Express the following messages in the given situations using any strategy of communicating the meaning (words, phrases, exclamations, gestures etc)
Teaching Vocabulary
The aim of this unit
· To take a view on the “vocabulary-in-mind” phenomenon
· To make you think about the process of vocabulary learning
· To reflect upon the activities for teaching vocabulary
What do you have to do in this unit?
· Warming-up discussion
· Input reading
· Exploratory tasks
· Self-assessment questions (SAQ)
· Observation tasks
· Micro-teaching task
· Integrated task
Input reading 1
Warming up discussion 1.1
Mark the following statements as “true” T “false” F or “debatable” D. You will get input reading on these and other issues later in this module.
| Statements | T F D |
| 1. Vocabulary is more important in communication than grammar | |
| 2. Vocabulary is stored in our memory as separate units | |
| 3. Vocabulary is stored in our memory as collocations | |
| 4. Vocabulary is stored in our memory as networks | |
| 5. Recalling a word always means activating many words in memory | |
| 6. One word of the same language means the same for different people | |
| 7. Any meaning can be expressed by a word in any language |
Mental lexicon
Mental lexicon is “vocabulary in mind". It consists of the smallest independent meaningful units of speech.These units of speech are called words. The words have word-forms and meanings assigned to them. Words in mental lexicon create lexical networks. Once activated a lexical item stimulates other associated lexical items and this causes activation of a bigger network. To access mental lexicon an idea has to be mapped onto meaning and form that are stored in our memory (Aitchison, J. 1994. Words in the Mind. Blackwell. Garman, M. 1990. Psycholinguistics. CUP).
Exploratory task 1.1
Explore your own mental lexicon associated with the word “money”. Share the results in the group.
 | |||||
 |  |
Money
 | |||||
 |  | ||||
Mental lexicon performs the functions of word storage, retrieval, comprehension and use(After Carter, R., and M.McCarthy. 1988. Vocabulary and Language Teaching. Longman). Storage of words in mental lexicon is the result of a person’s cognitive processes in real world situations. As a result of cognitive processes, the words form up the situation sets (associated with a particular situation, objects, phenomena or processes), semantic sets (associated with a concept) and collocation sets (associated with other words by habitual everyday use).
SAQ 1.1
Match the following vocabulary units with the types of “vocabulary sets”
| Vocabulary units | Vocabulary sets |
| 1. Custom-built car | A. Situation set B. Semantic set C. Collocation set |
| 2. Rust-proof paint | |
| 3. Far-reaching consequences | |
| 4. Drought-affected regions | |
| 5. The worst-flood ever | |
| 6. Wintry showers | |
| 7. Beggarly pay |
Retrieval of words from memory is done through the activation of mental lexicon. Activation is caused by attempts to map an idea onto the words in memory. Sometimes meaning can’t be mapped onto the words and this causes the "tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon" when the meaning needs to be expressed but the form can't be retrieved from memory.
Exploratory task 1.2
Retrieve the following words from your memory (all the words are quite common) by meaning and by form. Reflect on the procedure. What helps you retrieve words, meaning or form associations?
| Retrieval by meaning | Retrieval by form | Give a word! |
| A. Hand tool for striking | …m…er | |
| B. For nourishment | …oo… | |
| C. In the entranceway | …or | |
| D. Inferior income | …oo… | |
| E. Liquid food | …ou… | |
| F. To eat on | …bl… | |
| G. Expensive with wheels | …ar… |
Word comprehensioncan run into a problem because of the vague lexical meaning, allusions and references, symbolic, metaphorical and idiomatic use of words. One of the means to overcome lexical ambiguity is getting the cues from the context, background knowledge, social culture and the situation setting.
Exploratory task 1.3
Interpret the meaning of the following vocabulary items and comment on the clues that helped you do the task
| Vocabulary items | Interpretation of meaning |
| 1. Lobby at the entrance to Parliament | |
| 2. Parliamentary lobby | |
| 3. Full board | |
| 4. On board | |
| 5. Take-off time | |
| 6. Take-off weight | |
| 7. Take-off price |
Word use can be hampered by the absence of the necessary word in processing memory or in the mental storage. In this case language users resort to lexical strategies such as circumlocution (putting the idea in a different way), word coinage (creating a non-existent word) and derivation (forming a word from the one that is known to the language user). Another strategy is using the gestures and mimic.
Exploratory task 1.4
Express the following messages in the given situations using any strategy of communicating the meaning (words, phrases, exclamations, gestures etc)
| Situation | Expression |
| 1. You are astounded by what you have heard! | |
| 2. You feel deeply insulted and have never been treated like that, never! | |
| 3. You’ve just heard the funniest joke but a little improper… | |
| 4. You’ve met a person whom you really do not want to see at all … | |
| 5. You’ve got a very expensive present that looks more like a bribe … |
The use of words in both speech production and comprehension is the result of the cognitive processes.It starts with the perception of the situation that makes it necessary to look for a word in the “master-file”(the main storage of words). A process of cognition produces the meaning, that a person is willing to communicate in the circumstances. It is necessary to consider the “word pragmatics”, i.e. to see that word does not elicit an unwanted reaction from other participants in the communication. Using a word means recognising certain grammar obligations. Finally, the word is accessed in memory and is produced either in the graphical or oral form (After Garman, M. 1990. P. 249, 272)
Exploratory task 1.5
Analyse the situations, clarify the meaning to be expressed, indicate the words that can produce an unwanted effect and should be excluded and name the word that fits the situation best.
| Situation | Meaning | Pragmatics | The word! |
| 1. A person has taken offence for no reason | |||
| 2. A woman has crossed the road right in front of your car | |||
| 3. A teenager is obsessed with computers | |||
| 4. You have been given a nice present | |||
| 5. A big Teddy Bear toy is so nice to hug |