A COURSE IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING Unit 7 Teaching Vocabulary Aims of the unit: 1. Assumptions about vocabulary and vocabulary building 2.What does

A COURSE IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

Unit 7 Teaching Vocabulary

Aims of the unit:1. Assumptions about vocabulary and vocabulary

building2.What does knowing a word involve?3.Methods for presenting new vocabulary items4.Ways to consolidate vocabulary5.Ways to help students develop vocabulary

building strategies


8.1 Understanding vocabulary & vocabulary learning

People have different understandings of: • What a vocabulary item is;• How an item can be learned and consolidate;• Which items should be learned;• To what extent the items should be learned

and practised. (p. 117, Task 2)


8.2 What does knowing a word involve?

• A simple answer would be (1)knowing its pronunciation & stress; (2) knowing its spelling & grammar; (3) knowing its meaning; (4) knowing how & when to use it to express the intended meaning.

• According to Hedge (2000), vocabulary learning involves at least two aspects of meaning. The first aspect involves the understanding of its denotative and connotative meaning. The second aspect involves understanding the sense relations among words.


denotative meaning( 外延意义 )

• 词的意义一般包括语法意义和词汇意义，前者指词与词之间的相互关系，后者指词所表达的意思，通常分为外延意义（ denotative meaning ）和内涵意义 (connotative meaning) 两类。词的外延意义即所指意义（ referential meaning ）或认知意义（ cognitive meaning ），它是以客观世界的特定所指以及约定俗成的意义为基础的，也就是词典中所给出的定义。


connotative meaning 内涵意义

• 所谓内涵意义 (connotative meaning) ，是隐含于或附加在概念意义上的意义。社会、群体或个人都可以使一个词具有内涵意义，有时还是很不相同的内涵意义。这种差异既可以存在于两种语言、两种文化之间，也可以存在于一种语言和一种文化的亚文化之间。如英语中的 goose有 "愚蠢 "的内涵意义，但汉语中的 "鹅 "却没有这种不好的内涵意义。


Collocative meaning 搭配意义

Collocative meaning consists of the associations a word acquires in its collocation.

搭配意义是词语与其可能或必须同时出现的词语搭配时所产生的特殊联想意义，是长期使用过程中形成的语言习惯。词语搭配包括词语搭配（ Lexical Collocations ）和语法词语搭配（ Grammatical Collocations ）。前者主要包括“动词 +名词”、“名词 +动词”、“形容词 +名词”、“副词 +动词”及“名词 +名词”等搭配，掌握好它们就可增强语感，准确道地地表达出要说或者要写的语言信息。后者包括“介词 +名词”、“名词 +介词”、“形容词 +介词”、“动词 +介词”及“介词 +名词 +介词”等。


Synonyms, antonyms, hyponyms

• synonyms同义词 ----synonymy refers to the sameness or close similarity of meaning or we can say that words that are close in meaning. 指意义相同或相近的词 .

• antonyms 反义词 ---words that stand opposite in meaning are called “antonyms”, 反义词是指那些在意义上既相互对立又相互联系的词。

• Superordinate上坐标词 : the upper term in hyponymy.

• hyponyms 下义词 ------the lower terms in hyponymy 居于下位的是成员，叫做下义词。


Passive & active vocabulary(p.120)

• Receptive/Passive vocabulary 被动词汇 : refers to words that one is able to recognize and comprehend in reading or listening but unable to use automatically in speaking or writing.

• Productive/Active vocabulary 主动词汇 : refers to words that one is not only able to recognize but also able to use in speech and writing.


8.3 Ways of Presenting new words (p.124)

Some suggestions: • Try to provide a visual or physical demonstration to show

meaning• Provide a verbal context to demonstrate meaning.• Use synonyms, antonyms etc. to explain meaning.• Use lexical sets or hyponyms to show relations of words and

their meaning.• Translate and exemplify.• Use word formation rules and common affixes to build new

lexical knowledge on what is already known. • Teach vocabulary in chunks.• Think about the context in real life where the word might be us

ed.• Introduce new words in real-life context.


More suggested ways

• Use pictures, diagrams and maps to show the meaning;

• Use realia (plural of realis);• Use pantomimes or actions;• Use lexical sets, superordinate and hyponymy;

e.g. cook: fry, boil, bake, grill, roast• Translate and exemplify( 举例说明 ), esp. with

technical or abstract words;• Use word formation rules and common affixes.

e.g. deduction, induction


8.4 Ways of consolidating vocabulary

• Since learning is subject to forgetting, it is normal that we hear students complain that they keep learning and forgetting, especially when they do not understand the meaning of the vocabulary item.

• When students study vocabulary individually, very often it is rote learning.


Below are some activities that can be done in class to consolidate vocabulary.

1. Labeling.

2. Spotting the differences.

3. Describing and drawing.

4. Game-playing

5. Using word series.

Example: cutlery: knife, fork, spoon…

Transport:____ ____ _____

Vehicles: :____ ____ _____

Furniture: :____ ____ _____

Buildings: :____ ____ _____


6. Word association

7. Using word net-work.

8. Synonyms and antonyms

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/try/vocabtry/vocab-activities.shtml#bus


game-playing

• （ 1 ）“ Simon says.” 游戏：由教师或学生发命令，

e.g. Buckle your shoes. （系上鞋带） Nod your head.（点点头） Shake your head. （摇摇头） Blink your eyes. （眨眨眼）　 Clap your hands. （拍拍手） Wave your hand. （摆摆手）　 Stamp your foot. （跺跺脚） Snap your fingers. （打响手指）

• （ 2 ） word-chain 单词接龙游戏desk→ kiss → same→ egg→ get→ ten→ neck→ know→ wind

→ dog→ gun→ need

Reference


association

• (1) meaning associationstink vi. 散发臭味（臭气），名声臭，（美俚）质量等极坏，有某种气味；st 想成街道 ( 单词 street 可缩写为 st)形象记忆过程： stink——st( 街道 )+ink( 墨水 )—— 大街上洒上大量的墨水——

散发臭味tryst n. 约会，幽会， vi. 约会 ; 赴约形象记忆过程： tryst——try( 试 )+st( 大街上 )—— 在大街上试验一下二人可不可

以生活在一起——约会

• (2) story association例： clash n. v. 撞击、相冲突的 ;crash 　 n. v. 碰撞 , 坠落 , 失事 ; smash n. v.

击碎、打碎 ; ash n. 灰 , 灰烬 ; shamed adj. 惭愧的 , 羞耻的 ; cash n. 现金把这些词串起来编成以下这个故事：恐怖份子驾驶飞机 clash （撞击）了世贸大厦，飞机就 crash （坠落）了，大楼

被 smash （击碎）了，世贸大厦变成了 ash （灰 , 灰烬），小 Bush 感到很ashamed （惭愧），就需要很多 cash （现金）才能恢复美国人的信心。

Reference


Your hobbies

TVprograms

sportsmusic

magazinereadingnewspaper

dancing

singing

novel


8.5 Developing vocabulary building strategies

Vocabulary building strategies are very important outside the class.

Review regularly.


•Guess meaning from context. e.g.:

1. The captain asked the seamen to throw the anchor

2. Let’s synchronize our watch so that we can start the game at exactly the same time.

3. Susan went to the shop and bought some bananas, mangoes, and chirimoyas.


• Organize vocabulary effectively.


• Use a dictionary.

• Manage strategy use


How do we teach the new words, e.g., 20 new words, in a unit of a textbook?

• Do we teach all the 20 word at a time in an isolated way, i.e., without context? or:

• Do we use context and allow the new words to occur in a natural way?


A possible way

• Before reading the text: T: We are going to read a story about Nelson

Mandela, the first black president of South Africa. Which of the following words do you think may be used in the story?prison, rights, violence, lawyer, youth, league, position, matter, fact, president;vote, accept; continueblack, equal, poor, young, wrong, worriedMake a guess.


• While reading the text:

The students can guess the meaning of some new words from the context.

• After reading the text:The teacher can ask the students which words in the text they don’t know, and help them to know the meaning of the words, and if necessary the teacher can translate the words into Chinese.


Summary

Two problems in vocabulary learning: • Students treat vocabulary items

indiscriminately, or without context.• Many students learn vocabulary in ineffective

ways such as rote learning.

1. The teacher should help the students to use the context in vocabulary learning.

2. Besides, the teacher should also help the students to develop vocabulary building strategies.


Homework

1. What does knowing a word involve? 2. How can we present new vocabulary items

effectively?3. What are some effective ways to consolidate

vocabulary?

Documents

A COURSE IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING Unit 7 Teaching Vocabulary Aims of the unit: 1. Assumptions about vocabulary and vocabulary building 2.What does