Effective Strategies for Vocabulary Teaching

【Abstract】Vocabulary teaching has been a topic of intensive debate for quite a long time. Based on plenty of researches and progress made by so many experts， the paper is written to discuss the vocabulary teaching in some aspects， in a bid to improve the effectiveness and efficiency in vocabulary acquisition and in the hope of provoking much more consideration in the future teaching.

【Key words】Vocabulary teaching; teaching strategies; vocabulary acquisition

I. Introduction

Vocabulary learning is a crucial component of language learning， which will play an essential role in facilitating students to learn English both in spoken and written form. Abundant lexical resources can be regarded as a vital way accessible to academic development. Therefore， vocabulary teaching is now becoming more and more important.

This paper is written to provoke extra thoughts about vocabulary instruction， in the hope of attracting more attention to vocabulary teaching. In addition， the paper is aimed to inspire teachers to take a risk in making changes in teaching methods. Because in most cases， constant changes which actually a process of trial and reflection is the key to make things perfect and excellent. Finally， the paper can be divided into three main chapters，which generally describe the present view of vocabulary teaching， strategies for vocabulary teaching and assessment types for vocabulary teaching.

II. General Description of Vocabulary Teaching

Poor vocabulary is a serious problem for English-language learners. Although skilled readers may well tolerate a small proportion of unknown words in a passage without disruption of comprehension， comprehension itself is still disrupted if the proportion of unknown words is too high. Proved by Nagy in 1997， one major determinant of poor reading comprehension for English language learners is low vocabulary. Lack of knowledge of vocabulary impedes reading comprehension. A series of studies underlined that vocabulary acquisition results in comprehension gains and improvement on all-round competences like discourse competence and the like.

III. The Challenges of Vocabulary Teaching

Vocabulary teaching is always considered as a simple task—just determine what words need to be learned at different level of students and teach them to students as efficiently as possible. Nevertheless， many problems are supposed to be taken into serious consideration such as the sheer number of words that students need to learn in order to understand and use both in spoken and written English proficiently， accurately and appropriately. Besides， the gap in levels of existing word knowledge among students and the gap in levels of word knowledge begin early even before children enter school.

IV. Strategies for Teaching Vocabulary

According to Nagy， what is needed to produce vocabulary growth is not more vocabulary instruction， but more reading. In the course of reading， teachers play a crucial part in guiding students to understand the text， during which word-learning can be brought to a conscious level in the following ways: figuring out meanings with tools like handbooks， highlighting the importance of specialized vocabulary， connecting individual words to enlarge concept， showing why some words require deeper understanding than other words， creating visuals to develop memory links for words， drawing mind map to associate more words， extending knowledge by pointing out multiple meanings.

As is known to all that words can be formed by addition of prefixes and suffixes， a process called affixation. Besides， two or more words can join up to make one word by compounding， such as blackboard， sleepwalk and the like. In the course of studying word formation and combination， students tend to make some mistakes like compounding errors， collocation errors and phrasal verb errors. To avoid these errors， teachers should emphasize rules repeatedly and expose students to plenty of correct examples. Through the elaborate analysis of word formation， there is no doubt that the best and the most effective way to learn English vocabulary is acquiring the knowledge of etymon.

V. Conclusion

Educators should always keep an idea in mind that when you do what you’ve always done， you will be where you’ve always been. Take a risk and try something to contribute to education.

References：

[1]Elfrieda H.Hiebert.Teaching and Learning Vocabulary[M].New Jersey:Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers，2005.

[2]Janet Allen.Teaching Vocabulary in Grades 4-12[M].Portland: Stenhouse Publisher，1999.

[3]Tricia Hedge.Teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom [M].Oxford:Oxford University Press，2000.