Vocabulary Development: Teaching vs. Testing by Allen Pace Nilsen and Don L. F. Nilsen

Article                         : Vocabulary Development: Teaching vs. Testing

Writer                          : Allen Pace Nilsen and Don L. F. Nilsen

Journal                         : The English Journal

Date Published            : 08/11/2008

This article talks over about the differences between good teaching vocabulary and teaching vocabulary for testing. On testing vocabulary, it focuses on obscure words tested in random or alphabetical order. Consequently, teachers whose aim to teach vocabulary for testing will transfer to their classroom the same techniques that they see test makers using. They will ask students to sit alone and copy out a single definition from a dictionary. However, this technique isn’t a very effective way to learn new words. Instead it can actually damage students learning because they will have few semantic, phonological or orthographical relationships. In contrast, on a good teaching vocabulary, teachers will help students develop inquiring minds and the skills needed to unravel new words by teaching words that fit into gestalts. This technique considers that human mind has to make connections in order to remember things and every language is always changing. Therefore, it will be better if teachers teach students new words from old words. Students then will make connections between them. They will know both their similarities and differences and begin to think about the sources of metaphors. In other words, they will have many semantic, phonological, or orthographical relationships. This article concludes by recommending teachers teach vocabulary by this technique.

The author in this article supports Gestal theory of learning and constructivist perspective that learning is relating something with another.

I agree with some of this concept. I agree that learning vocabulary by memorizing and looking the meaning of individual words isn’t effective. However, I don’t agree with learning vocabulary from old one to the new one. I think it is more like teaching students to be linguists who analyze words. It’ll be useful just for university students but not for another, it’ll indeed add students work on learning vocabulary. I think it will be better if the aims of teaching vocabulary are just to know the meaning and to use it in appropriate context. So, I prefer to learn language in meaningful context.

I often learn vocabulary by looking up its meaning in a dictionary. It is true that this technique isn’t effective. I need long time to know the meaning of the word unconsciously. Moreover, I must frequently meet the word before it stays on my mind.