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35Central Asian Research Journal For Interdisciplinary Studies (CARJIS)
ISSN (online): 2181-2454
Volume 2 | Issue 6 | Juni, 2022 | SJIF: 5,965 | UIF: 7,6 | ISRA: JIF 1.947 | Google Scholar |
www.carjis.org DOI: 10.24412/2181-2454-2022-6-64-70
PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS FOR ENGLISH UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN VOCABULARY LEARNING
Maftuna Rustamovna Uraimshikova
Chirchik State Pedagogical Institute
Scientific advisor: Sohila Aminova ABSTRACT
English proficiency is determined by the vocabulary knowledge of second and foreign language learners, as well as native speakers. Though expanding one's vocabulary is important, it presents various challenges, particularly for non-native English students. Students with a low vocabulary knowledge perform poorly academically in several courses linked to language skills, linguistics, literature, and translation at the university level. This article, in particular, aims to investigate the problems faced by English majors in learning and also puts forward some vocabulary-learning strategies to minimize the potential problems.
Keywords: English majors, vocabulary knowledge, vocabulary-learning problems, vocabulary-learning strategies.
ПРОБЛЕМЫ И РЕШЕНИЯ ДЛЯ СТУДЕНТОВ АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА В ИЗУЧЕНИИ ЛЕКСИКИ
АННОТАЦИЯ
Уровень владения английским языком определяется наличием словарного запаса у изучающих второй и иностранный языки, а также у носителей языка. Хотя расширение словарного запаса важно, оно сопряжено с различными проблемами, особенно для учащихся, не являющихся носителями английского языка. Учащиеся с низким словарным запасом плохо учатся на нескольких курсах, связанных с языковыми навыками, лингвистикой, литературой и переводом на университетском уровне. Эта статья, в частности, направлена на исследование проблем, с которыми сталкиваются студенты, изучающие английский язык, а также предлагает некоторые стратегии изучения словарного запаса, чтобы свести к минимуму потенциальные проблемы.
Ключевые слова: Предметы английского языка, знание словарного
Central Asian Research Journal For Interdisciplinary Studies (CARJIS)
ISSN (online): 2181-2454
Volume 2 | Issue 6 | Juni, 2022 | SJIF: 5,965 | UIF: 7,6 | ISRA: JIF 1.947 | Google Scholar |
www.carjis.org DOI: 10.24412/2181-2454-2022-6-64-70
запаса, проблемы изучения словарного запаса, стратегии изучения словарного запаса.
INTRODUCTION
Thinking of language learning entails discussing vocabulary. It signifies that a language cannot be isolated from its vocabulary, because vocabulary is the foundation of language. As a result, knowledge of vocabulary is the most crucial component of learning a language. Hatch and Brown agree with this statement (1995:1). "Vocabulary is the foundation to build languages, which plays a fundamental role in communication" they argue. Nowadays, English is spoken practically everywhere in the world, whether as a first, second, or foreign language. In Uzbekistan, English is a foreign language that includes both language abilities and linguistic features. Language abilities include listening, speaking, reading, and writing, whereas language aspects include pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, structure, and speaking fluency.
Teaching vocabulary is one of the most crucial aspects of any language class since it allows second language learners to comprehend and express themselves. Students can express themselves in written and spoken English by learning vocabulary. Students are highly recommended to memorize the terms when acquiring vocabulary. They ought to also understand each word's part of speech, whether it is a noun, verb, adjective, or adverb. Students should understand the meaning of the terms when they study a foreign language. Many implications or impacts are likely to occur when students do not understand the meaning of a word, for example, students misinterpret the meaning of the message and students tend to lack desire in learning English.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Vocabulary is the most important aspect of learning a mother tongue or any other language. Language acquisition cannot occur without learning its lexis, which is subject to limitless variations in meaning due to diverse contextual circumstances. Along with phonetics/pronunciation and grammar, vocabulary is one of the most important aspects of learning a foreign language. Furthermore, vocabulary serves as the foundation for language abilities such as listening, speaking, reading, and writing. It is difficult to achieve any level of language fluency without first acquiring the vocabulary. The foundation of learning a second language is vocabulary. Nunan
Central Asian Research Journal For Interdisciplinary Studies (CARJIS)
ISSN (online): 2181-2454
Volume 2 | Issue 6 | Juni, 2022 | SJIF: 5,965 | UIF: 7,6 | ISRA: JIF 1.947 | Google Scholar |
www.carjis.org DOI: 10.24412/2181-2454-2022-6-64-70
(1991) goes on to claim that developing a sufficient vocabulary is critical for successful second language use because we will be unable to employ the structures and functions we have learned due to our huge vocabulary gap for clear communication. (McCarthy, 1990, p.viii) notes that " no matter how well the student learn grammar, no matter how successfully the sounds of second language are mastered, without words to express a wider range of meanings, communication in a second language just cannot happen in any meaningful way". Schmitt (2000) emphasizes that "lexical knowledge is central to communicative competence and to the acquisition of second language". Communication in a second language allows you to express a larger range of meanings. Furthermore, vocabulary knowledge is an essential component of communication skill. Low vocabulary knowledge causes serious challenges for its students, impeding their ability to acquire the English language. Most people feel that vocabulary is important in teaching and learning a second language since lexical knowledge is necessary for efficient communication. Human language is determined by the vocabulary acquired or used. As a result, without vocabulary, learners will be disinclined to utilize the language.
The term vocabulary has a variety of meanings proposed by teachers. To some, it represents sight-word vocabularies as the immediate recognition of words by students. Others describe it as meaning-vocabularies representing the words understood by students; it is also considered as listening-vocabularies or students' understanding of the heard and spoken words. The content teachers further describe it as an academic vocabulary that reflects the content-specific words or students' understating of the oral and print words (Antonacci & O'Callaghan, 2011). Another definition of vocabulary provided by Hiebert and Kamil (2005) is the knowledge that learners should have regarding the meanings of words. They contended that there are two kinds of words: oral and written, and that there are at least two kinds of knowledge: receptive (understand or recognize) and productive (write or speak). Oral vocabulary refers to a set of terms for which learners understand the meanings when speaking or reading aloud. The print vocabulary consists of terms that learners understand while they write or read silently. According to Hiebert and Kamil, productive vocabulary is a group of terms that learners are familiar with and use regularly while speaking or writing.
METHODOLOGY
By expanding their vocabulary, language learners can increase their word-
Central Asian Research Journal For Interdisciplinary Studies (CARJIS)
ISSN (online): 2181-2454 Volume 2 | Issue 6 | Juni, 2022 | SJIF: 5,965 | UIF: 7,6 | ISRA: JIF 1.947 | Google Scholar |
www.carjis.org DOI: 10.24412/2181-2454-2022-6-64-70
repository and develop their linguistic repertoire. However, vocabulary development is difficult, especially for non-native English speakers who struggle with new word definitions, spelling, pronunciation, accurate word usage, guessing meaning from context, and so on. The causes of such challenges can be several. For example, in Uzbekistan, some research has highlighted ineffective techniques in English teaching and learning. Most teachers use the students' mother tongue more than the target language to deliver lessons, which causes students' low performance. Some other studies pointed out problems in learning the vocabulary on the part of the students as well.
Learning the vocabulary encompasses four stages: discrimination, understanding meaning, remembering, and consolidation and extension of the meanings. First, the discrimination stage involves distinguishing sounds and letters. It helps in speaking, listening, reading, and writing because by distinguishing sounds, the learners pronounce words correctly and understand them when they read or hear. Secondly, understanding meaning involves understanding the concept of words by relating them to their referents. Thirdly, the remembering stage consists of the ability to retain the meanings. Fourthly, the consolidation and extension stage refers to learning new vocabulary and its integration in the learners' vocabulary system (Grauberg, 1997). However, learning the vocabulary usually causes a heavy burden on the learners. In other words, languages are productive and they continually create and add new words to their vocabulary stock. Oxford (1990) argues that generally, no rules are followed in learning the vocabulary as used in learning the grammar. Students usually encounter hundreds of words that they need to learn and practice during their studies. It is mostly considered that the Uzbek students' weak linguistic performance in English reflects their deficient vocabulary knowledge. The researcher points out two compelling facts that contribute to poor vocabulary uptake and lexical insufficiency by the Uzbek students in public high schools. The participants included thirty-five students from different educational levels and nine male Uzbek teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) at intermediate and secondary schools. The data were collected through questionnaire and secondary school textbooks. The findings show that students utilized inadequate vocabulary tactics such as depending solely on a bilingual dictionary, asking others for definitions, and so on. Similarly, the results show a lack of recycling of vocabulary items and presentation of all components of vocabulary knowledge. The study strongly suggests that language be taught in stages. It is frequently viewed as the problems encountered by students in learning English
Central Asian Research Journal For Interdisciplinary Studies (CARJIS)
ISSN (online): 2181-2454
Volume 2 | Issue 6 | Juni, 2022 | SJIF: 5,965 | UIF: 7,6 | ISRA: JIF 1.947 | Google Scholar |
www.carjis.org DOI: 10.24412/2181-2454-2022-6-64-70
vocabulary. This qualitative study, which used interviews and questionnaires, identifies various barriers to students' vocabulary-learning practices. This study discusses issues such as pronouncing and spelling words (written and spoken forms do not always match), selecting appropriate meanings of words (complexity of vocabulary knowledge), inflections of word forms (inadequate understanding of grammar), and an excessive number of words that students are expected to learn. It also reveals some significant variables of difficulty in acquiring vocabulary and assigns learning difficulties to different levels of language. Pronunciation problems, for example, are related to the English sound system, inflections and word forms are related to the morphological system, word connections, such as collocations and phrasal verbs, are related to semantics, word categories are related to syntax, and so on. In another point to consider is that vocabulary learning to be an important element of foreign language learning, with a focus on the meanings of new terms. This study highlights major vocabulary studies and gives insight on the teaching approaches used by teachers when teaching vocabulary.
DISCUSSION
How can we bridge the gap for pupils who have limited or insufficient vocabulary? According to the National Reading Panel (2000), there is no single research-based technique for developing vocabulary and narrowing the gap. Based on its findings, the panel advised adopting both indirect (incidental) and direct (deliberate) approaches of vocabulary training. Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition
Most students develop vocabulary through indirect exposure to words at home and school—by listening and talking, hearing books read aloud to them, and reading widely on their own. Reading is essential for long-term vocabulary development (Cunningham and Stanovich, 1998). Extensive reading provides students with repeated or multiple exposures to words and is also one of the means by which students see vocabulary in rich contexts (Kamil and Hiebert, 2005).
Students require a variety of individual word-learning tactics. Vocabulary instruction should seek to have students thinking about word definitions, word relationships, and how to utilize words in diverse settings. This form of extensive, in-depth training is most likely to have an impact on comprehension (Graves, 2006; McKeown and Beck, 2004).
Definitions for Students
Central Asian Research Journal For Interdisciplinary Studies (CARJIS)
ISSN (online): 2181-2454
Volume 2 | Issue 6 | Juni, 2022 | SJIF: 5,965 | UIF: 7,6 | ISRA: JIF 1.947 | Google Scholar |
www.carjis.org DOI: 10.24412/2181-2454-2022-6-64-70
Instead than simply presenting a dictionary definition for a new word, which may be difficult for pupils to understand, the meaning of the word should be communicated to them. According to Isabel Beck, while writing student-friendly explanations or definitions, two key rules should be followed:
• Characterize the word and how it is typically used.
• Explain the meaning using everyday language—language that is accessible and meaningful to the student.
Sometimes a word's natural context (in text or literature) is not informative or helpful for deriving word meanings (Beck et al., 2013). It is useful to intentionally create and develop instructional contexts that provide strong clues to a word's meaning. These are usually created by teachers, but they can sometimes be found in commercial reading programs. Word Definition in Context
According to research, when words and simple explanations are provided in context, understanding of those words grows (Biemiller and Boote, 2006) and word meanings are better learned (Stahl and Fairbanks, 1986). When an unfamiliar word is likely to impair comprehension, the best time to introduce the word's meaning may be when the word is encountered in the text.
Using Context Clues According to Nagy and Scott (2000), students utilize contextual analysis to determine the meaning of a word by thoroughly inspecting surrounding text. Since students encounter such an enormous number of words as they read, some researchers believe that even a small improvement in the ability to use context clues has the potential to produce substantial, long-term vocabulary growth (Nagy, Herman, and Anderson, 1985; Nagy, Anderson, and Herman, 1987; Swanborn and de Glopper, 1999).
CONCLUSION
In conclusion lexical resource of second and foreign language learners, as well as native speakers, is used to determine English competency. Though growing one's vocabulary is vital, it can be difficult; however learning through mistakes by different strategies at a time has an important role to play in the long way of gradual progress.
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Central Asian Research Journal For Interdisciplinary Studies (CARJIS)
ISSN (online): 2181-2454 Volume 2 | Issue 6 | Juni, 2022 | SJIF: 5,965 | UIF: 7,6 | ISRA: JIF 1.947 | Google Scholar |
www.carjis.org DOI: 10.24412/2181-2454-2022-6-64-70
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