Have you ever taught a class of ESL / EFL students who worship their dictionaries? Or had one of those days when the beep of an electronic dictionary steals the attention in class for that crucial moment in the classroom? A further complication is that some of these dictionaries and other sound effects ringtones necessary to amplify the distractions.
From the point of view of students
Electronic Dictionary
In countries like China and Japan, where electronic dictionaries are becoming increasinglypopular among EFL students, a teacher realizes soon that the intermediate level English students head quickly for their dictionaries every time I meet a new vocabulary. This is understandable, because in the middle phase of ESL / EFL learning, in particular, students are increasingly concerned about the development of vocabulary.
With the advent of highly portable electronic dictionaries for the inconvenience of carrying cumbersome dictionaries Paperback is almost non-existent, teachers areSee more of electronic dictionaries in the classroom. Today it is not uncommon that mobile phones are installed with electronic dictionaries inside. Most of these dictionaries are also equipped with stereo speakers and headphones. While this new technology is brilliant, but it can also be very harmful to student learning, especially during the lessons.
In addition, a majority of ESL / EFL students dictionaries, only words of English native speakers and vice versa. TheirOften I think it's the fastest way to learn new words.
Students do not realize that learning new vocabulary slowed down by the actual translation of the learning process. Of course translation is always a simple solution, but also the methods of grammar and translation of learning ESL / EFL are not the fastest way to master the new language inputs. Hence the tendency "to ..."," uh ..." and forget the new words learned by such means do not leave.
From the perspective of a teacher
For a teacherin class, this can be frustrating. In most cases, try to get students out of their dictionaries, the teacher even more frustrated, because they soon return to the dictionary the next time you hear a new word. This could dampen the confidence of a teacher, because it may suggest that students attach more importance to their dictionaries, as the teacher. It may also mean that students must declare no confidence in their teachers the opportunity to create new words. From anotherPerspective, this could be a pointer to the fact that teachers teach the students vocabulary skills needs.
Dictionaries generally should be the last point of reference for new words and expressions. We must always remember that 70-80% of all non-verbal language can be communicated. Discover, which is located in a more effective learning and teaching of language. Should be looking for the meaning of a new word and a very shortless frequent activities. Teachers should try to explain to the students new vocabulary in their own words, after declaring the new word for them.
Teaching pupils of other non-dictionary ways of learning the vocabulary would be of great help. But what are some non-dictionary ways of learning a new vocabulary? To begin to answer this question we analyze the advantages and disadvantages of dictionaries in ESL / EFL learning.
The importance of dictionaries in ESL / EFLLearn
Dictionaries are an important tool for language learning. They are so useful because it can be counterproductive. Dictionaries to be useful, students need to understand the role of dictionaries in the English vocabulary. So I think now you have asked the question: "When and how can we use dictionaries for vocabulary?"
The following items listed below are just some of the common reasons why we should use dictionaries:
In some cases, or ESL / EFL teaching, the wordscould be specific to a certain profession. Sometimes looking up professional jargons is unavoidable.
o There are situations where the vocabulary of a lesson can be new to students, even in their own native language.
o Sometimes we are unsure of the spelling of some words. Of course dictionaries are very useful at such times.
o Idiomatic expressions and phrasal verbs can sometimes be too difficult to guess, thereby necessitating the use of dictionaries.
o Some classroom activities and the teaching of certain skills are planned around a dictionary.
o A dictionary can be a student's study companion at home or away when the teacher is not around. Even then, the issue of when to use it is also very important.
There are many ways of understanding the meanings of new words and expressions without using the dictionary. Despite the importance of dictionaries in ESL/EFL learning, they should be used as the last resort especially in the classrooms. So what is the problem with using a dictionary often?
What's the problem with dictionaries?
o Dictionaries stop students thinking in context:
Most often students want to isolate a new word and look it up, while forgetting to realize that words do not exist in isolation. Take a look at this sentence for example:
"Without the invention of microscopes, we would not have been able to carry out studies on tiny organisms."
The word Microscope might be the new word here, but the words tiny organisms easily give a clue to the meaning of microscope and vice-versa. The tendency is for students to forget that the word microscope is easily understood within the context of that sentence. Whereas, a little bit of thinking in context would have done the trick.
o Dictionaries can be a great distraction:
This is especially true of electronic dictionaries and the classroom environment. Most students can't resist the temptation of looking up a new word every time they come across one. The tendency is to want to stop to look it up, even when the teacher is trying to explain. The end result is always having a student asking the teacher a question on something he/she was explaining a minute ago, or simply deviating from the focus of a lesson - in some occasions the word they were looking up only turns out to be an unimportant word to the subject.
To make matters worse, electronic dictionaries with their beeping sounds and slightly distorted audio recordings can further increase a teacher's frustration during a lesson. Suddenly an electronic voice is reading out a word from the corner of the classroom and before you know it, a brainwave of distraction occurs in the student's minds causing them to miss out on what the teacher was explaining. Some teachers might even loose track of what they were saying especially when they hear these audio devices reading out English words in second-hand electronic voices. There is also grave concern here as to what type of electronic dictionaries are actually good for listening and pronunciation. When students prefer to listen carefully to an electronic dictionary, over the teacher, then serious questions arise.
o "Easy come, easy go":
Every time a new word or expression is learnt without much thinking effort, there is always a propensity to forget soon after. A majority of English learners who use their dictionary all the time always find themselves learning the meaning of a new English word but finding it difficult to remember it the next time they come across it.
Hence the saying: "Easy Come, Easy Go", becomes more evident here. On the other hand, when words are learnt with a bit more thinking effort, they are actually embossed in the student's memory.
Non-dictionary ways of learning new vocabulary
o Vocabulary building using prefixes and suffixes (affixes)
A lot of English words we use today come from other languages. There is a lot of material about the etymology of English words, on the internet. There are lots of Latin and Greek influences on most European languages like English, French and Spanish.
You would be surprised at how this basic awareness of the origin of the English language can be of great help to your students. Many English prefixes and suffixes are derived from Latin and Greek. A basic knowledge of commonly used affixes will help students learn English vocabulary much faster without the need to always look up words.
So what are prefixes and suffixes?
A prefix is a letter or group of letters added to the beginning of a word to make a new word: In the word '"UNHAPPY", 'UN-' is a prefix added to HAPPY. UN- is a Latin word for NOT.
A suffix on the other hand is a letter or group of letters added to the end of a word to make another word. The suffix NESS added to the end of the word TOGETHER creates another word TOGETHERNESS.
Prefixes and suffixes are generally known as affixes. Affixes create new words, usually by modifying or changing the meaning of a root word. If we take a root word like HAPPY, we can see how affixes can change the meaning as in this example: prefix = UN, root word = HAPPY and suffix = NESS.
The end result is UNHAPPINESS.
Sometimes raising awareness to this word formation aspect of English can be the light that dispels the darkness of dictionary worship.
Or, drawing similar examples from the student's native language further raises this awareness of word formation in languages as a whole. In Chinese for example, the prefix BU is added to many root words to create an often negative version of a root word. For example HAO in Chinese means GOOD. The opposite is simply formed by adding the prefix BU at the beginning of HAO: prefix=BU root word HAO and result is BUHAO which means BAD. Tons of word opposites are formed in Mandarin Chinese by simply adding this prefix to root words.
If a teacher can make similar references from a student's native language background, it provides a springboard for the understanding of word formation in English as well. Most often you would realize that the student had not even thought of this in terms of his or her own language.
Since English is a language that has thousands of words from other languages, a brief etymology of commonly used prefixes and suffixes would do much good.
For example the OCT prefix comes from the Latin OCTO which means EIGHT. If you look at most English words beginning with OCT, the meaning is never too far from eight. So ask yourself for example: What is an octopus, octogenarian, octagon, octave, and octet?
In a similar line, TELE- has its roots in Greek, which means far or distant. So what do words like telecommunication, television, telephone and telex have in common?
For worksheets to teach basic ESL prefixes & suffixes, refer to: http://www.esl-galaxy.com
Of course there are other methods of word formation in English such onomatopoeia, truncated words Read more at http://www.takeourword.com/theory.html & http://www.pearsoned.com.au/LinkedFiles/Free/0733917283/eo3lang.pdf .
o Trying to understand words in context through reading
Another way to improve vocabulary is to read more. When students read, they should put their dictionaries far away and try to understand the word from within the context of that text they are reading. To start understanding the text, an understanding of the subject of the text is a giant step. When students come across a new word or expression, they should not just look it up, but first try to figure out what that might mean within that context.
If they cannot understand the meaning after reading the sentence and paragraph of the new vocabulary, they should read the text to the end. Somewhere down the text, the meaning is usually clarified by other words. The dictionary should be the last point of reference when all else fails. Reading a lot is of course one of the best ways to increase vocabulary. Reading helps to define words in context and therefore provides a clear understanding of how to use the new vocabulary; whereas, the dictionary might not provide the context for understanding the new vocabulary.
Teachers should try reading activities in class. One great reading activity for your intermediate to advanced learners would be to bring four news articles on a similar topic to class- these articles should come from different sources. Brainstorm the topic of the articles. For example if your four articles were about earthquakes, ask your students to tell you what happens during and after an earthquake. As they discuss, write down key words on the board. Later, give them the four articles and ask them to do a content analysis of the key words. They should work in teams and count how many times a particular word or its affix modification occurs in one article. This skill teaches students to always associate words with a particular reading context. Take this further by asking students to summarize the articles in writing, using the key words.
o Word Association Exercises:
As earlier mentioned, words do not exist in isolation. They usually fall under a heading and have a specific role to play. Putting together words in the same group creates a systematic and often easy way of remembering vocabulary.
For example, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Sikhism, Hinduism = Religion. One way of doing word association is to brainstorm a topic. Usually the students would most often have heard something about the topic. If your lesson is about earthquakes for example, ask your students to give you as many words associated with earthquakes as possible. Further group the words into verbs, adjectives and nouns. This systematic approach to vocabulary learning helps arrange words in a systematic and easy-to-access order in the brain. If defragmentation of your computer's hard drive and memory chip is the computer way of optimizing speed, then word association is the brain's method of optimizing memory of words.
o Conclusion:
In an age where modern technology is invading every aspect of our lives, new rules have to be made to accommodate these changes. The advent of electronic dictionaries is one of such change that is taking place in our ESL/EFL learning. As ESL/EFL professionals, we are called upon to redefine the rules of dictionaries in ESL/EFL learning so as to make them constructive rather than destructive language learning tools.
The Advent of Electronic Dictionaries in ESL/EFL Learningelectronic dictionary
