What is the most effective way to teach vocabulary?

How to teach vocabulary to EFL students

Teaching vocabulary is a vital part of any English language course. Many teachers are concerned about how to teach vocabulary. New words have to be introduced in such a way as to capture the students’ attention and place the words in their memories.

Students need to be aware of techniques for memorising large amounts of new vocabulary in order to progress in their language learning.

English vocabulary learning can often be seen as a laborious process of memorising lists of unrelated terms. However, there are many other much more successful and interesting ways to learn and teach vocabulary in the EFL classroom.

Making new words memorable

If English vocabulary is taught in an uninteresting way such as by drilling, simple repetition and learning lists, then the words are likely to be forgotten.

Teachers need to teach vocabulary so that the words are learned in a memorable way, in order for them to stick in the long-term memory of the student.

Please see the Practice, presentation and production teaching method and the lesson plan suggestions for lesson and activity ideas. Our task-based learning page also contains useful tips on contextualising vocabulary and making it feel relevant and natural.

Teaching vocabulary can become easier with the use of cards with pictures, diagrams and liberal colour coding for grammatical clarity.

In this way, words are remembered by their colour or position on a page or their association with other words, pictures or phrases.

Images can link to words; words can also be linked to other words, for example, a student might link the word ‘car’ with ‘garage’ and with ‘mechanic’.

This idea of engaging the other senses can also help with developing a kind of semantic map where words are listed which relate to each other, which creates a situation where one word reminds the student of another.

Brainstorming

When teaching new vocabulary, the method of delivery needs to be fresh and interesting for the students or else they will not remember the words.

Ways in which to liven up the introduction of new English vocabulary could include brainstorming around an existing word in the students’ vocabulary knowledge.

This key word should be written up in the middle of the board and the new vocabulary relating to it can be written around it. Use colourful pens if writing on a whiteboard to emphasise different word types.

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Matching columns

Once the new vocabulary has been taught, a useful way to test if students have understood the meanings of this new vocabulary is to ask them to match new words from one column with definitions from another column.

Testing comprehension is vital before moving onto new vocabulary. The new words are numbered in column one, and the definitions are mixed up and lettered in column two.

Students can also make up sentences using this technique, matching the beginning of the sentence or phrase from column 1 with the end of the sentence or phrase from column 2.

What is it to know a word?

Teachers need to ask what is it to know a word? There is more to teaching a word than simply translating it or even using it in a sentence as an example.

Knowing a word means knowing not only the meaning, but knowing the contexts in which that word is used, the words which are related to it and where to use the word. It also requires knowing hidden implications that could be connected with the word.

Idioms

Alongside chunks of language and fixed phrases and expressions, teachers should include in their vocabulary lessons these kinds of idioms of the English language.

Idioms are common features of every day language and are an important part of advanced language use and a major step towards fluency.

Idioms can be introduced to the ESL classroom through authentic reading materials such as informal text from magazines, low-brow newspapers, letters, comic strips, pop songs, dialogue from radio or television, popular films and soaps.

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