Fabric Essay: The Importance Of Vocabulary

The importance of vocabulary It has often been remarked how strange it is that comparatively little has been researched and written on the teaching and learning of a second or foreign language vocabulary. Furthermore, it is also worth mentioning that several issues such as grammatical competence, reading or writing have traditionally received considerably more attention and interest within language teaching than the teaching and learning of vocabulary, which has never aroused the same degree of interest among teachers and learners. Nevertheless, decades of research, as well as numerous methodologists and linguists, have recently confirmed, emphasized and recommend teaching vocabulary because of its importance in the language use. Appart from being one crucial component and supporting element for reading comprehension, vocabulary plays a fundamental role in second or foreign language teaching, linking and developing the students’ competence in both receptive (listening and speaking) and productive (speaking and writing) language skills. Hence, it

The term vocabulary is defined by the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary as “all the words that a person knows or uses”. Similarly, the Cambridge Learner’s Dictionary defines mastery such as “great skill or understanding of something”. Hence, the mastery of vocabulary can be understood as the knowledge or skill that allow one to have a full command of a subject of study, in this case, vocabulary.

Moreover, it is described that by mastering vocabulary, students can express their ideas, understand and develop the other four basic competences. Thus, it could be said that the vocabulary mastery is one of the main factors to master English language, but what do vocabulary mastery and knowing a word entail? Generally, knowing a word involves knowing its form, its meaning and how to use it at the basic level, according to Nation (2001, p. 26).

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