When acquiring knowledge from the areas of science, mathematics, history and art, we use language as a tool to understand or communicate certain concepts. Language consists of vocabulary- a set of words that a person may use while communicating these concepts. If we consider living without any language, would we still know what we know? The answer is quite possibly, no. Naturally, as vocabulary is a part of a language, it too plays an essential role in the understanding and communication of these concepts.
However, to what extent can we claim that it actually shapes our understanding of those concepts? Is it justified for us to say that the lack of vocabulary implies a lack of knowledge? If knowledge can be acquired exclusive of the use of vocabulary, is it that vocabulary only shapes our communication of the knowledge and not exactly the acquisition of it?
If we are dependent on solely vocabulary to shape what we can know, it may limit our understanding of certain concepts because essentially, not every human has the entire knowledge of words or the contexts that they may be used in. If one does not have an in-depth understanding of vocabulary, whatever knowledge may be acquired using it may be incomplete. For instance, psychobabble, when people use psychological terminology in common use to describe something remotely related to the term. For example, “I am very OCD about my food”, when the person must be only concerned about the taste of the food, they might not realise how they’re referring to a serious disorder. As the context in which they’re using the words may be vaguely related to the true meaning, they show an incomplete understanding of the word and what it represents.
On the other hand, if a psychologist refers...
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... this knowledge is complex. Let’s just imagine knowledge to be water and a bottle as the vocabulary. You can pass around the water in the bottle or you can pour it in a glass or any different container as it may suit you. The container may only change the shape in which the water sets but it can’t change the quantity or the essence of it. The essence is the same, only the physical form differs. Similarly, how much we drink is limited by how much the container can hold. Thus if we drink only from a container of knowledge and not an ocean, what we can know will remain limited.
Works Cited
1. Odishaw, Hugh. The earth in space. New York: Basic Books, 1967. Print.
2. Frank, M. C., D. L. Everett, E. Fedorenko, and E. Gibson. "Number as a cognitive technology: Evidence from Pirahã language and cognition." Cognition 108 (2008): 819-824. Elsevier. Web. 25 Aug. 2011.
The prehistoric times stand evidence to the power of language as a tool for communication and growth. Language has proven to be an effective medium and factor surrounding the evolution of man. Language has played a big role in the development of individuals and societies. What is spoken and/or written, help in the initiation of imagination, expression of feelings, and conveyance of thoughts and ideas.
Sometimes we think that words are a way to express what we have on our minds. Right? Think again. Guy Deutscher justifies just that. Our mother tongue does train our brains into thinking a certain type of way, also altering our perceptions of reality. In the NY Times article, “Does Your Language Shape How You Think?,” Guy points out that the mother tongue is Hebrew and leaves us with how we perceive the world. Guy’s protestor, Benjamin Lee Whorf, exclaims that language doesn’t have a particular word for a concept and that the concept itself could not be understood by the speaker. Guy argues that he does not have enough evidence that will substantiate the theory. He claims that Whorf is wrong on so many
In this article the evidence used from the first argument was from a study conducted by Biemiller and Slonim (2001) and Biemiller (2005). The average student knows about 8,000 words in 4th grade. The data that they showed explains that if a child is in 2nd, 4th, and 6th grade and they know 8,000 meanings then most of those meaning are of the same words. Concerning ELL Learners this is very important if we can know the specific words and meaning students should know and practice then this could be very helpful to ELL learners. We can focus on the words that they will use often and to be more structured with our language teaching of ELL students. The data shows that these words being learned in a similar way (200). Andrew Biemiller determined that there are around 1600 words that should be labeled as high priority. These words will most likely be in books in 1st or 2nd grade so if they don’t have the meaning then it will become a struggle to understand what they are reading (202). It is important to say that many times some students might now how to read the word fluently but they might not understand the
This doesn't mean that a Controlled Vocabulary must be defined at a particular time, and remain eternally unchanged. Such an approach can hinder information retrieval as existing terms begin to be abused, as new concepts are added to the knowledge base.
Teachers who work with English Language Learners know that academic language takes longer to achieve proficiency in than does conversational language. On average, ELL students need at least two years to achieve conversational language and, five to nine years to develop academic language proficiency. Many English words ELL students are exposed to in school, they have not yet learned or even heard in their first language, which makes transference of knowledge impossible. The vast differences in the ability to use conversational versus academic language can be a hindrance to these students and have lasting effects on their academics and therefore, their lives.
There are a plural of words that I did not understand. So, by finding the definition of the meaning of the word, I recognized that most of every words have the different context, I have to understand very clear of it to be able to apply those words correctly. For example, while reading the book, the article or any magazine and newspaper, if I don’t understand any words, I would continue to read further to find the context of the words that the author may describe on the rest of the paragraph. Even though, if I cannot find the meaning of the words, I will look up in the dictionary to the correct context that fit in the paragraph. By doing this way, I have had improve my English skill such as critical thinking, referencing, and
...ur knowledge. Vocabulary does not always restrict or mold what we can know. The extent to which vocabulary could limit what we can know or varies from the different areas of knowledge, as meaning can be very flexible and diverse. Often times, our vocabulary is limited; it fails to encompass the absolute reality of a concept, since by definition, vocabulary is a coordination of symbols serving to communicate opinions and thoughts, on the contrary, vocabulary can also serve as an entrance to a pool of knowledge. As a final point “Language is not the only vehicle of thought, it is a great and efficient instrument in thinking –Humphrey Davy”, our understanding by communication of language goes far beyond our knowledge for certain aspects; it shapes the communal thought process in which the vocabulary we use, ensemble the distinctive individuals in our ordinary lives.
My host teacher is very efficient in implementing vocabulary in her kindergarten class learning. The kindergarteners are eager to learn, and are always asking what words mean, just by looking at their sentences during my time observing in the classroom their vocabulary has developed. Whenever my host teacher is reading a story to the students, she makes sure to address new words, and guides them to understand the meaning of the word. She never gives them the definition, she encourages the students to infer what the words mean, through context clues, such as rereading the sentence and trying to find words that will help explain the meaning, or by telling them to look at the illustrations for clues about the words meaning. She takes her time
Keil, F. C. and Wilson, R. A. (1999) The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences. Cambridge, Massachusetts & London, England: The MIT Press
In order to study the habits and strategies that are practiced by students when studying vocabulary and investigate its relation with their multiple intelligences, the following questions will be raised:
Language is an essential thing needed to communicate and to develop the skills one needs to be a complete, whole, intelligent individual. Language is what separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom. Here we shall define language and lexicon, evaluate the key features of language, describe the four levels of language structure and processing, and analyze the role of language processing in cognitive psychology.
This representation is called preverbal number knowledge, which occurs during infancy. Preverbal number knowledge occurs when children begin representing numbers without instruction. For instance, children may be familiar with one or two object groupings, but as they learn strategies, such as counting they can work with even larger numbers. As stated in Socioeconomic Variation, Number Competence, and Mathematics Learning Difficulties in Young Children “Thus only when children learn the count list and the cardinal meanings of the count words, are they able to represent numbers larger than four” (Jordan & Levine 2009, pp.61). Typical development occurs along a continuum where children develop numerical sense, represent numbers and then begin to understand the value of the numbers. These components are required when differentiating numbers and
Richards (1976: 77) explains the role of vocabulary in light of eight assumptions concerning the nature of lexical competence, and he suggests these assumptions should be kept in mind in teaching vocabulary. Some of his assumptions related to this study are summarized as
Beginning as a young child, we develop an understanding of how important vocabulary is in our daily lives. Vocabulary allows us to consciously participate in speaking comfortably and confidentially. Parents, guardians, and teachers actively teach and support children in vocabulary development and comprehension.
It is obvious that context has an impotent role in acquisition of lexical items. In this vein, Coady (1997) suggested the use of vocabulary learning strategy instruction approach to improve vocabulary learning: “The proponents of this approach (learning strategy instruction) also believe that context is the major source of vocabulary learning but they express some significant reservations about how well students can deal with context on their own. As a result, there is considerable emphasize on teaching specific learning strategies to students so that they can effectively learn from context” (Coady, 1997, p.