WEB-ресурс научно-практических конференций

Hembliuk E.V.

CURRENT RESEARCH AND PRACTICE IN TEACHING VOCABULARY

A systematic framework for vocabulary development may be viewed as the combination of three approaches to vocabulary instruction and learning. These three approaches are incidental learning, explicit instruction, and independent strategy development. The incidental learning of vocabulary requires that teachers provide opportunities for extensive reading and listening. Explicit instruction involves diagnosing the words learners need to know, presenting words for the first time, elaborating word knowledge, and developing fluency with familiar words. Finally, independent strategy development involves practice in making inferences from the context and training learners to use dictionaries.

Although all of these approaches and principles have a role to play in vocabulary instruction, the learners' proficiency level and learning situation should be considered when deciding the relative emphasis to be placed on each approach. In general, emphasizing explicit instruction is probably best for beginning and intermediate students who have limited vocabularies. On the other hand, extensive reading and listening might receive more attention for more proficient intermediate and advanced students. Also, because of its immediate benefits, dictionary training should begin early in the curriculum.

In the long run, most words in both source and target languages are probably learned incidentally, through extensive reading and listening [4, p. 243]. Incidental vocabulary learning is the acquisition of new words as a by-product of a meaning-focused communicative activity, such as reading, listening, and interaction. It occurs through multiple exposures to a word in different contexts. Learners are able to pick up vocabulary through extensive reading, communicative interactions or exposure to natural input such as movies, TV, etc. Explicit vocabulary teaching is crucial for teaching the core vocabulary, particularly for the learning of basic lexical and semantic knowledge. Incidental vocabulary acquisition should be encouraged for further lexical and semantic development of the words learned through explicit instruction and for learning additional vocabulary. It is contextualized, giving the learner a richer sense of a word's use and meaning than can be provided in traditional pair-associated exercises, pedagogically efficient in that it enables two activities - vocabulary acquisition and reading - to occur at the same time, and more individualized and learner-based because the vocabulary being acquired is dependent on the learner's own selection of reading materials.

The incidental learning of vocabulary may eventually account for the major part of advanced learners' vocabulary; however, intentional learning through instruction also significantly contributes to vocabulary development. Explicit instruction is particularly essential for beginning students whose lack of vocabulary limits their reading ability. It is evident that beginners cannot learn enough words to learn vocabulary through extensive reading since they do not know enough words to read well. According to Coady J. the solution is to have students supplement their extensive reading with study of the 3,000 most frequent words until the words' form and meaning becomes automatically recognized. The first stage in teaching these 3,000 words commonly begins with word-pairs in which an L2 word is matched with an L1 translation [2, p.229].

Translation has a necessary and useful role for L2 learning, but it can hinder learners' progress if it is used to the exclusion of L2-based techniques. The both "advanced" and "weaker" learners could recall more newly learned words using L1 translations than using L2 context. However, "weaker" learners are less able to transfer knowledge learned from translation into an L2 context. Weaker learners require more time when using an L2 context as they have less developed L2 networks and are slower to use syntactic information. To discourage the learners from over-relying on translation teachers should talk with them about their expectations of language learning and the pitfalls of low-effort strategies like translation. Furthermore, translation needs to be followed up with other L2-based exercises and learning strategies [5, p.478].

Vocabulary lists can be an effective way to quickly learn word-pair translations. However, Atkinson R. C. considers that it is more effective to use vocabulary cards, because learners can control the order in which they study the words [1, p.124].

Guessing from context is a complex and often difficult strategy to carry out successfully. To guess successfully from context learners need to know about 19 out of every 20 words (95%) of a text, which requires knowing the 3,000 most common words. However, even if one knows these words, unless the context is very constrained, which is a relatively rare occurrence, or unless there is a relationship with a known word identifiable on the basis of form and supported by context, there is little chance of guessing the correct meaning [3, p.203].

Although this strategy often may not result in gaining a full understanding of word meaning and form, guessing from context may still contribute to vocabulary learning. Just what is and is not learned will partly depend on text difficulty as well as the learners' level. In particular, more proficient learners using texts that are not overly difficult can be expected to use this strategy more effectively than low proficiency learners. It should also be remembered that learning vocabulary also includes learning about collocations, associations, and related grammatical patterns as well as meaning. Therefore, if regularly practiced, this strategy may contribute to deeper word knowledge for advanced learners as long as they pay attention to the word and its context.

Learning vocabulary through incidental, intentional, and independent approaches requires teachers to plan a wide variety of activities and exercises. The amount of emphasis that teachers and programs decide to place on any given activity will depend on the learners' level and the educational goals of the teacher and the program. In general, it makes most sense to emphasize the direct teaching of vocabulary for learners who still need to learn the first 3,000 most common words. As learners' vocabulary expands in size and depth, then extensive reading and independent strategies may be increasingly emphasized. Extensive reading and listening, translation, elaboration, and fluency activities, guessing from context, and using dictionaries all have a role to play in the systematic development of the learners' vocabulary knowledge.

References

1. Atkinson R. C. Optimizing the learning of a second language vocabulary. // Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1972. - No 96 . – P.124-129.

2. Coady J. L2 vocabulary acquisition through extensive reading. In J. Coady & T. Huckin (Eds.), Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition. - Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1997. – P. 225 – 237.

3. Kelly P. Guessing : No substitute for systematic learning of lexis. // System, 1990. – No 18. – P. 199 – 207.

4. Nagy W. E., Herman P., Anderso R. C. Learning words from context. / / Reading Research Quarterly. – 1985. - No 20 . – P. 233-253.

5. Prince P. Second language vocabulary learning: The role of context versus translations as a function of proficiency. // The Modern Language Journal, 1996. - No 80 . – P. 478-493.