Home    Courses    Faculty    Useful Links    Publications    Alumni    Articles    Research    Resources

 

Teaching Vocabulary

Dr. R. P. Jadeja

 

1.          Introduction

 

Before we begin, pause for a while and reflect on how we learn new words. Read the statements given below and decide if you agree with them or not :

 

1.      People learn new words only at school/college.

2.      We learn new words only when we are learning  a new language.

3.      We can say that we have learnt an English word only when we have learnt its equivalent in our language

 

In this unit we shall consider the place of vocabulary in language teaching and discuss various aspects of teaching vocabulary. While discussing language teaching people often differentiate between the teaching of skills (like listening, speaking, reading and writing) as against the teaching of content areas like grammar and vocabulary or lexis.

 

Vocabulary can be defined as a set of lexemes, including single words, compound  words and idioms. If language is compared with a building,  vocabulary takes the place of bricks (or building blocks) which are joined by the cement of the structural elements of grammar.

 

2           Vocabulary in language Teaching

The teaching of vocabulary has  always occupied an important place in language education. However people have done it in different ways across the history of language teaching.

 

Grammar – Translation

The earliest approach attached a lot of importance to the rules of grammar. The teaching of vocabulary was done with the help of lists of words. The learner was asked to memories a number of words in the target language and their ‘meaning’ in the mother tongue.

 

            For example :      boy                  girl

                                         

                                     man                 woman

 

The Direct Method

Use of the mother tongue was not allowed in the Direct Method. So the teacher presented the new words directly, either by pointing to the object, or a picture, or an action etc. The basic principle here was ‘learning by association.’ 

 

The Situational Method

In grammar – translation as well as the Direct Method, the words were selected in an arbitrary manner and used in isolated sentences. However, it was soon realised that language is better learnt in a context. The situational method, therefore, presented the new words in a specific context.

            For example : At the Post Office, At the Railway Station.

 

Next

 

 

H M Patel Institute of English Training & Research, Vallabh Vidyanagar - 388120, Gujarat, India

Phone : 091-2692-230193, 091-2692-230079