Language Skills
Grammar and
Vocabulary
Grammar and vocabulary have often been
viewed as competing elements in language
teaching.
Teaching
vocabulary
Presenting and Practising Vocabulary
Words:
Words are perceived as the building blocks
upon which knowledge of the second
language can be built.
Lexical competence:
Lexical competence is at the very heart of
communicative competence, the ability to
communicate successfully and appropriately.
A word family
A word family is a set of words that includes
a base word plus its inflections and /or
derivations.
It is better to maximize vocabulary
considerably by teaching word families instead
of individual word.
For purposes of teaching, it makes more
sense to view sets such as talk, talked, talking,
and talks as members of a closely related family,
not as four single words, and to help students
recognize them as such.
Presenting word families with many words
built around a particular root, gathers words
together so that associations among them
can be seen. The psychological literature
provides evidence that the mind groups
members of a word family together.
When we think of teaching a productive
vocabulary of two or three thousand
“words”, we should actually be thinking in
term of word families as the unit for
counting and teaching.
Meaning associations attached to words
are also important. Words appear to be
organized into semantically related sets in
the mind, and thus the associations attached
to the word will affect the way that it is
stored in the brain. Psychologists investigate
these associations by presenting subjects
with a word and asking them to suggest
other words that it brings to mind.
Presenting and Practising Vocabulary
Vocabulary
Vocabulary is the knowledge of words and word
meaning. It is knowledge; the knowledge of a
word not only implies a definition, but also
implies how the word fits into the world.
Vocabulary is not something that can ever be
fully mastered; it is something that expands and
deepens over the course of a life time.
Instruction in vocabulary involves far more
looking up words in a dictionary and using the
words in a sentence.
Vocabulary is acquired incidentally through
indirect exposure to words and intentionally
through explicit instruction in specific words
and word-learning strategies.
There are two kinds of vocabulary:
Referential
vocabulary:
It
is
the
understanding of what a specific word refers
to. For example: knowing the word “chair”
refers to the four legged object we sit on.
Relational vocabulary: It refers to a person’s
ability to understand relationships between
words that share a variety of functional and
And conceptual relationships. For example:
knowing the words “envelope” and “stamp”
share a functional relationship. Using
“synonyms”,
“antonyms”,
“categories”,
classification” “figurative language” are just
some of the ways to build relational
vocabulary knowledge.
Presenting and Practising Vocabulary
Vocabulary:
Vocabulary can be defined as the words we
teach in the foreign language.
Words:
Words are perceived as the building blocks
upon which a knowledge of the second
language can be built.
A new vocabulary item:
A new vocabulary item may be a single word
such as “table” and “problem “ or more than
a single word: for example, post office,
policeman, and mother-in-law. These are
called “compound words”.
There are some classifications you may
come across when you are reading about
vocabulary teaching such as: ‘passive’ and
‘active’ words or ‘receptive’ and ‘productive’
words.
“Passive” or “ receptive” words refer to the
words the learner can decode while reading and
listening and help him receive oral and written
messages.
“Active” or “productive” words, on the other
hand, mean those words the learner can
actually use when he produces oral and written
messages through speaking and writing.
Another classification is between “content”
words and “functional” words. “Content” words
refer to words which have a specific meaning in
reallife situations. “Functional” words refer to
those words which do not have a specific
realized meaning , yet they have function(s)
in the utterances; e.g.,- Ahmad is running. –
Nody has eaten her food.
A further distinction is between “ concrete”
and “ abstract” words. Concrete words refer
to words which you can see, hear, touch and
/or taste such as “egg”, table”, “radio”,
“voice”, salt….etc, whereas abstract words
refer to concepts and meanings which can
not be realized by senses such as love,
freedom.
Different ways of Presenting Vocabulary
Your awareness of these classifications is quite
helpful when you are concerned with vocabulary
teaching; e.g.; when the word is concrete, you can
decide to teach it using a picture, blackboard drawing
or a real object. If the word is abstract, you can not
use these techniques. You can use alternatively
simple definitions, examples or translation.
Another important decision you should take is
whether you will use deductive, inductive or proleptic
approaches to teaching vocabulary meaning. Your
choice depends on which approach will suit a
particular word.
Some words are difficult to define in a way
that encodes their meanings, in this case, an
inductive approach is more helpful: the
teacher repeats the words many times and
then provides several sentences containing
the word.
In the inductive approach, the learners
have to listen to several sentences and hear
the new word before they are able to guess
the meaning. So, the inductive approach
encourages “ meaning guessing”.
The deductive approach
The deductive approach, on the other
hand, provides the meaning quickly and
allows the teacher to arrange situations for
practice. The learners are allowed to provide
their own sentences. In this case, they test
their decoding “ decoded knowledge”
through their own production.
In inductive thinking, students are more
cognitively involved in the process of
learning.
In the proleptic teaching, both the teacher
and the learners negotiate in order to build
certain meanings. Here, explanation is built
in dialogue between the teacher and the
learners. The teacher’s questions are
supposed to direct the learners’ attention to
the meaning of the word. All the questions
and responses assist the learners in guessing
the meaning and create cognitive depth in
the process of learning and teaching
vocabulary; they advocate reasoning.
Different types of presenting new
vocabulary
There are many types of resources and
materials that can be used in English language
teaching ( pictures, gestures….etc.). Even with an
excellent textbook, there come a point where
language teachers find that they have to make
their
own
instructional
(supplementary)
materials.
Everything in the classroom, including you and
the learners themselves, could be used to
supplement the textbook.
It is not a matter of using flash cards or
pictures, but it is how, when to use these aid
and for what purposes.
The teacher can use his hands, arms, face,
and clothing effectively to do many things in
the class. The learners can also be used
effectively.
Using gestures instead of or with verbal
instructions (asking all class, a certain row or
individual students to repeat using his hand,
asking students to turn towards each other
for paired practice). Using his hand to
illustrate some pronunciation aspects: using a
downward movement of the right arm to
indicate falling intonation and upward
movement
for
rising
intonation.
Distinguishing between a voiced and a
voiceless sound by placing his fingers on his
vocal cards; the teacher asks the students to
do the same.
The teacher uses himself( his face, legs, shoes,
clothing such as a dress, a trousers….etc) and his
students to illustrate new language items or
pointing to pictures of the same item.
Pointing to or touching walls, the doors,
windows and the floor,……etc. can help in
presenting new language items.
Some questions can be practised alongside
with these items e.g. “Where is Ahmad
going?” “ What’s Ahmad doing?” “ He is
opening the door.” “ He is going to the
blackboard.”
Ordinal numbers (e.g., the first, the
second….etc.) can be effectively practised
using seating arrangements. Other language
items such as prepositions and prepositional
Phrases (e.g., in front of, next to. in back of)
can be also practised successfully using the
learners’ seating and places.
The teacher should use blackboard drawing
yet he needn’t to be an artist. Every teacher,
by following some instructions, can draw at
the blackboard different things and even
expressions. The most important thing is to
keep your drawings or sketches as simple as
you can. Sex can be indicated by drawing
different hair.
Stick figures and provide your comments
concerning the body. Actions can be indicated
by bending the legs and arms.
Places : buildings, towns and directions can
be indicated by a combination of pictures and
words.
Vehicles: vehicles and movement can be
indicated in cards or at charts.
Teacher-made materials:
Real objects, pictures, picture charts,
miscellaneous charts, flash cards, the pocket,
chart, the flannel board, songs & games.
Other techniques for presenting
new vocabulary
We could teach a new word using real
objects (realia), gestures, photographs,
pictures, blackboard drawings and figures.
New concepts are presented deductively,
inductively and proleptically using illustrative
examples, simple definitions and short
descriptions.
Other techniques include:
Demonstration by acting or miming. These
techniques along with others such as pictures
or flashcards are usually used in presenting
the meaning of action verbs such as “run”,
“eat”, “jump”…..etc.
Contrastive pairs: The meaning of some
words particularly “adjectives” can be
effectively clarified through their contrasts or
opposites; e.g. “thin” and “fat”, “tall” and
“short”, “happy” and “sad”, “ugly” and
“beautiful” etc. Pictures can be simultaneously
used. This technique is usually referred to as
“using antonyms”.
Synonyms : Items that mean the same, or
nearly the same; for example, bright, clever,
and smart may serve as synonyms of intelligent.
Synonyms act as semantic clues that facilitate
the process of reading.
Translations: Words or expressions in the
mother tongue that have relatively similar
meaning. The teacher may ask the learners to
respond by using translation to see if they have
understood the new item. Translation is usually
the last technique the teacher can use; using
translation usually encourages using Arabic in
the classes and hence takes away time that
could have been used to expose the learners to
English. However translation is preferred in
teaching abstract words and words which are
difficult to teach with the other techniques.
Other aspects which can be taught are :
1) Form : pronunciation and spelling: The
teacher
should
provide
accurate
pronunciation and spelling.
2) Grammar: The grammar of a new word should
be taught particularly when it is not obviously
covered by general grammatical rules.
For example, when we teach a noun which
has irregular plural (e.g.; mouse
mice,
tooth
teeth) or has no plural (e.g. ;
knowledge, advice, information) or the past
and past participle forms when the verb is
irregular (e.g.; go, went, gone).
Other examples are verbs followed by gerund
or certain prepositions. The grammatical
function of the word can be taught; in the
sense that we clarify whether the word is a
“noun”, “verb”, an “adjective” or “an adverb”.
3)Word formation: includes word components
such as prefixes, suffixes and roots. For
example, when the learner is aware of the
meaning of sub-un-and-able, he /she can guess
the meanings of words such as “subskills”,
“predictable”, and “ungrateful”. Similarly,
compound nouns can be broken into elements
(e.g.; policeman, fortuneteller, washing
machine…etc). The learners’ awareness of
these devices reduces the number of
completely new words they encounter and
increases their control of English vocabulary.
Only the teacher who can select which aspect
to be taught and when. His/her decision
depends on many factors; namely the
learners’ age and linguistic level, the available
time and the objective of teaching.
Best of luck
Dr. Nissrein Abdel
Bassett El-Enany