profile 2.p65


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Helping students develop vocabularycompetence is one of the mainchallenges English language
teachers face. This paper addresses the main
aspects we should consider when planning and
developing lessons in terms of vocabulary
improvement. To achieve that objective, we will
analyse the linguistic background and principles
of vocabulary teaching and learning, as well as
some ways of opening up vocabulary.

IntroductionIntroductionIntroductionIntroductionIntroduction

Teacher training books and materials
concerning English language teaching have
promoted the teaching-learning process in
terms of communicative functions. Even
methods and aims that are mainly
concentrated on improving the four skills,
general improvement, and the importance of
vocabulary have not been very relevant. That
is because grammar and pronunciation have
been given the most emphasis. It is obvious
that those areas involve words, but teachers
do always have to cope with the students’
perennial question ‘How can I learn more
vocabulary?’. Words are essential, and the lack
of them leads to feelings of insecurity, a very
common syndrome among foreign or second
language students. Consequently, the major
explanation one can give to this situation is
that students are not taught enough words in
class; words needed when talking to people,
watching TV and reading.

Recognising those motives, this paper
focuses on the main aspects teachers should
consider when planning and developing lessons
in terms of vocabulary improvement. We will
start by identifying common problems in
learning vocabulary. We will then focus on basic
elements of vocabulary learning and teaching.
After that, we will address key principles of
teaching and learning vocabulary, and finally,
highlight some options for handling vocabulary
in the classroom.

1 .  C o m m o n  p r o b l e m s  i n  l e a r n i n g1 .  C o m m o n  p r o b l e m s  i n  l e a r n i n g1 .  C o m m o n  p r o b l e m s  i n  l e a r n i n g1 .  C o m m o n  p r o b l e m s  i n  l e a r n i n g1 .  C o m m o n  p r o b l e m s  i n  l e a r n i n g
vocabularvocabularvocabularvocabularvocabular yyyyy

Perhaps we ought to begin by looking at
some things which can go wrong when
someone tries to learn vocabulary in another
language. Some of the symptoms of bad
vocabulary learning and teaching are:

• Inability to retrieve incorrect vocabulary
that has been taught. This is the most notorious
kind of vocabulary-learning fault.

• Use of vocabulary inappropriate to the
given situation.

• Use of vocabulary at the wrong level of
formality. This is rather similar to the previous
symptom –– it also has to do with inappropriate
use of the language. We tend to use the most
formal language found in textbooks in normal
conversational situations, with results that sound
strange to the native speaker. The reverse can
also happen when a learner picks up a slang or
colloquial expression and uses it inappropriately.

THE CHALLENGE OF

EFFECTIVE VOCABULARY TEACHING

Melba Libia CárMelba Libia CárMelba Libia CárMelba Libia CárMelba Libia Cárdenas B.denas B.denas B.denas B.denas B.
Foreign Languages Department, Universidad Nacional de Colombia



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• Possessing the wrong kind of vocabulary for
one’s needs. It is necessary to lead learners to the
vocabulary related to the situations and/or areas
of study they are going to be involved in.

• Using vocabulary in a non-idiomatic way.
• Using vocabulary in a meaningless way.

This is frequent when students are required
to report information from texts. To do it, the
learners merely lift phrases from the text. It
means that the grammatical and contextual
clues in the passage are enough to give the
framework for the answer. The effect is that
the students are using the target language,
but they are not learning it, since no
connection has been made between the
vocabulary and meaning.

• Incorrect use of the dictionary. Some
students are not aware of the most efficient
way to use a dictionary; others go to the other
extreme. This can kill interest and even
interfere with comprehension because the
reader/listener is so concerned with the
individual words that he or she is less aware
of the context which gives them meaning. It
also results in ver y slow and inefficient
reading/speaking.

• Use of incorrect grammatical form,
spelling, pronunciation, or stress.

2 .  B a s i c  e l e m e n t s  o f  v o c a b u l a r2 .  B a s i c  e l e m e n t s  o f  v o c a b u l a r2 .  B a s i c  e l e m e n t s  o f  v o c a b u l a r2 .  B a s i c  e l e m e n t s  o f  v o c a b u l a r2 .  B a s i c  e l e m e n t s  o f  v o c a b u l a r yyyyy
learning and teachinglearning and teachinglearning and teachinglearning and teachinglearning and teaching

Given the preceding problems in learning/
teaching vocabulary, it seems important to look
at the basic elements in the study of lexis which
have obvious teaching implications and which
were highlighted by Wallace (1984). The first
element to consider is form and meaning. It is
possible to ‘know’ a word without necessarily
knowing how to use it in all its various forms.
For example, a learner can know the use of the
adjective ‘big’ before knowing its comparative
and superlative forms.

The second element refers to the common
argument which infers that it is better to teach
common words before we teach more unusual
ones. However, we need to remember that
frequency is not the only criterion for
vocabulary selection. In certain learning
situations, rather unusual words may be of the
greatest use. So, words may be learned or taught
because they are seen to be of special relevance
to particular situations in which the learners
find themselves, or might find themselves. In
the following sample, the student uses
vocabulary on the basis of the context of the
definition he writes about castles.

Definition of “A Castle” by Luis Guillermo Forero C. (10 years old).

Used with permission.



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The third element has to do with English for
specific purposes vocabulary. This element deals
with the idea of special kinds of vocabulary (words
or expressions) which are relevant to special
interests or fields or knowledge. There is another
aspect to this, however, and it is the question of
learnability. In situations where English is taught
as a second language, learners have a more
difficult task. The serious problem for them is
probably not technical language as such, but the
language framework in which the technical
expressions are placed. Apart form certain typical
grammatical or rhetorical features, the non-
technical framework will probably consist of two
kinds of language: first, basic lexical items, and
secondly, other subtechnical words and
expressions typical of academic discourse (that
is, such as, hence, etc.) which the subject specialist
may assume the student should already know.

We can now refer to the structure and content
element. A basic distinction is often made
between structure words and content words.
Structure words may be considered part of the
grammar of the language; they are almost ‘empty’
of meaning when considered in isolation. Modal
verbs, pronouns, conjunctions, prepositions, and
certain adverbs (e.g. very, rather, etc.) are often
put in this category. Content words are nouns,
verbs, adjectives and adverbs formed from
adjectives (e.g. beautifully).

Regarding meaning, we can say that most
common words have a wide denotative range;
technical words tend to have a narrower
denotative range, i.e. they usually have one very
specific meaning, and this is another thing
which makes them easier to learn. Some words,
of course, have a common meaning and also a
technical meaning.

When talking about connotation, we should
point out that certain words are chosen because

they convey some kind of feeling or judgement.
Rather similar to the connotations of a word are
its associations, but whereas connotations relate
to the conventions of the language, associations
relate more to the individual or the culture. Clearly
there is not much to be done about the private
associations words have for individuals, but the
teacher may well feel that associations which relate
to the culture of the target language, and certainly
the connotations of a particular word, are part of
the ‘meaning’ which has to be learned.

Wallace (1984: 20) explains the element
connected to relationships between words, as
follows: “The meanings of certain words are so
closely related that they are often confused by
the learners. This is specially true of words with
reciprocal meanings such as words like ‘borrow/
lend, bring/take’. Another teaching problem
arises with words which are in the same rough
area of meaning or semantic field. One
explanation is the words which can be used
instead of the noun ‘horse’, such as ‘colt’ (‘male
horse or pony under the age of 4’), etc. The
problem is not, of course, that such distinctions
exist, but that they may not exist in the mother
tongue of the learner; or, if they exist, the
distinctions may be made in a different way”.

Another element of vocabulary learning and
teaching is concerned with productive and
receptive vocabulary. Everyone who learns a
foreign language is usually able to recognise
many more words than he can produce. This
involves pronunciation, spelling, appropriate
grammatical form, and so on. It may therefore
be important for a teacher to decide which
words he wishes a student to produce correctly,
and which words he wishes him merely to
recognise. This pedagogical element of
vocabulary learning and teaching is exemplified
in the sample below. It can be specifically noted
in the teacher’s feedback.



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Pronunciation, spelling and stress are
important aspects of a word. Stress determines
intelligibility. As we know, pronunciation and
spelling are related only partly in English
because the English sound-symbol relationship
causes many problems. This is one of the reasons
why learners are puzzled by words which have
very different forms but are pronounced
identically, and also by words which are very
similar in form but are pronounced differently.

Finally, we should refer to the cognates and ‘false
friends’ element. Speaking a language which has
a kind of relationship in certain areas with English
(this is the case of ‘cognates’) is an advantage.
Nonetheless, words often have very similar forms
in related languages, but totally different meanings
(this is the case of ‘false friends’). For us Spanish
speakers, ‘important’, ‘secretary’, and ‘doctor’ are
samples of cognates, whereas ‘exit’, ‘terrific’, and
‘embarrassed’  are examples of false friends.

Extracts taken from the composition “The Most Stressing (sic) Period of my Life” by

Luis Guillermo Forero C. (16 years old). Used with permission.



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3. Principles of teaching and learning3. Principles of teaching and learning3. Principles of teaching and learning3. Principles of teaching and learning3. Principles of teaching and learning
vocabularvocabularvocabularvocabularvocabular yyyyy

Before pointing out the principles, we should
first clarify the implications that ‘knowing’ a
word has. To ‘know’ a word in a target language
as well as a native speaker involves the ability
to: recognise it in its spoken form; recall it at
will; relate it to an appropriate object or concept;
use it in the appropriate grammatical form; in
speech, pronounce it in a recognisable way; in
writing, spell it correctly; use it with the words
it correctly goes with; use it at the appropriate
level of formality; and be aware of its
connotations and associations.

Teaching and learning vocabulary should be
based on several principles: clear aims, need,
situation presentation, quantity, frequent
exposure and repetition, meaningful and
contextualised presentation and inferring
procedures in learning. Quantity will depend
on different factors varying from class to class
and learner to learner. Regarding exposure and
repetition, it should be said that if the word has
to be part of the learners’ productive vocabulary,
they must be given the opportunity to use it as
often as is necessary for them to recall it at will.
Additionally, meaningful presentation requires
that the word is presented in such a way that its
denotation or reference is perfectly clear, which
is not always an easy task.

Once we have the principles established
above, it is important to see how they relate to
the learning of vocabulary in the mother
language and the second language. First, in the
mother tongue, ‘knowing the words’ is a matter
of survival, or at least of social competence.
Secondly, the mother tongue learner mostly
controls his own rate of learning. Therefore, he
learns what he needs as he needs it. Thirdly, the
mother-tongue learner is exposed to an

enormous quantity of his own language and has
tremendous scope for repetition of what he
learns. Fourthly, the language is nearly always
encountered in an appropriate situation and in
the appropriate context. Lastly, since words are
learnt as they arise out of a felt need in a
particular situation, they usually have a clear
denotation.

Of course, there is no guarantee that the
vocabulary of the second language can be dealt
with in the same way as the mother tongue
vocabulary. Circumstances are very different.
However, it is interesting to note that many of
the principles and basic elements which have
been pointed out before apply equally well to
both languages.

4. V4. V4. V4. V4. Vocabularocabularocabularocabularocabulary in the classry in the classry in the classry in the classry in the classroomoomoomoomoom

At what time in discussing a passage with the
class should we start teaching individual
vocabulary items? How should we choose items
to teach? What are the main methods we should
use to teach them? Besides the bad symptoms,
the principles and the basic elements of
vocabulary learning and teaching, as teachers we
are supposed to plan our work in terms of
answering those questions. Eliciting the
meanings of unknown words is a time consuming
process, and also, not all words can be guessed
from context; consequently, as teachers, we will
have to choose carefully those words we think
can lead the students to an understanding, and
we will also have to decide how we are going to
lead the students to that kind of understanding.
We will also have to be careful about the kind of
habits we may promote in our students. If not,
we will encourage the tendency to concentrate
on individual words rather than overall meanings.
This has to do with the role of the teacher as the
main supplier and organiser of English language
input. As noted by Cameron (1994), we need to



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be aware of what is known about learning and
the organisation of ideas in order to best present
our learners with new language and enable them
to learn it.

Another common situation is that perhaps
many teachers give up too easily and give the
meanings to students. Probably more time
ought to be spent on getting students to make
‘educated guesses’ at word meanings. And this
is something that needs to be practised at all
stages of the class, but not with the easiest
alternative of translation. That is because the
result of this overuse leads to another problem:
the target language can be very little emphasised
in the foreign language lessons. The solution,
we know, is not the other extreme. On the
whole, however, translation of vocabulary into
the mother tongue should be kept under
control, and it should not interfere with the
extra-exposure to the target  language that
explanations might bring. As can be seen, the
teachers have to weigh up  the situation, i.e.
what the purpose of the lesson is and how long
it will take to elicit the vocabulary.

4.1. V4.1. V4.1. V4.1. V4.1. Vocabularocabularocabularocabularocabular y techniques used iny techniques used iny techniques used iny techniques used iny techniques used in
classroom interactionclassroom interactionclassroom interactionclassroom interactionclassroom interaction

The main element one should analyse when
using techniques is that they should be
concerned with productive vocabulary and the
development of the learners’ ability to use the
context to infer meanings. Among the
techniques we can list are the ones explained
by Morgan and Rinvolucri (1986) and Wallace
(1984): pre-text activities, presentation of new
words, dictionary exercises, revision exercises,
word sets, working with texts, vocabulary in
context and idioms and multi-word verbs.

As there are detailed descriptions and
exemplifications of those techniques in TESOL

(Teaching English as a Second Language) and
TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language)
books, we can now concentrate our attention
on two fields that have not been promoted
enough: vocabulary in context and idioms.

4.1.1. The teaching of vocabular4.1.1. The teaching of vocabular4.1.1. The teaching of vocabular4.1.1. The teaching of vocabular4.1.1. The teaching of vocabulary iny iny iny iny in
contextcontextcontextcontextcontext

Taking the principles of teaching vocabulary
into account, it is necessary to consider various
ways in which contexts can be exploited for
vocabulary teaching purposes. Among the
suggestions Wallace (1984) describes, we can
draw attention towards the following ones:

• Inferring or guessing. The teacher looks
for words the students might not know, but
which are fully supported by the context, so that
their meaning might be inferred or guessed.

• Listing words which are related in meaning.
• Allowing students to develop knowledge

of word-meaning and also of related forms, by
giving them ample information to infer the
meaning and also to use the word productively.

• Inferring meanings by analysing their
internal structure.

• Directing the learners’ attention to the
markers. By this means, students can identify
the structure of a context and how statements
relate to each other.

• Finding out which students know (or think
they know) the meaning, then helping the others
guess it, and finally, checking with the other
group.

• Providing students with the meaning and
then asking them to find the word or phrase.
This is a useful technique, especially in the sense
that it cuts out the problem of students having
to produce the explanation.

• Attempting to make some sort of ‘meaning
bridge’ between the target word and its mother
language translation (this could be done by



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means of drawings, posters, and picture
dictionaries).

It happens very often that vocabulary is
taught in context, but is not stored and
memorised in context. Therefore, as with any
passage for comprehension, the first task would
be to ensure that students have an overall
understanding of the main information in the
passage. Only when it exists, should the student
be asked to infer the meaning of individual words.
Furthermore, a lot of vocabulary work will be
done incidentally as it arises naturally out of the
discussion of the meaning of the passage.

4.1.2. Learning and teaching idioms

Learning idioms has always been very difficult
for second/foreign language learners. A
common problem we have to face when
planning and developing programmes is that
idioms can be regional, short-lived and confined
to a particular group. In this part we mention
some reasons why idioms are difficult to learn,
including the fact that most materials for
teaching idioms are inadequate. To help
teachers prepare materials for teaching them,
criteria are suggested for deciding which idioms
to teach. All of these will help students
understand and produce idiomatic English.

The learning of idioms must be considered
an integral part of vocabulary learning. But, as
highlighted by Irujo (1986), some difficulties
are involved in such process:

• Non-literalness: Idioms are not literal; they
do not mean what the individual words mean.

• Exposure to idioms: Idioms are usually
omitted in the speech addressed to second-
language learners. But learners’ first exposure
to idioms occurs mainly in non-interactive
situations – such as TV and movies -, where

there is no opportunity for negotiation of
meaning, rather than in interactive situations
which allow learners to seek meaning
clarification and receive feedback on use.

• Correct use: Even when learners do master
the meanings of some English idioms, it is still
very difficult to learn to use them correctly.
Idioms vary in formality from slang (‘You got
it’) and colloquialisms (‘He kicked the bucket’)
to those which can be used in formal situations
(‘Run the risk’). In addition to situational
appropriateness, many idioms have grammatical
constraints. On the other hand, if learners try
to rely on their mother tongue to help them
use idioms in the second language, they will be
successful in only a very few instances. In most
cases, this strategy will produce an incorrect
and often comical form of use.

· Teaching materials: Many second-
language teaching materials ignore idioms or
relegate them to the ‘other expressions’ section
of vocabulary lists without providing exercises
or other aids to learning. Materials designed
specifically to teach idioms do provide exercises
to help learners master them, but many of them
are inadequate: exercises which involve
understanding usually require comprehension
only and do not ask students to produce idioms.
These include matching the idiom with its
definition or substituting one for the other;
multiple choice exercises where the correct
definition or paraphrase is chosen, and
completion exercises where the correct idiom
is chosen from a list and inserted into a
sentence. In some cases, exercises requiring
production of idioms are included only in review
lessons which occur no more than two or three
times in the book. Thus, one of the difficulties
in learning English idioms is the lack of suitable
materials for teaching them.

As the teacher has to decide which idioms
to teach, there are some criteria that can be



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considered when doing so: First, frequency of
use –– even when no frequency lists of English
idioms exist. Secondly, appropriateness ––
colloquial use or slang should be avoided.
Thirdly, simplicity of form and vocabulary.
Fourthly, similarity to first-language idioms (this
is useful only if the members of the class share
the same first language and the teacher knows

it). And fifthly, student-generated idioms lists.
One way to avoid having them is to teach those
idioms students encounter and want to learn
i.e. through pop music. Below I present a
sample in which the student integrates idioms
in a composition about music after having been
exposed to a song.

Extract taken from the composition “Bon Jovi”

by Luis Guillermo Forero C. (16 years old). Used with permission.



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The aspects mentioned above lead us to a
common assertion: we need to integrate idioms
into the English language programme. Learning
idioms is, or should be, an integral part of
vocabulary learning in a second language and
they should be included even at beginning levels.

ConclusionConclusionConclusionConclusionConclusion

What has been said about how vocabulary
is acquired should be encouraging since it
shows us that learners can be their own best
teachers if and when they are exposed to the
target language in an appropriate way. It is
unfortunate that most learners of a second/
foreign language are not exposed to it in
situations outside the classroom as native
speakers are. They can, however, be exposed to
the target language in appropriate forms: access
to books and magazines which are within their
vocabular y range, a class librar y,
encouragement to continue reading at home,
a record of what each student is reading, and
activities demanding the use of vocabulary
learnt before, are some of the alternatives one
can easily propose.

For learning to be effective, attention must
be paid to the students’ own process of learning;
and for adequate, motivated learning to take
place, we have to go beyond the descriptive
frame of lexicography and semantics: the
‘dictionary meaning’ is only a first step.

What has been featured does not mean that
there should always, or even most times, be a
separate section of the lesson plan for
vocabulary practice. This is sometimes done
because many textbooks have lists which tempt
the teachers to do it that way. In general, the
teacher should prepare in advance lists of words
or phrases to be explained –– if possible by the
students as they arise naturally from the text or
the situation. Additionally, it should be stressed
that it is safer for us teachers to devise our own
vocabulary questions, techniques and activities
since it is very likely that they respond better
to our learners’ characteristics.

ReferencesReferencesReferencesReferencesReferences

Cameron, L. (1994). “Organising the world:
children’s concepts and categories, and
implications for the teaching of English”. ELT
Journal. 48/1: 28-39.

Irujo, S. (1986). “A piece of cake: learning
and teaching idioms”. ELT Journal. 43/4:
288-93.

Morgan, J. and Rinvolucri, M. (1986).
Vocabulary. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Wallace, M. (1984). Teaching Vocabulary.
London: Heinemann.