Exam Focus 2: Vocabulary Teaching and Learning

In this exam I am going to start out by discussing why vocabulary is so important when learning English.

I’ll discuss different theorist’s points of view on the matter and comparing it to what I saw in teaching practice in a 4^th grade at Herstededøster Skole as well as explaining some of the materials that worked really well for me in order to achieve vocabulary.

Research Question:

Why is vocabulary essential in the English classroom and how can I teach it?

E.D. Hirsch describes vocabulary as the Matthew Effect: ”The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.” So the more you know, the more you will learn.

Knowing a word is often defined as recognizing the word when seeing or hearing it, however Lynne Cameron states that learning vocabulary is not only about learning words, but also about learning more about those words. Learning how to understand them and use them in different contexts.

According to Birgit Henriksen ait is necessary to know at least 95% of the words in a text being read for ones reading being satisfactory. She also has a list of things that can help us when remembering words which I will get further into in the exam:

Frequency

Depth of cognitive processing

The possibility of working with webs of associations

Variation in the form of presentation

Salient features in the word. 

About the subject Karen Lund says: “To achieve oral and written proficiency it is, however, far from sufficient to be able to compose single sentences that are correct as regards grammar and meaning.” So although vocabulary and grammar are important to know, it is not enough to achieve oral and written proficiency. So as a teacher it is important to keep in mind that vocabulary isn’t all.

Doug Lemov states that vocabulary in itself is not much worth knowing; he says that the important part is to teach the pupils to use the words in sentences as there is a long way from knowing the definition of a word to knowing how to use it in a sentence.

What I saw working best when teaching the pupils vocabulary at Herstedøster Skole were games and competitions. The children who were shy and not as inclined to speak in groups, would often forget that when they were playing games and doing competitions. And the children who weren’t shy found it easier to keep concentration in these activities. It was also said in interviews I did that these were their favourite activities.

References:

Cameron, Lynne (2001): Teaching Languages to Young Learners  (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)

Henriksen, Birgit (1995): 'How does one remember words?' IN Sprogforum no. 3

Henriksen, Birgit (1995): 'What does knowing a word mean?' IN Sprogforum no. 3

Lemov, Doug (2010): ‘Teach like a Champion’ (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass)

Lund, Karen: ‘Communicative competence - where do we stand? ‘ - http://inet.dpb.dpu.dk/infodok/sprogforum/Espr4/lund1.html