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46LEARNING TECHNICAL VOCABULARY WITH ENHANCEMENT ACTIVITIES IN AN ESP COURSE Fayazova D.S.
Fayazova Dilfuza Sa 'dullayevna - Teacher of the English Language, ENGLISH LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT, BUKHARA ENGINEERING-TECHNOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, BUKHARA, REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN
Abstract: the article is aimed at discussing some aspects of effective teaching of specialized vocabulary in ESP lessons. Problems of selecting, presenting and practicing terms will be approached from both theoretical and practical points of view. The purpose of this paper is to explore the effectiveness of vocabulary enhancement activities on vocabulary learning in an ESP course.
Keywords: desirable difficulty, ESP, four strands principle, target words, vocabulary enhancement activity, vocabulary knowledge scale.
Technical vocabulary is a fundamental component in the ESP course. It is a major issue that learners encounter in the classroom when they use technical words in solving exercises related to reading passage or any other activities. To deal with the challenge, the lesson plan concerning vocabulary should be accurately prepared before delivering the list of the target words. It is necessary to specify the appropriate technical vocabulary that should be introduced and practiced, using appropriate methods and activities to meet the needs of that particular group of learners. The ESP course focuses more on vocabulary in context as the students are learning the language integrated into a subject matter area in order to communicate a set of professional skills and to perform particular job-related functions [1] (Liuoliene & Metiuniene, 2013). This study therefore set out to explore the learners' attitude to the advantages and disadvantages of the vocabulary program and to determine what learning outcomes were finally achieved. Vocabulary learning and teaching is very important in learning English; nevertheless, vocabulary was a neglected area in foreign language teaching for a number of years. In order to develop students' communicative competence, language teachers should encourage them to learn as many words as possible. English for specific purposes course (ESP) are new trend in English Language Teaching and they include technical English, scientific English, English for medical professionals, English for waiters, and English for tourism. There are different opinions about teaching ESP courses but vocabulary is crucial in this sphere of teaching. Teaching vocabulary especially in ESP courses is becoming a challenge for English Language Teachers. Vocabulary is an inseparable part of any teaching syllabus and vocabulary should be taught in a well-planned and regular basis. It is essential to carefully decide what vocabulary will be selected for teaching, and what approach or activities will be used to teach it to the students.. English teachers are being trained in using modern methods of English teaching and attend local and international conferences. Old teaching methods are rapidly being replaced with modern ones. Schmitt [2](2000, p. 131) emphasizes that "the object of vocabulary learning is to transfer lexical information from short-term memory, where it resides during the process of manipulating language, to permanent long-term memory". Short-term memory is also called working memory. Working memory is a kind of gateway where the information is transferred to long-memory.
Long-term memory serves as the storage area of information. The amount of information that people hold there is not known but the information can be stored for a long period of time. However, instead of words being represented alphabetically, concepts are represented according to their associations to one another. An example is the word "blue" and what usually comes to mind is the sky which is closely associated with blue or "red" usually associated with love. A recent trend in higher education is
ESP (English for Specific Purposes) courses. There are many training sessions organized by international experts whose goal is to train local teachers to teach these courses successfully. In order to develop an ability to learn new vocabulary, for both general English and technical vocabulary in learning ESP (English for Specific Purposes), the students should become aware of the importance of language learning strategies and be trained to use them appropriately. Most of the students taking ESP identify it with specific terminology related to their field of study. There are degrees of technicality depending on how restricted a word is to a particular area[3] (Nation, 2001, p. 198). ESP is seen as an approach rather than a product, by which is meant that ESP does not involve a particular kind of language, teaching material or methodology.
In the conclusion we want to emphasize that language teachers should prepare their learners to deal with the large numbers of technical words that occur in specialized texts (Nation, 2001). It is my opinion that language teachers who teach ESP courses should be familiar with the core vocabulary of the field of study and design curricula that integrate both content area and English language. The most important step in helping students to use different strategies which would lead to success is organizing strategy training sessions with students in every class so that our students can learn words more effectively.
References
1. Driscol P.M., 2005. Psychology of learning for instruction. Third Edition. USA: Pearson Education, Inc.
2. Schmitt N., 2000. Vocabulary in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
3. Nation I.S.P., 2001. Learning vocabulary in another language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
