В данной статье речь идет об использовании коммуникативных технологий при развитии мотивации студентов к чтению. Так как чтение играет очень важную роль при изучении иностранного языка наряду с изучением устной речи. Статья также представляет определить практическую полезность, так как автор предлагает ряд практических рекомендаций по развитии мотивации студентов при изучении словарного состава языка.
It has long been known that vocabulary is a central component of a language and all language learners are aware of the fact that limitations in their vocabulary knowledge affect their communication skills. Communication breaks down when people do not know and do not use the right words and it stops when people lack the necessary words.
Language teachers’ main concern, therefore, is to ensure that what is taught will be permanently retained in long term memory. In fact, retrieving vocabulary is an effective way of learning. In other words, for acquisition to take place, language learners must work with a word or phrase many times. Despite the abundant number of methods and techniques proposed to help learners learn the new vocabulary items at instruction phase, less attention is paid to techniques which may help the retention of those items. Learners are usually left with a large number of items they are expected to recall after the initial instruction on definition and use of the words, most of which fade away by the passage of time. Although research has been carried out on vocabulary teaching methods for language learners, research pertaining to providing opportunities to use new vocabulary in authentic contexts is limited. Thus, to contribute to the thriving body of research in this field, this study sought to investigate activities which can help encourage the above mentioned processes to occur and which can facilitate learning vocabulary. It aimed to examine the effect of narrative writing, games, role-play and other speaking activities on the vocabulary learning of elementary EFL students in order to find out which activity would be of more help in the vocabulary learning process.
This implies that different teaching approaches may be appropriate at different atges of acquisition of an item. As H. G. Widdowson has demonstrated, at the beginning, an explicit approach which focuses directly on establishing the form-meaning link can be most effective, while later, the exposure approach can be most beneficial in enhancing contextual knowledge. H. G. Widdowson wrote: “The traditional approach to teaching-the transmission model-promotes neither the interaction between prior and new knowledge nor the conversations that are necessary for internalization and deep understanding. The information if acquired at all, is usually not well integrated with other knowledge held by the students”.
The importance of writing good quality narrative has long been recognized in the field of education. Previous studies have assessed effects of writing target words in sentences or compositions. Several studies have drawn the conclusion that using new words to write a composition results in better word learning compared to reading a text for comprehension, regardless of whether new words are glossed or looked up. Ye.I.Passov found that learners writing compositions remembered a set of target words better than those who saw the words in a reading comprehension task, and learners who supplied missing target words in gaps in the reading text remembered more of those words than learners who read marginal glosses. In both comparisons, the “better kearning” case had higher involvement according to Ye.I.Passov’s scheme.
Needless to say, a problem in many ESL/EFL classes is how to provide opportunities for learners to engage in meaningful conversation practice. Conversational activities are often difficult to arrange in large classes and there may be no obvious motivation for learners to speak to each other in English. According to G.Makhkamova role plays are regarded as simulating more authentic situations J.Jalolov states, “Role-play exercises are essentially a means of bringing a broad range of experience into a narrow classroom learning situation, through stimulation of the learner’s imagination and his interaction with other learners”.
W. R. Lee concluded that role plays are effective means of teaching, not better than other instructional methods on learning the subject though. However, they are more effective as aids to retaining the learned material and in instilling a positive attitude about the subject matter. The outcome of the research conducted by W. R. Lee on the effect of role-play in language teaching shows there are four crucial factors for its success: “the topic chosen should be real and relevant; the teacher needs to ‘feed-in’ the appropriate language; correct errors in a proper way; part of a teacher’s role is being a facilitator, a spectator or a participant”(p. 140).
A factor in students’ willingness to allocate their time and effort is their interest and motivation. Word games are obviously helpful because they can make the student feel that certain words are important and necessary because without those words the object of game cannot be achieved. By bringing gun to language classrooms, games help create a relaxed atmosphere, which plays a role in students’ remembering things faster and better. H. G. Widdowson holds that most language games make learners use the language instead of thinking about learning the correct forms.
S. Brumfit, K. Johnson have claimed that individuals wish for an optimal level of challenge. For them, we are challenged by activities that are neither too easy nor too difficult to perform. The optimal level can be obtained when there are clearly specified goals. W. R. Lee and G.Makhkamova suggest that factors such as difficulty levels, multiple goals, and a certain amount of informational ambiguity are required by games.
Ye.I.Passov identified one means of increasing student motivation to actively participate in word study activities as disguising instruction as play by using word games. In their study, Charlton et al. noted that word games provide repeated exposure to the target vocabulary words in an intrinsically and extrinsically motivating context which facilitate learning. Word games can provide a reason and a context for students to learn and actively use the target vocabulary. Further support comes from J.Jalolov who maintained that vocabulary games can be designed to supplement teacher directed instruction and support student comprehension and mastery of important content.
Current emphasis on oral acquisition in 1, 2 research highlights the importance of learner interaction and negotiation. H. G. Widdowson (2009) suggest asking a discussion question to promote student involvement, followed by a brief overview of any material. In his study on vocabulary learning and speaking activities. W. R. Lee (2001) found that when learners discussed the meanings of words from the worksheet with each other, the majority of words discussed resulted in useful and accurate information about the words. In a different study on S. Brumfit, K.Johnson (1997) sought to examine the effect of speaking tasks on vocabulary learning in group work. Over a period of three months every member of the class was audio-recorded and they all had to speak English. Each session all groups discussed the same topic. However, the group discussion included taking meaning from a written textbook, and it was not restricted to oral discussion. Setting time constraint as one of the rules, members were to take turns to speak, and therefore, opportunity was provided for all the members of the group to contribute. through the examination of journal entries and interviews. The data from the transcription showed that when the students encountered new words, they usually asked others. Some students recalled their experience of learning vocabulary in the group work.
However, most language teachers or even material designers have doubts about using the right activity. The focus of the research in the area of vocabulary learning should be not only on the instruction phase, but also on the activities following the instruction to help the retention of the new material. However, as it has already been stated the type of the activity, the way it is applied, and the people who are subject to such activities are of great importance in this area. Although a large body of work has investigated the role of different activities, namely writing tasks, and games in the retention of newly-learned vocabulary items in ESL/EFL classrooms, there is a dearth of research assessing the effectiveness of speaking tasks, and role-plays in this regard or even one activity’s superiority over the other, a gap which this study intends to bridge.
Practical recommandations
Learning vocabulary
‒ At the beginning of the year, include some information about the importance of English as a world language, either as a listening or a reading activity. Encourage students to brainstorm reasons for learning English and the advantages of being able to speak another language.
‒ To keep more advanced students challenged, prepare an activity resource notebook to keep in the classroom. Students who finish activities quickly can work on the supplementary activities while qaiting for the rest of the class to finish.
‒ To ensure that students speak up loudly in class when answering questions or making comments, the teacher should move away from the student who is speaking, rather than coming closer to hear him or her better. In this way everyone should be able to hear and remain involved.
References:
- “Чет тилларни ўрганиш тизимини янада такомиллаштириш чора-тадбирлари тўғрисида”. Тошкент ш., 2012 йил 10 декабрь, ПҚ-1875-сон
- Jalolov J. Methods of teaching English. T. 2010.
- Common European Framework of reference
- Blumfit S. Johnson K. The communicative approach to language Teaching. –Oxford, 1997, -234 p.
- Lee W. R. Language Teaching games and contexts. –Oxford. 2001. -203 p.
- Widdowson H. G. Teaching language as communication. –Oxford. 2009. 273 p.
- Passov Ye.I. Communicative approach to teaching, reading. M. 2004. -205 p.
- Makhkamova G. B. Culture matters. T. 2010.
