Vocabulary

The Importance of Vocabulary and Grammar for Young Learners of ESOL

Abstract1.Introduction 2. The importance of vocabulary 2.1. What is vocabulary? 2.2. What does it mean to know a word? 2.3. How to teach/learn vocabulary? 2.4. The difficulties of English vocabulary learning 2.5. Some English vocabulary is easy to learn/teach 3. Grammar 3.1. What is grammar? 3.2. Why teach grammar? 4. Vocabulary and grammar 5. Conclusion

Abstract

• Portuguese students have compulsory English lessons from 3rd to 11th grades (in Madeira it is from 1st grade );

• A change introduced as a response to students’ bad performance in Key and Pet Cambridge exames in 2014 and 2015;
• Introduction of compulsory oral comprehension and oral production parts in English national exam;
• Preparation per skill became necessary as prescribed by Aprendizagens Essenciais;
• Any preparation always implies knowledge of Vocabulary and Grammar , which are essential to all 4 skills;

1. Introduction

2. The importance of vocabulary

It has had ups and downs in courses of English:

after 1970

before1940

1940- 1970

in recent years

• Why is it important?

Because …

2.1. What is vocabulary?

• It is the name given to the building blocks of a language – the words;

• How many words are there to learn?

• There are high-frequency, low-frequency, technical vocabulary and academic vocabulary;
• About 2,000 words are needed to keep an everyday conversation;
• However, to do some important daily activities, like reading for pleasure, watching TV and others, it is important to know some low-frequency words.

2.2. What does it mean to know a word?

• People assume that knowing a word is knowing its meaning, e.g. plane means; avião;

• Knowing a word means to focus on its form, use and meaning in both receptive and productive dimensions:

• Form
• Use
• Meaning

• What a word means is also to know its opposite and its synonym;
• Some words have two meanings depending on the context,
• The way a sentence or word is spoken may determine its meaning;
• Language function;

2.3. How to teach/learn vocabulary?

• Almost all Portuguese students have a limited input of English (several hours of teaching in a school week);
• Incidental vocabulary learning can come up with written and spoken input:
• written input

• spoken input

• Rate of acquisition is influenced by many factors: age, first language background, educational and cutural backgrounds, learning styles, levels of knowledge, motivation and others;

• It is important to know students’ interests, strengths and weaknesses and other factors when planning lesson;

2.3. How to teach/learn vocabulary? (cont)

• 8 findings to put into practise in vocabulary teaching (and learning):

2.4. The difficulties of English vocabulary learning

• Difficulties come from different sources: linguistic systems of L1 and L2, the similarities of both linguistic systems, the way the words are taught and the learner’s experience;

• Some words are difficult to learn due to:
• pronunciation, spelling, there are many homophones and homonyms,
• idiomatic expressions, false friends , different Englishes (different varieties of English).

2.5. Some English vocabulary is easy to learn/teach

• Some words are easy to learn due to:
• English is an international language;
• Cognates – the word means the same everywhere, e.g., animal; chocolate;
• English borrowed many words from French , Spanish, German;
• Many English words are derived from Latin and Greek.

3. Grammar  3.1. What is grammar?

• It is the way text, sentence, word and sound are connected and patterned in a language;
• It is the study of the syntax
• It is the study of morphology
• Teaching and learning English consists on the ability to recognise and produce well-formed sentences;
• Grammar is a process of making a speaker’s or a writer’s meaning clear when context is lacking;
• Spoken grammar might be different from written grammar;

• What to teach?

3.2. Why teach grammar?

• In the early parts of the 20th century, grammar teaching was an essential part of language instruction - Grammar-translation Method;

• In the USA, in the 1950s and 1960s, Audiolingualism, pattern-practice drills were typical activities;
• In the 1970s, grammar knowledge became one of the many components of communicative competence;

• Now, people agree that grammar is too important to be ignored;

3.2. Why teach grammar? (cont.)

• Some English grammar is easy to explain and test, but that cannot be the reason for teaching or learning it;

• Good command of grammar may give students the illusion that they know language well, but if vocabulary and fluency lacks, there isn’t communication;

• Task-based approach – students can perform a task with a poor level of grammatical accuracy;
• Some argue that grammar has no place in a children’s foreign language teaching, but others disagree and believe that skillful grammar teaching is tied to vocabulary;

4. Vocabulary and grammar

• Both are important components of language learning and teaching;
• Techniques to teach and learn vocabulary and grammar in a relaxed classroom atmosphere in order to enhance users’s motivation and creativity.

5. Conclusion

• Building up useful vocabulary serves as a stepping stone to learning and using grammar;
• Portuguese adolescents and young learners may lack motivation to learn English because they are learning it for long-term use;

• As they become older, they begin to see the need for learning the language and realize that it doesn’t just take place in classrooms;

5. Conclusion (cont.)

• If there is extrinsic motivation (from outside school – parents, society and peers) and intrinsic motivation (from what happens in the classroom), they will become interested in the subject;
• Encouraging students’ responsibility is part of the process: interesting and memorable techniques that catch learners’ attention are very important: discovery activities suit some students very well (there’s cognitive effort) but some students still prefer to be “spoon-fed”;
• In a society like ours, that is hosting many immigrants, teachers need to be sensitive to these backgrounds.

Thank you!