Argument … … .. 4 [628593]

UNIVERSITATEA “DUNĂREA DE JOS” din GALAȚ I
DEPARTAMENTUL PENTRU PREGATIREA ȘI
PERFECȚ IONAREA PERSONALULUI DIDACTIC
FACULTATEA DE LITERE
SPECIALIZAREA LIMBA ȘI LITERATURA ENGLEZĂ

LUCRARE METODICO – ȘTIIN ȚIFICĂ
ÎNTOCMIT Ă ÎN VEDEREA OBȚ INERII
GRADULUI DIDACTIC I

COORDONATOR ȘTIINȚ IFIC:
PROF. UNIV. DR. FLORIANA POPESCU

CANDIDAT: [anonimizat]. MANOLE (FLOREA) FELICIA

GALA ȚI
2015

2

NEW METHODS AND TECHNIQUES OF APPROACHING
AND TEACHING VOCABULARY IN EFL CLASSES

3

CONTENTS

Argument …………………………………………………………………… ………… .. 4
Precis………………………………………………………………………… ………… . 6
Study presentation…………………………………………………………… ………… . 8
PART I: A THEORETICAL APPROACH TO NEW METHODS AND TECHNIQUES
OF TEACHING AND LEARNING VOCABULARY……………… ….…………… .. 10
Chapter 1. On Teaching and learn ing vocabulary …………………………………… … 11
1.1. The concept of learning and te aching vocabulary…………………………………. 11
1.2. The role of v ocabulary in foreign language teaching……………………………… 14
1.3. Principles on learning and teac hing vocabulary…………………………………… 16
Chapter 2. Understanding and u sing words…………………………………………… . 20
2.1. The importance of meaning in context……………………… …………………… 20
2.2. Sense relation s……………………………………………………………………. 21
2.3. Understanding word collocation, stylistic context a nd register differentiation….. 23
Chapter 3. New techniques of teach ing vocabulary……………………………………. 25
3.1. Presentation technique s…………………………………………………………… 25
3.2. Disco very techn iques……………………………………………………………… 27
3.3. Practice techniqu es ……………………………………………………………….. 30
Chapter 4 . Innovative classroom activities for acquiring and expanding vocabulary….. 33
Chapter .5 Testing voca bulary………………………………………………………….. 48
5.1. Characteri stics of a good test………………………… ………………………….. 48
5.2.Test types ……………………………………… ………………………………… 50
5.3. Test formats …………………………………………………………………… . 50
PART II. A PRACTICAL APPROACH TO T HE LEARNING -TEACHING
VOCABULARY PROCESS
Chapter 6. A survey o n teaching and le arning vocab ulary……………………………. 56
6.1. Hypothesis and objectives of th e research study………………………………… 56
6.2.The results of the research/Final conclusions of the questionnaire ……………… 66
CONCLUSI ONS…………………………………………………………………… …. 67
BIBLIO GRAPHY……………………………………………………………… ……… 69
APPENDIX… …………………………… …………………………………………….. 72
ANNEX ES……… ……………………………………………………………………… 86

4

ARGUMENT

Motto: “My only defense is the acquisition of
vocabulary” Margaret Edson

Several authors (Folse 2004; Walters 2004) agree that in the past there was very
little research being conducted in the field of ESL vocabulary. Since the mid -1990s there
has been an explosion of research on second language vocabulary issues such as student: [anonimizat], teaching techniques and learning strategies. Vocabulary is obviously a very
important element within a language as the over whelming majority of meaning is carried
lexically and, therefore something to be taken into consideration in Foreign Language
Teaching.
Nowadays, the issue of teaching and learning vocabulary within context is strongly
emphasized. Students sh ould have the chance to absorb new vocabulary in practical and
efficient manner and to acquire new language in the most natural way.
Traditional methods of teaching vocabulary such as Grammar Translation and
Audio Lingual Method are teacher -centered methods. Language learning is viewed as
memorizing rules and facts in order to understand the morphology and syntax of the
foreign language. These methods do not touch the way students process information and
their motivation for learning. The stude nts have to make the connections by th emselves,
outside the teaching -learning process, because they are unable to make connections
between what they are learning and how that knowledge will be used.
Learning occurs only when students process ne w information or knowledge in such
a way that it makes sense to them in their own inner world and memory, experience and
response. Teaching and learning in this method assumes that the mind naturally seeks
meaning in context. Students learn best and retain what they have learned when they are
interested in the subject matter and concepts are applied to the context of the students’ own
lives.
The main objective of foreign language teaching is not only to teach students some
grammatical rules and vo cabularies, but also how to use the knowledge in practice to
express thoughts and ideas.

5
Learning a language cannot be reduced, of course to only learning vocabulary but
it is also true that “no matter how well the students learn grammar, no matter how
successfully the sound of L2 are mastered, without words to express a wide range of
meanings, communication in a L2 just cannot happen in any meaningful way” (McCarthy,
1990: VIII)
I consider that the ultimate goal in preparing stud ents is enabling them to develop
meaningful and appropriate communicative a ctivities with their peers and/ or native/non –
native speakers of English. Based on personal and acquired experience, I have presented a
set of activities meant to enhance students’ v ocabulary knowledge. These activities
encourage group work –working in group help fostering learning independence, and in
vocabulary, learners can exchange knowledge, asking others to explain unknown items.
Also, guessing words from the context is a good t echnique for intermediate and upper –
intermediate students, to expand their vocabulary knowledge.
As far as I am concerned, I am of the opinion that the involvement of the students
through innovative activities and the acquisition of language t hrough cooperative learning
would be more effective than the conscious learning of language items.
Considering what has been said so far, I shall conclude that classroom activities
began to be carefully looked at, project and developed in orde r to attain a generous aim –
vocabulary acquisition . Thus, I shall fallow Folse in saying that “From the viewpoint of
second language learners, learning vocabulary –learning the meaning of new words –is
probably the most common activity in their whole exper ience of learni ng a new language”
(Folse 2004: 160)

6
NEW METHODHS AND TECHNIQUES OF APPROACHING AND TEACHING
VOCABULARY IN EFL CLASSES
PRECIS

The present study New Methods and Techniques of Approaching and Teaching
Vocabulary in EFL Classes to intermediate and upper –intermediate learners focuses on
the teacher’s need to understand her learners’ problems, interests, desirability in acquiring
new vocabulary items through creative activities.
Other issue mentioned in this study is to enable students to acquire a large
vocabulary of useful words taking into account the metaphorical language use and word
collocation.
The last but not the least issue the study deals with is the use of different methods
and techniques for learning and teaching vocabulary which will encourage students to set
their personal goal for learning and to become aware of their strengths and needs.
Innovative classroom activities and discovery techniques develop students’ capacity and
ability to manipulate lexical items in a communicative manner and maintain that
successful communication which is more than the production of accurate sentences. \
The present study on learning and teaching vocabulary is based on a series of
activities which are designed to increase efficiency of both the students’ and the teachers’
work . Teachers will use a variety of techniques to teach students, including discovery
techniques, presentation and practice techniques. All those techniques w ill help students
assume responsibility for identifying and using learning resources.
At the beginning of the study, I have conceived a questionnaire on learning and
teaching vocabulary at intermediate to upper -intermediate students. This ques tionnaire was
applied to teachers in my school and to other teachers in my county.
The reactions and the opinions which I observed after I had applied the
questionnaire were of course, different. A big part of the questioned students is to tak e
responsibility in vocabulary acquisition and expansion by informal methods while teachers
are reserved in giving students the entire responsibility. Wh ile a big part of the teachers
stated that guessing words in context is one of the best way to teach an d learn vocabulary,
there still are some which believe that the effective way to convey meaning is through the
use of translation, as an effective tool for the true mastery of a language.
The idea of choosing this topic for my “first degree” pape r came from my teaching
experience. Along the years I had the unpleasant surprise to find that my students were not

7
able to speak freely on a given topic, because they didn’t have the right vocabulary to deal
with, although they were pretty good on doing g rammar exercises. That made me
reconsider my role as a teacher in finding the key that creates and unlocks the students’
need to communicate. So, I started to use different techniques of teaching vocabulary
which stimulate students’ creativity and my stude nts became interested in them.

8
PAPER PRESENTATION

This paper is consists of two parts, whose chapters represent some of our
conceptions, methods, research and teaching experiences.
The first part contains five chapters and provides the theoretical framework for the
study.
Chapter 1, On teaching and learning vocabulary , intends to show that vocabulary
learning means a set of accumulated items and there are some rules which should be
followed when teaching those items. It also emphasize that some words are more difficult
to remember than others and advances the idea that there is a particular relationship
between teaching of pronunciation and spelling, which cannot be separated from
appropriate training in listening comprehension or from developing reading skills.
Furthermore, this chapter deals with the principles of learning and teaching voc abulary and
in addition to those principles vocabulary learning can be maximize by teaching word
families instead of individual word forms.
Chapter 2 , Understanding and using words , show s that knowing the meaning of a word,
is not just knowing its diction ary meaning, but it also means knowing the words commonly
associated with, its collocations as well as its connotations, including its register and its
cultural meaning . Furthermore, this chapter deals with two types of sense relations:
paradigmatic relati ons (synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy) and syntagmatic relations which
refer to collocations. Also students need to get an idea of how the new language and
vocabulary is used by native speakers and the best way of doing this is to present
vocabulary in context .
Chapter 3 , New techniques of teaching vocabulary , presents techniques and procedures
designed to teach and practice words and their various uses. The role of the teacher is no
longer to establish the meaning of a new word first, but making a strategy in order to
engage and activate learners into vocabulary presentation. Another purpose of the study is
to show that word formation is rule -based and this system would not be too complicated to
be used by learners, either for receptive or productive skills. Also focuses on a series of
activities designed to present and practice vocabulary showing –in the largest section – how
discovery techniques can aid vocabulary acquisition
Chapter 4, Innovative classroom activities for acquiring and expanding vocabulary ,
describes a series of innovative and challenging activities which can be used either
individually or in group and encourages initiative and originality on the part of the learner .

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It also helps both teachers and students be strategic in organizing their ac tivity. Also, these
activities enhance collective creativity through constructive imagination.
Chapter 5, Testing vocabulary , presents the characteristics of a good test and different
ways of testing vocabulary. It starts from informal (as in regular progr ess test s) to formal
ones (as in end -of–course achievement tests). Furthermore, this chapter emphasize s that
either formal or informal good tests have a positive backwash effect, if learners know they
are going to be tested on their vocabulary learning, and they may take vocabulary learning
more seriously. Another purpose of the study is to show that any vocabulary test needs to
take into account the multi -dimensional character of word knowledge.
The second part contains one chapter which deals with practical approaches to the
learning and teaching vocabulary.
Chapter 6, A survey on teaching and learning vocabulary , is based on a set of pencil
and papers questionnaires applied both to teachers and students. The results of the research
showed that stu dents are reluctant to the traditional way of teaching vocabulary through
translation exercises, they prefer acquiring it through activities which have relevance and
importance to them and the most used learning strategies are those of word formation . The
chapter also includes an extra -curriculum optional course subject “English vocabulary in
use” which enhances students’ creativity. The purpose of the study is also to develop
students’ vocabulary through many communicative activities.
Finally, I c an say that using all those information on topics such as: countries,
nationalities, press and media, sports, science and technology, culture and civilization
students will bring their own culture into communication process.
There are 3 annexes added to th e present study. They present worksheets, lesson plans,
classroom activities. They are especially created for the class as reinforcement tools for
acquiring and expanding vocabulary items.
As teachers, we try to achieve our class objectives using all the available resources.
This study will be useful for the teacher’s job, to bring challenging and interesting
activities to class and motivate students in learning new vocabulary items. I n conclusion,
the present study has proved that we need to help students understand that learning is a
gradual process that takes place in small, manageable increments over the time, and to
encourage them to seek additional information on their own, person alizing the learning
experience and tailoring it to their own specific needs.

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PART I.

A THEORETICAL APPROACH
TO
NEW METHODS AND TECHNIQUES
OF
TEACHING AND LEARNING VOCABULARY

11

CHAPTER 1. ON TEACHING AND LEARNING VOCABULARY
1.1. THE CONCEPT OF LEARN ING AND TEACHING
VOCABULARY

For many years vocabulary was seen as incidental to the main purpose of language
teaching – the acquisition of grammatical knowledge about the language. Vocabulary was
necessary to give students something to hang on to when learning structures, but
frequently it was not a main focus for the learning itself. In the last years, methodologists
and linguists have increasingly been turning their attention to vocabulary , stressing its
importance in language teaching and reassessing some of the ways in which it is taught
and learnt.
When learning vocabulary , it does not only mean to understand the definition of
simple words and collocations , but it also requires know ing the rules of how words fit into
the context.
Nowadays , it is widely accepted that vocabulary teaching should be part of the
syllabus and taught in a well -planned and regular basis.
According to Scrivener “The more words I have, the more precisely I can express the
exact meaning I want to ” (2005: 227) . In other words , a learner should admit the
communic ative power of vocabulary and the fact that they must acquire a working
knowledge of a large number of words.
When teaching new vocabulary items , we should find a systematic approach which
will help learners when they encounter such items, and this should consist of :
 understanding its meaning and the other vocabulary items they often come
together with;
 practicing using the vocabulary items
 finding ways that help them memorize the vocabulary items
 recall and use the vocabulary items appropriately
There are different techniques which help learners to change material from quickly
forgotten to the never forgotten. Encouraging students to ke ep a useful words list is one
way to ensure that the teaching of vocabulary has a value a fter the lesson i s over and
teaching grouped words is more effective than study ing unrelated individual words.
Another idea is to build a word web or memory map , where there is a real connection in

12
meaning or use between different words.
Vocabulary learning means a set of accumulating items. We might plan lessons that
allow students to constantly meet the same items in different texts, recordings, and notice
them in new combinations with different uses and then have repeated opportunities to try
using the item themselves. As teachers , we should go deeper with language, looking at
how words are used, noticing patterns, encouraging long term recognition and recall ing
and g etting our students to use the language themselves. According to Scrivener there are
some rules which should be followed when teaching new vocabulary items :
Record vocabulary items in useful ways: encourage students to keep word pages
that let them collect collocations , pronunciation, idioms, etc.
Revisit vocabulary item pages: encourage students to revisit their word
collocations and keep amending and adding new examples, collocations, etc.
Collect vocabulary items: encourage students to notice intere sting items and
“collect “them on their word pages, when reading a text.
Sort and classify items: get students to read specific texts to collect and classify
items together on single words pages.
Redesign their word pages: encourage learners to sometimes re organize,
reclassify and redesign some of their word pages.
All these come to emphasize that knowing the meaning of a word, isn’t just
knowing its dictionary meaning, but also means knowing the words commonly associated
with, its collocations as well as its co nnotations, including its register and its cultural
meaning . When students learn words in context they are far more likely to remember them
than if they learn them as single items . But anyone who has learned a second language will
know that some words see m easier to learn than others. According to S. Thornbury (2002:
27) there are some factors that make some words more difficult than others:
1. Pronunciation : words that are difficult to pronounce are more difficult to learn .
e.g.: Strength /streŋθ /
Crisps / krɪsps/
Breakfast /brekfəst /
2. Spelling: Sound – spelling mismatches are the cause of errors , either of pronunciation or
of spelling and can contribute to a word’s difficulty. Words that contain silent letters are
particularly problematic , too.
e.g.: foreign /'fɒrɪn/ -adjective honest / 'ɒnɪst/ -adjective

13
listen /' lɪs(ə)n /- verb muscle / 'mʌs(ə)l/-noun
3. Length and complexity : long words seem to be more dif ficult to learn than short ones.
e.g.: necessar ily – adverb unnecessary – adjective
necessity – noun unnecessarily – adjective
necessary – adverb necessitate – adverb
4. Grammar : the grammar associated with the word may be a problem, if this differs from
that of its L1 equivalent . This is the case of phrasal verbs.
e.g.:
 to look up ~ to try to find a particular piece of information by looking in a book or
on a list, or by using a computer
 to look after ~to take care of someone or something and make certain that they
have everything they need
5. Meaning : when two words overlap in meaning learners are likely to confuse them .
e.g. Make: make breakfast, make an appointment;
Do: do the housework, do a questionnaire ;
6. Range, connotation and idiomaticity
Words that can be used in a wide range of contexts will be perceived as easier than their
synonyms with a narrower range.
e.g.: To put -(verb ) instead of to impose, to place;
Thin (adjective) instead of skinny, slim, slender
The connotati ons of some word may cause problems too
e.g. Propaganda – negative connotation; its equivalent -publicity
Idiomatic expressions are more difficult than words whose meaning is transparent
e.g. Make up your mind -to decide
Keep an eye on –to watch
Taking everything into account, teaching of pronunciation is closely linked to teaching of
grammar and vocabulary. A rich vocabulary makes the skills of reading, speaking,
listening and writing easier to perform. Learners’ growth in vocabulary mus t be
accompanied by opportunities to become fluent with vocabulary. This fluency can be
partly achieved through activities that lead to the establishment and enrichment of
vocabulary knowledge, but the essential element in developing fluency lies in the
opportunity for meaningful use of vocabulary in tasks with a low cognitive load (Nation,
1994) .

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1.2. THE ROLE OF VOCABULARY IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE
TEACHING

As the last researches have shown, there is an enthusiastic interest in the role of
vocabulary in foreign language teaching. In order to progress in a foreign language,
students should be able to understand what they are hearing and reading. If students do not
understand a big part of the vocabulary in the language that they are reading or listening, it
means that this language is not comprehensible and therefore cannot be useful for
acquisition . So, from this point, vocabulary is one of the most important components in
learning a foreign language and this should be reflected in foreign language curricula.
Wilkins (1972: 111) wrote that ” Without grammar very little can be conveyed,
without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed”. This point reflects that vocabulary is central
to English language teaching. Without sufficient vocabulary students cannot understand
each other or express their own ideas. They should be aware of the vocabulary they need
for their level and the words which they want to use.
Another important question that rises at any time during the instructional program is
“How to choose the words most important to know”. Nobody knows exactly how many
English words must be learned for a real command of the language. The number which is
often mentioned is app roximately 30.0000. To the ESL teacher this number seems
discouraging because a student cannot learn so many words. Of course, students do not
have to learn to use all these words in t heir own speaking and writing. S tudents need only
understand them when they meet them in the sentences they read or hear. In time, some
word s which they have learned for comprehension became part of their active vocabulary.
The teacher can also choose the most important words on the criterion o f frequency of use.
If students are going to meet a word frequently in their reading of English, that word is
important to learn. Although the most frequently used words are pronouns, prepositions,
articles, auxiliaries, and conjunctions, there are also ma ny nouns, verbs, adjectives and
adverbs which are used so frequently that students can meet them in their reading of
English. Some teachers share the idea of having a list that would contain all the words
most important to learn, from the standpoint of fre quency. After many years of studies
specialists come to the conclusion that, lists of words are not reliable guides to the
selection of words to be taught. Even when the list is the result of careful work by scholars

15
like Thorndike and Lorge or Dale and O’ Rourke, there are reasons why it should not
control our decisions about vocabulary to be introduced in the lessons . A better guide for
the word most important to learn , as Virginia French Allen emphasizes in “ Techniques in
Teaching V ocabulary “(1983:108) is a set a questions like the following, which can be use
successfully by any teacher, in different moments of the lesson:
1. Which words must the students know in order to talk about people, things , and
events in the place where they study and live?
2. Which words must the students know in order to respond to routine directions and
commands ?
3. Which words are required for certain classroom experiences (describing,
comparing, classifying, or having imaginary conversations with speakers of
English)?
4. Which words are needed in connection with the students’ particular academic
interests?
(Those who will specialize in science need vocabulary that is different from those
who plan business careers)
Such questions will help teachers decide which words need special attentio n among the
thousand that speakers of English now. To build a good stock of vocabulary is the first and
most important step when starting to learn a new language. Well mastered ability of using
the right expressions, phrases, grammatical structures and fun ctions ensure students to be
successful in their communication. As we know , vocabulary learnin g does not officially
count amo ng the language skills (which are listening, speaking, reading and writing) but it
might be included there as there is no way of ma king progress in language without
building vocabulary that can be then applied into grammar and create meaningful
utterances through which students communicate among themselve as. Nation , leading
linguist researcher notes: “Vocabulary is not an end in itse lf. A rich vocabulary makes the
skills of listening, speaking, reading , and writing easier to perform ” Nation (1994: viii).
All in all, instead of contrasting vocabulary with the rest of the language skills, it would be
more useful to consider it as solid bedrock upon which to build the overall language
proficiency.
Vocabulary is learned through conscious study, but even more commonly in an
indirect manner through listening and reading, using context clues to figure out the
meaning . So, as this ima ge shows, improving vocabulary means improving the capacity to
learn more new words from the context in which they appear.

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Fig.1 Vocabulary teaching
To conclude, vocabulary is an important part of foreign lang uage teaching, as
knowing and understanding words and their meanings are necessary to convey information
and communicate effectively. While it is important to teach and emphasize vocabulary in
the classroom, it is also necessary to remember that learning v ocabulary is a life -long
process. We are continually learning new words.

1.3. PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING AND TEACHING VOCABULARY

A big problem in teaching vocabulary lies in the fact that whilst there is a consensus
about what grammatical s tructures should be taught at what levels the same is hardly true
about vocabulary. We all know that syllabuses include words lists, but there is no
guarantee that the list for one beginners’ syllabus will be similar to the list for a different
set of begi nners. The problem is how to select what words to teach.
A general principle of vocabulary selection has been that of frequency. We can
decide which words we should teach on the basis of how frequently they are used by
speakers of language. The words which are most commonly used are the ones we should
teach first .
Another principle that has been used in the selection of vocabulary is that of
coverage. It is said that a word is more useful if it covers more things than if it only has
one very specific meaning. For example a word like “book will be a n early vocabulary

17
item because it is frequently used by native speakers and has greater coverage than
“notebook”, “exercise book”, ”textbook” .
In order to know which the most frequent words are , we can read or listen to a lot
of English and list the words that are used, showing which ones are used most often and
which are used least often. This was done by Michael West in 1953, who scanned
newspapers and books to list his frequency tables. The greatest revolution in vocabulary
investigation has been the use of computer in finding out which words are used and how
they are used. Many universities and research projects have computer – based corpuses
which tell users what words are used more often and how they are used . It should be
possible, then , to create vocabulary syllabuses on the basis of computerized information.
But even with such a scientifi c power the problem of selection has not been completely
solved because the frequency count will still be heavily influenced by the type of text that
is fed into the computer. If you key in scientific textbooks you will get a different
frequency count from the result you would get if you keyed in e fashion magazine.
Therefore the decision about what vocabulary to teach and learn will be heavily influenced
by the information we can get about frequency and use.
Furthermore, the sound system, stress, intonation and rhythm of a foreign language
should not be taught apart vocabulary. The acquisition of good pronunciation and of a
proper oral production of sounds, words and sentences is regarded as the first stage in
learning a language. Since the rules of English pronunciation are so complex , occasionally
this leads the students to m aking mistakes in pronunciation. Spelling mistakes less
frequently cause lack of understanding and are more often simply a give –away of the
writer’s status as a learner. Aga in it is the lack of fit between the sound and spelling
system which causes problems. Pronunciation and spelling are fairly obvious
characteristics, and one or another will be perceived by the learners when encountering the
item for the first time. Thus, i n teaching vocabulary we need to make sure that both these
aspects are accurately presented and learned.
Another idea that rises is that the more a learner engages with a new word, the more
likely he or she is to learn it. Researchers suggest th at actively searching for information
about a word seems to help, like looking up the meaning of a word in a dictionary. Many
other factors can also increase the level of engagement such as: increased attention focused
on the lexical item; increased attent ion to learn the lexical item; a requirement to learn the
lexical item (by teacher); increased manipulation of the lexical item; increased amount of
time spent engaging with the lexical item and increased amount of interaction spent on the

18
lexical item. In essence, we can improve vocabulary learning by promoting engagement,
the fundamental tasks for teachers and indeed for learners themselves.
Combining explicit teaching with incidental learning is another principal which
should be taken into cons ideration when teaching vocabulary. When our students are true
beginners it is necessary to explicitly teach all words until students have enough
vocabulary to start making use of unknown words they meet in context.
Norbert Schmitt in his work V ocabulary in Language Teaching (2000: 21) suggested
a number of principles for the explicit teaching of vocabulary such as:
 Build a large sight of vocabulary.
 Integrate new words with old .
 Provide numerous encounters with a word .
 Make new words “real” by connected them to the students’ words in some
way.
 Encourage independent learning strategies.
 Provide opportunities for developing fluency with known vocabulary.
In addition to those principles we can also maximize vocabulary learning by
teaching word families instead of individual word forms. When teachers introduce a new
word, they should mention the other members of its word family. In this way students form
the habit of considering a word’s derivations as a matter of course. To reinforce this habit,
teachers can also ask students to guess a new word’s derivati ves at the time of
introduction. So, including a derivation section in the process of assessment also promotes
the idea that learning the whole word family is important.
In con trast to the explicit approaches to vocabulary learning and teaching, the key to
an incidental learning approach is to make sure students get maximum exposure to
language . The best way of achieving this is having students read more. Researchers show
that i ncidental learning from reading adds up significantly over time but is relatively slow
compared to explicit learning (Horst , 2005 ). Reading may not lead to the learning of many
new words , but is very useful in developing and enriching partially known vocab ulary.
There are many ways through which teachers can maximize incidental learning. The
most obvious way is by establishing an extensive reading program which facilitates more
than just vocabulary growth. But the most effective way of improving incidental learning
is to reinforc e it with explicit learning post tasks. Numerous studies show that incidental
and explicit approach es lead to better results than just incidental learning alone. This

19
emphasizes the point that every vocabulary program needs to have explicit and implicit
elements, which may be most effective if integrated together.
All things considered, teachers need to take a broader view of what voca bulary
teaching entails. I t is important to acknowledge the great role of vocabulary in foreign
language teaching. They have to understand that an effective vocabulary learning program
needs to be principled, long term and have high vocabulary learning expectations.

20

CHAPTER 2. UNDERSTANDING AND USING WORDS

2.1. THE IMPORTANCE OF MEANING IN CONTEXT

Vocabulary is most frequently taught in a spoken or written context, and we have
already seen that there are good arguments for this approach. However, there is a way of
looking at vocabulary which suggests that students should go home every day and learn a
list of words “by heart”. Such a rather old practice may have beneficial results, of course,
but it avoids one of the central features of vocabulary use, namely that words occur in
context not in isolation.
Subsequently, if we are to teach students what the words mean and how they are
used, we need to show them being used together with other words in context.
“When students learn words in conte xt, they are far more likely to remember them
than if they learn them as single items.” (Nation and Coady 1988:75). And even if these
were not true, they would at least get a much better picture of what the words mean.
During the English class, a lot of vocabulary work will be done incidentally as it arise
naturally out of the discussion of the meaning of the passage.
With regard to the importance of context in vocabulary teaching, (Wallace 1982:60)
suggests that “it should be safer for the t eacher to devise his own vocabulary questions
than to fallow the textbook“. This usually makes lessons livelier and more interesting,
especially as all too many textbooks seem to be concerned with testing vocabulary rather
than teaching it. As we have seen , good vocabula ry teaching requires a flexible, creative
approach which leads the learners by easy stages to a reasonable guess as to the meaning
of the target item.
For instance, if we ask a student to explain the meaning of a word or phrase, we ha ve
to make sure that what we are asking can be done within the students ‘language resources.
Even for native speakers, it is possible to understand what a phrase means without being
able to explain it, which is essentially a productive exercise.
All in all, students need to get an idea of how the new language and vocabulary is used
by native speakers and the best way of doing this is to present vocabulary in context. The
context for introducing new vocabulary should have some characteristics; it m ust show
what the new items mean and how they are used. Furthermore, a good context should be
interesting for the learners. This does not mean that all the subject matter we use for

21
presentation should be wildly funny or inventive all of the times, but the students should at
least want to see or hear the information. Lastly, a good context will provide the
background for a lot of vocabulary use.

2.2. SENSE RELATIONS
As we could see in the previous chapter, in teaching vocabulary are different f acts to
be noted about meaning. Sometimes words have meanings in relation to other words and
as far as the meaning goes students need to know about sense relations.
Sense relations refer to the meaning relations that hold within the vocabulary of a
langua ge between word themselves. Sense relations can be divided into paradigmatic
relations including synonymy, antonymy , hyponymy and syntagmatic relations which
mainly refer to collocations . Constructing sense relations of words has been proved to be
able to precisely locate the meaning of the new items and give a deep level processing in
word meaning and those deepen learner’s understanding of the new words.

Synonyms and antonyms
Synonyms are words that share a similar meaning. Thus: old, ancient, antique, aged, and
elderly are all synonyms in that they share the common meaning of not young / new .
However, there the similarity ends. We are more likely to talk about an old record player
and even an antique one than an elderly player or an aged one . Synonyms are similar but
seldom the same.
However , there does not appear too much sense in encouraging students to think in
terms of synonyms as such as in general the teacher is concerned with meaning. For
instance if the word enthusiast occurs in a pass age and we wish to explore its meaning, it
seems more sensible to accept a definition or explanation (such as “this means a person
who shows a very keen interest in something) rather than insist on a one word equivalent,
for example “fanatic” which does no t have exactly the same meaning anyway.
Possibly of more use to the learner are those exercises which explore the differences
between words with overlapping meaning. Some examples are presented in Annex 1 .
The same problem also arises in discussing antonyms. It is difficult to think of an
antonym unless we have some particular context in mind. For example, the opposite of an
old woman is a young woman , but the opposite of an old record player is a new one , not
an old one.
Consequently, which particular antonym is appropriate will depend upon the

22
speaker’s frame of reference. Some opposite s spring easily to mind for cultural reasons or
because of the way in which the language works. So, if we ask someone to give us the
opposite of white he will probably say black, but if we ask him to give us the opposite of
purple or brown he will probably hesitate. The reason for this, of course, is that the terms
black and white are often used contrastively, whereas other colours are no t so often used
contrastively.
A special type of antonyms which sometimes causes problems to learners are those
with reciprocal meanings. They are “mirror images” of each other. Good examples are the
reciprocal antonyms lend and borrow : if A lends 20 pound to B, then B borrows 20 pound
from A. We can represent it like this:
A lends 20 p. B
B borrows 20 p. A
Similarly, if A is B’s parent, then B is A’s child, with the specification that in all
these one of the terms necessarily implies the other. Other examples of reciprocal
antonyms are employer/ employee, husband/wife .
As with synonyms, antonyms should not lead students to think that words normally
have one opposite, but rather to make them aware of the network of relationships which
can exist between words. Nevertheless , like synonyms , antonyms have a useful de fining
function and are therefore a convenient teaching resource.
Hyponym is another –nym word that is useful when talking about the way word
meanings are related. A hyponym ous relationship is a kind of “superordinate’ relationship
as in the sent ences: “ A hammer is a kind of tool” or “A kiwi is a kind of fruit”. Thus,
hammer is a hyponym of tool while kiwi is a hyponym of fruit. Co-hyponyms share the
same ranking in a hierarchy: hammer, saw, screwdriver , are all co -hyponyms; tool is the
superordi nate term. But saw also has a superordinate relation to different kinds of saw:
fretsaw , chainsaw , jigsaw .
These relations can be illustrated like this : (Thornbury, 2002:10)

Tool

Hammer screwdriver saw

fretsaw chainsaw jigsaw

23
Taking into account these important relations, a majo r aim of most teaching
programme s is to help students gain a large voc abulary of useful words on the one hand,
and to develop student’s capacity and ability o manipulate these lexical items in a
communicative manner on the other.

2.3. UNDERSTANDING WORD COLLOCATION, STYLISTIC CONTEXT AND
REGISTER DIFFERNTIATION

What a word means can be changed, stretched or limited by how it is used and this
is something students need to know about.
Word meaning is frequently stretched through the use of “metaphor” and “idiom”.
For example we know that the word “hiss” describes the noise that snakes make. But we
can stretch its meaning to describe the way people talk to each other “Don’t move or
you’re dead” she hissed. That is metaphorical use of the item .
At the same time, word meaning is governed by “collocation”, a term by means of
which specialists explain which words go with each other. So this is another piece of
information about a new item which it may be worth teaching. When introducing words
like “decision” and “conclusion” for example, we no te that we take or make the one, but
usually come to the other; similarly you “throw “a ball but “toss” a coin.
We often use words only in certain social and topical context, thus what we say is
governed by the “style” and “register” we are in. For example if we want to tell someone
we are angry we will choose carefully between the neutral expression of this face “I’m
angry” and the informal version “I’m really pissed off ”. The latter would certainly seem
rude to some listeners in certain conte xts.
Students need to recognize metaphorical language use and they need to know how
words collocate. They also need to understand what stylistic and topical context words and
expression occur in.
This chapter was intended to show that knowing a word means far more than
understanding its meaning(s). In connection to this idea the relations of synonymy,
antonyny, hyponymy, which govern the process of teaching and learning vocabulary,
where discussed in such a way as to facilitate bot h the teacher and the student’s work in
the classroom. It was also shown that all these drills (which are presented in Annex 1) can

24
be used to focus on some specific aspect of vocabulary learning –words with overlapping
meaning.
Furthermore , it was shown that word meaning is frequently stretched through the
use of metaphor which could ensure and improve the students’ command of the English
language vocabulary.
To sum up, in this chapter a more explicit attempt on understanding and us ing
words was made. T he teaching of vocabulary must he lp students understand what the
knowledge of words implies both in general and for certain words in particular. By being
aware students will be more receptive to the contextual behavior of words when th ey first
see them in texts and they will be able to manipulate both the meaning and forms of the
words.

25

CHAPTER 3.
NEW TECHNIQUES OF TEACHING VOCABULARY

We have said that vocabulary teaching is as important as structure teaching. In this
respect we shall look at a range of activities which are designed to teach and practise
words and their various uses. We shall focus on the main stages of an Eng lish lesson:
Presentation, Discovery (techniques) and Practise.

3.1 Presentation techniques
According to Harmer (2000: 161) , not all vocabulary can be learnt through
interaction and discovery techniques. Even if such techniques are possible, however, they
are not always the most cost effective. There are many occasions when some form of
presentation and/ or explanation is the best way to bring new words into the classroom and
we will focus on some examples:

3.1. 1 Realia
One way of presenting words is to bring the things they denote into the classroom.
By bringing “realia” into the room the students are in a direct conta ct with the foreign
language, and, consequently, the teacher need not to apply to explanations given in the
native language. Words like “postcard”, “ruler”, “pen”, “ball” can obviously be presented
in this way. The teacher holds up the object (or points t o it), utters the word and then
invites students to repeat it.

3.1.2 Pictures
Neverthless, bringing a pen into the classroom is not a prob lem whereas bringing a
car is. T hat is way one solution is the use of pictures. Pictures can be board dr awings, wall
pictures and charts, flashcards, magazine pictures and any other non -technical visual
representation. Pictures can be used to explain the meaning of vocabulary items and
teachers can draw things on the board or bring in pictures. They can illu strate concepts
such as “above” and “opposite” just as easily as hats, coats, walking sticks, smiles, frowns,
etc.

26
3.1.3 Mime, action and gesture
It is often impossible to explain the meaning of words and grammar either through the
use of realia or of pictures. Actions, in particular, are probably better explained by mime.
Concepts like “running” or “smoking” are easy to present in this way: so are ways of
walking, expressions, prepositions ( to, towards ) and times (a hand jerked back over the
shou lder to represent the past, for example).

3.1.4 Contrast
It was shown how words exist because of their sense relations and this can be used to
teach meaning. For example the teacher can present the meaning of “empty” by
contrasting it with “full”, “cold” by contrasting it with “hot”, “big” by contrasting it with
“small”. These concepts can also be presented using pictures or mime and by drawing
attention to the contrasts in meaning we ensure our students understanding

3.1.5 Enumeration
Another meaning relation is that of “general” and “specific” words. This can be used
to present meaning. For instance we can say “clothes” and explain this by enumerating or
listing various items. The same is true for “vegetable” or “furniture”.

3.1.6 Explanation
Explaining the meaning of vocabulary items can be very difficult, especially at
beginner and elementary levels. But with more intermediate students such a technique can
be used. It is worth remembering that explaining the meaning of a word must include
explaining any facts of word use which are rel evant. If the teacher explains the meaning of
“mate” (=friend) he has to point out that it is a colloquial word used in informal contexts
and that it is more often used for males than for females.

3.1.7 Translation
Translation is a quick and easy w ay to present the meaning of words but it is not
without problems. First of all it is not always easy to translate words, and secondly, even
where translation is possible, it may make it a bit too easy for students by discouraging
them from interacting wit h the words. Where translation can quickly solve a presentation
problem it may be a good idea, but we should bear in mind that a consistent policy towards
the use of the mother tongue is helpful for both teacher and students.

27
All these presentati on techniques either single or in combination are useful ways of
introducing new words. What must be remembered with vocabulary presentation, too, is
that pronunciation is just as important here as it is for structural material. The point is that
we should not introduce words without making sure that students know how they are said.
Not only will this mean that they can use words in speech, but it will also help them to
remember the words.

3.2. Discovery techniques
Discovery techniques are the te chnique where students are not given everything by
the teacher but they have to work out the rule and meaning by themselves.
In this respect, we will describe a number of discovery techniques from simple
matching tasks to more complex understa nding of connotation in context.
3.2.1 Adjectives
This example recommendable for elementary students shows the simplest form of
matching discovery activities:

Students will have to make use of their bilingual dictionaries, though some of them
may know these words already .Teachers too , can easily prepare their own version of this
activity. For example, students can be given numbered pictures and the teacher can then
write on the board words which they have to match with the pictures.
The use of simple matching activities like t hese as a prelude to repetition and practice
allows the students more involvement than a presentation made led by the teacher. Use your dictionary. Match the words and the
pictures.

1 2 3 4
5 6

intelligent young slim fat strong old

28
However the same procedure repeated for the introduction of all new words would become
boring.

3.2.2 Around the house
Chapter 2 made a general presentation of sense relations also tackling general and
specific words. The following activity expands the concept to include word fields –i.e.
areas where a number of words group together. This activity uses the “m ind map”
technique to help students to put a list of words into different groups.
A. Here is a “vocabulary network” also called a “vocabulary web”. Can you
complete it with words from the box? (then add one more object for each
room).

saucepan shower towels alarm clock kettle video
sheets
sink washbasin chest of drawers coffee table

B. In which room do you normally:
listen to music? waste your time?
daydream ? think about your problems?
have arguments ? feel most relaxed?
Now compare your answers with your partner. HOUSE
HHOUSE BATHROOM KITCHEN
BEDROOM LOUNGE

29
C. Why do you have certain things in certain rooms? For example, why not put the
television in the bathroom? Why not put the sofa in the kitchen?
Think of so me more examples and ask your partner to explain them.
Once again, since this activity is for intermediate students, it is possible that some of
the students know some of the words. By sharing their knowledge they can complete the
map and add the extra bits of vocabulary. Using mind maps to create vocabulary webs is
something that teachers can incorporate into their regular vocabulary teaching. Indeed such
activities can form a useful prelude to work on specific topics. Thus if students are going
to read a text about movement, the class might start with the basis for a mind map like this:

It would be then up to the students (in pairs or groups) to expand the map as far as
possible.

3.2.3. Suffixes and prefixes.
Chapter 2 state s that students n eed to know about word formation . This exercise is
designed to make them become aware of how suffixes and prefixes work. After the
students are reminded of how suffixes and prefixes work they are asked to look at a list of
words and see what they mean.
A. It was shown how prefixes and suffixes are used to form different parts of
speech:
fashion able = adjective, happi ness = noun, electric ian = person. They can also add a new
meaning. For example bi = two like in bilingual, biplane, etc.
If you can understand the meaning of the suffix or prefix, you can often guess the meaning
of a new word.
B. What meaning do the following suffixes and prefixes add?
1. non-sense 6. pro- American
2. disadvantage 7. predict
3. help less 8.under clothes
4. use ful 9.a lion ess
5. defrost 10. an ex-husband MOVE
CRAWL RUN WALK

30
Once again the point here is that students are being asked to interact with the words
and work things out for themselves. Because this is an activity for upper intermediate
students they can probably do so.

3.3. Practice techniques
In this section we will lo ok at activities designed to encourage students to use
words in an involving way.

3.3.1. Actions and gestures
In this example students have studied words connected with body language and
movement (e.g. shrug, shake, cross + fis t, arm). They have done an exercise on the way
verbs and nouns collocate (“You can’t shrug your fists” for example). Now they complete
the following question

What actions and gestures do you use to do the following?
INTERVIE WEE NUMBER 1 2 3 4
express happiness
express sadness
express surprise
express indifference
express fear
express courage
Do people from different cultures do any of these things differently?

3.3.2. Traits of character
In this example for advanced students, students are led through three exercises which
practise the use of character vocabulary.
A. Which of these traits of character do you most dislike in a partner? Place them in
order.
rudeness shyness dishonesty indifference
ruthlessness rashness envy irresponsibly
arrogance selfis hness jealousy cowardice
cynicism stubbornness shyness fussiness

31
B. Which of these qualities is most important for you in a partner? Place them in
order of
importance.
self-confidence generosity openness tolerance
creativity courage respect compassion
honesty integrity empathy patience
imagination responsibility sincerity ambition

C. Discuss or write down the personal characteristics (good or bad) that yo u would
expect to
find in these people.
-a doctor -a politician
-a policeman – a singer
-an actress – a journalist

We must assume that the students have a knowledge of a majority of the word s.
That being so, the genuine discussion in exercise (2) about the characteristics we would
wish to see for various professions will provoke the use of a number of these words. The
same kind of activity can be done with emotional reactions, for example. Ho w would
students expect to feel if they went to see a horror movie, a love story, a Shakespeare play?
This activity demonstrates the desirability of making the words and what they stand for the
centre of a practice session.

3.3.3 Restaurants
This activity at intermediate level practice is preceded by a discovery activity.
Students have to place the events into the correct order when going to a restaurant. Here
the vocabulary is dealt with the phrases rather than single words since in the context of
restaurants there would not be any point in listening to the words without the vocabulary
they collocate with.
Using sequences of events in certain well -defined situations (shopping, travelling by
air, getting up, going to bed, etc.) t eachers can provide practice for a lot of the language
that concerns those situations.

3.3.4 Headlines

32
Headlines (both real and imagined) are a very good way of providing practice,
particularly if they refer to certain well -defined topic ar eas. Suppose that students have
been studying words related to age and ageing (infant, child, middle age, etc). They could
be asked to write an article to accompany the headline:

If students have been studying the vocabulary related to families and weddings they
could be asked to expand a headline like this:

Of course, ther e is no reason why teachers should only use newspaper headlines.
They could equally well use radio news items; they could describe the situation in a
“gossip” session with a “neighbour” or they could tell the story in a letter. The point is that
headlines provide a powerful stimulus for freer work and they are easy to construct as
well.

In this chapter some ideas for vocabulary work in the classroom were presented. I
have looked at a series of activities designed to present and practice vocab ulary showing –
in the largest section – how discovery techniques can aid vocabulary acquisition. Above all,
it was shown how vocabulary teaching and learning need to be emphasized in order for
students to be competent language users.

OLD LANGUAGE LEARNERS ARE BEST SAYS PENSIONER GRANDMA
BIGAMY DOUBTS CAUSE WAR AT WEDDING

33

CHAPTER 4
INNOVATIVE CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES FOR ACQUIRING AND
EXPANDING VOCABULARY

The previous chapter presented different techni ques in teaching vocabulary. Now,
particula r attention will be paid to a number of activities which bring the advantage of
versatility, in that they are usable with vocabulary development goals and/or grammar
issue practice. Therefore, although some of them are presented in a way that would imply
usage for grammar matters , they can be adapted to vocabulary enhancement.
According to Nation (1994:43) , these activities are designed to increase efficiency of
both the students’ and the teachers’ work by encouraging initiative and originality, either
individually or in g roup, as they represents a combination of techniques, of old and new
contents.
The activities for expanding vocabulary items are listed as follows:

1. Who’s My Part ner?
Every teacher has to contend with the tendency of students always sitting next to or
deciding to work with the same person in class. The following is a stress – free and
productive way of solving this problem. It simultaneously achieves the aims of warm -up
and vocabulary review, thus killing two birds with one stone.
Activities :
1. Either you or each student (if time allows) should copy part of a sentence
containing an idiomatic expression onto a strip colored paper. Copy the other part
of the idiomatic expression onto another colored strip. Choose the sentences fr om a
specified unit of the textbook. If necessary, give students different pages of the
textbook to choose from to avoid repetition. If practice of conjunctions, transition
expressions, or other connectors used to combine sentences is involved here,
includ e them in one of the matching strips.
2. Collect the strips of paper.
3. Select half of the strips pairs according to the number of students in class. You can
use the rest later.
4. Jumble them up, fan them out, and hold them up so that students cannot see them.

34
Ask each student to take one.
5. Ask the students to memorize their part in about 30 seconds and not show it to
anybody. They should then return it to you.
6. Ask the students to walk around and talk to each other until they find a match
7. Once they are all seated , ask them to say their part aloud so the others can hear and
you can check.
If students are in an odd number , the one who cannot find a partner can go to the teacher.
The teacher will have the other part, thus becoming a partner when the situation require s it.
If the sentences are not related to each other, the first pair can choose where to sit together,
and so on.
However, if the sentences are related in the form of an extended dialogue, the students
should sit in the order of the dialogue.

2. DIY –Jumbled Sentence
Ask students to choose a nice long sentence from one of their grammar exercises in the
coursebook or workbook. Tell them to take a piece of paper and rip it up into as many
pieces as there are word in the sentence. They then write one word on each piece of paper.
Tell them to mix up the pieces of paper on their desk. They then move over one place so
that they are sitting in another student’s chair in front of a new jumbled sentence. Tell
them they have a time limit (30 second or 1 m inute) to put the pieces of paper in the
correct order and make the sentence. When they finish, they can check with the student
who made the sentence if they are correct.
Variation: To make it extra difficult, ask each student when making the sentence to add
another piece of paper with an extra word that doesn’t fit into the sentence. The other
student has to reorder the sentence and spot the “intruder”.

3. Find the other half
Tell students they need to pieces of paper. Ask students in groups or alone to write a
two line dialogue using the target structure. They can take something from the coursebook
if they lie, or invented themselves. They must write one part of the dialogue on one bit of
paper and the other part of the dialogue on the other. Ci rculate and check a few to make
sure that they are correct. Collect all the papers and redistribute them. SS must find the
other half of their dialogue. You can do this with longer sentences, too. This activity is
beneficial for practis ing almost any gramm ar (for dialogues, this is in fact more about

35
coherence), longer structures like conditionals for sentences, collocations, idioms, etc. This
can be done at the end of the week, using a new piece of vocabulary and the definition.

4. Where Can I Add A Word?
Take a simple sentence from a course book that contains the structure you are
teaching. Write it on the board, putting broad spaces between the words. Insert a ^ at some
point in the sentence and ask students to supply an extra word or two. Cont inue adding in
more words.

5. Stripping a passage down
Make copies of a reading passage from the last unit you covered. Give students a
copy -ask students to delete all the adverbs, all the adjectives, delete all the conjunctions
and change punctu ation accordingly, etc. Pair students, ask them to close their books and
turn over their sheets and then write out the passage as it was before.

6. Messenger
This is similar to an internet chat room but in class what you need to do is divide the
class into pairs and give each pair a blank piece of paper. Explain that they have six
minutes to have a conversation to each other, but they cannot say anything. They must do
this in writing. One learner writes a message on the piece of paper and hands it to the other
learner. The other learner writes a response and hands in back to the other learner. This
kind of situation may appear weird for students at first, as they might not know what to
say. But once the paper has passed back and forth two or three times, you might find it
hard to stop them from writing.
Variation: You can give your learners more guidance by supplying them with a role play
situation each.

7. Real Words from the Real World
This activity gets students more involved in the l earning process, and provides new
vocabulary that is more interesting, varied, and useful than is provided by most textbooks.
The method is adaptable for all levels and ages as well as different group sizes and
time schedules. The student taught lessons are sometimes serious and sometimes hilarious.
The teacher must have a thick skin because sometimes students bring in words that are
inappropriate . These are words that they have encountered in real life, and they need to

36
know how to use them (or t o avoid them). The lessons can lead to broader discussions of
current word problems.
Activities : Give students a weekly assignment for which each brings in one new
word or phrase that they have encountered during the week. These words may be fr om any
nonacademic source: conversations, television, films, songs, sings, books, magazines or
newspapers. Students must teach their new words or phrases to their classmates. They
must include the pronunciation, correct spelling and meaning, as well as the sentence or
context in which they found the word or phrase. Any teaching method, except translation
is allowable. This might include bringing in an object drawing a picture, acting out a
movement or story, playing a tape or simply explaining.
Classmates may ask questions or provide additional information or examples to
add to the understanding of the word or phrase. A lesson on come on might lead to the
various meanings of this two -word combination, other combinations of come +
preposition(s), the great variety of such idiomatic expressions in English. Monitor the
discussion an also add further information concerning cognates, word histories, or related
expressions, depending on the level of students.

8. What Do You Hear?
The following activity combines listening, speaking and writing skills in
contextualized, interactive, purposeful, and interesting ways that enable students to learn
new vocabulary items. This task is meaningful, involves semantic processing and provides
a basis for organization and retention in student’s memory. It can be extended to many
other sounds and situations.
Activities :
1. Play an audiotape on the following sounds: applause, whispering, sneezing,
whistling, screaming, coughing, laughing, yawning, sighing, kissing and chewing.
The students will recognize these everyday sounds and will be given the
vocabulary (in this case, verbs) in English
2. Use each word in a sentence to give it a meaningful context. Amusing visuals can
be made up by the teacher to be used in the introductory segment of the exercise.
These should vary according to the age of the students.
3. Ask students to think of other sentences in which the new words can be used.
Correct pronunciation should be emphasized as the words are introduced if the new
items are to be used effectively and understood without difficulty by native

37
speakers.
4. Ask the cl ass to write a short story incorporating as many of the new word as
possible. This can be done as a class exercise, with the teacher or a volunteer
student writing on the board. This exercise allows the teacher to verify if students
have understood the new words and can use them in appropriate contexts.
As a follow -up or homework exercise, students will have to make up a different
version of the story incorporating the new words.
They will have to account for the use of words in different tenses as they ar e all verbs.
Through manipulation and use of the new forms, they will be made aware of the many
contexts in which these words can be used and can more readily fix them in memory.
Sample text:

Randy is whistling because he is happy. He is watching a com edy show on
TV. He laughs and applauds each time he hears a good joke. His little sister
appears and Randy notices that she is coughing and sneezing. When she sees
that her mother is not in the room, she starts to cry and then scream. Randy
tries to get he r to stop. He gives her some medicine. He kisses her and
whispers comforting words, but she continues. He sighs deeply. He is very
happy when she stops and begins to yawn. He puts her to sleep in her room
and returns to the kitchen as he is hungry. He pre pares an enormous sandwich
for himself and begins to chew noisily. He then returns to watching TV.

9. Important dates in your life

Teachers writes three dates that are important to them on the board. Teacher asks
students to ask them questions to gu ess why they are important. The students then write
three important dates in their life on three different pieces of paper. These are then put in
chronological order with the rest of the class. A coin is used as a dice. When we land on a
person’s date, the class must ask questions to find out why this date is important. This is
efficient for practicing past tense. It can be done with using animals or body parts in order
to create statements with idioms.

38
10. Dialogue build: Writing/ Reading
Put students i nto pairs and give each pair six strips of blank paper. Tell them to
write a short dialogue to recycle any new lexis or language. Explain that they should write
each line of dialogue on a separate strip of paper. Give students time to think of a dialogue
and write the six lines of their dialogue on their strips of paper. Monitor and check for
accuracy. When students have finished, tell them to mix their strips of paper and exchange
them with another pair of students. Explain they should read the strips of p aper and try to
put the dialogue in the correct order. When students have completed the reordering
activity, tell them to practice the dialogue with their partner, focusing on any difficult
pronunciation. Tell students to continue to exchange their strips of paper with their
classmates until each pair has reordered and practised each of the dialogues.

11. Party time: Speaking/Vocabulary
Brainstorm adjectives of character (shy, generous, etc) and write as many as
students can think of on the board. Then tell each student to choose one of the adjectives of
character from the board. Explain to students that they are all at a party, and that they must
mingle and chat to each other in the role of their character adjectives. Explain that they
must pretend to h ave that character, but they must never say what the adjective is.
Have students write the name of each student in the class on a piece of paper. Tell them to
start mingling, and explain that they should try to speak to everyone and identify the
character adjective they are representing. When they think they know what adjective the
person they are speaking to is trying to express, they should write it next to their name and
move on to speak to someone else. At the end of the game, tell students to sit down and
then call out the name of each person in the class and ask students to say the adjective they
thought that person was trying to represent.

12. Sentence Hot Seat
Students often have trouble with sentence formation often forgetting the auxiliary
verbs; this is a great activity to “drum” the correct form into their heads! Put the students
into teams. Hand out six slips of paper to each group and ask them to write a sentence on
each slip of paper using the ta rget language. These are then passed to another group. One
person picks up a sentence and elicits the answer from their group without using the words
on the piece of paper. The first team to finish is the winner.

39
13. Words in Texts. Read and Retell.
This is an active and enjoyable task in which use of new vocabulary I integrated with
reading, speaking, listening, and cooperative group work. The steps in the activity provide
learners with the resources and the practice to extend their productive vocabulary use and
to speak more fluently and for longer than they would otherwise be able to.
Activities :
1. Give one half of the class copies of one story and give the other half the second
story.
2. Tell the learners with the same story to read their story in groups of three or four so
they can help each other with comprehension problems.
3. Ask the learners to practice telling the story to each other in the first person,
referring to the text to help them with details. Each group member should have a
turn at adding a furt her step in the narrative.
4. Tell each learner to pair up with someone from the other half of the class. They
should tell their stories to each other (in the first person) with a 4 -minute time
limit.(they may also change partners and tell the story again, t his time with a 3 –
minute time limit).
5. Ask the group to reassemble and reconstruct the story they listened to. One group
member takes notes covering the main points of Who? When? Where? and What?
6. Arrange for each group from one half to get together with a group from the other.
While the groups listen as their reconstituted story is read aloud, they should make
comments and corrections.
The key to the success of the activity is well – chosen stories. I have collected a number of
timeless rescue stories from t he newspaper. Short articles that are not narrative based can
also be used. Surprisingly different versions of the original stories can emerge, as well as
versions that highlight certain details and not others. For these reasons the reconstituting
and comp arison of stories can be very amusing and involve a lot of interactive language
work.

14. Secret Word
This game is great deal of fun and can be used with any set of vocabulary.
The idea is based on a TV show “Password”
Activities:
1. Divide the students in pairs. In a large class, have two pairs play against each other.

40
2. Give one student in each pair one of the pieces of paper. This person is the clue
giver.

The partner is the guesser. Thus, in each pair one student has access to the word
and one does not.
3. The two pairs (Students A, B, C, D) sit in a small group. Student A begins by
giving a one –word clue to help B (the partner) say the word. After A says a clue, B
has five seconds to guess. Continue until either B or D guesses the word \
construction.
4. If this activity is scored, one suggestion is to give ten points if the word is guessed
after the first clue, 9 points after the seconds, and so on. In other words, as more
clues accumulate and it becomes easier to guess the secret word/construction, the
numb er of points decreases. In the next round, students B and D will be clue givers,
A and C will be guessers.

15. Make 8 Words
This vocabulary focused activity is simple but effective. It can be done individually or in
pairs/groups. Parts of constructions m ay be used.
There is a list of words to reconstruct.
dem ens ed hen va
elly eff ate extra cal
sch ical aut ted lex
tic mple oti topi opri
ppr ure ina ule ect
iv

authentic
effectively
schedule
lexical
demotivated
inappropriate
ensure
topical

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16. Reported speech adjectives
Start off by repeating the step above. Ask students to choose three of these adjectives
and write them on three slips of paper. They then give the adjective to someone in the class
and tell them why they are giving the adjective to them.
e.g. SQUARE
Steve you are so square because you always come in early to do your lesson plans.
Instead of adjectives, the teacher can use key words which are part of expressions/
idioms/proverbs.
e.g. SECOND NATURE
It’s second nature for you to make fun of people.

17. Idioms in Music
Many kind of music, both old and new, can be used for this, as long as they met two
requirements: (a) use of English –language idioms and (b) understandable vocals. Some
recommendable pieces would be: “Papa Was a Rolling Stone” (The Temptations), “Heard It
through the Grapevine” (Credence Clearwater Revival), “Things That Make You Go
Hmmm” (CC Music factory).
Activities :
1. Make a copy of the lyrics (with idiomatic expressions underlined) and give the
students a cloze version. For the first version, delete one or two stressed content
words per line, increasing the number slightly as the song progresses. If the lyrics are
repetitive, leave blank the entire line on the third or fourth repetition. Consider the
proficiency level of the students when choosing the words to o mit, and omit fewer
words, usually not starting until several lines into the song, for lower -level students.
For very low level students, full lines can simply be scrambled; for those who are
advanced, more words and even some phrases can be omitted.
2. Form groups of three or four and give each group one copy of cloze lyrics.
3. Let the students simply listen to the song once or twice.
4. Play the song twice again (uninterrupted) while they attempt to fill in the missing
words.
5. Play it again, pausing briefly after every few lines.
6. Groups help each other (without the music) fill in the words still missing.
7. Each group tries to determine what words and phrases are used idiomatically and
guess at the meanings based on context.

42
8. The w hole class discusses, with groups trying to agree on idiomatic expressions and
their meanings. Only if students miss an expression or cannot come close to the
meaning does the T point out the idiom or define it.

18. If……Writing/Speaking
Give students two or three strips of paper and tell them to write the beginning part of
a second conditional sentence on each strip. Write a few examples on the board to give them
some idea, such as: “If I got up on the wrong side of the bed……”, “If I lost my head”. Make
sure students only write the beginning part of the sentence. When they have finished collect
all the strips of paper and mix them. Put students into small groups and divide the strips of
paper between each group. Place the strips face down on the desk in fr ont of the people. Tell
students to take turns choosing a strip of paper, turning it over and reading what it says.
Explain they must finish the sentence. Demonstrate this activity by us ing the examples on the
board: “If I were a bird ….I’d fly around the world. When students have finished, tell groups
to swap their strips of paper and continue the activity. You may wish to monitor and make
notes of any errors students make. At the end read out the incorrect sentences and have the
class listen and correct a ny mistake they hear.

19. Jumbled word
This vocabulary focused activity is simple but effective. It can be done individually or
in pairs/groups. Alternatively, constructions with jumbled words can be used.
There is an example of words to unjumble.
HHETYSOEPS Hypotheses
SNEULEPMPT Supplement
BRCAKACTK Backtrack
CAILQOOLUL Colloquial
PAUUTNCL Punctual
AONGY Agony

To jumble: recognize, individualist, amateur, antonym, endangered, unacceptable, disparity,
impatient.

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20. A to Z Vocabulary
Many problems present themselves when teaching vocabulary. Do we teach straight
from vocabulary lists, and then, test that memorization? These seems to be a common
teaching method, although it is far from clear as to whether this is an effective way to te ach
vocabulary. The new words are soon lost because the students have not learned them in a real
environment. Vocabulary needs to be taught from “natural” environments and exposure must
occur in various ways (such as speaking and writing), before the stude nt will be able to retain
the words.
Activities :
1. Once a week, assign each student a letter from the alphabet. Start with A and work
your way through. In smaller classes this will mean that the entire alphabet will not be
covered that week. This is perfectly acceptable, as this exercise can be used
throughout the semester.
2. Tell the students to find two words which begin with their assigned letter. These
words must be in a natural environment (books, newspapers, etc.). Emphasize that the
students shou ld look for words that relate to their field of study.
3. They must then copy the sentences in which the words occur and write two original
sentences, using the words in their correct context.
4. When the students return to class, divide them into heterogeneous groups of four,
where they exchange words and definitions. Each student’s goal is to use at least four
of the words from their group in a paragraph.
Give some type of prize for the student who is able to use all eight words in their proper
context in the paragraph.
Move into a peer -editing session, during which each member in the group is given the
opportunity to comment on the other members’ writing.
Having the students choose their own words, and by ensuring that the word are related to
their field, acco mplishes a number of tasks related to improving retention. First, the students
have used the words communicatively in group discussion and in writing. Finally, the
students have been given the opportunity to guide their learning. Because retention is the
most important variable in vocabulary building, it becomes imperative that the words the
students are to learn have relevance and importance for them. The students learn vocabulary
they have chosen to learn.

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21. Co -occurrences in English

English c ontains a number of expressions that are made up of two or three words that
often occur together in a fix order. These expressions, or co -occurrence, are joined together
with the connectives and or or. Learning co -occurrences involves the learning of
seman tically related words as well as the learning of conventional word order.
This activity can be carried out by students working in group or pairs. To make it more
competitive and challenging it helps to set a limit on the amount of time the class has to
complete the task. The amount of time may vary depending on the level of the class.
Activities :
1. Compile a list of co -occurrences you wish to teach.
2. Write the words from each co -occurrence on a card or piece of paper (omitting the
connective).
3. Give eac h group or pair of students a set of cards, tell them the connective to use, and
set the clock.
4. Students must work together in groups or with a partner to match words correctly
using the connective given. Additional attention must be paid to word order.
5. Give groups or pairs points for (a) the order in which they complete the task (e.g.
most points being given to those who finish first) and (b) completing the task in the
time allowed.
6. Subtract points for any errors made and declare a final winner.

This activity can be carried out in rounds by first assembling co –occurrences joined by
and, then those joined by or, and finally those made up of three items.
This activity encourages students to associate semantically similar vocabulary items and
develop the ir awareness of word order. Teacher should be aware that some co -occurrences in
English do not exist in or vary in word order from those in students’ L1, and special help with
these expressions may be needed.
Many co -occurrences sound trite when used inap propriately or too often. Care must be taken
when selecting expressions for this activity and some explanation may be required to caution
students on how to use them.

45
Examples of co -occurrences:
aunts and uncles
bride and groom
tables and chairs
needle and thread
lock and key
pins and needles
heel and toe
heart and soul
stop and go buy and sell
up and down
left and right
off and on
before and after
this or that
cats and dogs
thunder and lightning

22. Bidding on correct words.

This activity is beneficial for revising vocabulary by using a game which involves more than
just good command of English. It also implies good team work and resou rce planning.
Activities :
1. The teacher writes, explains the rules of a bidding session, gives each group 1000
virtual euros and set the minimum bet at 50.
2. He then writes a list of words for the groups to bid on. Of course the winning group
will be that who buys the most correct words.
List of words (example)

developmental
tortiose
redo
fosilise
colleague
breathless
reformulate benefitial
footage
faineted
approriacy
impede
entail

23. Revise by Guessing the Word
This task enables students to revise vocabulary in a lively, interactive manner.
Activities :
1. Select 12 vocabulary items that you would lik e the students to revise.
Divide the students into groups of 4; distribute three different words from the list, plus
the full list of 20 words to each student in the group. Ask students not to show their
particular words to the others.
2. Using two volunteer s from the class, demonstrate how to do the task. Have student A
explain, demonstrate, or give an example of the meaning of one of the three words,
without using the word. Student B must guess which word is in the list, then circle the
correct word. In tur ns, each pair of students continues to negotiate the meaning of

46
their six words until all six have been circled. Students C and D do the same with their
words.
3. When both pairs have finished, student A pairs off with student C, student B with D.
Each perso n explains the six words circled on their list to their partner.
4. Upon completion, quickly elicit which of the 20 words were chosen. Select some
students to share their responses.

24. Vocabulary Exchange Game
This is a highly interactive activity. Because the learners write the hints, they must use their
known English to explain unknown English words to someone else.
Activities :
1. Have the students choose one different word from a text all the students have read , by
allotting different pages or sections for each student to choose from. Make sure the
students do not tell anyone what word they choose.
2. Have them write a sentence or more on their strip of paper containing and explaining
the word they choose. They sh ould leave the chosen word blank but can supply hints.
You need to supply enough examples so that the students understand exactly what to
do when they write their sentences.
The following is an example to illustrate how to write context clues that leave t he key
word blank.
Peter got high grades for all his subjects. He will certainly pass. He is much better
than a satisfactory -level student. In fact, he is an ________student. (Additional hints
might be that it is an adjective beginning with o – and endin g –ing).
You may also need to check each student’s context clues and make sure the students
are equipped with expressions such as: Once more please. Please give me more hints.
How many letters are there? You are getting close!
3. When ready to begin, have th e whole class stand up, each person finding a partner to
explain their context clues to and give other hints for their particular word. They must
use eye contact while explaining and keep giving hints until their partner guesses the
word.
4. Then have them e xchange roles. When each pair has guessed each other’s words, they
have to exchange strips of paper and find a new partner. The process continues until
each student has exchanged strips of paper as many times as there are students in the
class.

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5. Finally, te st the students on the vocabulary items.

This chapter aimed to suggest that the best way when teaching vocabulary is to use
various techniques in a variety of combinations. What is more important , is beneficial to
observe the students closely a nd invite them in the process of learning by eliciting their
feedback on the range of activity you use.
These activities help teachers to present old material in new ways, to extend knowledge
of the meaning of words. Also, help learners become independent in the classroom and
ensure that students can access and use the vocabulary they know.

48

CHAPTER 5
TESTING VOCABULARY

5.1. CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD TEST

Tests are important both for the teacher and for the students. Teachers get accurate feedback
on the students’ performances and on the efficiency of their own work. Testing motivates
learners to review vocabulary in preparation for a test. It also provides an excuse for further,
post-test, review – when, for example, the teacher go es over the answers in class. In this way,
testing can be seen as part of recycling of vocabulary in generally. Every test should fulfill
some criteria to be useful and full –value, the basic ones are validity, reliability and
practicality.
Validity
Every test should really test the things which are expected to be tested. If we give a
vocabulary test, we would like to be able to interpret the scores as a representative sample of
the terms we have been teaching. If we do a good job of clearly defining the d omain of
vocabulary items to be measured, carefully prepare the test specification and construct a
representative sample of relevant test items, our interpretation from the results are likely to be
valid. We are able to infer that high scores represent goo d knowledge of the vocabulary that
has been taught. In using the results we are also concerned about the consequences of the
assessment. Did its use contribute to increase student learning, as intended? This is a
legitimate validity -related question becau se our main purpose in assessing student
achievement is to improve learning.

Reliability
It refers to the consistency of assessment results. For example, if a student earns a score of 60
on a test, we would like to be able to say that 60 accurately repre sent the student’s test
performance. Thus, if we tested the student at a different time or with a different sample of
equivalent items, we would expect to obtain a similar score. This consistency of results would
indicate that they are relatively free from errors and thus we can rely on them – they have
“rely -ability”.
The following test task assesses productive, contextualised word knowledge, so it is a valid
test of the learner’s command of vocabulary for a “real life” purpose. But, since it is scored

49
somewhat impressionistically, it may not be a very reliable test:
Write a short letter of about 100 words to a friend, asking for his advice on how to
convince your parents to let you go on a trip to the mountains scheduled for the beginning of
the holiday.

Scoring: Rate the range and accuracy of the writer’s vocabulary knowledge on a scale
from 4 (excellent) to 1 (very poor).
The reliability of the test can be improved by providing more explicit criteria for marking.
Nevertheless, applyin g such criteria effectively is liable to slow marking down, and thus
reduce the test practicality.
Both the validity and reliability of assessment results can be provided for during the
preparation of assessment procedures. When we clearly specify the intended learning
outcomes, define the achievement domain to be assessed, and select a relevant and
representative set of assessment tasks, we are providing for valid inferences concerning
learning. When we include an adequate number of tasks in our asses sment and we use
procedures that are free from ambiguity, irrelevant sources of difficulty, unintended clues and
other factors that might distort the result, we are providing for both reliability and validity.
Practicality
Thornbury considers practicalit y another principle which is important for a good test. He
suggests that every test should be easy to mark and evaluate for the teacher. In other words,
correcting and assessing a test should be as simple as possible, in addition, there should not
be much space for several variants of a task because it takes so much time when a teacher has
to think about every item individually.

50

5.2. TEST TYPES

Tests provide a form of feedback, both for learners and teachers. Moreover, it has a
useful backwash effect: if learners know they are going to be tested on their vocabulary
learning, they may take vocabulary learning more seriously.
Informal testing of vocabulary must be done on a regular basis. Ideally, vocabulary
covered in the previous lesson should be tested at the beginning of the next one.
More formal testing may be required at certain strategic stages in a course. Tests of
vocabulary knowledge sometimes form a part of placement tests (tests designed to arrange
learners into groups of roughly similar language levels), or as a component of a diagnostic
test (tests designed to establish areas of weakness or deficiency , so that future testing can
remedy these areas). Tests of achievement (tests designed to establish how much of the
language syllabus bas been learned) at the end of the course.
Vocabulary knowledge is sometimes targeted in test of reading ab ility. Finally,
learners’ developing vocabulary knowledge and their use of vocabulary learning strategies
might be the subject of testing for research purposes – especially the kind of research that
teachers themselve s carry out in their classrooms.
Knowing words means knowing the words form both spoken and written, its
meaning(s), connotations, register, grammatical characteristics, collocations and derivations.
Furthermore, all these aspects of words knowledge can be realized recep tively (in
listening and reading) or productively (in speaking and writing). Any vocabulary test,
therefore, needs to take into account the multi –dimensional character of word knowledge.

5.3. TEST FORMATS

Most vocabulary test target only one or two aspects of word knowledge.
Whether to test with or without a context, or to test for recognition or for production means
that the teacher should take into consideration the purpose of a test and its effect on te aching.
If the purpose of a test is to predict the learner’s reading ability, thus the test should be based
on contextualized text, because reading involves using context clues to help work out word
meaning.

51
Moreover, de -contextualised test encourage lear ners to learn lists of words. De -contextualised
or Objective testing techniques usually require students to recognize or produce a limited
range of items in restricted linguistic and situational context, thus focusing more on the
mastery of the receptive s kills, accuracy and certain discrete items that make up fluency.
Whereas, Subjective text can provide information about the student’s wider command of
communication, it also require students to produce longer stretches of language in relatively
open -ended situations and it makes demands on the ability to cope with a variety of elements
that compose communication and fluency.
A type of contextualized test is the multiple choice test which represents a popular
way of testing in that it is easy to s core and it is easy to design. Moreover, the multiple choice
format can be used with isolated words, words in a sentence context, or words in whole texts.

Single words can be tested through definitions, for example:
tangle means a) a type of dance
b) a tropical forest
c) a confuse mass
d) a kind of fruit

Words can be tested in sentences, for example:
There is a good ___________ at the Odeon tonight.
a) film b) screen c) showing d) acting

Words can be tested in whole texts :
CANCER 22 June – 22 July
Someone else is (a. playing; b. calling; c. singing) the tune and for the moment
you’re quite happy to go (a. along; b. around; c. away) with what seems like a reasonable
idea. Hobbies (a. make; b. use; c. take) up far too much time and child ren could need support
with a new activity.

According to Thornbury (2002:132) it may also have a negative side. Multiple choice tests
have been criticized because:
 learners may choose the answer by process of elimination, which hardly constitutes
“knowing ” the right answer

52
 depending on the number of possible answers, there is a one -in-three or one -in-four
chance in getting the right answer
 they test recognition only -not the ability to produce the word

An alternative to multiple choices is some form of gap -fill. Gap-fill tests require learners to
recall the word from memory in order to complete a sentence or text. Thus they test the
ability to produce a word rather than simply recognise it. The best known example of this test
type is the cloze test . In a cl oze test, the gaps are regularly spaced every seventh, eighth or
ninth word. In this way, knowledge of a wide range of word types is tested. Moreover, the
ability to complete the gaps depends on understanding the context in which every seventh
word has bee n deleted.

Example of cloze test:
“ Some soil pollution does come from natural_______, such as volcanoes; however
most is manmade. Heavy metals, petroleum________ and toxic chemicals create soil
problems around the world. In the United States there are sites that _______ Environmental
Protection Agency intervention. In places like Asia, there is a/an ________worry about heavy
metals from soil pollution being absorbed into crops.”

A variant of the cloze test is one in which, rather than every n th word, specifically chosen
words are deleted. A variety of this approach is called C-test. In a C -test the, the second half
of every second word is deleted as shown:
“There are usually five men in the crew of a fire engine. One o___ them dri ___ the
____ eng. The lea___ sits bes___ the dri___. The ot____ firemen s___ inside t___ cab o the
f____ engine. T____ leader h___ usually be_____ in t____ Fire Ser____ for ma___ years.”

This test is more advantageous for the students as the texts are s horter and less difficult.
On the other hand, the gaps are so close to one another that the learner can get lost in the text.

Another variety of gap -fill tests learner’s knowledge of word formation , by asking them
to convert words from one form to a nother so as to fit a context. This type of exercise
regularly occurs in FCE tests. This example is taken from one of such tests

53
“The next time you go to the supermarket
don’t forget to buy the(1)….bottle of kitchen cleaner you can to(2)…….your work surface.
Recent (3)……research in America has shown that the kitchen is often the most(4)…. of all
the rooms in the house. The (5)….. of food, heat and dampness means the kitche n is a
breeding ground for bacteria that can cause stomach upsets and vomiting…..”(Word
Formation )
1. big
2. infect
3. science
4. hygene
5. combine
This kind of task tests learners’ knowledge of derivation. It also tests their ability to interpret
the surrounding context, in order to make the correct choice among several possible
derivations.
Another way of reinforcing students’ vocabulary is through matching tests . Through
matching we normally test the meaning of words, usually words of opp osite meaning.
Students do not produce any vocabulary, they only match given words. This type of exercise
is easier to design than multiple choice but, the last pair of words, if the student has matched
the pairs correctly, can be matched without any knowl edge because they are left. This can be
prevented by giving more options in one column than in the other one.
There are also other possibilities than just matching words of opposite meaning. We can
design a test where words and picture are being m atched, for example vegetables and means
of transport. Another modification can be putting words into appropriate category, for
instance fruit and vegetables.

Put these words into the correct column:
orange, plum, potato, eggplant, garlic,
grape, strawberry, pineapple, peach
Fruit Vegetables

Or students can match the right beginnings and endings of sentences according to their
meaning:
Which beginning goes with which ending?
1. He planted a) the stones and weeds

54
2.She picked b) some beautiful red apples
3.She dug up c) these seeds in three separated rows (Scrivener,184)

A more revealing test of productive vocabulary knowledge is to set learners the task of
writing a whole text. Students have to show their world knowledge so the test is valid, but
two teachers would not probably come to exactly the same result in scoring which means that
such testing is not very reliable. Thornbury suggests setting as accurate demands as possible
to increase reliability and to give criteria according to which the teacher will correct the test.
Such criteria are lexical density , lexical var iety and lexical sophistication .
Lexical density is a measure of the proportion of content words, which are the
opposite of function words , these words carry the meaning and they are nouns, adjectives and
adverbs.
Lexical va riety measure how various the text is, usage of different words,
structures.
Lexical sophistication means usage of infrequent vocabulary in writing, which are
those words that do not belong to the group of 2,000 most frequent words in English .
(Thornbury, 2002: 136)

55

PART II.
A PRACTICAL APPROACH TO THE
LEARNING – TEACHING VOCABULARY PROCESS

56

CHAPTER 6
A SURVEY ON TEACHING AND LEARNING VOCABULARY

6.1. HYPOTHESI S AND OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH STUDY

TEACHERS

A set of questionnaires was applied to ten teachers selected from secondary to high school.

After the date collection, the following conclusions have been reached.

Metacognitive beliefs :

1.1. Objective: Traditional methods of teaching and learning vocabulary are no longer used
by teachers.
1.2. Hypothesis: The questioned teachers do not use the translation method in teaching
vocabulary, but they pr efer alternative methods such us using words in
context or guessing words in context
1.3. Demonstration
-The first item “ When teaching a new word, you use translation as an effective way to
convey meaning ” shows that a percentage of 48 per cent of questioned teachers answered
“disagree ” and 32 per cent “ strongly disagree ”
-At the item “Guessing words in context is one of the best ways to teach and learn
vocabulary ” 72 per cent answered “strongly agree”
– 50 per cent of teachers answered “ agree ” at the item “Reading is very useful in
developing and enriching partially known vocabulary “ and 33 per cent answered “ strongly
agree ”.

57
“When teaching a new word, you use translation as an effective way to convey meaning ”

1=strongly disagree
2=disagree
3=neutral
4=agree
5=strongly agree

“Guessing words in context is one of the best ways to teach and learn vocabulary ”
1=strongly disagree
2=disagree
3=neutral
4=agree
5=strongly agree

32%
48% 10% 10%
1
2
3
4
5
5% 2%
21%
72% 1
2
3
4
5

58
“Reading is very useful in developing and enriching partially known vocabulary ”
1=strongly dis agree
2=disagree
3=neutral
4=agree
5=strongly agree

Motivational beliefs
2.1 Objective : In the acquisition of the new vocabulary items students have their own
motivation and interest.
2.2. Hypoth esis: The questioned teachers realize that students have their own preferences
in acquiring vocabulary items, are motivated but they are reserved in making
them responsible for vocabulary expansion.
2.3. Demonstration
-the first item “ Your students are interested in vocabulary learning ” 61 per cent
answered “ agree ”
-the second item “ Students have their own preference in learning vocabulary ” 66,66
answered “ strongly agree ” this demonstrates that the acquisition of vocabulary strongly
depends on the learner’s needs and interest.
-the third item “ Learners have to take responsibility themselves for vocabulary
expansion ” 46 per cent answered “neutral” which proves that teacher s are moderate and don’t
give learners the entire responsibility to expand their vocabulary, but the current tendency of
learning and teaching vocabulary is based on strategies which make students take
responsibility for their vocabulary acquisition.
17%
50% 33% 1
2
3
4
5

59
Your students are interested in vocabulary learning
1=strongly disagree
2=disagree
3=neutral
4=agree
5=strongly agree

Students have their own preference in learning vocabulary

1=strongly disagree
2=disag ree
3=neutral
4=agree
5=strongly agree

10% 1%
23%
66% 1
2
3
4
5
14%
61% 25% 1
2
3
4
5

60

“Learners have to take responsibility themselves for vocabulary expansion ”

1=strongly disagree
2=disagree
3=neutral
4=agree
5=strongly agree

10%
10%
46% 22% 12%
1
2
3
4
5

61
STUDENTS

A set of questionnaires was applied to twenty students selected at random from intermediate
to upper intermediate level of students.

After the date collection, the following conclusions have been reached

1.1. Objectives: The acquisition of the new vocabulary items is made according to students
preference and interests.
1.2. Hypothesis: The number of new vocabulary items will increase if the new words are
more closer to students’ interests.
1.3 Demonstration:
– the item “ When I meet a new word I have a clear sense of whether I need to remember it
” shows that most of the students remember words which are closer to their interests and
preferences.
-at the item “ I make a note of words that seem important to me “ 45 per cent answered
“often true to me “ and 20 per cent “ always true to me ”

“When I meet a new word I have a clear sense of whether I need to remember it ”
1=not true to me at all
2=seldom true to me
3=sometimes true to me
4=often true to me
5=always true to me

21%
33% 33% 13%
1
2
3
4
5

62
“I make a note of words that seem important to me “
1=not true to me at all
2=seldom true to me
3=sometimes true to me
4=often true to me
5=always true to me

2.1 Objective: The oral rehearsal of the new words is no longer used by students.
2.2 Hypothesis: The students are reluctant to the usage of oral repetition in learning
vocabulary.
2.3. Demonstration: The item “ When I try to remember a word, I repeat it aloud to myself ”
shows that 51,25 per cent of the students stated “ not true to me at all ”.
The hypothesis is supported by the result of the item “ I try to use newly
learned words in real situation ” which students answered 55 per cent
“often true to me ”

“When I try t o remember a word, I repeat it aloud to myself”
1=not true to me at all
2=seldom true to me
3=sometimes true to me
4=often true to me
5=always true to me 10%
10%
15%
45% 20% 1
2
3
4
5

63

“I try to use newly learned words in real situation ”

1=not true to me at all
2=seldom true to me
3=sometimes true to me
4=often true to me
5=always true to me

3.1. Objective: The most used learning strategies are those of word formation.
3.2. Hypothesis: The students remember quickly new words if they know how the suffixes
and prefixes work.
3.3.Demonstration : According to the item “ I study word formation rules in order to
remember new words ” 45 percent of the students stated “ often true to me ” while 25 per cent
stated “always true to me” at the item “ I analyse the meaning of suffixes and prefixes ”.

“I study word formation rules in order to remember new words ” 51%
26% 23% 1
2
3
4
5
17%
55% 28% 1
2
3
4
5

64
1=not true to me at all
2=seldom true to me
3=sometimes true to me
4=often true to me
5=always true to me

“I analyse the meaning of suffixes and prefixes ”.
1=not true to me at al l
2=seldom true to me
3=sometimes true to me
4=often true to me
5=always true to me

12%
19%
45% 24% 1
2
3
4
5
10%
15%
19%
31% 25% 1
2
3
4
5

65
4.1. Objective : The communicative situations stimulates students to acquire new vocabulary
items.
4.2. Hypothesis: The students are motivated to use pre -knowledge vocabulary in real
interactions.
4.3. Demonstration: According to statistics 35 per cent of students review new words with
their classmates

“I review new words with my classmat es, working in pairs or groups”
1=not true to me at all
2=seldom true to me
3=sometimes true to me
4=often true to me
5=always true to me

8%
13%
14%
30% 35% 1
2
3
4
5

66

6.2 THE RESULTS OF THE RESEARCH
FINAL CONCLUSIONS OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE

The results of the research, after making a comparative analysis on the prevalence
between teachers and students diagrams, shows that a big part of the questioned students is to
take responsibility in vocabulary acquisition and expansion by info rmal methods while
teachers are reserved in giving students the entire responsibility. It is important to try not to
misinterpret what the role of a language teacher is –you are not an “authority” given a
mandate to tell learners how they should think. A t eacher is a facilitator and a guide, and an
ongoing “learner”.
New tendency and present thesis sustain student’s needs, interests to expand
vocabulary items through activities which have relevance and importance to them. The
questioned students mentioned that the most used learning strategies are those of word
formation. The teaching of derivational suffixes deserves attention because students’
comprehension of English can be greatly strengthened by recognizing familiar elements
within words they have not seen before. When teaching, it is wise to begin with just a few
suffixes which are very commonly used and to combine them with words that the students
already know. Once the students have formed the habit of looking for familiar elements
within l onger unfamiliar words, they will go on to discover other suffixes for themselves.
As I stated in the “Innovative classroom activities for acquiring and expanding
vocabulary” chapter, the key to success is a combination of techniques of new and old
contents. The conditions for all types of context used in the classroom are: to be updated, to
meet the students’ real interests and to repeat the new elements.
The methods and techniques used in this thesis are very useful and enhance stude nts’
creativity and in addition to these I propose an optional subject of teaching and learning
vocabulary through a variety of contexts in which real communication takes place.

67
CONCLUSIONS

After having made a theoretical presentation which aimed, among other things at
delimitating the role of vocabulary in foreign language teaching, I have tried to establish the
exten t to which different methods and techniques used in teaching vocabulary enhance
student motivation, interest in language acquisition.
The research led to several conclusions which will be unfolded in what follows :
Firstly, after studying the principles of learning and teaching vocabulary I have
observed that an effective vocabulary learning program needs to be principled, long term and
have high vocabulary learning expectations. Also, it is not enough just to know the meaning
of a word, you also need to know what words it is usually associated with, how it is
pronounced; you need to know about sense relations.
Secondly, with reference to the techniques presented in this thesis, the key to success
is to use various te chniques in a variety of combinations. If students are taught by means of
exciting or challenging activities, the English classes are beneficial for vocabulary
acquisition.
Thirdly, after I applied a set of questionnaires, both on teachers an d students I have
demonstrated that the learning is successful only when students take responsibility for their
own learning. The independent learner is the one who wants to learn, is aware of his own
needs. In our days, the education made up by curricula, need faced with the demands of an
ever-changing society. The need of a generation of teachers who aim to develop learners
instead of teaching them, who help their pupils to become independent (learning to learn),
who provides students with motivation and interest for life -long learning and urge them to
become autonomous learners, is essential in the education of the future.
Consequently, innovative classroom activities encourages both self study and
collaborative work as they promote co -operati on and team work and imply participation of all
the students in the preparation of a piece of work on a given topic. Students have the chance
to work in groups or individually but share responsibility on the same project work. They
take decisions concernin g the language they are going to use, the format of the end paper and
the way they are going to present the final project.
The present study proposed a cross –curricular optional subject about acquiring new
vocabulary items through many practical and easy -to–use communicative activities.
In my opinion, developing is totally dependent on communication with oral and
written texts. A lot of information on topics such as: countries, nationalities, press and media,

68
sports, science and technology, culture and civilization is added to the content of the teaching
material.
Learners will use all this information to develop their own culture and last but not least to
acquire and expand new vocabulary items.
In conclusion, the present study “New methods and techniques of approaching and
teaching vocabulary in EFL classes” is useful for both students and teachers because
vocabulary is the most important part of a language learning process. If students don’t have a
base vocabu lary to work with, they can’t study grammar, they can’t do spelling or
pronunciation exercises, where as writing or reading is definitely out of the question. That’s
way is extremely important to have a good vocabulary and keep building it with the passing
of the time and not to forget that words are carriers of meaning and in their absence no
communication can take place.
All things considered, the acquisition of vocabulary should be based not only on
creative and innovative activities in the c lassroom but also on students’ taking responsibility
of their individual work.

69

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71

WEBLIOGRAPHY

https://www.teachervision.com/teaching -methods/resource/5810.html
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/articles/v ocabulary
http://www.k12reader.com/effective -strategies -for-teaching -vocabulary/
http://www.esl -library.com/blog/2012/09/20/4 -ways -to-teach -new-vocabulary/
http://keithmcpherson1blog.wordpress.com/2013/06/21/the -importance -of-meaning -vocabulary/
http://busyteacher.org/4197 -5-best-ways -to-introduce -new-vocabulary.html
http://ox forddictionary.so8848.com/search?word=understanding
http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/exams/grammar -and-vocabulary -exams/vocabu lary-exercise -types
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/presenting -vocabulary
http://esl.about.com/od/teachingvoca bulary/

72
APPENDIX 1

EXTRA CURRICULAR OPTIONAL SUBJECT
AN ARGUMENT
FOR THE OPTIONAL COURSE ENGLISH VOCABULARY IN USE
Level: 11th grade, 1 class /week

This course addresses 11th graders who study English as a first foreign language, in a
number of two classes a week. Enlarging their sphere of knowledge beyond the curricula was
expected by our students.
The present optional course aims at improving student s’ English vocabulary. It will
help them learn not only the meanings of words but also how they are used. Also the course
will provide opportunities to improve students’ skills in writing and communication. There is
a series of interactive activities which encourage communication between students.
English vocabulary in use by Michael McCarthy and Felicity O’Dell is divided into a
number of sections. The first units will teach students some useful new vocabulary and also
will help them with useful techniques for vocabulary learning. This book selects the best
words which are to be learned by students at their level and gives the most important
information about them. The optional course acknowledges the role of vocabulary in English
Language Teach ing classroom and provides lesson content which is relevant, useful and
engaging for students. There are many practical and easy -to–use communicative activities
which will help students.
To sum up, there are many words students don’t need at all, and there are other words
that students need to understand when they read or hear them. Finally, there are words which
students need to use by themselves. Clearly, they need to spend most time learning this last
group and this course will help them achievi ng this.

73
Objectives of English vocabulary in use course

This course will help students:
 To acquire new vocabulary items and expand their vocabulary through self directed
learning
 To provide the students with the skills which will enable them to communicate
orally, and to some degree in writing
 To increase students’ understanding of how the language functions and to bring them
through the study of a foreign language.

This course will help students to make the step from having something in their p assive
vocabulary to having it in their active vocabulary. Students can encourage this process by
writing the words and expressions they are trying to learn in a sentence relating to their life
and interests at the moment, watching out for the words and ex pressions they are trying to
learn in their general reading of English.

Teaching and learning activities
Students should perform the following activities during English classes:
 answer question -brainstorming
 make up synonymic groups
 replace words
 fill in the blanks
 substitute
 conversations, role plays
 make up sentences or stories
 listening or reading comprehension
 writing essay /article

74
Colegiul Tehnic “Edmond Nicolau” Braila
Disciplina: limba engleza, curs optional
Numar de ore/saptamana: 1
Profesor: Florea Felicia
Clasa a XI –a
Materiale: English vocabulary in use by Michael McCarthy and Felicity O’Dell

PLANIFICAREA ORELOR PENTRU CURSUL OPTIONAL, CLASA A XI -A

Nr.
Crt. Unitatea de invatare Competente
specific
Vizate Continuturi Nr.
Ore Perioada Modalitati de
evaluare Obs.

1. Introductory
conversation
(choosing the themes) 1.1 Short
conversation
on the chosen
themes
1 1st W Debate

2. Relationships –types
of relationships
Phrases and idioms
for relationships 1.2
2.1
3.1
4.3 The purpose
of this lesson
is to present
closeness and
distance in
relationships
in different
context 2 2nd W
3rd W Reading
Writing
Replace words
Make up
sentences
3. Going places
Culture and
civilization ( trade
and touristic
approach) 1.2
2.3
3.1 The purpose
of this lesson
is to offer
information,
give details,
develop
specific
vocabulary on
the topic 3 4th W
5th W
6th W Essay : My
special place
4. Sports and leisure
The best day of the
year
Things I like to do 1.2
1.3
3.3 Hobbies;
Personality
and pastime
2 7th W
8th W Essay: My time,
my choice
5 Shopping
Express preference;
Making a
complaint/complimen
t 3.1
3.4
5.2 The purpose
of this lesson
is give the
skills to
manage in this
specific
environment 3 9th W
10th W
11th W
Conversations
Role plays
Make up
synonymic
groups

75
6 Habitats and
Homelands
Our house
House rules
Rules for life
1.2
1.3
2.1
2.2
3.2 House and
family
Lifestyles,
adjectives of
measurement
Type of
house/place
people live in 3 12th W
13thW
14th W Answer
questions
Fill in exercise
Essay: My place
7. Countries,
nationalities and
languages 2.3
3.1
3.2
3.3
5.1
Adjectives
referring to
countries and
languages
Nationalities
People and
races
3
15th W
16th W
17th w Answer
question –
brainstorming
Reading
comprehension
World quiz
8. Consolidation 2.2
3.2 Recycling of
knowledge 2 18th W
19th W Test
9. Politics and public
institutions 1.1
1.2
3.2
4.1 Types of
government
People and
bodies
involved in
politics
Elections 3 20th W
21st W
22nd W Fill in the blanks
Reading
comprehension
Political quiz
10. The press and media 2.2
3.2
3.3
4.2 Means of
communicatio
n which reach
very large
number of
people.
Types of TV
programmes
Develop
specific
vocabulary on
the topic. 3 23rd W
24th W
25th W
Writing an
article

Conversation

11. Science and
technology 1.2
1.3
3.2
4.1 Verbs used in
scientific
contexts
The newest
fields of
science
Modern
inventions 4 26th W
27thW
28th W
29th W Reading
comprehension
Make up
synonymic
groups
12. Education
The ideal student 2.3
3.1 Stages in a
person’s
education 3 30th W
31st W Answer
questions –

76
3.2
3.3
5.1 State/private
schools
Exams and
qualifications 32nd W brainstorming
Make up a story
13. Consolidation 3.2
4.1
4.2
5.1
Recycling of
knowledge
2
33rd W
34th W
Cumulative test

77
CLASS ACTIVITIES (LESSON PLANS)

LESSON PLAN

TEACHER : Florea Felicia
SCHOOL:” Edmond Nicolau” Technical College
TEXTBOOK: Upstream Upper Intermediate
THEME: UNIT : Planet Issues
SUBJECT: Green Issues
GRADE: 10th
TIME: 50 minutes
INTERACTION: teacher –student, student -student
TEACHING AIDS: textbook, worksheets, flip -chart;
TEACHING METHODS: brainstorming, scanning and skimming, exercise, dialogue,
demonstration
SKILLS : reading, speaking, writing
AIMS: At the end of the lesson the students will be able to
– correctly use vocabulary related to environment ;
– make correct English qu estions and answers using visual and
linguistic supports
– read the texts and to extract the right information;
– suggest possible solutions to environmental problems;
– write slogans for an environmental campaign;
ASSUMPTION: -students may have knowledge of environmental problems
–students have watched movies about green issue on TV or have read about
them on the Interne t;
ANTICIPATED PROBLEMS: – some students may find it difficult to speak about
environment
-some students may find difficulties in using reading
techniques

78
ACTIVITY 1: Warm up
AIMS: -to reinforce pre -taught knowledge and to warm students up;
-to introduce the new topic: Green Issues
INTERACTION: T -Ss, Ss -T
PROCEDURE: The teacher c orrects the homework and checks students’ knowledge from the
previous lesson;
Teacher elicits some environmental problems already discussed upon:
“Do you remember some environmental problems that were discussed upon the last time?’
Teacher uses a crosswo rd puzzle to brainstorm students’ knowledge about green problems.
From A to B they will discover the word ENVIRONMENT.
TIME: 7 minutes
CLASS ORGANIZATION: plenary
TEACHER AIDS: crossword, flip -chart, markers

ACTIVITY 2
AIM: -make correct English qu estions and answers using visual and linguistic supports
INTERACTION: T -Ss, Ss -T, Ss -Ss ;
PROCEDURE: The students have to match the items in two colum ns and to discover
environmental problems. In pairs, they have to find out how much do they know about th e
respective problems.

A B
Over use of….. foods
Climate…. Scheme
Urban…. Warming
Global….. Waste
Genetically modified… Development
Toxic…. Power
Solar/wind… Pesticides
Recycling… change

79
Example 1: urban development
A: Can you tell me what urban development is?
B: I’m not sure but I think it has to do with overcrowded cities.

Example 2:
A: Do you have any idea what urban development is?
B: I haven’t the faintest idea!

The students continue doing this exercise until they finish all the situations. The teacher
encourages them to do their best.
TIME: 8 minutes
CLASS ORGANISATION: in pairs
TEACHER AIDS: students’ textbook

ACTIVITY 3 Reading
AIMS – to read the text for s pecific information
INTERACTION: T -Ss, Ss -Ss
PROCEDURE: The students are given worksheets concerning three major environmental
problems. The teacher asks them to read the texts and answer questions based on them. The
students have to read for specific in formation and decide whether some sentences are true or
false .Afterwards they match photos with the texts.
TIME: 10 minutes
CLASS ORGANISATION: pair work
TEACHING AIDS: blackboard, worksheets with text and photos;

ACTIVITY 4 Practicing
AIM S: -to offer possible solutions to environmental problems.
-to complete sentences using expressions related to the environment
INTERACTION: T -Ss, Ss -T Ss-Ss
PROCEDURE: Teacher asks students to use different verbs and to say what they
should /shouldn’t do in order to protect the environment.
Teacher asks students to complete sentences using expressions related to the environment
Example : We should plant more trees.
We should recycle paper.

80
We shouldn’t through away plastic bags.
The teacher encourages students to come up with more ideas .
TIME: 10 minutes
CLASS ORGANISATION: pair work
TEACHING AIDS: worksheet, notebooks

ACTIVITY 5: Environmental Campaign Slogans
AIMS -to encourage spontaneous expression orally and in writing
INTERACTION: T -Ss, Ss -T, Ss -Ss
PROCEDURE: The teacher asks the students to work on a project called Environmental
Campaign Slogans . Students are divided into groups and asked to write environmental
slogans about the major problems of the planet.
Example: Good environment is good health.
Air pollution causes health hazards.
Save Earth for your future generations.
Keep planting trees to hit air pollution.

TIME: 10 minutes
CLASS ORGANISATION: group work
TEACHING AIDS: Colo red paper, pens

ACTIVITY 5: Homework assignment
AIMS: –to develop students writing skills
INTERACTION: T -Ss
PROCEDURE: Teacher gives students to write a paragraph about three things they could do
to help the Planet.
TIME: 3 minutes
Example: Our planet is changing. There are a lot of things that we can do to help it. The first
thing we could do is to conserve water at home. Taking measures to use less water is
something you can start doing from right now. Secondly, use fewer chemicals. Chemicals
used to wash our bodies, homes, cars and everything else get washed down the drain or
absorbed in the grass, end eventually end in the water supply. The chemicals aren’t good for
humans, so do your best to cut down on them. Thirdly, plant trees, don’t cut them. In saving
trees you’ll be protecting not only land but water and air too.

81
ACTIVITY 6: Evaluation
AIMS –to end the lesson and give feedback
PROCEDURE: Ss are given grades or th ey are appreciated accordingly.
TIME: 2 minutes
CLASS ORGANISATION: plenary

82

LESSON PLAN
Communicative teaching and learning of vocabulary

TEACHER : Florea Felicia
SCHOOL:” Edmond Nicolau” Technical College
TEXTBOOK: English my love
THEME: UNIT: Books
SUBJECT: Books – The Great Teachers
GRADE: 9th
TIME: 50 minutes
INTERACTION: teacher –student, student -student
TEACHING AIDS: textbook, worksheets, notebooks;
TEACHING METHODS: brainstorming, scanning, exercise, dialogue, demonstration, debate
SKILLS: reading, speaking;
AIMS: At the end of the lesson the students will be able to
– use correctly the vocabulary related to books ;
– provide arguments for/against a certain topic
– scan a text for specific information;
– infer meaning from the context (with emphasis on “false friends”)
ASSUMPTION: -students may have knowledge about different types of books
ANTICIPATED PROBLEMS: – some students ma y find it difficult to speak about a given
subject

ACTIVITY 1 Warm up
AIMS – to reinforce pre -taught knowledge and to warm students up;
-to introduce the new topic: Books -The Great Teachers
INTERACTION: T -Ss, Ss -Ss
PROCEDURE: The teacher corrects the homework and checks students’ knowledge from
the previous lesson;
Teacher initiates a short conversation with students:
“Have you ever wondered why people read?”

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“Do you have a book -case at home?” “It is big or small?”
“If you don’t have one, how often do you go to the library? ”

The students start a free conversation during which everyone can express his/her opinion or
ask other questions depending on the course of the talking.
TIME: 5 minutes
CLASS ORGANISATION: plenary
TEACHING AIDS: textbook

ACTIVITY 2: Lead in
AIMS – to understand the words related to books
INTERACTION: T -Ss, Ss -T
PROCEDURE: The teacher explains in English the two words in bold from activity 1:
a. book -case – a piece of furniture at home, where books are arranged on shelves
according to the owner’s criteria
b. library – 1. a building in which a collections of books, newspapers, magazines, CDs
etc. are kept for people to read, study or borrow;
2. a room in a large house where most of the books are kept (syn. “study”) –
compare to “book -shop” a place where books are sold
Particular attention should be paid to “false friends” – the words that seem to mean the same
thing as the phonetically similar ones in Romanian, but actually having different meanings.
The teacher mention from the lesson “magazine”, “manual”, “directory”, “novel” (Rom. –
roman), “study”
Students write all those words in their notebooks.
TIME: 10 minutes
CLASS ORGANISATION: plenary
TEACHING AIDS: textbooks, notebooks

ACTIVITY 3: Elicitation of the new words
AIMS – to develop speaking skills using vocabulary in context
INTERACTION: T -Ss, Ss -Ss
PROCEDURE : Debate: “In a world dominated by computer and television, what two books
would you choose if you were to go on a deserted island?”
The students are divided into groups of four, the members of each group try to make a
common choice and appoint one student to be their spokesperson. The latter will present the

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reason for choosing the respective books to the rest of the class.
The teacher intervenes only if the students do not respect the rules of a debate, which is to let
the interlocutor speak without inter rupting him in the middle of the sentence.
TIME: 10 minutes
CLASS ORGANISATION: group work
TEACHING AIDS: worksheets

ACTIVITY 4 Presentation of the new vocabulary
AIMS – to reinforce students’ vocabulary
INTERACTION: T -Ss, Ss -T
PROCEDURE: The teacher writes on blackboard different types of books with their
definitions: “fiction”, “reference book”, “a directory”, “an anthology”, “a cookery book”, “a
manual”. The students are encouraged to give examples for each type of book. They may use
the pictures in exercise III.1, page 121
TIME: 5 minutes
CLASS ORGANISATION: independent work
TEACHING AIDS: textbooks, notebooks;

ACTIVITY 5: Immediate creativity/ feed -back
AIMS – to practice the new vocabulary
INTERACTION: T -Ss, Ss -Ss
PROCEDURE: Students are asked to use the information from the previous exercise and to
mention what kind of book they need in order to find the following:
a. the meaning of a word ( a dictionary)
b. a telephone number ( a directory)
c. an interesting story ( fiction)
d. how to w ork a PC (a manual)
e. tomorrow lesson about H2O (a school book)
f. an 19th century poem (an anthology)
g. the recipe for kidney pie (a cookery book)
h. information about George Washington (an encyclopedia)
TIME: 5 minutes
CLASS ORGANISATION: pair work

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TEACHING A IDS: blackboard, notebooks, textbooks

ACTIVITY 6: Further practice
AIMS – to read the text for specific information
INTERACTION: T -Ss, Ss -T
PROCEDURE: Gives worksheets to the students so that they read a text silently and place
the phrases above it under the correct heading in the box that follows the text. The students
do the task as required then compare their answers with those of their deskmates. Example
Like newspapers, magazines … Unlike newspapers, magazines…
…are sold weekly
…give up to date information …are sold monthly
…are kept even after they are read
…some are like reference books
…are printed in colour and on very good quality paper
…inform a specialized reader

The teacher makes sure that each student solves the exercise correctly by monitoring their
independent work.
TIME: 10 minutes
CLASS ORGANISATION: individual work
TEACHING AIDS: worksheets

ACTIVITY 7: Giving homework / Marking the students
AIMS –to end the lesson and give feedback
PROCEDURE: Teacher gives students to write an exercise. They have to infer the meaning
of idioms related to books from the context. Ss are given grades or they are appreciated
accordingly
TIME: 5 minutes
CLASS ORGANISATION: plenary

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ANNEX 1
Area of reference exercises
Match the following words with the area of reference in which they are most commonly
used.
Word Area of reference
1. partner A. war
2. colleague B. friendship
3. ally C. business, firm
4. accomplice D. profession
5. comrade E. crime

A. Level of formality exercises
Here are some words with similar meanings: pal, mate, associate, companion, buddy,
friend. Write them into the table according to the ir level of formality.

Formal Neutral Informal
companion
associate friend buddy
pal
mate

B. Collocation exercises
Here are some verbs: cut (down/ up/ off), hew (down), chop (down/off), carve (up),
slit (open). Which of them would normally be used with the nouns or nouns phrases
which are listed below?
Verb Noun/Noun phrase
cut down a tree
chop off a roast meet
slit open a door
carve up one’s initials (e.g. on a tree)
cut up a skirt
hew down wood (for firewood)

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C. Scale exercises
Arrange the following words in three groups, in ascendi ng order. In the first set, for
example big would be placed in the first group, spacious in the second group and
immense in the third group; similarly, in the second set, little would be in the first
group and microscopic in the third group.
1. Immense, big, spacious, large, enormous.
2. Little, minute, microscopic, small, tiny.
3. Famous, distinguished, well -known, illustration.
4. Gale, breeze, wind, storm, hurricane.
1 2 3
Big spacious immense
Little tiny microscopic
Distinguished r enowned famous
Breeze storm hurricane

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ANNEX 2

TESTS
SUBJECTIVE TEST MODEL INTERMEDIATE LEVEL
(assessing: vocabulary -comparisons, much, many, a few, a little, some, every,
any, each, etc, adjectives which are similar)
1.Uderline the correct word or phrase A, B, C or D to fill the spaces 1-5 5×4=20p
1. She couldn’t sleep because she‘d drunk …………..coffee
A enough B too C too much D too many
2. It was ……………….without them trying to make things worse.
A hard enoug h B enough hard C too much hard D much hard
3. I had ……………. of their fighting.
A enough B too C too many D many
4. It’s …………… for us to walk there.
A too near B enough near C near enough D enough
5. It costs ……………… to buy.
A. too many B too much C many enough D enough
2. Underline the correct answer in 6 -10 5×4=20p
6. My brother drinks too much/ many coffee.
7. I found little / a few of his books at the library and I liked them.
8. How much/ many coffees did you order? Two.
9. I’d like to make a few / a little remarks concerning this topic.
10. How many/ much sugar do you take in your tea?
3. Underline the correct word or phrase A, B, C or D to fill the spaces 11 -15
5×4=20p
11. Nearly …………… shop is shut on Saturday.
A every B each C either D some
12. Santa Claus has given a present to ……………. child.
A any B either C each D some
13. The manager didn’t give us …………. specific instructions.
A some B each C any D either
14. I am so happy we have ………….. classes today.

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A some B any C no D every
15. Not ……………. student succeeded in passing this exam.
A either B some C every D no
4. Underline the correct adjectives A, B, C or D to fill the spaces 16 -20 5×4=20p
16. I’ve never felt so ……………… in my entire life.
A shy B embarrassed C shameful D embarrass
17. Driving on mountain roads always makes me ……………….
A anxious B nervous C frightening D worried
18. She’s such a ……………………….stu dent that every teacher loves her.
A efficient B productive C hard working D bad-tempered
19. Billy was very ……………….. to people who had less than he did.
A generous B good C kindly D immature
20. We w atched a very …………….. program on television last night.
A enjoying B amusing C tiring D sympathetic
5. For the sentences 21 -25, use the words given in capitals at the end of the line to form
a word that fits in the space: 5×4=20p
21. I’m sorry I can’t come to that ……………………. MEET
22. Global ……………….. is a major problem WARM
23. Water …………….is a real threat to our health. POLLUTE
24. He has a part –time job as a …………….. WAIT
25. You can never t rust ………….. POLITICS
TOTAL SCORE=100P

Answer keys
1.C too much
2. A hard enough
3. A enough
4. C near
5. C near enough
6. much

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7. a few
8. many
9. a few
10. much
11. A every
12. C each
13. C any
14. C no
15. C every
16. B embarrassed
17. B nervous
18. C hard working
19. A generous
20. B amusing
21. m eeting
22. warming
23. pollution
24. waiter
25. politicians

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OBJECTIVE TEST –VOCABULARY UPPER -INTERMEDIATE LEVEL
Part 1
For questions 1 -15, read the text below and decide which answer A, B, C or D best fits
each space. 15x1p=15p
Creating a family tree can be an absorbing and rewarding pastime, and who knows
where it might (1)………..? You might discover you have royal (2)…… a heredi tary
title and a coat of arms, a forgotten legacy or even an infamous mass murderer in the
family. You’ll be creating a(n) (3)………..and valuable resources to share and
fascinating insights into your own life and times for future (4)………. Before you
begin, as k around to see if any of the (5)………….. research has already been done.
Most families have at least one (6)………. historian whose records may be able to get
you off to a good (7)………… Older family members can give you a first – hand
(8)……….of recent family his tory, though remember to (9)………..some tact and
always be sensitive to any skeletons and scandals that you may uncover. Official
documents such as old birth, marriage and death certificates are an invaluable
(10)…….. and family photo albums can provide a(n) (11)……… of information.
Postcards and letters also often contain useful historical news and even (12)……..
photographs of places and buildings can provide additional (13)…….of exploration.
Start with an internet search of your family name. You may come (14) ……….a
family home page providing a link to long -lost relations or overseas (15)…….. of the
family.
1 A guide B follow C lead D direct
2 A ancestry B lineage C pedigree D descent
3 A sole B unique C only D single
4 A offspring B generations C ages D progeny
5 A inaugu ral B beginning C introductory D initial
6 A amateur B beginner C apprentice D unskilled
7 A beginning B initiation C start D outset
8 A way B access C account D entrance
9 A exercise B have C apply D practice
10 A fount B origin C root D source
11 A wealth B abundance C profusion D richness
12 A indistinguishable B obscure C unknown D nameles s
13 A courses B passages C avenues D ways
14 A around B to C across D through
15 A branches B portions C sections D parts

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Part 2

For questions 16 -25, read the text below and think of the word which best fits each
space. Use only one word in each space. there is an example at the beginning(0).
10x1p=10p

According to the World Wide Fund, the polar bear could be faced (0) with extinction
and a large number of other animal reduced (16)………very small remnant
populations by global warming in Arctic regions.
Warmer winters are res ponsible (17)………the thinning or disappearance of ice
sheets in many parts of the Arctic, resulting (18)……. a situation where polar bears
are (19) ……risk of starvation because they cannot travel to their normal breeding
and hunting grounds. Even in places w here there is still much ice around, polar bears
are (20)………threat because they rely (21) …… snow caves to rear their young. Do
to the warmer weather, these caves are prone (22) …….sudden collapse, burying the
youngsters (23)……… Other effects of the change s (24) …….climate are also being
noticed. Animals such as reindeer have adapted (25)……the extreme cold and are
able to cope with in the Arctic climate.

Part 3

For questions 26 -35, complete the se cond sentence so that it has a similar meaning to
the first sentence, using the word given. Do not change the word given. You must use
between two and five words, including the word .
10x1p=10p
Here is an example. (0)
Example: That’s the man who had his car stolen last week.
Whose
That’s that man whose car was stolen last week.
26 It is not likely that the effects of global warming can be reversed.
likelihood
There is …………….. reversing the effects of global warming.
27 I gave up the job at the hotel because there were too few challenges.
enough
I gave up the job at the hotel because it ………………me

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28 There is a strong possibility that the manager will chose Antonio to play on Saturday but it
depends on his state of fitness.
well
Antonio ………………. the manager to play on Saturday but it depends on his state of
fitness.
29 We are sure that the government’s new policy will successfully reduce unemployment.
bound
We think that the government’s new policy …………………… in reducing
unemployment.
30 We can’t blame Sam for breaking the window because he wasn’t here this morning.
been
It………………..broke the window because he wasn’t here this morning.
31 In spite of the fact that he didn’t know French, he went to live in France.
speak
Even……………………..French, he went to live in France.
32 Do you think I could borrow your exhibition catalogue?
mind
Would………………… borrow your exhibition catalogue?
33 There’s no point in doing those intelligence tests because they are out of date.
worth
Those intelligence tests aren’t ……………………because they ‘re out of date.
34 The teacher looked so funny I had to laugh at him.
help
The teacher looked so funny I………………….laughing at him.
35 In spite of being sixty, Peggy runs five miles a day.
old
Although ……………………………….., she runs five miles a day.

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Part 4

For questions 36 -50 read the text below .Use the word given in capitals at the end of
each line to form a word that fits in the space in the same line. 15x1p=15p
LEARNING TO SURF
Anyone who has ever (36)……………stood up on a surfboard and SUCCESS
carved through the water will not d eny that it is an n (37)…………. FORGET
experience. Gaining (38)……………of the technique is not easy, MASTER
though. It is certainly worth paying for some qualified (39)………. COACH
before you v enture into the waves. You should also get (40)………. ADVISE
on what kind of board to buy. The (41)……….. of the board is a LONG
particularly crucial ( 42)………….Inevitably, you will be a bit DECIDE
(43)……….at first but after you’ve caught your first wave, your SHAKE
(44)………. will improve. A few more waves, plus the necessary CONFIDENT
practice to improve your paddling (45)………., and you will be ABLE
beginning to derive the kind of (46)………….from this ancient ENJOY
sport that causes (47)………… normal people to organise their OTHER
lives around it. Of cour se, the perfect wave can be (48) …… …. ELUDE
but weather should never be a (49)………… The enormous DETER
(50)…………of modern wetsuits available will keep you war m VARY
and dry whatever the weather.

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Part 5

An English friend of yours is interested in cultural traditions. Write a letter inviting your
friend to visit you at the time when a famous festival is being celebrated. You should include
information on what the festival celebrates, when it takes place, and why it might interest
your friend, and give you an account of what people do in the course of celebration.
50p

TOTAL SCORE: 100p

Answers
Part 1: 1C lead, 2 A ancestry, 3 B unique, 4 B generations, 5 D initial, 6 A amateur, 7 C
start,
8 C account, 9 A exercise, 10 D source, 11 A wealth, 12 B obscure, 13 C avenues, 14 C
across, 15 A branches
Part 2: 16 (to), 17 (for), 18 (in), 19 (at), 20 (under), 21 (on/u pon), 22 (to), 23 (inside), 24
(in), 25 (to)
Part 3: 26 little/ not much likelihood, 27 wasn’t challenging enough for, 28 may well be
chosen by, 29 is bound to be successful, 30 can’t have been Sam who, 31 though he didn’t
speak, 32 you mind of, 33 worth d oing 34 couldn’t help laughing 35 Peggy is sixty years old

Part 4: 36 successfully, 37 unforgettable, 38 mastery, 39 coaching, 40 advice, 41 length,
42 decision, 43 shaky, 44 confidence, 45 ability, 46 enjoyment, 47 otherwise, 48 elusive, 49
deterrent, 50 variety

Part 5: 6 points for appropriately beginning and ending the letter:
-3 points the beginning: Dear + John
– 3points the endings :Best wishes / Best regards /Love + sender’s name
8 points for cor rect grammar structures and connectors
10 points for the use of appropriate vocabulary
15 points for covering the aspects demanded by the task
6 points for a balanced structure ( greeting/introduction, content, conclusion)
5 points for the general impression

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ANNEX 3

TEACHERS AND STUDENTS QUESTIONNAIRES

VOCABULARY QUESTIONNAIRE

TEACHERS

Name…………. Degree…………
Genre………… School………….

Dear teachers
The purpose of this questionnaire is to discover the vocabulary teaching and learni ng
strategies applied by teachers of English in Braila county. Please, fill out the questionnaire
according to your situation. This is not a test so there is no right or wrong answer. Your first
reaction is the best. Thank you for your cooperation.

Belief s about vocabulary teaching and learning.
Please weight the following statements by circling an appropriate number.
1= strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=neutral, 4=agree, 5=strongly agree
Metacognitive belifs
1. When teaching a new word, you use translation as an effective way to convey meaning.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
2. Students can acquire a large vocabulary by visual presentation
1. 2 . 3 . 4. 5.
3. Students can expand their vocabulary simply through the use of realia and pictures
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

1. Guessing words in context is one of the best ways to teach and learn vocabulary.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
2. The use of mind maps to create vocabulary webs can be incorporated into regular
vocabulary teaching. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
3. Reading is very useful in developing and enriching partially known vocabulary.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Motivational beliefs
1. Your students are interested in vocabulary learning. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

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2. Students have their own preference in learning vocabulary. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
3. Learners have to take responsibility themselves for vocabulary expansion.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Sense relations
1. Constructing sense relations deepen learner’s unders tanding of new words.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
2. Synonyms and antonyms are convenient teaching resources.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
3. You can maximize vocabulary learning by teaching word families instead of individual
word forms. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Importance for tests

1.Your students are motivated to learn English Vocabulary because they believe is very
important for taking tests 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Vocabulary presentation
1. Presentation techniques are useful ways of introducing new words.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
2. When you present a new word you may give th e Romanian equivalent
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
3. Translation is an economical way of presenting meaning.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Assessing / testing vocabulary
1. Vocabulary tests have a positive backwash effect, they encourage good learning strategies.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
2. Tests where words are tested divide between out of context and in context.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
3. Vocabulary tests should not last more than 10 minutes.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

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VOCABULARY LEARNING QUESTIONNAIRE

STUDENTS

Name……….. Gender ……………
Age………….. Grade…………….

Dear participant:
Thank you for your participation. The purpose of the questionnaire is to explore the
vocabulary learning methods of students in “Edmond Nicolau” Technical College. Please fill
out the questionnaire according to your situation. This is not a test; there is no right or wrong
answer.
Thank you for your cooperation.

Vocabulary learning strategies
Please weight the following statements by circling an appropriate number.
1=not true to m e at all;
2=seldom true to me’
3=sometimes true to me’
4=often true to me;
5=always true to me

Metacognitive :

1. When I met a new word I look it up in a dictionary. 1 2 3 4 5
2. I can guess the meaning of a new word by seeing the thing it represent.
1 2 3 4 5
3. When I meet a new word I have a clear sense of whether I need to remember it.
1 2 3 4 5
4. I make a note of words that seem important to me
1 2 3 4 5

Discovery strategy for comprehension

1. When I learn a new word I learn its synonyms and antonyms, too.
1 2 3 4 5
2. I make use of my knowledge to create vocabulary fields.
1 2 3 4 5
3. I look for expressions or set phrases that go with the word.
1 2 3 4 5
4. I take down the collocations of a word I look up.
1 2 3 4 5
5. I remember the words together with its context and pay attention to the extend of its
collocation, parts of speech and meanings. 1 2 3 4 5

Practice strategy for comprehension

1. I review new words with my classmates, working in pairs or groups 1 2 3 4 5
2. I look up the word I don’t know in a dictionary and then I make up sentences with it.

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1 2 3 4 5
3. I make regular and structured reviews of new words I have memorized.
1 2 3 4 5
4. When I try to remember a word, I repeat it aloud to myself.
1 2 3 4 5
5. I try to use newly learned words in real situation.
1 2 3 4 5
Word formation

1. I study word formation rules in order to remember new words.
1 2 3 4 5
2. I analyse the meaning of suffixes and prefixes.
1 2 3 4 5
3. I can remember a group of new words that share a similar spelling.
1 2 3 4 5