D. Teaching Young Learners

C. What Vocabulary Strategies Should lLearners Use?

There are several vocabulary learning strategies: guessing from context, using word cards, using word parts, and dictionary use.

(1) The guessing from context strategy

The guessing from context strategy is a very important one for learning through meaning-focused input. To practice this strategy, learners need to read texts which are at the right level for them. This is the most important requirement for successful guessing from context. Teachers can give some deliberate attention to this strategy during intensive reading by focusing on the clues available in a particular text.

Guessing from context involves using context clues and background knowledge to work out the meaning of an unknown word. For example, if the word fantastic is not known in the following context “A year of good fishing and all I have to do in return is find a bird? Fantastic!”, learners can try to guess its meaning before looking it up in the dictionary or continuing reading.

(2) The word card strategy

The most important deliberate vocabulary learning strategy is learning from bilingual word cards. Word cards consist of small cards, around 2 cm x 4 cm, which have a word or phrase from the foreign language on one side, and the translation of this word or phrase into the first language on the other side. Each learner builds up their own sets of word cards.

At the beginning, word cards should be made and used in class. This is to make sure that the learners know how to make word cards, how to choose words to go on their cards, and how to use the cards for learning.

 A word card It is important when making the cards that the English word or phrase or sentence goes on one side of the cards and its translation on the other. This is so that learners cannot see the translation when they look at the word or phrase. This means that they then have an opportunity to retrieve the meaning of the word in the form of its translation. This retrieval is a very important learning condition. If we see the word and its meaning together, then there is no reason to make a retrieval and so there is little opportunity for making a strong connection between the word and its meaning.

The learners individually look through their cards trying to recall the translation on the other side. If they cannot recall the translation, they turn the card over to see it. After they look at a card and recall the meaning, they place this card at the back of the pack. If they cannot recall the meaning, they then place this card somewhere in the middle of the pack so that they will see it again soon. In one session, the learner should only look through the cards once or twice. After doing that, they then put them away in their pocket with a rubber band around them, and look at them again within a few hours when they have some free time.

When learning from word cards, it is good to say the words aloud when looking at them. It is also good not to turn over the card too soon if a word cannot be retrieved. The learner should spend a few seconds trying to retrieve the word before turning the card over. It is good to keep changing the order of the cards in the pack, so that one word does not remind the learner of the next word which follows it.

There are some memory tricks which can be used for words which do not easily stay in memory. These include breaking the word into parts if that word has word parts, thinking of a word which sounds like this word in the first language, and using a technique called the keyword technique which helps connect the form and the meaning.

(3) The word parts and dictionary use strategies

a. The word parts strategy involves knowing the most useful prefixes and suffixes.

The learners should learn these word parts and their meanings. There are not many of them, and they can be learned quite quickly when learners already know some words which contain them. When they meet words which contain these parts, they should try to relate the meaning of the

parts to the meaning of the words. These word parts are not used to guess the meanings of words but to help remember them. So, for example, if a learner meets the unknown word prominent, looks up its meaning, and realises that it contains the prefix pro- which means “forward”, the learner can try to relate the meaning of forward to the meaning of prominent.

A list of useful prefixes

Prefix Meaning Word

abad-

comdedisdisexexininintermisnonoboboverperpreproproresubtransunfrom, away to(ward)

with down, away not apart, away out, beyond former not in(to) between, among wrong(ly) not against to(ward) above through before forward in favour of back, again under across, beyond not abstract advertise

complicated describe dislike distance express ex-president inconsistent instruct intermittent misinform nonviolent oppose obtain overpower perfect predict progress pro-Islam reorganize subscribe transfer unable

Other forms

a-, absa-,ab-,ac-, af-, ag-, al-, an-, ap-, aq-, ar-, as-, atco-, col-, con-, cor-

di-, dife-, ef-

ig-, il-, im-, iril-, im-, ir-

o-, oc-, of-, opo-, oc-, of-, op-

suc-, suf-, sug-, sum-, sur-, sustra-, tran-

b. The dictionary use strategy involves using the entries in a dictionary to help remember the meanings and use of words. So, when learners look up a word in the dictionary, they should do some of the following things to help the word stick in their memory. They should find the appropriate sense of the word given in the dictionary entry. They should look at the different senses given for the word and see if they share a common meaning. So, if they look up the word pour, they should see if all the meanings given for pour have a common meaning. They should look at the example sentences in the dictionary which contain the word and try to form a mental picture of the meaning of these sentences. They should look at other entries which are very close to the entry that they have looked up to see if there are other words which have a similar form and a similar meaning to the word that they are looking for. So, if they look up the word foundation, they are likely to find these words near it: found and founder. These words actually have the same word stem and share part of the meaning of foundation.

D. What Vocabulary Teaching Should a lTeacher Do?

Vocabulary learning occurs as a gradual process as learners build up knowledge of a particular word through many meetings with it. Even if learners learn a word from word cards, this is only one step toward knowing that word. Later meetings with the word will enrich learners’ understanding of the meaning, will show them the other words that it occurs with, will show them how it is used, and will strengthen each of these kinds of knowledge through repetition. Teaching a particular word can only be one step in the gradual learning of that word, so we should not spend too much time on it.

The main opportunities for vocabulary teaching should be during intensive reading and when learners ask for words during speaking and writing activities.

One of the teacher’s main goals should be to help learners become independent vocabulary learners. They can become independent vocabulary learners by knowing how to decide what vocabulary is most useful to learn, by knowing how to learn it through the use of word cards and other strategies, by knowing how to meet the words again by doing lots of extensive reading and listening, and by finding opportunities to produce the words they have learnt through speaking and writing. Rather than teach vocabulary, teachers should be spending that time on training learners in vocabulary learning.

 For more information, see ‘What should EFL teachers know?’