Vocabulary Teaching

Applied Linguistics
Kadek Susnawati
Ni Made Ivana Swastiana
Sang Ayu Putu Ari Purniawati
I Putu Surya Pratama
 TOPIC OF DISCUSSION

Kinds of
The Notion of
vocabulary
Vocabulary
Teaching

The Problem in
The Solution to
Vocabulary
The Problem
Teaching
 The Notion of Vocabulary

• The Definition
• The Importance
• The Types
• The Aspects
• The Factors
 The Definition of Vocabulary
• Vocabulary is as “all the words that someone
knows or uses” in a target language (Longman
dictionary of contemporary English )
• “vocabulary” has two definitions: all the words
known and used by a particular person all the
words which exist in a particular language or
subject. (Cambridge Advanced Learner’s
Dictionary)
 The Importance of Vocabulary
- Vocabulary is basic to English language teaching
because without adequate vocabulary items learners
cannot appreciate others expressions and ideas or
express their own ideas
Wilkins (1972) states, “… while without grammar very
little can be conveyed without vocabulary nothing can
be conveyed.”
- recognizing, understanding, and using the vocabulary
is a very essential aspect in learning the English
language.
 The Types of Vocabulary
Lehr, Osborn, & Hiebert (2004)
- Receptive vocabulary refers to the
word that can be understood through
reading and listening.
- Productive vocabulary refers to the
words that are used to communicate
through writing and speaking
 The Aspects of Vocabulary Knowledge

Three significant aspects teachers need to be aware of

and focus on are:
- Form
pronunciation (spoken form), spelling (written
form), and any word parts that make up this
particular item (such as a prefix, root, and
suffix).
Example : uncommunicative
un (previx), communicate (root), -
ive (suffix)
 The Aspects (Cont…)

- Meaning
involves the way that form and meaning work
together, in other words, the concept and what
items it refers to, and the associations that come to
mind when people think about a specific word or
expression
- Use
involves the grammatical functions of the word or
phrase, collocations that normally go with it.
 Factor Affecting Word Learnability

The learners’ vocabulary learnability is normally influenced

by :
- Intralexical factor refers to a factor that stems from the
word itself, such as orthography, length, and semantic
features of the word (Laufer, 1997).
- Extralexical factor refers to a factor which is not directly
related to the internal properties of a word, such as the
role of memory in vocabulary learning, the influence of
first and other languages, and the individual learners’
differences (Takac, 2008).
Factors that make some words more
difficult (Thornbury, 2004)
 Pronunciation
 Spelling
 Length and complexity
 Grammar
 Meaning
 Range, connotation and idiomaticity
 Kinds of Vocabulary Teaching

• Meaning
• Form
• Use
 Vocabulary Exercises
Exercise for Exercise on
Exercise for Use
Meaning Forms
• Word and • Following • Sentence
Meaning Spelling Rules Completion
Matching • Recognizing • Collocations
• Labeling Word Parts • Interpreting
• Sentence • Building Word Dictionary
Completion Family Tables Entries
• Crossword
Puzzles
• Semantic
Analysis
• Lexical Sets
 A. Exercises for Meaning

1. Word and Meaning Matching

 demands knowledge of words and
improves knowledge of words
 deepen one’s knowledge of English
language
 Example:
Set 1 Set 2
1. VANQUISH - ( verb ) a. Little importance
2. VEHEMENT - ( adjective )
b. To defeat an enemy especially in war
3. DISARM - ( verb )
c. Science that deals with mental states and behavior
4. CORPORAL - ( adjective )

5. DOCKYARD - ( noun )
d. Expressing strong feelings or great energy or force

6. PSYCHOLOGY - ( noun ) e. To bring back something to its former state

7. REGULATION - ( noun )
f. Of or relating to the body
8. TRIVIAL - ( adjective )
g. Act of surrender or accepting defeat
9. SUBMISSION - ( noun )
h. A place where ships are built, services and repaired
10. REVERT - ( verb )

i. Rule prescribed by an authority

j. To take weapons away from someone – to give up

weapons
Example:
 Directions:
Place the following words into groups that you think
would be the best and then label each group:
Tiger, lion, wolf, sheepdog, rat, puppy, mouse, kitten,
hamster
 Response:
CATS DOGS RODENTS

tiger wolf rat

lion sheepdog mouse
kitten Puppy hamster
c. Relating
Cats animal
felines
Dogs animal
canines
3. Sentence Completion
 practices student’s vocabulary and knowledge of the finer
distinctions among words
Example:
Neem has _____ qualities and in many clinical trials,
doctors have saved countless lives by using raw Neem
leaves on serious wounds.
A. remedial
B. flavoring
C. inferior
D. doubtful
E. notorious
4. Crossword Puzzles
 sharpen
students’ critical thinking and
problem-solving skills
 helpreinforce skills in subject areas such as
English language arts, mathematics,
science, and social studies
 encouragesindependence, creativity, and
active engagement.
Example:
Vocabulary Practice: Vegetables
5. Semantic Analysis
 Semantic feature analysis is based on the
similarities among sets of word
Example:
A shirt collar
buttons ≠ skirt/trousers
sleeves
6. Lexical Sets
 A lexical set is a group of words with the same topic, function
or form
Example:
'Cat, dog, tortoise, goldfish, gerbil‘ pets
'quickly, happily, completely, dramatically, angrily' adverbs

Activities:
 Sort words into groups
 Chaining word game
 Odd One Out
B. Exercise on Forms

1. Following Spelling Rules

 They help explain why certain letter patterns occur,
and why a word is spelled the way it is.
 They can help you figure out how to spell a word.
 They help your reading because you can identify
the rule's letter patterns.
 They help you build "long" words with prefixes & suffixes.
 And they help your confidence to spell well, to read, and
to improve your vocabulary
Examples (Rudling, 2018):
 The rule: ‘use i before e, except after c‘, such as:
believe, chief, niece, piece, thief
 The rule: ‘use i after e, after c, such as: deceive,
receive, ceiling
 The rule: words that end in –able, such as:
adaptable; amiable; believable; capable; changeable;
comfortable; conceivable; debatable
 The rule: words that end in –ible, such as: illegible;
responsible; eligible; incredible; reversible;
invincible; suggestible; contemptible; feasible
2. Recognizing Word Parts
 Prefixes, e.g: un-, re-, in-, dis-
 Suffixes, e.g: -ness, -less,-ful
 Roots
Example:
How to use the base word “play”

Brainstorms Records Discuss the

suggestions, e.g.: meaning of words
words related player, playful, and how it
to play playing field, etc relates to play
3. Building Word Family Tables
 A word family relates words by their meaning,
word class and structure
 Example (Garside, 2017) :
C. Exercise for Use

1. Sentence Completion
Examples:
 Select words from the list to complete these sentences.
Note that there are more words than sentences ...
 Choose words from the text you have just read to
complete these sentences ...
 To avoid sentences like “I saw a philanthropist,” ask
students to write complete sentences that indicate a
word’s meaning, such as, “The rich man was a philanthropist
because...”
2. Collocations
Collocations : combinations of words which
are used together with greater than usual
frequency.
Example: de-lexicalized verbs (get, have,
make, do, put, take), such as make a
mistake, do your homework, take an
exam; nouns (well-paid job, part-time job,
package holiday, etc).
Collocation Matching
 Match the words in column A to the best available
answer in column B.
Column A Column B

1. clear/set a. some beer

2. serve b. an order
3. take c. the table
4. look at d. the menu
5. drink e. the onions and fish
6. fry f. food
 Collocation Table (Hunt, -):
a a bank money a car a shop a wallet
person

rob

steal
3. Interpreting Dictionary Entries
Steps:
1. Pronounce the word in syllables using the diacritical
marks as a guide.
2. Note the part or parts of speech of the word and any
related words.
3. Read the definitions.
4. Check the etymological reference to see if you can
find remnants of the meaning of the originating word
in the meaning of the entry.
5. Use the word in a sentence that has a clue in it as to
the meaning of the word.
 Problems in Vocabulary Learning

1. Spelling and Pronunciation

2. Synonym, Polysemy, and
Contextual Meaning
3. Verb Forms and Parts of Speech
4. Limited practice
1. Problem in Spelling and Pronunciation

• many words have different spelling but

identical similar pronunciation
e.g advise–advice, flour–flower, polish –
police,
• many words have identical spelling but
different pronunciation
e.g. put – cut – hurt.
Experts’ statements on the problem:
* Reed (2012) in Alqahtani (2015) :
a. Word spelling needs to be considered since spelling forms
of English words is not always inferred by the
pronunciation.
b. The primary means of spelling is actually memorizing
words
* Pallawa and Alam (2013):
some groups of English sound systems should be paid much
attention carefully in teaching pronunciations since they
make learners of L1 in a big difficulty in pronouncing
English words.
e.g / æ, ʌ , ɜ, v, θ, ð /
2. Difficulty with Meaning due to Synonym,
Polysemy, and Contextual Meaning

 Problem with synonym

e.g. “bahagia” : happy, glad
 Problem with polysemy:
e.g. clove : “cengkeh”, “sebutir  bawang putih
 Problem with contextual meaning
e.g. “ikan” : fish
“memancing” : “fishing” as a verb (neglecting the
Tense)
Expert’s statement on the problem:

Oxford, 1990 in Alqahtani, 2015 :

vocabulary is “by far the most sizeable and
unmanageable component in the learning
of any language, whether a foreign or one’s
mother tongue, because of tens of
thousands of different meanings.
3. Challenge to Differentiate Verb Forms
& Parts of Speech
* confusion in using verbs in “Present, Past Form, and Past Participle”.
e.g “cut – cut – cut” (irregular forms)
“talk – talked – talked” (regular form)
 problem to recognize a word as a noun, adjective, verb, and other
parts of speech.
e.g. beauty, beautiful, beautify
 Expert’s statement on the problem:
Gairns and Redman (1986) in Rohmatillah (2008) :
this difficulty refers to problem in grammar of vocabulary in which
the rules that enable students to build up different forms of the word
or even different words from that word (e.g. sleep, slept, sleeping;
able, unable, disability)
4. Limited Practice
 The students admitted that they easily forgot meanings of
words due to infrequent uses :
- Vocabulary is used at English Class only (lack of practice),
more focus on receptive vocabulary than productive ones
- Low motivation to enrich vocabulary
 Experts’ statements on the problem:
* Hatch and Brown, 1995 in Alqahtani, 2015 :
the specification of any individual’s vocabulary
knowledge depends on the person or his motivation,
desires, need for the words.
* Rivers, 1989 in Alqahtani, 2015 :
It is an individual achievement and possession.
 Solutions to Problems in
Vocabulary Learning

1. Spelling and Pronunciation

2. Synonym, Polysemy, and
Contextual Meaning
3. Verb Forms and Parts of Speech
4. Limited Practice
1. Solution to Spelling and Pronunciation
Problem
 Students cannot differentiate the words which belong to verb or noun
(such as advise – advice).
Solution: The word may sound the same, but the function (verb or noun)
can be easily recognized by the stress in pronouncing the word.

Ad VISE AD vice
 The students cannot differentiate words that are similar in
pronunciation, belong to the same function, but have different meaning
(such as ‘flower – flour’, ‘son – sun’, ‘to – two – too’, etc.)
Solution: provides incomplete sentences or texts in different context and
let the students complete them with the target words.
1. Solution to Spelling and Pronunciation
Problem
 The words have different spelling, function, and meaning, but the
students cannot pronounce them correctly (such as ‘through, though,
thought, tough, thorough’).
Solution: The teacher facilitates them with learning resources (such as
video, song, or recording) and practices (such as drilling, speech-chain,
or oral conversation)
 The students have problem in pronouncing long and complex words
(such as unattended, vigorously, difficulties, unfriendliness, etc.)
Solution: provide long and complex words and let the students find out
the root, endings, and affixes of those words after being explained.
2. Difficulty with meaning due to synonym,
polysemy and contextual meaning

 Students find difficulty to pick up one meaning of words contextually

since one word possibly serves more than one meaning.

Solution: Making a Class Thesaurus Dictionary

The book consists of at least 26 sheets representing the 26 alphabets in
which each sheet has 1 alphabet. Every meeting each student has to
mention 1 word and its similar name (such as ‘happy – glad’, ‘beautiful –
pretty’, ‘afraid – scared’, etc.) and write them down on the dictionary.
Thus, at the end of the meeting, the teacher has to review the words the
students wrote in the dictionary
3. Challenge to differentiate verb forms
and part of speech

 Students cannot differentiate the use of present, past,

and past participle verbs as well as part of speech.

Solution: Showing a video which shows several activities

Students need to change them into past tense (which has
past verb) and passive voice or present perfect tense (which
has past participle).
4. Limited Practice of Word Collection

 Students were lack of using the words in classroom

activities due to limited time.
Solution:
Develop creative methods to expose ELLs to vocabulary in
many ways that develop and reinforce word meaning
throughout the school day as well as in and out-of-school
settings.
For example:
(Technology, Additional Reading Texts, or Games)
Thank you