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Communicative Language Teaching      

The earlier approaches used to focus on the form. So in teaching the new words a lot of importance was given to the accuracy of spelling and pronunciation. In CLT,  teachers are advised to ignore minor errors in the initial stage. For example, even if a learner cannot produce the  ‘a’ and ‘e” sounds in ‘man’ and ‘men’, the teacher should encourage her to speak without any hesitation.

 

It is now realised that teaching vocabulary is not just the teaching of correct spelling and pronunciation.  More importance should be given to fluency and appropriateness.  In fact, the learner will slowly develop her understanding of the whole range of meanings in different contexts and will be able to use the new word accurately in course of time

 

 

Pause and Ponder  

               Do you agree with these statements?

1. There is just one right method of teaching vocabulary.

2.  Vocabulary means single words.

3.                  Vocabulary is one of the skills of language,

4.                  A learner should start using the new words correctly soon after the presentation.

                  

 

 

            Recommended Procedure of Teaching

 

It is not possible to lay down just one correct procedure for teaching anything. However, one can recommend certain steps keeping in mind some basic principles of language teaching.

 

The presentation of new words can be effective if the natural order of L  → S → R → W  is followed. This means that the words will be introduced orally before the learners are made to read or write them.

 

After presentation, it is advisable to provide opportunities for meaningful practice in two or three contexts. Inter-related  concepts in paragraph  are  better than isolated  sentences at this stage. Finally, the teacher  may facilitate pair/group activities with info-gap or problem-solving  tasks where the learners  find it necessary to use the new words.

 

Strategies for Presentation and Practice

 

The following strategies have been  tried out and found very effective.  

 

Real Objects

 

Where it is possible, the use of real objects will make the task easy and interesting for the teacher as well as the learner. Various nouns can be introduced simply by pointing at or holding up  objects like fan, clock, cupboard, key, lunch-box or  leather-bag. It can  be equally helpful in teaching objectives of shape, size and colour.  

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

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