CC BY
9DOI: 10.12731/2077-1770-2016-3-2-256-262 UDC 8(81)
EXPLORING CREATIVITY IN TEACHING VOCABULARY
Minasyan E.T.
This article considers the exploration and implementation of some creative activities in topical vocabulary acquisition and checking processes. This pedagogical intervention aims at eliminating lack of attention and interest. It was observed that learners initially were reluctant to memorize and perform the active vocabulary in task discussions or topic-related speech. Yet the proposed creative methods improved the level of lesson engagement and interest, enlarged students ' vocabulary usage and brought about innovative techniques of vocabulary checking.
Keywords: pedagogical skills; creative skill; motivating skill; active vocabulary; equivalent.
ИССЛЕДОВАНИЕ КРЕАТИВНОСТИ В ОБУЧЕНИИ ЛЕКСИКИ
Минасян Е.Т.
В данной статье рассматриваются исследование и внедрение некоторых креативных методов в процесс изучения и проверки тематической лексики. Такое педагогическое вмешательство направлено на устранение недостатка внимания и интереса в аудитории. Было отмечено, что студенты изначально не хотели запоминать и употреблять активный словарный запас в обсуждениях или презентациях. Тем не менее, предлагаемые творческие мето-
ды улучшили уровень взаимодействия во время урока, возродили интерес, расширили использование лексики и вывели инновационные методы для проверки лексики.
Ключевые слова: педагогические навык; творческий навык; мотивирующий навык; активная лексика; эквивалент.
Introduction
Teachers often confront moments when there exists a crippling lack of interest or attention in the classroom which is a real threat and can hinder the learning process. To improve the language performance and acquisition in such situations, creative activities are regarded rather useful and effective to meet this challenge. Creativity is an imaginative way of contemplating over the issue, producing authentic and innovative solutions, and bringing them into life with great passion and commitment. Therefore, creativity in teaching is quite essential as it helps to create suitable activities to motivate learners, ease the learning process and encourage their progress.
The calling of a teacher is a life-long learning process, quite demanding and sometimes discouraging. Nonetheless, educators are expected to face any challenge using their pedagogical skills and expertise. During my teaching career covering nearly two decades I have struggled to design creative activities in order to boost speaking skills, to ease and make grammar learning process enjoyable, to develop analytical thinking, and so forth. The implementation of these strategies that demand a greater degree of creativity and novelty reinforce not only the quality of language teaching, but as well made the learning process enjoyable, fruitful and motivating.
Due to the advancement of technology the academic setting has changed significantly, the learning and teaching models have moved forward to a more interactive, autonomous and practical styles. The
majority of learners, especially in higher educational institutions, need to improve their occupation-related vocabulary, communicative skills, and critical thinking. To meet these needs educators should consider potential and creative teaching options suitable for that definite teaching context, which, therefore, will help to overcome students' challenges, like lack of interest or concentration.
Experimental stage
The instructional activities illustrated in this paper are based on my own experience and are meant to be helpful for educators to boost the effectiveness of the teaching, as learners expect to cover and improve all skills: reading, writing, listening, speaking and grammar, suggested by me as the 5th core skill in language acquisition [1, p. 107]. Here the emphasis is led on vocabulary activities which help the students to learn it in a creative, stimulating and innovative way, just escaping the boredom of standardized learning procedure.
The further following activities were first implemented for Business English course in Plekhanov Russian University of Economics. During the first year of study I gave the students great autonomy to manage the vocabulary acquisition on their own, which was ineffective as they were not always determined. Later the learners were provided with unit-based complete wordlists, mindmaps, spidergrams, etc. and the checking process was rather traditional and discouraging as they just gave the definitions of phrases/words. To increase the level of student engagement and motivation another task was added in the same wordlists, like 'Add at least 10 more new words/phrases with definitions and examples from the relevant context'. This instructional activity was really useful to identify the unknown vocabulary per student, to boost their attention, interest and commitment [3, ppe.248-251]. Nonetheless, the above mentioned activities were not very effective for the teacher
to ensure, first, complete learning of the active vocabulary, secondly, to trigger learners' interest and concentration. So I searched for innovative and creative methods of vocabulary acquisition, which would help to enrich their active vocabulary, mainly with business terms and phrases. Here are demonstrated 4 activities mostly focusing on vocabulary check-up processes:
1. Chain game
Each unit consists of nearly 30 new words and phrases, which are either illustrated on the board during classroom hours or provided in a frame of ready wordlists with definitions, examples and equivalents, latter being completed by students.
To perform the chain game, the learners need to sit in a circle and speak out the active vocabulary of the covered material in turn. At this final checking stage the creative approach of making learners pronounce the words and phrases in a chain, just one after the other stimulates their concentration and improves memorizing skills. They need to utter the word/phrase with its definition and contextual example, and they shouldn't repeat the words/phrases twice.
2. Group insight
The learners are divided into 2 or 3 groups and are given 10 different terms/phrases per group. They should look at the word/phrase and by using their knowledge need to describe the words, illustrate examples, make associations, and the other group need to guess and name the term/phrase. This kind of task is rather exciting as the learners need to know the active vocabulary thoroughly, need to be careful and fast in thinking and answering. Wrong explanations, examples or definitions are considered as mistakes; therefore the mistaken group loses some scores.
3. Jumbled parts
As I have mentioned before, the learners are provided with unit-tailored wordlists (over 30 terms/phrases per unit) with definitions, related examples and blank columns to complete the translations in their native language. During this vocabulary checkup the learners are again made in 2-3 groups and sit in circles. The educator provides each group with a pile of jumbled parts of words/phrases. This activity is strictly time-related: they have 10 minutes to match the parts and get the complete wordlist of that definite unit. The winner group is the one that completes first with no mistakes. Such activities prove to be really motivating, as the learners cooperate with one another and the tutor should follow that they interact in English.
4. Blank paper and colours
This activity has proved to be the most challenging, encouraging and creative. We have the same number of groups (2 or 3) with 4 or 5 students in a team sitting in a circle. At the first stage of this activity they are given one blank sheet of paper per group, and need to write down the whole active vocabulary within 15 minutes. As the time is out, the educator signs the exact number of words/phrases they managed to put down. At the second stage they start uttering out loud the term, define it and bring examples from the relevant field. In this activity we need as well as colours: red, black and green. In black they write down the words/phrases, with green they mark if they give the correct definition, examples and equivalents of the written words, and red is used to complete the missing phrases. At the end the colourful sheets of paper are graded by the teacher.
Conclusion
These innovative and creative approaches in vocabulary learning have been successfully implemented by me in Business English cours-
es for upper-intermediate learners. By stimulating creative strategies in the classroom I could observe that learners experienced new learning techniques with great engagement, proved to memorize and use the active vocabulary twice effectively. Moreover, these creative tasks give completely fresh breath to classroom routine, increases the level of student-teacher interaction and learners look forward to coming lessons with curiosity and expectation [4, pp. 53-58].
Creativity can be used to make classes much more original by going out of formal frames of teaching. It helps the teachers to expand their horizons in an EFL context to see what will be efficient for future generations [2, pp. 91-103].
References
1. Minasyan E.T., Midova V.O. Grammar as One of Key Competences of Language Acquisition. Russian Linguistic Bulletin. 2016. № 3 (7). pp. 107-108. DOI: 10.18454/RULB.7.05
2. Hernán A. Avila Creativity in the English Class: Activities to Promote EFL Learning. Vol. 22, No. 2. Bogotá, Colombia. 2015-2016, pp. 91-103.
3. Maslova E.G. Teacher Talking Time as a Counterproductive Way of Classroom Management. Humanitarian Education in the Higher Institution of Economics. 2016, pp. 248-251.
4. Kozlova A.A. Some Essential Characteristics of LSP and Peculiarities of Teaching It. Humanitarian Education in the Higher Institution of Economics. 2016, pp. 53-58.
Список литературы 1. Минасян Е.Т., Мидова В.О. Грамматика как одна из ключевых компетенций освоения языка // Русский лингвистический бюллетень. 2016. № 3 (7). C. 107-108.
2. Хернан А. Авила Креативность на уроках английского - упражнения для изучения АИЯ. Том. 22, № 2. Богота, Колумбия, 20152016. С. 91-103.
3. Маслова Е.Г. Преобладание речи преподавателя, как неэффективный способ управления учебным процессом // Гуманитарное образование в экономическом вузе. 2016. С. 248-25.
4. Козлова А.А. Некоторые существенные характеристики языка для специальных целей и особенности его преподавания // Гуманитарное образование в экономическом вузе. 2016, pp. 53-58.
DATA ABOUT THE AUTHOR Minasyan Eva Tigranovna, Associate Professor, Foreign Languages Chair N 1, Ph.D. in Philology
Plekhanov Russian University of Economics
5, Rodionov Str., Khimky, Moskovskaya oblast, 141410, Russian
Federation
minaseva2012@gmail. com
ДАННЫЕ ОБ АВТОРЕ Минасян Ева Тиграновна, доцент кафедры иностранных языков N1, кандидат филологических наук
Российский экономический университет им. Г.В. Плеханова ул. Родионова, 5, г. Химки, Московская область, 141410, Российская Федерация minaseva2012@gmail. com
