谈英语词汇教学(1)(2)
2015-09-25 01:43
导读：2.1.1Teachers neglect the importance of vocabulary Teachers leave vocabulary learning to students themselves. Some books tell teachers that students could learn all the words they need without help. I
2.1.1Teachers neglect the importance of vocabulary
Teachers leave vocabulary learning to students themselves. Some books tell teachers that students could learn all the words they need without help. In fact, teachers are sometimes told that they ought not to teach too many words before their students have mastered the grammar and the sound system of the language. In journal articles for teachers, vocabulary is seldom mentioned. Pronunciation and grammar were emphasized, but there is little or no emphasis on vocabulary.
2.1.2 Teachers neglect teaching techniques
Many teachers do not seem to take a systematic approach to vocabulary teaching. They often prepare lessons just before class, and there is no long-term planning. In class, teachers do not put students in the first place, and they maximize TTT (Teachers Talking Time) and minimize STT (Students Talking Time). Teachers neglect taking creative measures and techniques to arouse students’ attention to vocabulary study.
2.1.3 Teachers neglect collocation
The words always appear together with other words, not in isolation. Language is made up of sets of words that go together to express a single meaning such as “by the way, go ahead, in the end” and so on. These are often called collocations or phrases. However, most vocabulary teaching is on identifying and teaching single words, rather than collocations or phrases. Many teachers ask students to remember some words without collocation. As a result, students only remember them without understanding the systems of the words. Their oral English sound strange and they say something like “yesterday night (last night)”. Therefore, teachers need to introduce lots of word relationships not only single words, and learners need to be taught how to notice word relationships on their own.
2.1.4 Teachers neglect selecting vocabulary
Many teachers often teach any new words in the textbook without selection. This can not only confuse students who get them all mixed up, but also overload the students’ memory. In fact, students do not need to learn every word they meet. It is because not all words are equally useful. A convenient division for the levels of vocabulary is shown in the accompanying table adapted from Nation.
Table 1. A Convenient Division for the Levels of Vocabulary
Level Number of words Text coverage, %
High-frequency words
Academic vocabulary
Technical vocabulary
Low-frequency words
Total 2,000
800
2,000
123,000
128,000 87
8
3
2
100
“Clearly the 2,000 high-frequency words of English should receive attention first. With these, it is possible for people to use English in any normal way.” [3]
2.1.5 Teachers neglect consolidation
In vocabulary teaching, teachers seldom help students consolidate learned vocabulary, so students learn them and then forget. Learning English vocabulary needs to be highly recycled. However, most textbooks do not seem to regularly recycle important vocabulary and the practice in class is not enough. These make students lose the opportunities of consolidating vocabulary. Since the vocabulary learned before have not been consolidated in time, the students forget it easily. The teacher should work out some ways to recycle the vocabulary introduced in the course book.
