PRESENTING VOCABULARY

IN LANGUAGE TEACHING

A. The place of vocabulary in language teaching

If language structures make up the skeleton of language, then it is vocabulary that
provides the vital organs and the flesh. (Harmer, 1991:153). From this statement
we learn that the position of vocabulary in language teaching takes central part,
although the focus of the attack of teaching is not the vocabulary itself.
Teachers should be aware of the essence in language teaching; it is not the
flesh as separated part of the language, but language is seen as the whole body that
must be placed at the main interest in teaching. In the days when grammar was the
major center of attention in language classes, vocabulary was also the focus of
drills, exercises, and memorization efforts. Then, as grammar fell into some
disfavor a few decades ago, vocabulary instruction tended to go with it.
Currently, in our attention to communicative classrooms that are directed
toward content, tasks, or interaction, we are once again giving vocabulary the
attention it deserves. (Brown, 1994:365). But this attention now comes from quite
different perspective: rather than viewing vocabulary items as a long and boring
list of words, vocabulary is seen in its central role in contextualized, meaningful
language.
When presenting vocabulary meaningfully, the activities help students
acquire language through communicating the language in various skills where
vocabulary is attached (in listening, speaking, reading, and writing). This is in line
with Harmer (1991) that vocabulary was necessary to give students something to
hang on to when learning structures, but was frequently not a main focus for
learning itself. Some guidelines for the communicative treatment of vocabulary
instruction can be seen in the next part of this hand out.

B. How to treat vocabulary in language teaching

1. Allocate specific class time to vocabulary learning
In our interactive classroom, sometimes we get so caught up in lively group
work and meaningful communication that we don’t pause to devote some
attention to words. After all, words are basic building blocks of language: in

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fact, survival level communication can take place quite intelligibly when people
simply string words together – without any grammatical rules applying at all. So
if we’re interested in being communicative, words are among the first order of
business. Here is an example activity done by a teacher focusing the learning on
speaking.

Grade: 7
Skill : Speaking
Language functions: Asking for something, Apologizing, and Thanking.
Technique : Quartet games activity
Vocabulary : Related to: At Schools, Feelings, Numbers and
Hobbies.
Objectives : Enable the students to expressing meanings using
simple spoken language accurately, fluently, and
acceptably in transactional conversation.  
Steps: :
a. The students brainstorm vocabulary related to the themes: At Schools,
Feelings, Numbers, and Hobbies by make use of LCD. The teacher asks:
What is the person in this picture (pointing each picture) doing?

b. The students brainstorm expressions:

A :Excuse me, do you have a picture of someone singing?
B : Yes, here you are.
A : Thanks.
B : You’re welcome.
Or
B : Oh, sorry. I don’t have it.
A : Never mind.

c. When the components of vocabulary and functions are learned, the

students begin to play the quartet game. The game’s goal is to collect the
same category cards. Each category is about the same theme, consisting
of four cards. In the card designed by the teacher, there are three sets of
the same category. So, it consists of 12 words. There are four themes

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 designed, so there are 48 words.(see the appendix). The winner is the one
who can collect the most cards.
Notes: - The teacher should be strict in controlling the students’
language. It is strictly ruled that the students use English only.
- The students are grouped into four students each.

d. After finishing the game, the students express their feedback. They are
asked about how their feeling while playing the game. Then the teacher
gives a post quiz about the vocabulary and the function.

2. Help students to learn vocabulary in context.

The best internalization of vocabulary comes from encounters (comprehension or
production) which words within the context of surroundings discourse. Rather than
isolating words and/or focusing on dictionary definitions, attend to vocabulary
within communicative framework in which items appear. Students will then
associate new words with a meaningful context to which they apply.
Here is an example activity done by a teacher focusing the learning on speaking.

Grade: 11
Skill : Reading and writing
Genre : News item
Technique : Three Phase Technique
Vocabulary : Related to law and crime
Objectives : Enable the students to understand meanings in simple
written text of news item in the context of daily life.
Steps:
a. The students answer task on vocabulary (matching vocabulary with their
meanings)
Instructions:
Match the people on the left with what they do during a trial.
1. The judge ------ a) gives evidence
2. A witness ------ b) reaches a verdict of innocent or guilty
3. The jury ------ c) tries to show the person on trial is guilty
4. The prosecution ------- d) controls the trial and passes sentence

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b. The students answer questions while reading a newspaper article.
Instruction:
Read the newspaper article and answer the
questions

JURY FINDS
MULLINS GUILTY
A jury of seven men and five women said today that 78-year-old Mr.
Andrew Mullins was guilty of murdering his 80-year-old wife, Edith.
Six years ago, Mullins went on trial for murder.

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During the trial Mullins said that
he had killed his wife because she
was very ill and had lost her
mind. He said, ‘The woman I
killed was not my wife. It was a
body in pain and a mind with no
memory.’
He committed the crime on
the night of August 10th in their
home in the small town of
Palmston Beach. That morning
his wife had looked at him with
empty eyes and asked, ‘Who are
you?’ That evening she was in
terrible pain and kept saying,
‘Help me, help me.’ So as she
slept on the sofa that night,
Mullins put a gun against her
head and shot her. Then he
telephoned the police and told
them what he had done. The
police came to the house and
arrested him. Two days later he
was charged with murder.
During the six-week trial, there
were many witnesses who give
evidence. The prosecution called
witnesses who said that Mrs.
Mullins liked to go out, that she
smiled and wore make-up. The
defense called doctors who said
that Mrs. Mullins was in great
pan, and friends who said that
Mr. Mullins loved his wife very
much. But in the end the jury
reached a verdict of guilty.
They agreed with the prosecutor.
It was murder.
Tomorrow the judge will
pass sentence. The law says that
the must send Mullins to prison
for at least twenty-five years.
That means he will not be
released from prison until he is
103 years old!
There are many people in
Palmston Beach tonight who
think the law was wrong. Mullins
is not a criminal. He is not a
dangerous man. Perhaps he is a
man who loved his wife too
much.
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 1) Ask the questions to the following answers:
a. 78
b. Six weeks ago.
c. He shot her
d. Acquaintances, doctors and friends.
e. At least twenty-five years.
f. When he is 103 years old.

2). Put the following events in the story of Charles Mercer in the order in
which they are most likely to have happened.
1. First, --------------------a) the jury reached a verdict.
2. Later --------------------b) he was arrested by the police
3. Next, --------------------c) the jury considered the evidence
4. So then -----------------d) he was sent to prison
5. Now --------------------e) Charles Mercer committed a crime.
6). And ---------------------f) the police charged him.
7) Then --------------------g) he was released from prison.
8) Then --------------------h) the judge passed a sentence
9). After that ---------------i) he went on trial
10) So -----------------------j) the prosecution called witnesses
11)A few years later ----- k) the defense said that he was not a criminal

3). Dictionary work

Match the names of different crimes to examples of those crimes. Do
as many as you can and then check your answers in the dictionary.

a) hijacking c) burglary e) kidnapping g) blackmail

b) shoplifting d) rape f) drug-dealing h) smuggling

1. ------ taking a child a way from his or her family.

2. ------ not paying taxes on goods from another country.

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 3. ------ getting money by promising not to tell a secret.
4. ------ selling cocaine
5. ------ forcing somebody to have sex.
6. ------ taking control of an airplane by force.
7. ------ taking goods from a shop without paying.
8. ------ going into a house and stealing.

Notes:
- The activity is taken from Vocabulary Builder 2 by Bernard Seal.
- In this activity, the difficult words are exploited in exercises. After
finishing the activity, it is hoped that the students learned new
vocabulary of crime while doing reading comprehension task. So the
vocabulary is taken in a certain context.
- The bold typed words in the text are the ones which the
students might find difficulty, that they are exposed in the exercises.

3. Play down the role of bilingual dictionaries.

A corollary to the above is to help students to resist the temptation to overuse
their bilingual dictionaries. In recent years, with the common availability of
electronic pocket dictionaries, students are even more easily tempted to punch in a
word they don’t know and get an instant response. Unfortunately, such practices
rarely help students internalize the words for later recall and use.

C. What do students need to know?

1. Meaning
When we think of what native speakers need to know about a language, this is
similarly that we should expect of our students. Competent speakers of the
language knows the lexis (or vocabulary) of a language – although that
knowledge will vary depending, for example on their education and occupation.
They know what words mean and they also know the subtleties of those
meanings. We look at words in more detail since it is clear that there is far more
to a vocabulary item than just one meaning.

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 The first thing to realize about vocabulary items is that they frequently have
more than one meaning. The word ‘book’, for example obviously refers to
something you use to read from – a set of printed pages fastened together inside
a cover, as a thing to be read.’, according to one learner’s dictionary. But the
same dictionary then goes on to list eight more meanings of ‘book’ as a noun,
two meanings of ‘book’ as a verb and three meanings where ‘book’ +
preposition makes phrasal verbs. So we will have to say that the word ‘book’
sometimes means the kind of thing you read from, but it can also mean a
number of other things.

2. Word use
What a word means can be changed, stretched or limited by how it is
used and this is something students need to know about. Word meaning is
frequently stretched through the use of metaphor and idiom. For example:
‘Snake in the grass’, raining has cats and dogs, putting the cat among the
pigeons, straight from the horse’s mouth, etc.
Word meaning is also governed by collocation – that is which words
go with each other. Example: the word ‘sprained’ we need to know that
whereas we can say ‘sprained ankle’, ‘sprained wrist’, we cannot say ‘sprained
thigh’, or ’sprained rib’. We can have a ‘headache’, ‘stomachache’ or ‘carache’,
but we cannot have a ‘throatache’ or’legage’.
Students need to recognize metaphorical language use and they need to
know how words collocate. They also need to understand what stylistic and
topical contexts words and expressions occur in it.

3. Word formation
Words can change their shape and their grammatical value, too.
Students need to know facts about word formation and how to twist words to fit
different grammatical contexts. Thus the verb ‘run’ has the participles ‘running’
and ‘ran’. The present participle ‘running’ can be used as an adjective and ‘run’
can also be a noun. There is a clear relationship between the words ‘death’,
‘dead’, ‘dying’ and ‘die’.

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 Students also need to know how suffixes and prefixes work. How can
we make the words potent and expensive opposite in meaning? Why do we
preface one with ‘im’ and the other with’in’?
Students need to know how words are spelt and how they sound.
Indeed the way words are stressed (and the way that stress can change when
their grammatical function is different – as with nouns and verbs, for example)
is vital if students are to be able to understand and use words in speech. Part of
leaning a word is learning its written and spoken form.

4. Word grammar
Just as words change according to their grammatical meaning, so the
use of certain words can trigger the use of certain grammatical pattern. Some
example will show that this means. We make a distinction between countable
and uncountable nouns. The former can be both singular and plural. We can say
‘one chair’ or ‘two chairs’. The latter can only be singular: we cannot say ‘two
furnitures’. This difference, then, has certain grammatical implication.

5. Active and passive

A distinction is frequently made between ‘active’ and ‘passive’
vocabulary. The former refers to vocabulary that students have been taught or
learnt- words which the students will recognize when then they meet them but
which they will probably not be able to produce.
This distinction becomes a bit blurred, however, when we consider
what ‘knowing a word’ means and when we consider the way students seem to
acquire their store of words.
It is true that students ‘know’ some words better than others, but it has
not been demonstrated that these words are necessarily the words which
teachers have taught them, especially at higher levels.

D. Examples of vocabulary presentation

There are many occasions when some form of presentation and/or
explanation is the best way to bring new words into the classroom. We will look
at some examples:
1) Realia

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 One way of presenting words is to bring the things they represent into the
classroom – by bringing ‘realia’ into the room. Words like ‘postcards’,
‘ruler’, ‘pen’, ‘ball’, etc. can obviously be presented in this way. The teacher
holds up the object (or points to it), says the word and then gets students to
repeat it.
2) Pictures
Bringing a pen into the classroom is not a problem. Bringing in a car,
however, is. One solution is the use of pictures. Pictures can be board
drawings, wall pictures and charts, flashcards, magazine pictures, and other
non-technical visual representation. Pictures can be used on the board or
bring in pictures. They can illustrate concept such as above and opposite just
as easily as hats, coats, walking sticks, cars, smiles, frowns, etc.
3) Mime, action and gesture
It is often impossible to explain the meaning of words and grammar either
through the use of realia or in pictures. Action, in particular, are probably
better explained by mime. Concepts like ‘running’ or ‘smoking’ are easy to
present in this way; so are ways of walking, expressions, preposition (‘to’,
‘towards’, etc). and times (a hand jerked back over the shoulder to represent
the past, for example).
4) Contrast
We saw how words exist because of their sense relation and this can be used
to teach meaning. We can present the meaning of ‘empty’ by contrasting it
with ‘full’, ‘cold’ by contrasting it with ‘hot’, ‘big’ by ‘small’.

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D. Problems in vocabulary presentation
Part of the problem in teaching vocabulary lies in the fact that whilst there is
a consensus about what grammatical structures should be taught at what levels the
same is hardly true of vocabulary. It is true, of course, that syllabuses include word
lists, but there is no guarantee that the list for one beginner’s syllabus will be
similar to the list for a different set of beginners.
One of the problems of presenting vocabulary is how to select what words to
teach. (Harmer, 1991:154). The current curriculum implemented since 2004 has

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 made it worse. The teachers have freedom to select the appropriate material. The
ministry of education just gives the competency standard and the basic
competence. Sometimes, the teachers forget to facilitate the students with
appropriate vocabulary presentation before stepping to get information from
reading or listening or producing language of speaking and writing.
A general principle of vocabulary selection has been that of frequency. We
can decide which words we should teach on the basis of how frequently they are
used by speakers of the language. The words which are most commonly used are
the ones we should teach first. One principle that has been used in the selection of
vocabulary is that of coverage. A word is more useful if it covers more things than
if it only has one very specific meaning. In order to know which are the most
frequent words we can read or listen to a lot of English and list the words that are
used, showing which ones are used most often and which are used least often. This
was done notably by Michael West (1953) in Harmer (1991) was scanned
newspapers and books to list his frequency tables.

E. Conclusion
Knowing that presenting vocabulary has to have a certain allocation in your
language teaching, you have to remember that presenting vocabulary is not the final
goal of language teaching. Vocabulary supports the skills you teach as the target of
your teaching. In this genre-base approach, teachers can place vocabulary in the phase
of ‘building knowledge of field’, and ‘modeling’. In selecting what words to be
presented, teachers can ‘scan’ the text and find the words that might cause the
students difficulty in understanding and expressing language skills.

Reference

Brown, Douglas. 1994. Teaching by Principles. An Interactive Approach to Language

Pedagogy. San Francisco State University. New Jersey: Prentice Hall
Regents. Upper Saddle River.

Harmer, Jeremy. 1991. The Practice of English Language Teaching. Singapore:

Longman Singapore Publishers Ptc. Ltd.

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Seal, Bernard. 1988. Vocabulary Builder 2. Hong Kong: Longman Group (FE) Ltd.

Appendix
Quartet Card Game (created by Sri Wuryanti). SMP Negeri 1 Salatiga
(see attached file: Quartet Game Card

WORKSHOP
PRESENTING VOCABULARY

Work in groups of 10 participants.

Discuss the following:

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 1. You are teaching your students using GENRE-BASE APPROACH.
How do you place the presenting of vocabulary in your teaching?

2. Find a certain piece of presentation you may do in your classroom. Focus the
teaching on a certain skill, yet, you need to present vocabulary to support the
students’ achievement in the competence.
Determine the following:

a. Grade
b. Skill
c. Vocabulary
d. Objectives
e. Steps
f. Media

3. Choose one of your representative to peer teach your vocabulary presentation.

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