Some techniques to teach vocabulary in teaching english

Some techniques to teach vocabulary in teaching English

SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO THANH HOÁ

TRƯỜNG THPT BA ĐÌNH

SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM

SOME TECHNIQUES
TO TEACH VOCABULARY IN TEACHING ENGLISH

Người thực hiện: Phạm Văn Trường
Chức vụ: Giáo viên
SKKN thuộc lĩnh mực (môn): Tiếng Anh

THANH HOÁ NĂM 2016
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Some techniques to teach vocabulary in teaching English

TABLE OF CONTENTS
A. INTRODUCTION.
I. Reason for choosing the topic.
II. Aims, scope and researching methods
B. CONTENT.
I. Categorizing vocabulary:
1. Passive vocabulary
2. Active vocabulary

3. what vocabulary to teach
II. Principles and techniques for communicating the meaning of
words:
1. Principles
2. techniques
III. Steps for teaching vocabulary.
IV. Teaching vocabulary in each specific period.
V. Tecniques for checking vocabulary:
1. rub out and remember
2. slap the board
3. what and where
4. matching
5. ordering
6. bingo
7. noughts and crosses
8. jumbled words
9. network
10.wordsquare
11.wordstorm
12.running context
VI. SUGGESTED EXERCISES AND POSSIBLE RESULTS
VII. Topic for further research.
C. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS
REFERENCE BOOKS

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Some techniques to teach vocabulary in teaching English

A.
INTRODUCTION
I. REASON FOR CHOOSING THE TOPIC
Words are a good place to begin a course in language teaching
methodology. Vocabulary words are simple enough to begin learning on the first
day of a class and there are powerful enough to encourage communication from
the very beginning.
Words are small pieces of language which carry bits of meaning. Knowing
many words does not guarantee a person to be able to speak a language, but not
knowing enough words can prevent a person from effective speaking or
understanding a language.
As a language teacher who has been in this teaching post for a great many
years, I have put much thought on these problems and have observed how
students can remember and use exactly the words they learnt. What I found after
my observation made me pay more attention to them and I have found how
effectively they work.
The purpose of this present study is to investigate some effective ways to
help my students find it easier to remember and use vocabulary which are of
great help in their writing, listening and speaking as well as doing well in their
test papers. My main focus is on vocabulary that students meet in their lessons at
school. Here are some of my experiences gained after my teaching practice
hoping to get much more correspondence from you all.
With the serious importance of teaching words in teaching a language, I
decide to investigate this topic. Hopefully that it is useful to you and me in
teaching English.

II.
AIMS, SCOPE AND RESEACHING METHOD

1. Aims:
- To teach students vocabulary that they find it difficult to understand in
their lessons.
- To make the lessons easier for the students.
- To help students remember the new words they have learnt longer and
can use them smartly.

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Some techniques to teach vocabulary in teaching English

2. Scope
- This study can be applied in teaching English for all students in
preparation for English contests for students in preparation for university
entrance examination, majoring in English
3. Method
- Reading reference books, test papers, discussing with other teachers,
applying in teaching and getting experience from the teaching in the class.

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Some techniques to teach vocabulary in teaching English

B. CONTENT

I. CATEGORIZING VOCABULARY
1. Passive vocabulary:
Some teachers tend to make a distinction between passive and active
vocabulary.
For them passive vocabulary is words which a student can recognize but
not necessarily use in speaking or writing. If a student sees a word in their
passive vocabulary, he or she can understand what it means. Passive words are
especially useful for the receptive skills such as reading and listening.
2. Active vocabulary:
Active vocabulary is words which students can both understand and use in
communication. Active words are especially useful for productive skills such as
speaking and writing.
3. What vocabulary to be taught?
In a given passage, the readers and teacher will find many new words.
Therefore, the teacher must decide which words to teach and how much time to
spend on teaching them. There are four types of words categorized which are
presented with general guidelines for teaching below.
3.1 For new words which are necessary for them to understand a text, the
students try to guess it meaning from the context or grammar first. If it is
impossible, the teacher should pre-teach the words.
3.2 For new words that are not necessary for them to understand a text,
the teacher do one of two things.
If it’s a common word which the students will likely use later, the teacher
should teach the word’s meaning later, after reading the passage. But if
the word is strange or unusual, it’s probably not necessary to teach it at
all.
3.3 For the words the students have already known, certainly it is not
necessary to teach the meaning. If there are too many words the students
don’t know, the text is probably too difficult for their level of English.
3.4 In some phrases, the students may understand all the individual words

but they still don’t understand the meaning. For instance, they may
understand the meaning of “stick”, “in”, “the”, “mud”. But they may not
understand that the idiom “ stick in the mud” means “ a person who resists
change”. For this case, the teacher must decide whether they are important
or not. Especially at the lower level, explanation for idioms should be
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Some techniques to teach vocabulary in teaching English

limited or saved for later. If it is a common idiom the students probably
see often, the teacher should let them guess its meaning, then teach it.
Otherwise, not much time should be spent on idioms.
II. PRINCIPLES AND TECHNIQUES FOR COMMUNICATING THE
MEANING OF WORDS.
1. Principles:
There are many different ways to teach vocabulary, but some ways are
more effective than others. Here are several principles for teaching words.
Firstly, we should provide a context for new words. If we hear a new word
in isolation, we are likely to misunderstand its meaning. Hence, we should teach
new words in contexts. There are different kinds of contexts such as
grammatical, semantic, and discourse. Using and presenting words in context
helps students to guess their correct meaning and remember them better.
Secondly, we shouldn’t present too many words at once. Instead, we only
teach a few words and allow students to practice and use them more. Indeed,
presentation will help the students understand words and practice will help them
remember the words better. If the students forget what has been presented, it will
not be useful for them in the future.

Thirdly, practicing words in contexts is more important than memorizing
isolated words. We can learn many new words without being able to use them in
communication. Students may be required to learn the meanings of words but
they must also be given the opportunity to use them productively in speaking
and writing.
Fourthly, we should teach our students skill for guessing new words,
especially when reading. The meaning of words can be inferred from the
different types of contexts and from looking at the affixes of the words. For
example, a photograph is a picture which is taken with a camera, what is a
photographer? A learner can guess from the suffix “-er” that a photographer is a
person who takes photographs.
Fifthly, we should avoid translation as much as possible. If the students
are always having words translated, they are really only communicating in their
own language, not in English. Also, students don’t usually remember vocabulary
that has been translated. We only use translation as a last resort, when it would
otherwise take too long to communicate in English.

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Some techniques to teach vocabulary in teaching English

Sixthly, we should avoid using dictionaries as much as possible. When
reading or listening, students should first try to guess or ignore new words so
that they can continue without stopping. Moreover, using a dictionary when
speaking or listening often slows down communication. However, using a
dictionary in writing can be beneficial since it helps students express themselves
more clearly.

Seventhly, we must remember that not all words are important. For
instance, in the sentence, “The large, maroon sedan drove away.” (“The large,
red car drove away.”) The word “sedan” is important because it is the subject of
the sentence. But the word “maroon” is not important to understanding the
sentence.
Eighthly, if a word is necessary for the students to understand an activity
or a passage, we should teach it to them beforehand. On the contrary, if it is not
necessary or important, let the students first guess the meaning while they are
reading or listening, then teach the meaning later or not at all.
2. Techniques:
If we don’t always translate words or allow our students to use their
dictionaries, we must find other ways to communicate the meaning of words.
Below is a list of techniques for communicating vocabulary.
2.1 Paraphrase or define:
We can explain a word by using a different word, words, or a definition.
For examples:
A boy is a male child.
A car is a vehicle that carries people.
A jacket is also called a coat.
2.2 Drawing:
On the blackboard, we can draw a picture of some words that will quickly
convey the meaning. For examples, body parts such as nose, elbow, and leg; A
map of the world or parts of the world; Animals such as dog, horse, and a
giraffe; certain actions such as touching, hitting, kissing; prepositions of location
such as under, beside, and above; …
2.3 Realia or objects:
If we are teaching about nouns in semantic fields, we can bring a series of
real objects to class. They are not only for seeing but for holding and passing
around as well. For examples, household objects such as soap or detergent;
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Some techniques to teach vocabulary in teaching English

clothing such as a hat, a shirt, or socks; containers such as a bottle, a tube, a box,
a package, or a jar; …
2.4 Flashcards or charts:
On cards we can have a picture on one side and the word on the other. Or
on a chart we can organize groups of words or draw diagrams. For examples,
cards with animals on them; cards with vehicles on them; a chart with body parts
marked; a chart with an apartment map; …
2.5 Mime:
Especially for actions, we can act out a word to demonstrate its meaning.
For examples, Home activities such as sleeping, waking up, eating and
showering; School activities such as listening, reading and writing; sports such
as basketball, tennis, volleyball, and hockey; …
2.6 Pictures:
Using photographs, prints, or paintings, we can communicate many types
of words. For examples, photographs from magazines, personal photographs of
family members; prints or pictures of Vietnamese culture…
2.7 Opposites:
If the students don’t know a new word but they know the opposite, we can
give them the antonym. For examples:
* Size words:
- tall
#
short
- thin

#
fat
- wide
#
narrow
* time words:
- morning #
evening
- sunrise
#
sunset.
2.8 Semantic field:
To show words in relation to other words, we can present words in
semantic fields. For examples:
* school: classroom, blackboard, teacher, student, study, books,…
* animals: dog, cat, horse, cow, sheep, …
* water: ocean, sea, lake, river, stream, …
2.9 Guessing from context:
The meaning of many words can be guessed by reading the whole
sentence. For example:
- The snake slithered through the grass.
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Some techniques to teach vocabulary in teaching English

- He swiftly finished his work and went right home.
2.10 Guessing from stems and affixes:

The meaning of some words can be understood through affixes. For
examples:
* Undeniable:
un
deni
able
Not
deny
ability
* Autobiography:
auto
bio
graphy
Self
life
view
* Review
re
view
Again
look at
2.11 Translation:
If we need to save much time, the teacher or a student may give a similar
word in the students’ first language. For examples:
- careful: cẩn thận
- die: chết
2.12 Using the dictionary:
If we need to save time or communicate about a difficult word, a
dictionary might be the best option.
III. STEPS FOR TEACHING VOCABULARY:

1. Teacher writes the new word and its phonetic symbol on the board.
2. Teacher pronounces the word, the students repeat first in chorus, then in
individuals..
3. Teacher gives its meaning by using techniques of teaching vocabulary.
4. Teacher gives an example in which the new word is used. It’s better to use
the sentences in the text or dialogue which the students will learn in the
period. Asks the students to find out the form of the word.
5. Teacher asks the students to make sentences with the new word or asks
them to use the word in speaking in various situations. Teacher must
choose only two or three important words.

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Some techniques to teach vocabulary in teaching English

IV. TEACHING VOCABULARY IN EACH SPECIFIC PERIOD:
1. Reading periods or dialogue periods:
More time should be spent on teaching vocabulary. Teacher needs to use the
techniques which make students have to think to guess the meaning.
2. Practice or further practice periods:
Less time should be spent on it. Teacher should use simple techniques such
as pictures, realia, or translation.
V. TECNIQUES FOR CHECKING VOCABULARY:
1. Rub out and remember
Teaching aim: to help the students memorize new vocabulary.
- Present or elicit the new vocabulary and build up a list on the board.
- After each word, put the Vietnamese translation.

- Get the students to copy into their notebooks and then ask them to close
their notebooks.
- Rub out the new words one at each time
- Each time you rub out a word in English language, point to the
Vietnamese and ask, “what is this in English?”
- When all the English words are rubbed out, go through the Vietnamese
list and get the student to call out the English words.
2. Slap the board:
Teaching aim: - to get the students to recognize new vocabulary through
listening.
- to check the students’understanding of the new words .
- Divide the class into two teams.
- Put the new words (in Vietnamese or in English) all over the board – not
in a list.
- Call two students of two teams to go to the front of the class.
- Asks them to stand at an equal distance from the board.
- Call out one of the new words in a loud voice.
- The two students must run forward and slap the word on the board.
- The one who slaps the correct words first is the winner.
- if you are playing in teams, the winning team gets one mark.
- Then ask two or more students to come forward.
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Some techniques to teach vocabulary in teaching English

3. What and where:
Teaching aims: to help students memorize new vocabulary or to revise

vocabulary.
- Follow the same procedure as for “Rub and remember” and “slap the
board”; choose observers.
- Elicit words to do with the classroom from the students.
- As the students give you the word, write it on the board inside a circle.
- Don’t write the words in a list.
- When all the words are on the board, rub out one of the words but do not
rub out the circle.
- Get the students to repeat the words including the rubbed-out word by
pointing at the empty circle.
- Rub out another word but leave the circle.
- Point to the words or the empty circles.
- Continue untill all the circles are empty.
- The students now have to remember all the words.
- Ask the students to come to the board and fill in the circles with the
correct words.
4. Matching:
Teaching aim: + to get students to match the new vocabulary with
definitions, translations, or picture.
+ to save time pre-teaching.
- Write the new words in a list on the left hand side on the board.
- Write definitions, translations, or draw pictures on the right hand side on
the board.
- Get students to come to the board and match items in the left hand list
with items in the right list by drawing the line between them.
- Four or five students can work at the same time.
5. Ordering:
Teaching aim: to get students to recognize the pronunciation of new words
and give them listening practice.
- Teach new words and write them on the board in the wrong order.

- Get the students to copy the words in their books.
- Read or tell a story with the new words in it.
- Get students to put the words in the correct order by numbering them.

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Some techniques to teach vocabulary in teaching English

6. Bingo:
Teaching aim: To get students to practice listening to the new words in order
to match sounds with spellings.
- The teacher gets the class to brainstorm a list of 10 or 15 words and put
them on the board.
- The students choose any five of them and copy them into their notebooks.
- The teacher reads out the words in any order.
- Each time the students has one of the words that the teacher reads, he/she
put a tick next to that word.
- The first student who has all five words shouts “bingo” and wins the
game.
7. Noughts and crosses:
Teaching aim: to get students to put new vocabulary into sentences.
- The teacher put a grid on the board with nine new words in it.
- The students work in pairs. One of the student copy the grid in his/her
book.
- One student choose “0” and the other choose “X”.
- One student choose a word and make a sentence with it. If the sentence is
correct, he/she puts his/her mark “0” or “X” in that square.

- The first student who gets 3 marks in a row wins the game.
8. Jumbled words:
Teaching aim: to get the students to practice spelling new words.
- Teacher writes 5 or 6 words with jumbled letters on the board and tells the
students what the topic is.
- Students write the words correctly in their books.
- Call some students to write the correct words on the board.
9. Network:
Teaching aim: + to get the students to revise lexical sets.
+ to put words from different lessons into one context so the
students can remember the words better.
- Write the network like the below example on the board and put some
more words below it.
- Get the students to put the given words in the appropriate circles.
- Students fill in the remaining empty circles with their own words.
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Some techniques to teach vocabulary in teaching English

Kitchen

Livingroom

House
Bathroom
Bedroom

10.Wordsquare:
Teaching aim: To get students to recognize the spelling of new words.
- The teacher writes the wordsquare on the board or makes a poster of it.
- The teacher tells the students what topic is and how many hidden words
there are.
- The student come to the board and circle any words they can see.
11.Wordstorm:
Teaching aim: to get the students to put the vocabulary in a sentence.
- Get the students to work in pairs and brainstorm all the words they know
about the topic.
- Student A thinks of a word and tells student B.
- Both students write down the word.
- Student B thinks of another word, tells student A and they both write it
down.
- When they have thought of all the words they can, put two pairs together
to share their lists.

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Some techniques to teach vocabulary in teaching English

- One pair reads while the other pair ticks off the same words or add any
new words.
- The group with the most words is the winner.
12.Running context:
Teaching aim: to help students grasp and memorise the newly-learnt items
in a context.

- During or after presenting all the new words, try to link all the new words
in some ways. It will be more interesting if what you tell becomes a little
story during or after the presentation stage. This way of running context
can assist the process of memorization by linking the new lesson’s new
words in an interesting way if possible.
For example, the new words for checking are: accuracy, tradition,
market, director.
The running context is designed into an exercise:
Directions: read the following context and use the words you have studied
to fill in the blanks:
Hong Sen is a ___ who is making a film about Vietnamese ___. Now he
is going to Dong Ba ___ to choose costumes with ___ for his actors.
VI. SUGGESTED EXERCISES AND POSSIBLE RESULTS
Questions for review:
1. What vocabulary techniques have your foreign language teachers used
most often in the past?
2. For you what techniques will help the students remember best?
3. Directions: Look at the techniques and vocabulary listed below. Think
about which technique or techniques would be the best for teaching those
words. Write the abbreviation for each technique on the line before the
word. Each word can have more than one technique.
* Techniques:
a. Paraphrase or Define
b. Realia or objects
c. mime
d. Opposites
e. Guessing from context
f. Translation
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Some techniques to teach vocabulary in teaching English

g. Draw
h. Flash cards or Charts
i. Pictures
j. Semantic field
k. Stems and Affixes
l. Using the dictionary
* Vocabulary:
…..airplane
…..drive
…..mountain
…..angry
…..eighteen
…..movie
…..ask
…..family
…..predict
…..August
…..finish
…..rain
…..bathroom
…..foot
…..red
…..beard
…..fork
…..review

…..beautiful
…..funny
…..river
…..blue
…..give
…..sad
…..bottle
…..here
…..sell
…..brother
…..hotel
…..shopping
…..but
…..idea
…..tall
…..cold
…..impolite
…..telephone
…..cook
…..knife
…..typist
…..doctor
…..under
…..lamp
…..drink
…..long
…..Wednesday
THE POSSIBLE RESULTS.
To have the rerults of the research mentioned, I have made a survey from
two classes in my school that I am teaching, class 10K and 10I. In class 10K I

used almost of the techniques to teach them vocabulary and in class 10I I only
used some of them. There is no denial that almost all of those in class 10K are
not totally excellent but quite good at English vocabulary and they can use them
smartly.
I gave them a same vocabulary test at the beginning of the school year and
the other same test at the end of the semester and here are the sttistics.
At the beginning of the school year.
Class

1
2

Number of
students

Marked
over 8

10I
43
4.6%
10K
44
6.8%
At the end of the school year.

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Marked from
6.5 to under 8

Marked from
5 to under 6.5

Marked
under 5

23.3%
22.7%

34.9%
36.4%

37.2%
34.1%
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Some techniques to teach vocabulary in teaching English

1
2

Class

Number of
students

10I
10K

43
44

Marked
over 8

7%
22.7%

Marked from
6.5 to under 8

Marked from
5 to under 6.5

Marked
under 5

34.9%
45.5%

39.5%
27.3%

18.6%
4.5%

On the other hand, students in class 10K performed far better in their
vocabulary test after having been taught with almost of the above techniques.

VII. SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH:
In this research paper, I have already made an investigation on teaching
vocabulary, which is just a small part in methodology of teaching English. What
about teaching the four skills such as reading, writing, listening, speaking, which
I don’t have chance to focus on in the limitation of this paper research? I hope
that in the next research paper I will have chance to study more about these
topics.
C. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS:
1. Conclusion.
Briefly, here are some experience of teaching vocabulary which I myself
have learnt from my collegues as well as collected from some materials of
methodology. Knowing that there are still some limitation in this research paper,
I wish to receive some more supporting ideas from my collegues in order to
improve my teaching English in the future.
suggestions.
2. Suggestions.
Though seemingly difficult at first sight, vocabulary will be soon not a
burden for students to study English if teacher give them effective ways to learn.
I thus suggest that we apply these kinds of techniques not merely to biginners
but also to all students at higher levels as in high schools so that they can make
full use of the new words they have learnt in their productive skills as speaking
and writing as well as in their listening and reading. For language teachers, if we
habitually use these useful techniques in our teaching, we will certainly find it
much easier to get our students to understand the lessons as well as other parts
of language.
XÁC NHẬN CỦA THỦ TRƯỞNG
ĐƠN VỊ
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Some techniques to teach vocabulary in teaching English

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REFERENCE BOOKS
1. Teaching by principles
- H. Douglas Brown
2. Methodology handbook
- Ron Forseth, Carol Forseth, Ta Tien Hung,
Nguyen Van Do
3. Teaching English through English
- Jane Willis, Longman

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