Individual Activity (AI) II

Read pages 7-15 Chapter 2, Techniques in Teaching Vocabulary (Allen 1983), in which the
author explores the need to learn vocabulary in EFL. Throughout the text, there are various
interesting assumptions (or corollaries) that might help teachers or trainers to gain insights
into effective vocabulary learning.

a. Extract 5 premises (or corollaries) that you find relevant to a vocabulary-learning

class.
1. At low levels it’s important to teach basic words (objects that are
around us). These words shouldn’t be polysemantic in order not to
confuse students.
2. Success in learning often depends on the number of senses which are
used in the learning process. (When students can hear the word, see or
touch the object).
3. We learn the vocabulary of our mother tongue in context (in real-life
situations), thus, we should try to do the same when we are learning a
foreign language.
4. Similarly, when we learn vocabulary in our L1, we first pay attention
to the object and then learn how it is called. Teachers should try to
invert their method of vocabulary explanation (wordmeaning) and
try to first draw students’ attention to the object/concept and only then
provide them with an English word. (meaningword)
5. Oral drills can be useful, but we shouldn’t forget about practicing new
words with relation to their normal use.

Premises and their explanations (points A and B) are interrelated. So, point №1
in section A correlates with point №1 in section B and so on.

b. Explain what makes these premises relevant by using your experience as EFL learners
or teachers (introspection). Feel free to use the author’s examples or arguments to
support your choice.
1. By learning the words that are around us, it’s easier to get their
meaning. Students can see these words. (table, pencil, girls and boys,
etc.) Moreover, these words tend to be monosemantic and thus help
students to avoid confusion. Also, the basic words make up the
‘foundation’ of the students’ vocabulary. Students will need this
foundation in later stages of the program and even at more advanced
levels.
2. The second premise is related to the previous one. Students learn better
when they can hear the word and see it at the same time. If they can
 touch it, it’s even better. I strongly agree with this idea. I often use
‘realia’ in my EFL lessons. When students see the object and even can
touch it, their level of attention is higher. It leads to better vocabulary
acquisition. Moreover, many students are ‘visuals’. So, having a visual
representation of an object is crucial for them in order to learn a new
word. In addition, I have noticed that it is easier for me to explain the
new vocabulary item and to make students memorize it if I can show
the word or even mime it. By doing this, I don’t need to provide
students with a translation or a long explanation. Thus, I can save time
and move away from the ‘translation method’ which hasn’t proven to
be very effective.
3. Indeed, children don’t learn their mother tongue through explicit
explanations of every single word. That is why foreign words should
also be learned in context. Teachers should try to create real-life
situations where the new words could be used. Written and oral texts
can also help to provide this context. I think that students should stop
memorizing lists of words. Instead, they could make a couple of
sentences with each new word. By doing this, they will understand
how the given word is actually used in real-life situations.
4. I agree with the author that sometimes it can be useful to compare
language learning with the acquisition of our mother tongue. Indeed,
students learn better when they are willing to know how the given
object is called. So, the teachers should create a need for the new
words. The teacher can use pictures to create this need (as it was
shown in the reading). I can add that the TBL approach (Tasked-based-
learning) works miracles and can be very helpful to create the need for
new words. For example, students might be asked to make a birthday
invitation. They should draw pictures and write some sentences
specifying the details of their birthday party. Students are motivated
and can show their creativity. When a student doesn’t know a word,
(for example, ‘candles’, ‘a disco’ or ‘a theme party’) he or she can ask
the teacher (request the English word). Thus, students are aware that
they really need to know this word. Otherwise, they are unable to talk
and write about their birthdays.
5. It’s a fact that oral repetitions can help students to improve
pronunciation and ‘automatize’ some vocabulary and grammar
structures. However, the teacher shouldn’t spend too much time on this
activity, since it’s more important to practice new words in context and
see how we can actually use them in our life. By doing communicative
and interactive activities students can get the meaning of the learned
word, while in oral drills we focus mostly on the sound form.