Learning vocabulary is basic to the learning of a foreign language, you cannot communicate unless you know “the code”, you neither understand what others are trying to explain, nor are you able to express your wishes, thoughts and feelings. This is why, teaching vocabulary has always been a central element in foreign language teaching.
It’s a good principle to teach vocabulary in context, then you are likely to become familiar with how it connects with other words, how it works grammatically, and in what kinds of texts it is likely to appear. All this is important. But there are situations where you can focus on an item in isolation, as a target for learning in its own right.
Generally, the new vocabulary is introduced during the pre-reading activities, together with the informational content of the new lesson. When introducing the new vocabulary, the teacher can choose to provide all the necessary information (pronunciation, meaning, usage…) However, acquisition of vocabulary is more efficient if the students are actively involved in the process of decoding the new text, e.g. they may be asked to infer meanings or look up words in the dictionary. To explain the meaning of the new words, the teacher can use mime (gestures, mimicry), realia (real objects), visuals (book illustrations, cut-outs, flashcards, drawing the object, pictures that illustrate their meanings), model sentences, synonyms or paraphrase.
Teacher can ask students to brainstorm words on a set topic. E.g. In pairs, the students have five minutes to write as many words as they can in their notebooks. The teacher elicits answers from the students and writes them on the board.
We can use games, for example, “Call my bluff”- A game with true and false idiom definitions, played in teams/groups. This game consists of definitions for a word/idiom in which one is false. Students may be encouraged to write their own definitions for their peers to choose from- one will be the dictionary definition, the other will be created by the students.
Matching words with pictures or definitions, the words and their jumbled definitions are listed under two opposite columns. The students have to match the words with the correct definitions. Another variant would be to distribute word and definition cards among the students, who have to mill around and read about the items on their cards until they find their partner.
Information gap, students have to ask and answer questions in order to complete their tasks. E.g. finding a certain number of differences in two pictures of the same room, the map of a place at two different points in time, etc.
Find someone who is another popular activity we can use to teach vocabulary. E.g. Students move round the class to find someone who: is a light sleeper, has a friend of a different nationality etc.
In this article, I presented some examples of techniques which I have used to introduce vocabulary, but there are many more and we should find the right ones for our students. Vocabulary is the most important thing to teach: you can’t even begin to express yourself without knowing the forms and meanings of words.
Bibliography
Harmer, J. (2015). The Practice of English Language Teaching ((5th ed.). Pearson
Stănescu, A. Suport curs- Didactica limbii engleze.
Ur, Penny. (2016). 100 Teaching Tips, Cambridge University Press
Vizental, A. (2008). Metodica predării limbii engleze, Polirom.