Vocabulary In Second Language Acquisition

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Introduction & Scope Vocabulary plays a vital role in learning English as a foreign language. Many scholars have stated the importance of vocabulary teaching in second language acquisition to the extent that they regard vocabulary as a powerful vehicle of communication, even more powerful than grammar. According to McCarthy (1990: viii), "No matter how well the students learn grammar, no matter how successfully the sounds of L2 are mastered, without words to express a wide range of meanings, communication in L2 cannot happen in any meaningful way". In the same way, Wilkins (1972: 111-112) argues that "without grammar, very little can be conveyed; without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed". Given the fact that the ultimate aim of teaching …show more content…

At the same time, they are keen and enthusiastic learners enjoying playing games. When teaching young learners vocabulary, it has to be appropriate for them. Vocabulary appropriate for young learners is considered high frequency words, lexical sets or chunks i.e. simple verbs, adjectives, prepositions and also concrete nouns from different lexical fields (colours, animals, food, jobs, etc.) Students’ schematic knowledge and cognitive ability has to be taken into consideration too. Analysis Stages of vocabulary teaching According to Doff (1988: 98), there are four stages in teaching vocabulary, namely presentation, practice, production, and review. (a) Presentation Presentation is one of the most important and complex preliminary stages in teaching vocabulary. The title of this stage indicates clearly its function in introducing new lexical items to learners. (b) …show more content…

In my experience, young learners should be exposed to vocabulary items repeatedly and in rich contexts. It is almost impossible to expect them to learn all the items we teach them and to remember them all in the lesson two days later. Thus, a newly taught word should reappear many times and in different situations for the following weeks of instruction. The vocabulary items should be recycled in different activities, with different skills and for multiple

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