Task 1. Read part 1 of the article on presenting vocabulary. Be ready to answer the questions.

A motivated and self-directed learner might be able to acquire a large vocabulary simply by using vocabulary books, readers, dictionaries and corpora. However, many learners sign up for language courses in the expectation that, at least some of the time, they will be presentedwith language, rather than having to go out and find it for themselves. By presentation, we mean those pre-planned lesson stages in which learners are taught pre-selected vocabulary items. Of course, incidental vocabulary teaching can occur at other times of the lesson, as when a text or a discussion throws up unfamiliar vocabulary. In this chapter, however, we will be mainly concerned with ways vocabulary can be formally presented in the classroom. But many of the issues are relevant to the informal teaching of vocabulary as well.

At the very least learners need to learn both the meaning and the form of a new word. We shall deal with each of these components in turn. But it’s worth pointing out that both these aspects of a word should be presented in close conjunction in order to ensure a tight meaning-and-form fit. The greater the gap between the presentation of a word’s form and its meaning, the less likely that the learner will make a mental connection between the two.

Let’s say the teacher has decided to teach a related set of words — for example, items of clothing: shirt, trousers, jacket, socks, dress, jeans. The teacher has a number of options available. First, there is the question of how many words to present. This will depend on the following factors:

• the level of the learners (whether beginners, intermediate, or advanced);

• the learners’ likely familiarity with the words (learners may have met the

words before even though they are not part of their active vocabulary);

• the difficulty of the items — whether, for example, they express abstract rather than concrete meanings, or whether they are difficult to pronounce;

• their ‘teachability’ — whether, for example, they can be easily explained or demonstrated;

• whether items are being learned for production (in speaking and writing) or for recognition only (as in listening and reading). Since more time will be needed for the former, the number of items is likely to be fewer than if the aim is only recognition.

Furthermore, the number of new words presented should not overstretch the learners’ capacity to remember them. Nor should the presentation extend so far into the lesson that no time is available to put the words to work.

Coursebooks tend to operate on the principle that a vocabulary presentation should include at most about a dozen items. Here, for example, are the items listed in the presentation of clothes vocabulary in a currently popular elementary coursebook (from Soars L and J, Headway Elementary, OUP):

a jumper, a shirt, a T-shirt, a dress, a skirt, a jacket, a suit, a tie, trousers, jeans, trainers, shoes, boots

However, claims for the desirability of much higher vocabulary learning targets have been made, especially by proponents of teaching methods that subscribe to ‘whole person learning’, such as accelerated learningand suggestopedia(a method first developed by Georgi Lozanov in Bulgaria).Teachers following these methods use techniques of relaxation and suggestion, in order to predispose the learner to massive amounts of input, including literally hundreds of words in a session. Some of these claims may be excessive, but it may also be a fact that conventional teaching methods underestimate the learner’s capacity to retain new vocabulary. Incorporating into lessons some of the basic principles of human memory may be a means of extending the somewhat conservative targets set in coursebooks.

Having decided on the number of items to teach, there is then the choice of the sequenceof presentation, either:

• meaning first, then form, or

• form first, then meaning.

In the first option the teacher could, for example, hold up a picture of a shirt (the meaning), and then say It’s a shirt (the form). In a ‘form first’ presentation she could say shirt a number of times, have the students repeat the word, and only then point to the picture. Both approaches are valid. There is an argument that presenting the meaning first creates a need for the form, opening the appropriate mental ‘files’, and making the presentation both more efficient and more memorable. On the other hand, ‘form first’ presentation works best when the words are presented in some kind of context, so that the learners can work out the meaning for themselves.

The next set of choices relates to the means of presentation - whether to present the meaning through:

• translation

• real things

• pictures

• actions/ gestures

• definitions

• situations

And whether to present the word in its:

• spoken form, or

• written form

and in what order (e.g. spoken before written) and how soon (e.g. delaying) the written form until the spoken form has been thoroughly learned).

There are also decisions to be made concerning the degree of learner involvement. For example:

• should the teacher provide both the meaning and the form herself?

• should the teacher present the meaning and attempt to elicit the form?

• should the teacher present the form and attempt to elicit the meaning?

• should the learners repeat the form, and if so, when?

Task 2. Define the following words and word combinations:

1. a self-directed learner

2. incidental vocabulary

3. in close conjunction

4. a mental connection

6. to overstretch the capacity

7. accelerated learning

8. suggestopedia

Task 3. Comprehension and Discussion Questions:

1. What are the decisions for a teacher to make before presenting vocabulary?

2. Do you agree with the author? Are there any other important decisions to make?

Date: 2016-04-22; view: 1138