THE IMPORTANCE OF TEACHING VOCABULARY. To know a language means to master its structure and words. Thus, vocabulary is one of the aspects of the language to be taught at school. The problem is what words and idioms pupils should retain. It is evident that the number of words should be limited because pupils have only 2-4 periods a week the size of the group is not small enough to provide each pupil with practice in speaking schools are not fully equipped with special laboratories for individual language learning.
The number of words pupil should acquire in school depends wholly on the syllabus requirement. The latter are determined by the conditions and methods used. For example, experiments have proved that the use of programmed instructions for vocabulary learning allows us to increase the number of words to be learned since pupils are able to assimilate them while working independently with the program.
The vocabulary, therefore, must be carefully selected in accordance with the principle of selecting linguistic material, the conditions of teaching and learning a foreign language in school. Scientific principles of selecting vocabulary have been worked out. The words selected should be 1. frequently used in the language 2. easily combined nice room, nice girl, nice weather 3. unlimited from the point of view of style oral, written 4. included in the topics the syllabus sets 5. valuable from the point of view of word-building use, used, useful, useless, usefully, user, usage.
The first principle, word frequency, is an example of purely linguistic approach to word selection. It is claimed to be the soundest criterion because it is completely objective. It is derived by counting the number of occurrences of words appearing in representative printed material comprising novels, essays, plays, newspapers, textbooks and magazines. Modern tendency is to apply this principles depending on the language activities to be developed.
For developing reading skills pupils need reading vocabulary, thus various printed texts are analyzed from the point of view of word frequency. For developing speaking skills pupils need speaking vocabulary. In this case the material for analysis is the spoken language recorded. The occurrences of words are counted in it and the words more frequently used in speaking are selected. The other principles are of didactic value, they serve teaching aims. The words selected may be grouped under the following two classes M. West 1. Words that we talk with or form structural words which make up the form structure of the language. 2. Words that we talk about or content words. In teaching vocabulary for practical needs both structural words and content words are of great importance.
That is why they are included in the vocabulary minimum. The number of words and phraseological units the syllabus sets for a pupil to assimilate is 800 words.
The selection of the vocabulary although important is not the teacher s chief concern. It is only the what of teaching and is usually prescribed for him by textbooks and study - guides he uses. The teacher s concern is how to get his pupils to assimilate the vocabulary prescribed. This is a difficult problem and it is still in the process of being solved. The teacher should bear in mind that a word is considered to be learned when 1. it is spontaneously recognized while auding and reading 2. it is correctly used in speech, the right word in the right place.