2. Help students to learn vocabulary in context. The best internalization of vocabulary comes from encounters (comprehension or production) with words within the context of surrounding discourse. Rather than isolating words and/or focusing on dictionary definitions, attend to vocabulary within a communicative framework in which items appear. Students will then associate new words with a meaningful context to which they apply.
3. Play down the role of bilingual dictionaries. A corollary to the above is to help students to resist the temptation to overuse their bilingual dictionaries. In recent years, with the common availability of electronic pocket dictionaries, students are even more easily tempted to punch in a word they don't know and get an instant response. Unfortunately, such practices rarely help students to internalize the word for later recall and use.
4. Encourage students to develop strategies for determining the meaning of words. 5. Engage in ‘’unplanned’’ vocabulary teaching. In all likelihood, most of the attention you give to vocabulary learning will be unplanned:
those moments when a student asks about a word or when a word has appeared that you feel deserves some attention. These impromptu moments are very important.
What’s needed to be taught? Is it enough just to teach the meaning of a new word? Look at the list of the necessary aspects to be taught and write the characteristics of the words below next to each aspect:
The characteristics to choose from:
rich – poor;
keen /ki:n/;
toss a coin;
‘a dog’ has positive associations in Britain but negative in Arabia;
