Teaching and Learning Language: Grammar and Vocabulary This essay will focus on the subject of learning and teaching languages. More specifically it will deal with two different, but intrinsically related topics. The first topic investigates the deductive and the inductive approaches to teaching grammar, and the positive and negative aspects of them both. The deductive approach is the more teacher-centered approach, where the teacher explains rules and so forth to the students, while the inductive approach is more learner-centered and encourages the student to guess rules instead of being told by the teacher. The second topic examines how vocabulary can be taught and learned differently from the much used word list method, or glosmetoden. This method concentrates on a list of target vocabulary that the student is supposed to learn: English on one side, and Swedish on the other side. A large vocabulary is essential to proficiency in any language (Lundahl, 2012, p. 334), and the question is what the most efficient way of learning vocabulary is. There are many faults with the wordlist method which makes it an insufficient way of acquiring new vocabulary: the vocabulary items are treated in an isolated manner, often without much context. It is not really worthy of being called a method, since the method to learn the vocabulary is really up to the learner him/herself. It basically relies on the rote learning technique, memorization through repetition. As a language myself, I have tried different methods to learn new vocabulary, and what I have found to be the best for me personally has been learning through massive comprehensible input. It not only is the easiest way of learning, but ensures a good feel for the language. Learning in ... ... middle of paper ... ...ally want to learn. For grammar, we have seen that inductive approach should be the approach most used in the classroom; focusing on the communicative content rather than form is far more motivating than the more teacher-oriented deductive approach, even though in some cases the deductive approach is called for. In vocabulary learning, there are far superior methods of learning than the word list method; concentrating on the content rather than explicitly on certain words often is better, and finding different methods for learning, that suits the needs of the student, is essential. Brown, H.D. (2007) Teaching by Principles. An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy. New York: Pearson Longman. Lundahl, B. (2012) Engelsk språkdidaktik. Lund: Studentlitteratur. Nunan, D. (1998) Teaching grammar in context. ELT Journal, vol 52/2. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
When a student learns a new concept, that information is stored in one of two ways - linguistically or non-linguistically. Traditional instructional methods present new concepts linguistically to students; in other words, by having them read and/or listen to the information they are expected to learn. In the student’s long-term memory, that information would be formed in a fashion similar to a sentence. On the other hand, Non-linguistic r...
I was interested in finding out how teachers can help ELL students to develop this type of vocabulary and whether or not there is a highly effective technique that can benefit every student in class. As classroom teachers we need understand the unique needs of our ELLs. We need to understand that while they are just as capable as our native speakers, they are at a distinct disadvantage because of the amount of information they must process all at once that is in a language they do not fully understand. I have found that there are a number of ways that teachers can foster vocabulary growth in ELLs, I am going to focus on of the most effective: use of graphic organizers.
racie Allen of the comedy team of Burns and Allen was once asked how one should speak French. She replied, “Well, you speak it the same way you speak English; you just use different words.” When trying to assist in instructing English language learners, they usually have many concepts and language abilities that they need to master, as do the teachers that are trying to teach them. With the incorporation of the concepts and approaches to identify and assess the issues and concerns that we have learned in our classroom instruction, such as lesson preparation, building background, and comprehensible input, we can indeed teach our future English language learners all the right moves with all the right words.
Fromkin, V., Rodman, R., & Hyams, N. (2006 or 2010). An introduction to language (8th ed. or 9th ed.) USA: Cengage Learning.
Vocabulary is words known to a person, the knowledge of words, and word meanings. Students develop contextual knowledge and vocabulary by exposer to new words, being engaged in conversations, and reading, discussing, and exploring text. Vocabulary knowledge can never be fully grasped because it is an ongoing process that is developed over the course of a lifetime. Vocabulary instruction is far more involved than simply looking up words in a dictionary, and using the words in a sentence. Vocabulary knowledge is gained through both indirect exposure to words, and through direct, explicit instruction in specific word learning strategies.
Both Krashen (1982) and Brown (1994a) presented teaching principles that have stood the tests of time. Principles equip “enlightened” teachers to incorporate any number of possible methodological, or pedagogical options (Brown, 1994a), in classes tailored to fit particular contexts. Therefore, theory from research into language learning takes on greater importance with a principled approach. This principles enable teachers, as “technicians”
It can be seen from the above definitions that there is no consensus among researchers about specific definitions of language learning strategies with regard to the actual way that learners act or think during language learning processes. Given that there is no unifying concept or theory of language learning strategies, some scholars (e.g., Rubin, 1975; Stern, 1975) proposed that we should study and observe what successful language learners do while learning a language, in order to learn and understand what language learning strategies are. Accordingly, a number of characteristics of successful language learners were identified (Rubin, 1975; Stern, 1975).
Allan, V. F. (1983). In Russell N. Campbell, & William E. Rutherford (Eds.), Techniques in teaching vocabulary (14th ed., pp. 2) Oxford press.
Swarbrick, A. (2013) Aspects of Teaching Secondary Modern Foreign Languages: Perspectives on Practice. London: Routledge Falmer.
learners for learning of new vocabularies in the target language are called ‘vocabulary learning strategies’. Takač
Thus, the book answers numerous practical questions that teachers have often struggled with; for example, how to increase the chances of academic success for language learners, how to use technology to teach language effectively, or how to teach language and content material concurrently. From the preface, the author makes it very clear that the book is designed to support language teachers in their journey as new teachers and throughout their teaching careers. In total, the book contains eleven chapters, which have been divided into four parts. The first part, "What Do Language Teachers Think About?" includes topics of foreign/ second language acquisition theories and language teaching methodologies. This part introduces the background knowledge readers will need in their journey as language teachers. The second part, "How Do You Teach a Language?" introduces approaches to teaching and learning that improve students’ writing, listening, speaking and reading abilities. Each chapter in this part includes suggestions for how students can be motivated and describes teaching and testing approaches to assess students ' language skills and academic literacy. The third part, "How Do I Know What to Teach?" is instrumental in helping teachers adopt teaching practices to particular teaching settings. The fourth part, "Where Do I Go from Here?" helps teachers gain a clearer perspective of what language teaching is all about; this section also considers teacher 's self-assessment and personal
Vocabulary seems to be a major barrier to many English language learners. Most of learners are deal with the problem lack of word storage and because of that they cannot communicate well in a foreign language. When students begin learning another language, vocabulary should be at the heart of instruction. Vocabulary instruction forms a very important aspect of any foreign language teaching and learning. This is because the knowledge of vocabulary determines and decides the level of a foreign language learner. If foreign language learners lack a mature vocabulary, their other language skills suffer significantly. The knowledge of vocabulary plays a very crucial in the major language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Mastery
Brown, H. Douglas. Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy. 2007. San Francisco. Pearson Longman.
In most institutions of learning today, the classes are made up of students from different ethnic backgrounds. These have different traditions and also speak different languages. In a typical classroom, the majority of the students will speak the same language. The teacher must then employ strategies which will accommodate all the students in the class. This will ensure that every learner gets the best quality of education. This will enable them to be better prepared for career and expressing themselves. In this paper, strategies to assist learners of the English language in their literal development for third grade learners. In the paper, three strategies that can be used by the teacher will be discussed. New strategies and research that will help the English language learners to gain in depth mastery of the language will also be discussed. Due to the widespread learning of the English language in most schools, addressing issues of the language learners is of vital importance. Teachers should have the understanding that cultures are what give someone identity and therefore no student should leave their culture for another. Instead, there should be the blending of different cultures so that students can appreciate and learn from each other.
For decades, foreign language teachers wandered in a scientific abyss. Until 1983, there had been little real research dealing with the ways in which someone acquires a second language. Teachers mostly used the audiolingual classroom model that had been in place for the past twenty years (or, even worse, the literally ancient grammatical translation model that had been used by civilizations millennia old). Clearly, language teaching methodology was in a poor situation. In 1983, however, Krashen published the results of an unprecedented body of research and paved the way for a revolution in our field. His five-point hypothesis focused on the difference between the acquisition of and the learning of a second language. Krashen has his detractors, of course, not the least of whom are American school districts, which have been reluctant to implement his teachings. Most experts agree, however, that his ideas are the most meritorious of the theories in circulation now, and schools that refuse to incorporate them are doing their students a disservice.