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665PHILOSOPHY AND PHILOLOGY
EFFECTIVENESS OF TEACHING VOCABULARY THROUGH SHORT STORIES
Akhmedova Mehrinigor Bakhodirovna
An assistant lecturer of Bukhara State University, Uzbekistan
Abstract. In this thesis, author the problems in the development of students' vocabulary skills and several factors due to which this skill cannot develop, different methods used by different teachers and review their positive and negative sides , the importance of vocabulary in three stages is emphasized. All exams, tests are based on mostly vocabulary, future workers will be considered the best if they have a large vocabulary, vocabulary is the source for trading and so on. It is stated that building and activating learners' background knowledge, motivating them are some of the main goals in teaching vocabulary skills.
English language learners who experience slow vocabulary development are less able to comprehend text at grade level. Such students are likely to perform poorly when assessed in various areas and are at risk of being diagnosed as learning disabled. I am cognizant of the fact that vocabulary acquisition, semantic development and growth of word knowledge are currently being studied in several interesting ways, hence the research that is presented here is to complement and augment these studies by introducing effective vocabulary teaching strategies in the English for academic purposes ESL classroom that will expedite the vocabulary development in ELLs.
Without some knowledge of vocabulary, neither language production nor language comprehension would be possible. Thus the growth of vocabulary knowledge is one of the essential pre-requisites for language acquisition and this growth of vocabulary knowledge can only be possible when teachers employ effective vocabulary teaching and learning strategies which are the objectives of this thesis.
There are many good reasons for using literature in the classroom. Here are a few:
• Literature is authentic material. It is good to expose learners to this source of unmodified language in the classroom because they skills they acquire in dealing with difficult or unknown language can be used outside the class.
• Literature encourages interaction. Literary texts are often rich is multiple layers of meaning, and can be effectively mined for discussions and sharing feelings or opinions.
• Literature expands language awareness. Asking learners to examine sophisticated or non standard examples of language (which can occur in literary texts) makes them more aware of the norms of language use.
• Literature educates the whole person. By examining values in literary texts, teachers encourage learners to develop attitudes towards them. These values and attitudes relate to the world outside the classroom.
• Literature is motivating. Literature holds high status in many cultures and countries. For this reason, students can feel a real sense of achievement at understanding a piece of highly respected literature. Also, literature is often more interesting than the texts found in course books.
Even literature has different types, short stories are more common to use in EL classes. There can be noted some advantages of it.
First, short stories are practical as their length is long enough to cover entirely in one or two class sessions. Second, short stories are not complicated for students to work with on their own. Third, short stories have a variety of choice for different interests and tastes. Finally, short stories can be used with all levels (beginner to advance), all ages (young learners to adults) and all classes.
In using short stories to teach English, story selection is indeed one of the most important roles of the teacher. Since the lengths of short-stories quite vary, choose a story short enough to handle within course hours. The shortness of the text is important for the students because they will see that they can read, understand and finish something in English, and it will give the students a feeling of achievement and self-confidence. Besides the length of the text, Hill points out three other basic criteria of choosing the text:
(1) the needs and abilities of the students;
(2) the linguistic and stylistic level of the text;
(3) the amount of background information required for a true appreciation of the material.
The importance of considering these criteria could be perceived by realizing that the vocabulary and sentence structure of the short-story to be studied must be suitable to the level of the students. The short-stories with archaic, slang, foreign words, and allusions, having sentences imitating the speech of a particular locality or ignorant people or foreigners should be avoided if the text is intended for students below intermediate level. Similarly, very long sentences are difficult for students to understand. As students will not understand these sentences and words, they will get bored and not read the work. Therefore, before giving the short-story, the teacher should decide the readability of the text.
One of the most effective methods of helping students learn new vocabulary words is to teach unfamiliar words used in a text prior to the reading experience. Teacher should preview reading materials to determine which words are unfamiliar. Then these words should be defined and discussed. It is important for the teacher to not only tell the students what the word means, but also to discuss its meaning. This allows the learners to develop an understanding of the word's connotations as well as its denotation. Also, discussion provides the teacher with feedback about how well the student understands the word. After pre-teaching vocabulary words, the student should read the text.
It is important for language learners to record the words they learn or encounter. Vocabulary journals can serve as a reference source in and out of the class room. Once learners record the target vocabulary, it becomes easy for them to remember or use it.
Contextualization
The learners learn to use the word in sentences through gap filling activity, storybuilding or role-play activity.
Labeling (tactile learner)
Learners label various parts or objects in class. This activity can be extended at home or immediate environment.
Personalization
This process is also known as deep-processing. The learners visualize themselves doing a specific activity relating to the target vocabulary, e.g. learners imagine themselves throwing a pocket.
Target vocabulary = throw.
Students can also be asked to think and express what freedom means to them individually.
If students develop their vocabulary skills, if they read with a clear purpose in mind and learn to apply various strategies, like guessing from the context, using context clues, using keyword technique and using dictionaries and so on , they will engage in reading with greater understanding and effectiveness , will learn to solve problems , be creative and will become independent learners.
Teachers' role in teaching vocabulary is very great. Their first and the most important task is to find materials that their students will find easy and interesting to read. In each vocabulary lesson learners need to know the meaning of many more words than teachers teach them.
The new perspective on teaching vocabulary in the large classroom aims to develop language skills and contributes to the students' personal growth and fosters their autonomy first as language learners and then as individuals.
To conclude we can say that using short stories in teaching vocabulary is effective and important.
REFERENCES
1. Collie J & Slater S.Literature in the language classroom. (5th ed.). Glasgow: Cambridge University Press.1991.
2. Harmer, J. "Practice of English language Teaching". New York: Longman Publishers House. 1991.
3. Stahl, S." Vocabulary Knowledge". New York: Newbury House. 2005.
4. Zimmerman, C.B. Vocabulary learning methods. Cambridge Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.2007.
5. Widdowson, H. Stylistics and the Teaching of Literature,1993.
