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Abdirakhimova M.N. senior teacher
Department of Philology and Pedagogical sciences The University of Economics and Pedagogy
Non-state institution Uzbekistan, Karshi
THE IMPORTANCE OF TEACHING VOCABULARY
Annotation: This article discusses the value of teaching vocabulary, vocabulary selection, the challenges students have when assimilating new vocabulary, what students need to know, vocabulary teaching strategies, and the use of dictionaries.
Key words: Presentation strategies, assimilation, acquisition, context, vocabulary item, productive (active) vocabulary, receptive (passive) vocabulary.
Language vocabulary must be learned by language learners. Students must be taught the definitions and applications of words. Giving the names of things to the students is part of this (e.g. a table, a chair). Also, it includes demonstrating to them how words are bent and distorted (to table a motion, to chair a meeting). It is obvious that some terms are taught at lower levels than others. Certain terms could be more complex than others and hence better suited for advanced pupils. Some educators believe that children might be given lists of 30, 40, or even 50 brand-new words to memorize. Of fact, such a method could be advantageous, but it bypasses one of the fundamental aspects of word use. Words happen in context, specifically. Students need to see how words are used in context with other words if we're going to teach them what they imply. Words live beside one another and are dependent on one another; they do not just exist in isolation. Our students must understand this.
In the past, grammar was the primary focus of language instruction. Drills, exercises, and attempts at memorizing were centered on vocabulary. Today, we see that vocabulary serves as the language's vital organs and its flesh, while grammar forms its skeleton. Therefore, learning a new vocabulary is just as crucial as learning a new grammar. And as we all know, in real life, it's even conceivable that when vocabulary is employed properly, it can make up for structural errors we make. For instance, a pupil using the phrase "Yesterday I have seen him" makes a terrible English error. The phrase "yesterday" ensures that he or she will be understood anyway. What terms and idioms pupils should learn constitutes a portion of the vocabulary teaching challenge. Given that students only have two, three, or four courses per week and that the size of the class is frequently too large to allow for enough practice for each student, it is obvious that the quantity of words should be restricted. The amount of vocabulary that kids should learn at school depends on the requirements of the
syllabus. They are influenced by the kinds of schools, the educational environments, and the instructional strategies. Approximately 1200 lexical items (the vocabulary minimum) are the number of words and phraseological units that the curriculum of a typical secondary school sets for a pupil to assimilate.
[3]
The teacher needs to keep in mind that a term is considered learned when it is recognized naturally while reading and listening and is utilized appropriately in speech, i.e., the right word in the right place.
Vocabulary Selection - The Academy of Pedagogical Sciences in numerous nations has already conducted extensive research on the issue of word choice. As a result, a "Vocabulary minimum" list of terms and a "Dictionary of the most common words" list both appeared. The words chosen were:
> Frequently used in the language;
> Easily combined;
> Unlimited from the point of view of style (oral, written);
> Included in the topics the syllabus sets.
> Valuable from the point of view of word-building.
Due to its perfect objectivity, the first premise is thought to be the most sound. The other concepts have didactic relevance because they support educational objectives. The teacher is not particularly concerned about vocabulary selection. Typically, the curriculum's recommended textbooks are used by the teacher. Yet rather frequently, the instructor will wish to create their own materials (texts, dialogues, exercises, etc.), and when they do, they should keep in mind that the vocabulary needs to be carefully chosen in accordance with the aforementioned guidelines.
Difficulties students' experience with vocabulary assimilation - While each word has its own form, meaning, and usage - any of which may present its own challenges - learning the vocabulary of a foreign language is not an easy task. Some words are complex to form (like daughter), yet simple to use. Some words are tricky to use but easy to create (obtain, happen). As a result, words can be categorized based on the assimilation challenges that pupils encounter.
We can differentiate the groups of words that are concrete, abstract, and structural thanks to word analysis in a foreign language. Words that describe actual objects (like table, window, and sky), verbs (like walk, read), and character traits (like long, short) are simpler to learn than words that describe concepts (challenge, belief, honesty). The hardest terms for Uzbek and Russian speakers to learn are structural words. When planning the vocabulary exercises for the class, the instructor should keep this in mind. Also, educators should keep in mind that they must differentiate between vocabulary used for "productive" purposes (speaking and writing) and vocabulary recognized for "receptive" purposes (hearing and reading) and modify their lesson plans accordingly. Also, teachers need to be aware that lexical items (LI) and
vocabulary items (VI) are words or groups of words that are frequently used together, such as a table, a CD, or The House of Commons.
What students should understand meaning? First of all, it's important to understand that vocabulary words frequently have multiple meanings. For instance, the word "look" describes something you use to read. The same dictionary goes on to offer nine further definitions for "look" as a noun, two definitions for "look" as a verb, and three definitions for "look" combined with a preposition to form phrasal verbs. As a result, we must consider the context in which a term is used when attempting to define it. If we observe a lady in the theatre fighting at the ticket office saying "But I booked my tickets 3 weeks ago," we will obviously comprehend a meaning of the verb "book". Let's say you come across a police officer and a man who seems disgruntled at a police station. We booked him for speeding," the policeman says to his colleague. Also, you will comprehend what the verb "book" means. Students must so comprehend the significance of context for meaning.
There are further details regarding meaning. Words occasionally have meanings that are related to other words. As a result, students must understand what a "vegetable" means when used to describe any of a wide range of different objects, such as carrots, cabbage, potatoes, etc. Whereas "carrot" is more specific, "vegetable" is more general. When a term like "bad" is used, we can grasp what a word like "good" means. Words have opposites (antonyms) as well as synonyms, which are words that have a similar meaning to the term in question. One thing is obvious even from that example: words rarely have exact synonyms, even though context may render them synonymous in certain sense relations. [2]
Word Use - A word's meaning can be altered, expanded upon, or constrained depending on how it is used. Students should be aware of this. Metaphor and idiom are commonly used to amplify word meaning. For instance, we are aware that the word "hiss" characterizes the sound that snakes make. Yet, we interpret it broadly to refer to interpersonal communication. She snarled, "Don't move or you're dead. That is the usage of metaphor. He is a genuine snake in the grass. We can also compare dishonest people to snakes. It's an idiom to say "snake in the grass," which is a fixed expression. Word meaning is also governed by collocations - that is which words go with each other. We can have a headache, stomachache or earache, but we cannot have a "throatache", or a "legache" Words are frequently only used in specific social and current events situations. The tone and register we use when speaking influence what we say. We understand that a doctor talking to a patient (who has not studied medical science) will speak in a different register than a doctor talking about the same ailment with two other doctors.
Words are frequently only used in specific social and current events situations. The tone and register we use when speaking influence what we say. We understand that a doctor talking to a patient (who has not studied medical
science) will speak in a different register than a doctor talking about the same ailment with two other doctors. [3]
Word Formation - We are aware that words can have different meanings depending on the context. We also know that some grammatical patterns are triggered by the use of particular words. For instance, we can tell a noun is countable or uncountable. The first can be used in both singular and plural forms. The latter is exclusively singular. Unlike "furniture," "chair" can collocate with plural verbs. Some nouns, like the news and money, have a fixed form but are neither countable nor uncountable. As a result, they only conjugate with singular or plural verbs.
Techniques in teaching vocabulary - Providing sets of vocabulary that kids can acquire at the beginner and elementary levels seem like a wonderful idea. As a result, the majority of these first words can be regarded as "active" because they will be used frequently. The situation is rather more complicated at intermediate levels and higher. Although it would be challenging to distinguish between active and passive words, we may presume that pupils have a large vocabulary. [4]
It sounds like a nice idea to offer groups of vocabulary that kids can acquire at the beginner and elementary levels. The majority of these first words will be often used, therefore they can be categorized as "active" terms. Yet, the situation becomes considerably more convoluted at middle and higher levels. We can presume that pupils have a large vocabulary, but it would be challenging to categorize it into active and passive. If a word that has been "active" through frequent use does not get used, it could revert to its passive storage. If the circumstance or context necessitates its use, a term that children have in their passive vocabulary may at any time turn active. In other words, it doesn't appear like the status of a vocabulary term is a constant condition of affairs.
Vocabulary experiments tend to indicate that pupils retain new words better when they have used them in practice. Getting kids to do more than just repeat them has unquestionable benefits. The words are fixed in the learners' thoughts by tasks like converting them to signify their opposites, turning a noun into adjective, fitting words together, etc. Thus we should encourage students to use words to communicate. We ought to encourage children to use terms that they find appealing. In order for them to get to know them correctly, we need make them do things with words. [5]
Discovery Techniques - With discovery tactics, students must figure out norms and meanings on their own rather than receiving them from the teacher. At the intermediate level and higher, discovery strategies are a suitable replacement for conventional presentation methods. Even at elementary levels, though, we might want to encourage children to attempt to deduce the meaning of terms rather than simply giving them the definition. We may conclude from this discussion that any activity that is to have a high learning yield must engage the learner.
Four rules were created for the teacher by renowned methodologist Rogova, author of the book Methods of Teaching English. [1]
1. While teaching vocabulary to students, use several contexts to introduce words in sentence patterns. Deliver the words in accordance with the instructional structures.
2. Introduce the term as an element first, such as in a phrase pattern. Then, using various sentence and phrase pattern exercises, reinforce it in the students' memories.
3. When introducing a word, say it aloud in context while also having the class say it separately and collectively.
4. When teaching words, it's important to create a memory connection between a new term and others that have already been discussed.
D. Brown, an American methodologist, also developed certain guidelines for the teacher. In the book "Teaching by Principles", they are mentioned. These guidelines are as follows:
S Set aside time in class specifically for studying vocabulary.
S Assist children in acquiring vocabulary through context.
S Downplay the significance of multilingual dictionaries.
S Urge pupils to create word-meaning elucidation techniques.
S Teach vocabulary in "unplanned" ways.
Examples of teaching vocabulary - We will look at Presentation and Practice: Presentation - Not all language can be picked up through conversation and other methods of discovery. Although they are a possibility, such methods are not necessarily the most efficient. The easiest way to introduce new vocabulary into a classroom is frequently through some sort of presentation and/or explanation. We will look a few examples. [6]
1. Realia - Bringing the things that words stand for into the classroom is one approach to introduce words. It is evident that words like "spoon," "ruler," "pen," and "ball" can be portrayed in this fashion. The learner is asked to repeat the term after the teacher speaks it while holding up the object (or pointing to it).
2. Pictures - It is acceptable to bring a pen to class. But bringing a car in is. The use of images is one remedy. Board drawings, wall art, charts, flashcards, and magazine images are all examples of pictures.
3. Mime - gestures and movement. Often, it is impossible to convey a word's meaning through real-world examples or visuals. Mime is probably better in explaining actions in particular. This method makes concepts like smoking or jogging simple to explain.
4. Contrast - We learned how sense relations, which give words their existence, might be employed to impart meaning to students. By juxtaposing the words "empty" and "full," as well as "cold" and "hot," we can illustrate what each word means. We could use mime or images to demonstrate these ideas.
5. Explanation - Particularly at the starting and elementary levels, it can be particularly challenging to explain the meaning of vocabulary words. But,
such a technique can be employed with students who are more advanced. We must keep in mind that when defining a word, we must also describe any usage details that are pertinent.
You can use any one of these presentation approaches alone or in combination. These are effective strategies for teaching new words. It's important to keep in mind that pronunciation is crucial while presenting terminology. The sounds of words can be presented in a variety of ways:
1. By way of modeling. The teacher repeats a word two or three times in a natural manner and clear voice.
2. By the use of images. Teachers should always mark the location of the word's stress when writing new words on the board. Instructors can accomplish this by underlining the words, using a stress square, stress mark, or by writing the words' stress pattern next to or above them.
photograph photographerphotographic photography
3. Through phonetic symbols (transcription).
Practice - Whatever method or approach is used to introduce a new word, pupils need to be able to pronounce it correctly, hear it in sentences, and repeat it back to the teacher both individually and in unison, both as a group and in sentences. But this is just the beginning of how to approach the word. The next step is absorption or practice, which is acquired by doing different activities. Here, there are three issues that the teacher must address: the quantity of exercises to be performed, the kind of exercises to be employed, and the order -or level of difficulty - in which the exercises should be completed. [7]
The teacher should consider the following when addressing these issues: the purpose of teaching a word and the nature of the word (students need to do a lot of exercises to master difficult terms).
There are numerous distinct sorts of exercises, making it nearly difficult to provide the teacher with every potential variety. We'll provide a few vocabulary exercise examples. They consist of:
Exercises come in a variety of forms, making it nearly difficult to provide the teacher with every imaginable exercise. We'll provide some illustrations for vocabulary practice exercises. They comprise:
❖ Words and images are matched.
❖ Relating word starts and endings to other word beginnings and endings.
❖ Pairing words with other words, such as collocations, synonyms, opposites, groups of related terms, etc.
❖ Creating new words by adding prefixes and suffixes to existing words.
❖ Classifying objects for classification.
❖ Employing predetermined phrases to carry out a particular activity.
❖ Completing crossword puzzles, grids, or schematics.
❖ Completing blank sentences.
❖ Memory game. [8]
In summary, this article explains the importance of teaching vocabulary in context. It also describes difficulties that Uzbek and Russian-speaking students may have in assimilating the vocabulary of English, distinguishes between vocabulary for "productive" use and for "receptive" recognition, explains what facts about new words students need to know, names and give examples of vocabulary teaching at the stage of presentation and the stage of practice and gives examples of exercises on vocabulary teaching.
References:
1. Рогова Г. В. Методика обучения иностранным языкам в средней школе / Г. В. Рогова, Ф. М. Рабинович, Т. Е Сахарова. - М.: Просвещение, 1991. -287 с.
2. Методика интенсивного обучения иностранным языкам / [под ред. Г. О. Китайгородской]. - К.: Вища школа, 1988. - 279 с.
3. Павлова С. В. Обучение иноязычному произношению на коммуникативной основе // Иностранные языки в школе. - 1990. - № 1. -С. 29-32.
4. Пассов Е. И. Методическое мастерство учителя иностранного языка / Е. И. Пассов // Иностранные языки в школе. - 1984. - № 6. - С. 24-29.
5. Полилова Т. А. Внедрение компьютерных технологий в преподавание иностранных языков / Т. А. Полилова, В. В. Пономарева // ИЯШ. - 1997. -№ 6 - С 33-36.
6. Arends I. R. Learning to Teach - McGrawHill, Inc., 1994. - 549 p.
7. Moore D. K. Classroom Teaching Skills / D. K. Moore. - McGrawHill, 1998.
- 354 p.
8. Scrivener J. Learning teaching / J. Scrivener. - Macmilian Heinemann, 2002.
- 218 p.
