CC BY
23FOSTERING VOCABULARY ACQUISITION IN
LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
1 "2 Madrakhimova M.S. , Omonova Z.
1Madrakhimova Makhbubakhon Sobirjonovna - Teacher
of English,
MANAGEMENT IN PRODUCTION FACULTY, FERGANA POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE, FERGANA;
Omonova Zilola - Student, ANDIJANMACHINEBUILDING TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE,
ANDIJAN, REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN
Abstract: the article under discussion depicts the role of vocabulary acquisition in learning process of English. The authors of the article discuss the main features of vocabulary acquisition and suggest several ways to improve vocabulary learning process.
Keywords: vocabulary, learning, complex process, words, acquisition, ability, recall, dictionary, constitute.
Learning vocabulary is a complex process. The students' aim to be reached in learning vocabulary process is primarily their ability to recall the word at will and to recognize it in its spoken and written form. Generally, knowing a word involves knowing its form and its meaning at the basic level.
Acquiring new words is a primary concern for most ESL (English as a Second Language) and EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students, as they seem to feel that an extensive vocabulary is an essential component of becoming a fluent English speaker. As a result, ESL students learn to rely heavily on English-English dictionaries hard copy and electronic to facilitate the language learning process, but often use dictionaries that are too linguistically complex or which act merely as translators. As a result, students often look to their English instructors for suggestions on which is the best dictionary to help them better understand and learn the language. The answer to this question seems simple - buy a good English-English dictionary. However,
what exactly constitutes a good English-English dictionary? The answer cannot only be determined by which brand of dictionary is most affordable or most available, nor can it be based on an instructor's own familiarity with a particular dictionary. When recommending an English-English dictionary to ESL students, an instructor must consider a number of elements such as the level of the students, and the degree of ease with which the dictionary can be used. An instructor must also consider whether students have the knowledge of how a dictionary functions and of how to interpret and use the information provided in dictionary definitions.
When our focus is on definition of single words, we commonly provide a picture of a word or bring realia to class to show students the object itself, or mention a synonym, opposite, superordinate. Alternatively, we might explain by saying, "Best is the superlative of good." We might ask students to learn "word families" like grow, growth, grower in the hope that this will spur rapid acquisition. When emphasis is given on collocation, we immediately encounter some problems with the above practices [1, p.p. 655-670].
In teaching vocabulary to ESL/EFL learners teachers should focus learners' attention on the following:
• Opposites. A word might have two opposites: the opposite of short might be long or tall, depending on if we are referring to a person's hair or a person's height. The opposite of a bad case of poison ivy is not a good one, but a mild one, and the opposite of rock-hard would not be rock-soft, but might be expressed as baby-soft. Also, it is hard to say what an opposite is. Is enemy the opposite offriend? Friend might be contrasted with enemy in a proverb like, "A thousand friends are not enough, one enemy is too many." But in naturally occurring language friend is more often connected with words like the following: "family, friends and acquaintances," "friends, neighbors, co-workers," "friends and acquaintances," etc.
• Synonyms. In certain contexts earth and world might be roughly synonymous, but when we use those words for expression we say, "the largest airport in the world," or "the largest airport on earth," not "the largest airport on world," or "the
largest airport in the earth." Grains and Redman point out that while break out may have the meaning of start in a sentence like, "A fire broke out," it would be quite wrong to say, "Class breaks out at 7:30 every morning," even if it seems like it.
• Word families. A word like grower is regularly derived from the verb, but is almost always premodified, and students need examples like "peach growers" and "sugar growers", "chicken growers", if they are to actually use the word. The idea that you can "grow" chickens might surprise many students!
• Collocation is of much higher importance, however, in terms of use, acquisition and ultimate success in language learning. In a vocabulary presentation, one-tenth of our time should be spent on establishing a definition, and the rest of the time should be spent on collocation and use.
In general, the ways we mention opposites, synonyms, word families and collocations are useful for grouping words, or establishing sense relations, but like all definition-based strategies don't really teach words for use. When our emphasis is on collocation, we might start out our explanation of better by saying, "Well, better is the comparative of good," or "Better is the opposite of worse," but we would go on to mention such exemplifications as "a better world / future / job" or expressions with verbs like "feel better" and "look better" and "get better" and "make something better," or modification with adverbs like, "a little / somewhat / quite / much / significantly better," etc. [2, p.p. 5-17].
References
1. Erlbaum Brown T.S. & Perry F.L. A comparison for three language strategies for ESL vocabulary acquisition. TESOL Quarterly, 25.04.1991. P.p. 655-670
2. Grains R & Redman S. Working with Words. Oxford: Oxford University Press., 1993. P.p. 5-17.
