip, squeeze, spread…….with………

Texture

It has creamy/ tender – chewy – tough texture. It is juicy – dry. It is liquid.

Taste and Condiments

It has __________ (sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami) taste.

It is best with ________ (pepper, vinegar, ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise).

Opinion I consider this dish

healthy/ unhealthy

delicious, tasty, tasteless, disgusting

Firstly.., secondly.., thirdly…

With such maps we promote using HOTS in Teaching English

1.Categorizing. 2.Compare and Contrast3.Analogical reasoning (outer and

inner vocabulary extensions)4.Cause and Effect

References and Sources

1. Карпенко М.П. (2008) Телеобучение. М.: СГА.

2. Nation, P. & Gu, P. (2007). Focus on Vocabulary. Sydney : NCELTR

3. Nation, P. (2001). Learning vocabulary in another language. Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press.

• http://www.coun.uvic.ca/learn/program/hndouts/bloom.html• http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/researchskills/dalton.htm• http://oaks.nvg.org/taxonomy-bloom.html• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Bloom%27s_Rose.png