3399 METHODS OF LEARNING VOCABULARY Đỗ Hải Vi Khoa Tiếng Anh, Trường Đại học Công nghệ TP Hồ Chí Minh GVHD ThS Nguyễn Phương Thảo ABSTRACT Vocabulary is one of the foundations in learning languages W. METHODS OF LEARNING VOCABULARY METHODS OF LEARNING VOCABULARY
METHODS OF LEARNING VOCABULARY Đỗ Hải Vi* Khoa Tiếng Anh, Trường Đại học Cơng nghệ TP Hồ Chí Minh GVHD: ThS Nguyễn Phương Thảo ABSTRACT Vocabulary is one of the foundations in learning languages Without a good knowledge of words, learners cannot practice their listening, reading, speaking and writing effectively It is, therefore, essential for learners to know how to study vocabulary appropriately This paper aims to provide a discussion on different approaches to learning vocabulary It is hoped that students would be better equipped with methods of mastering vocabulary learning Keywords: vocabulary learning, methods INTRODUCTION The famous linguist Wilkins (1972, pp 111-112) once said, “Without grammar, very little can be conveyed; without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed In addition, “world-renowned linguists like Dave Willis and typical Michael Lewis have determined that language does not only have traditional grammar, but more importantly it is a combination of natural phrases, idioms, fixed phrases and semi-fixed phrases will make up an important part of a language, and they make it possible for learners to listen, speak, read and write more fluently That is written by Lewis (1993) in his book "The lexical approach" Indeed, vocabulary is the starting point and also the core of success in learning a new language However, the way each learner will determine different outcomes In addition, with the immense amount of vocabulary in each language, it makes learners shocked when they don't know where to start Moreover, the biggest barrier is deciding to study but remember only for a short time and then forget This easily leads to giving up On the contrary, it is difficult but does not mean that it cannot be done even if we can turn the seemingly impossible into possible and make it interesting and passionate for learners The good news is that a good memory can be done by anyone According to Duc (2015), the human brain is like a computer's hard drive and it takes 300 years of television broadcasting to record continuously on the hard drive for the human brain to be full Thus, a human with an average life expectancy of 100 years, we can never use our full capacity to remember Remember, we should not save our memory If we use it more and more, it will become more and more sensitive, only we should persevere and never give up and only when we understand the meaning of the vocabulary will we be able to study the remaining language elements In short, with the importance of learning English vocabulary and the current trend of globalization and integration when English becomes a global language, it is essential to promote English vocabulary learning 3399 SOME COMMON PROBLEMS ABOUT VOCABULARY LEARNING In learning a foreign language, vocabulary plays an important role It is strongly linked to four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing Therefore, to communicate fluently with foreigners, students should constantly learn new vocabulary every day to know how to use them properly Nevertheless, there are some common issues with vocabulary learning that students might encounter (Susanto, 2021) First, students know that learning vocabulary is important but they still get bored and easily give up on the path to conquering English because they consider the teacher's explanation for meaning or definition, pronunciation, spelling and grammatical functions boring Therefore, they are not interested in all the other functions of the word, which can affect all English learning skills entirely In addition, students cannot learn vocabulary because they are afraid to change their English learning habits, such as memorizing it, writing long lists of words in a notebook and trying to remember it but a few days later they forget or they believe their English teacher is always right so they learn very passively To help students to overcome their obsession and boredom when learning English as well as help them find English is a very interesting thing and a strong motivation when learning vocabulary; likewise, the question the researcher began to examine is, "How to remember English vocabulary effectively and permanently? DISCUSSION 3.1 Learning vocabulary by phrases Vu and Peters (2021) suggest that learners should apply the method of learning vocabulary by phrases and putting them into context - a new method of learning vocabulary of the Jews, helping them remember faster, longer Duc (2015) the founder of Smartcom – a language center in Vietnam once explained that each English vocabulary can have different meanings when they go in different contexts The words put together will form a phrase and it is called the meaning When the speaker expresses a meaning, the listener can understand If the speaker only says a single word, the listener will have to guess what it means through the context of communication Therefore, only when learners remember the whole phrase, their communication in English becomes effective According to the English learning application eJOY ENGLISH (2019)- one of the effective online English learning applications voted by PPSVIETNAM English Center – it suggests that knowing the meaning of a word and knowing how to use it in practice are two completely different things For example, if an English learner asks a native, "Is your health good?” As a greeting, chances are high that he might still understand what it means but will definitely feel confused Grammatically, the above question is absolutely correct, but the native will find it confusing because they simply never greet others like that On the other hand, if the learner asks "How are you" or "How are you doing?" the native will understand immediately, even if his/her pronunciation may not be very accurate 3.2 Learning vocabulary by using images and sound 3400 In fact, many people often learn vocabulary by writing words and meanings on paper many times to remember However, this method can work immediately but in the long run, if the learner does not use it, they will surely forget the word On the contrary, using impressive images, sounds or stories can make our brains remember forever This method of learning is also very simple, when the learner learns a new word, try to think of the idea themselves and illustrate it with a funny picture, when learning a vocabulary group by topic, try to arrange them and put them into a paragraph then tell an interesting story In this way, it is guaranteed to help them remember new words for a long time The method of learning vocabulary with sound and images has been scientifically proven extremely effective, and has been applied by many prestigious training centers for students (Brown, 1994; Lee, 1979) According to Duc (2015, p 69), “Sound is the first and the basic tool for communicating language For thousands of years people passed from generation to generation by speaking and listening No matter if the learner reads the words in any language silently, the sound that is heard rather than the written word will pop into their mind That's why the learner needs to learn the language by ear and by mouth It means they have to listen and speak after that There is a common saying for language learners: when you not open your mouth, you can't learn a foreign language (Duc, 2015) 3.3 Learning vocabulary through games According to Giang (2015) and Rixon (1981), learning vocabulary through games brings positivity to both teachers and students Firstly, helping teachers have vivid lessons and dispel the boredom of the class Through classroom games, teachers can diversify teaching methods and be more effective In addition, learning more about what students care about creates an intimate atmosphere with them The games require students to collaborate while playing (role-play), discussing, and using the language in a variety of situations depending on the type of game held In the classroom, this clearly promotes the opportunity for communication between students, which is the purpose of the foreign language teaching process, while promoting cooperation and competition between them 3.4 Learning vocabulary with a strong motivation In order to stimulate our brain to have emotions when learning English vocabulary, it is found that associating the vocabulary with the learner’s lives or speaking it out loud and imagining themselves to speak as emotionally as the word suggests will help the learner remember the word in the long run (Tanaka, 2017) This way of learning will help the learner to have acumen in communication and their brain will have a lot of positive energy that will go deep into their long-term memory In addition, it makes them feel interested to help them persevere in their studies Learn not only with the brain, but also with the emotional heart This way of learning is entirely up to the learner because the emotions are theirs CONCLUSION 3401 This article is about the importance of vocabulary in learning foreign languages, especially English If the learner lacks vocabulary knowledge, it will be a big obstacle for learning foreign languages This paper has summarized some common methods, which were collected from previous studies in this field It has been proven to be effective and feasible to be widely applied to a wide range of subjects In addition, to be good at something is not an easy task, we should really put our efforts to learn it and try for it and always be determined not to give up, we will succeed In learning vocabulary, too, all things are difficult before they are easy REFERENCES Brown, H D (1994) Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy Englewood Cliff, NJ: Prentice Hall Duc, A, N (2015) Luyện siêu trí nhớ từ vựng Hanoi National University Press Ejoy Learning Company (2019, March 6) Đừng học từ vựng tiếng Anh đơn lẻ! 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