英语词汇教学现状.docx
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英语词汇教学现状.docx
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英语词汇教学现状
TeachingVocabularyToAdvancedStudents:
ALexicalApproach
bySolangeMoras,SaoCarlos,Brazil,July2001
1. ADVANCEDSTUDENTSANDTHEIRNEEDS
Advancedlearnerscangenerallycommunicatewell,havinglearntallthebasicstructuresofthelanguage.However,theyneedtobroadentheirvocabularytoexpressthemselvesmoreclearlyandappropriatelyinawiderangeofsituations.
Studentsmightevenhaveareceptiveknowledgeofawiderrangeofvocabulary,whichmeanstheycanrecognisetheitemandrecogniseitsmeaning.Nevertheless,theirproductiveuseofawiderangeofvocabularyisnormallylimited,andthisisoneoftheareasthatneedgreaterattention.Atthisstageweareconcernednotonlywithstudentsunderstandingthemeaningofwords,butalsobeingabletousethemappropriately,takingintoaccountfactorssuchasoral/writtenuseofthelanguage;degreeofformality,styleandothers,whichwearegoingtodetailinPart2.
2. THETEACHINGOFVOCABULARY
Traditionally,theteachingofvocabularyaboveelementarylevelswasmostlyincidental,limitedtopresentingnewitemsastheyappearedinreadingorsometimeslisteningtexts.Thisindirectteachingofvocabularyassumesthatvocabularyexpansionwillhappenthroughthepracticeofotherlanguageskills,whichhasbeenprovednotenoughtoensurevocabularyexpansion.
Nowadaysitiswidelyacceptedthatvocabularyteachingshouldbepartofthesyllabus,andtaughtinawell-plannedandregularbasis.Someauthors,ledbyLewis(1993)arguethatvocabularyshouldbeatthecentreoflanguageteaching,because‘languageconsistsofgrammaticalisedlexis,notlexicalisedgrammar’.Wearegoingtodiscussaspectsofthe‘Lexicalapproach’inPart2.
Thereareseveralaspectsoflexisthatneedtobetakenintoaccountwhenteachingvocabulary.ThelistbelowisbasedontheworkofGairnsandRedman(1986):
· Boundariesbetweenconceptualmeaning:
knowingnotonlywhatlexisrefersto,butalsowheretheboundariesarethatseparateitfromwordsofrelatedmeaning(e.g.cup,mug,bowl).
· Polysemy:
distinguishingbetweenthevariousmeaningofasinglewordformwithseveralbutcloselyrelatedmeanings(head:
ofaperson,ofapin,ofanorganisation).
· Homonymy:
distinguishingbetweenthevariousmeaningofasinglewordformwhichhasseveralmeaningswhichareNOTcloselyrelated(e.g.afile:
usedtoputpapersinoratool).
· Homophyny:
understandingwordsthathavethesamepronunciationbutdifferentspellingsandmeanings(e.g.flour,flower).
· Synonymy:
distinguishingbetweenthedifferentshadesofmeaningthatsynonymouswordshave(e.g.extend,increase,expand).
· Affectivemeaning:
distinguishingbetweentheattitudinalandemotionalfactors(denotationandconnotation),whichdependonthespeakersattitudeorthesituation.Socio-culturalassociationsoflexicalitemsisanotherimportantfactor.
· Style,register,dialect:
Beingabletodistinguishbetweendifferentlevelsofformality,theeffectofdifferentcontextsandtopics,aswellasdifferencesingeographicalvariation.
· Translation:
awarenessofcertaindifferencesandsimilaritiesbetweenthenativeandtheforeignlanguage(e.g.falsecognates).
· Chunksoflanguage:
multi-wordverbs,idioms,strongandweakcollocations,lexicalphrases.
· Grammarofvocabulary:
learningtherulesthatenablestudentstobuildupdifferentformsofthewordorevendifferentwordsfromthatword(e.g.sleep,slept,sleeping;able,unable;disability).
· Pronunciation:
abilitytorecogniseandreproduceitemsinspeech.
Theimplicationoftheaspectsjustmentionedinteachingisthatthegoalsofvocabularyteachingmustbemorethansimplycoveringacertainnumberofwordsonawordlist.Wemustuseteachingtechniquesthatcanhelprealisethisglobalconceptofwhatitmeanstoknowalexicalitem.Andwemustalsogobeyondthat,givinglearneropportunitiestousetheitemslearntandalsohelpingthemtouseeffectivewrittenstoragesystems.
2.1. MEMORYANDSTORAGESYSTEMS
Understandinghowourmemoryworksmighthelpuscreatemoreeffectivewaystoteachvocabulary.Researchinthearea,citedbyGairns(1986)offersussomeinsightsintothisprocess.
Itseemsthatlearningnewitemsinvolvestoringthemfirstinourshort-termmemory,andafterwardsinlong-termmemory.Wedonotcontrolthisprocessconsciouslybutthereseemstobesomeimportantcluestoconsider.First,retentioninshort-termmemoryisnoteffectiveifthenumberofchunksofinformationexceedsseven.Therefore,thissuggeststhatinagivenclassweshouldnotaimatteachingmorethanthisnumber.However,ourlong-termmemorycanholdanyamountofinformation.
Researchalsosuggeststhatour‘mentallexicon’ishighlyorganisedandefficient,andthatsemanticrelateditemsarestoredtogether.Wordfrequencyisanotherfactorthataffectsstorage,asthemostfrequentlyuseditemsareeasiertoretrieve.Wecanusethisinformationtoattempttofacilitatethelearningprocess,bygroupingitemsofvocabularyinsemanticfields,suchastopics(e.g.typesoffruit).
Oxford(1990)suggestsmemorystrategiestoaidlearning,andthesecanbedividedinto:
· creatingmentallinkages:
grouping,associating,placingnewwordsintoacontext;
· applyingimagesandsounds:
usingimagery,semanticmapping,usingkeywordsandrepresentingsoundsinmemory;
· reviewingwell,inastructuredway;
· employingaction:
physicalresponseorsensation,usingmechanicaltechniques.
Thetechniquesjustmentionedcanbeusedtogreateradvantageifwecandiagnoselearningstylepreferences(visual,aural,kinesthetic,tactile)andmakestudentsawareofdifferentmemorystrategies.
Meaningfultaskshoweverseemtoofferthebestanswertovocabularylearning,astheyrelyonstudents’experiencesandrealitytofacilitatelearning.Moremeaningfultasksalsorequirelearnerstoanalyseandprocesslanguagemoredeeply,whichshouldhelpthemretaininformationinlong-termmemory.
Forgettingseemstobeaninevitableprocess,unlesslearnersregularlyuseitemstheyhavelearnt.Therefore,recyclingisvital,andideallyitshouldhappenoneortwodaysaftertheinitialinput.Afterthat,weeklyormonthlytestscancheckonpreviouslytaughtitems.
Thewaystudentsstoretheitemslearnedcanalsocontributetotheirsuccessorfailureinretrievingthemwhenneeded.Mostlearnerssimplylisttheitemslearntinchronologicalorder,indicatingmeaningwithtranslation.Thissystemisfarfromhelpful,asitemsarede-contextualised,encouragingstudentstoovergeneraliseusageofthem.Itdoesnotallowforadditionsandrefinementsnorindicatespronunciation.
Teacherscanencouragelearnerstouseothermethods,usingtopicsandcategoriestoorganiseanotebook,binderorindexcards.MeaningshouldbestoredusingEnglishasmuchaspossible,andalsogivingindicationforpronunciation.Diagramsandwordtreescanalsobeusedwithinthistopic/categoriesorganisation.Theclassasawholecankeepavocabularyboxwithcards,whichcanbeusedforrevision/recyclingregularly.
Organisingthiskindofstoragesystemistime-consumingandmightnotappealtoeverylearner.Thereforeadaptingtheirchronologicalliststoincludeheadingsfortopicsandamorecompletedefinitionofmeaningwouldalreadybeastepforward.
2.2. DEALINGWITHMEANING
Inmyopinionthemostimportantaspectofvocabularyteachingforadvancedlearnersistofosterlearnerindependencesothatlearnerswillbeabletodealwithnewlexisandexpandtheirvocabularybeyondtheendofthecourse.Thereforeguideddiscovery,contextualguessworkandusingdictionariesshouldbethemainwaystodealwithdiscoveringmeaning.
Guideddiscoveryinvolveaskingquestionsorofferingexamplesthatguidestudentstoguessmeaningscorrectly.Inthiswaylearnersgetinvolvedinaprocessofsemanticprocessingthathelpslearningandretention.
Contextualguessworkmeansmakinguseofthecontextinwhichthewordappearstoderiveanideaofitsmeaning,orinsomecases,guessfromtheworditself,asinwordsofLatinorigin.Knowledgeofwordformation,e.g.prefixesandsuffixes,canalsohelpguidestudentstodiscovermeaning. Teacherscanhelpstudentswithspecifictechniquesandpracticeincontextualguesswork,forexample,theunderstandingofdiscoursemarkersandidentifyingthefunctionofthewordinthesentence(e.g.verb,adjective,noun).Thelatterisalsoveryusefulwhenusingdictionaries.
StudentsshouldstartusingEFLdictionariesasearlyaspossible,fromIntermediateupwards.Withadequatetraining,dictionariesareaninvaluabletoolforlearners,givingthemindependencefromtheteacher.Aswellasunderstandingmeaning,studentsareabletocheckpronunciation,thegrammaroftheword(e.g.verbpatterns,verbforms,plurality,comparatives,etc.),differentspelling(AmericanversusBritish),styleandregister,aswellasexamplesthatillustrateusage.
2.3. USINGLANGUAGE
Anotherstrategyforadvancedlearnersistoturntheirreceptivevocabularyitemsintoproductiveones.Inordertodothat,weneedtorefinetheirunderstandingoftheitem,exploringboundariesbetweenconceptualmeaning,polysemy,synonymy,style,register,possiblecollocations,etc.,sothatstudentsareabletousetheitemaccurately.
Wemusttakeintoaccountthatalexicalitemismostlikelytobelearnedwhenalearnerfeelsapersonalneedtoknowit,orwhenthereisaneedtoexpresssomethingtoaccomplishthelearner’sownpurposes.Therefore,itmeansthatthedecisiontoincorporateawordinonesproductivevo
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