Teaching vocabulary
Unit 8
Teaching
Vocabulary
I)
Understanding Vocabulary
& vocabulary learning
The acquisition of vocabulary at first sight seems straightforward; we all know you need a large number of words to speak a language. That is to say, the role of vocabulary seems to have received people’s consistent understanding in foreign language learning. However, people are still uncertain about which vocabulary items should be taught and learned, in what order and how they can be taught and learned most effectively. Task 1:
Reflect on your experiences of vocabulary learning by answering the following questions:
1.What are the most common ways for Chinese students to learn vocabulary regarding English?
2.Similarly, what are the most common ways for Chinese teachers to teach English vocabulary, in primary school, secondary school and university?
3.What are some of the vocabulary learning strategies you have used and found useful or effective? What are some of the ways that you have used but found not very useful or effective?
Task 2:
Read the assumptions about vocabulary in
English learning on Page 117 and decide if you agree with them or not. Try to give your reasons for your decisions.
II) What does knowing a word involve? Vocabulary learning seems to accompany a learner throughout the learning process. Before developing some effective and efficient strategies of teaching and learning vocabulary it’s quite necessary for both teachers and learners to be aware of what knowing a word involves.
2.1 What does it mean to know a word?
A simple answer to this question would be: knowing a word means knowing its pronunciation, stress, spelling, meaning, grammatical properties and how and when to use it to express the intended meaning .
However, in reality with your further learning about a word, you will find both the form and the meanings are far more complicated than we think they are.
Therefore, learning a word involves learning more than just the word itself. McCarthy
Teaching
Vocabulary
I)
Understanding Vocabulary
& vocabulary learning
The acquisition of vocabulary at first sight seems straightforward; we all know you need a large number of words to speak a language. That is to say, the role of vocabulary seems to have received people’s consistent understanding in foreign language learning. However, people are still uncertain about which vocabulary items should be taught and learned, in what order and how they can be taught and learned most effectively. Task 1:
Reflect on your experiences of vocabulary learning by answering the following questions:
1.What are the most common ways for Chinese students to learn vocabulary regarding English?
2.Similarly, what are the most common ways for Chinese teachers to teach English vocabulary, in primary school, secondary school and university?
3.What are some of the vocabulary learning strategies you have used and found useful or effective? What are some of the ways that you have used but found not very useful or effective?
Task 2:
Read the assumptions about vocabulary in
English learning on Page 117 and decide if you agree with them or not. Try to give your reasons for your decisions.
II) What does knowing a word involve? Vocabulary learning seems to accompany a learner throughout the learning process. Before developing some effective and efficient strategies of teaching and learning vocabulary it’s quite necessary for both teachers and learners to be aware of what knowing a word involves.
2.1 What does it mean to know a word?
A simple answer to this question would be: knowing a word means knowing its pronunciation, stress, spelling, meaning, grammatical properties and how and when to use it to express the intended meaning .
However, in reality with your further learning about a word, you will find both the form and the meanings are far more complicated than we think they are.
Therefore, learning a word involves learning more than just the word itself. McCarthy