Despite the fact that we
have made significant progress in terms of resources and tools available to
both teachers and students, we don’t seem to really have worked out a
comprehensive approach to making vocabulary more digestible to learners.
As a teacher of English, I
find vocabulary the most challenging aspect of teaching a foreign language for
various reasons which any foreign language teacher will be aware of.
The first reason is an
external one: the learner’s will and readiness to engage in learning and
assimilating words. In my experience, grammar does not require such an active
involvement as vocabulary -- assuming there is sufficient exposure to the
language. Patterns keep repeating themselves and conclusions about what is
right or wrong are drawn unawares as far as grammar and syntax go.
If, however, they are to
memorise and save vocabulary in their long-term memory, learners have to make a
conscious effort ideally to guess meaning from context or, when the opportunity
is given, to look up words in the dictionary rather than expect the teacher to
always provide an explanation and, above all, to integrate the items they have
learnt in their speech. Without a shadow of a doubt, this takes commitment and
perseverance.
One need only look at the
various methods learners use in order to internalise vocabulary to grasp the
enormity of the task: mother tongue equivalents, paraphrase in the target
language, examples and even theorising about how an item is used.
The first language can
occasionally provide a more or less accurate equivalent, but more often than
not, just a translation in the mother tongue will create some confusion when
other synonyms in English can be translated in the same way. Take “get to”,
“reach” and “arrive”. In Greek, all three could be translated with one word: «φτάνω». But then that would mean that if a Greek student
was trying to say “I can’t reach the top
part of the bookcase”, they would pick any of the three words quoted above
if translation was their only resource.
It is obvious that
translation by itself is inadequate in conveying the complexity of the
different uses of words. Using a monolingual dictionary is an excellent way of
understanding vocabulary and the nuances of its usage, but this is more
appropriate for more advanced learners rather than beginners or intermediate
students. Of course, presentation of new words in context and quotation of a
few examples are always the best ways of complementing or replacing translation, but there
is one aspect of vocabulary I find testing, and that is the different figurative
uses of synonymous words.
A snowball struck
him on the back of the head.
The robbers hit
him over the head with a baseball bat.
But
Only a life-or-death issue such as a liver or heart
will hit the headlines.
Such prejudices strike
right at the heart of any notions of a civilized society.
It struck
her that losing the company might be the least of her worries.
The realisation suddenly hit Sahara like a train crashing through a farm house.
One may counter this by
arguing that figurative meanings are to come at a point when the learner will
have had more exposure to longer and stylistically more varied chunks of language
and therefore more subtle layers of meaning will be superimposed on more basic
ones.
It is precisely this
foreshadowing that I feel is well worth undertaking, wherever possible, at an
earlier stage. My proposition is that images suitable for the understanding of
the figurative uses of the words should be integrated in dictionaries so that
learners can take a shortcut rather than beating about the bush.
I will illustrate with
some examples:
Here are some images which
will help learners avoid misuse of “reach” in many instances.
The images will prepare
learners for sentences such as
Anyone in need of assistance should reach out to the authorities as soon as
possible.
Let me use another
example. One of the many words that stump me when it comes to explaining them
to Greek students is “ripple” not only because the Greek
equivalents (κυματίζω, κελαρύζω, ρυτιδώνω, έχω αντίκτυπο, γίνομαι αισθητός) sound grossly unrelated to each other or make no
sense to Greek students (ρυτιδώνω)but also because some renditions in Greek (κυματίζω) would lead to wrong use of English words that can be
translated in the same way. In the following sentences, for example, the italicised
words could be all translated as «κυματίζω» in Greek.
A flag is flying.
A butterfly is fluttering its wings.
People are waving flags.
In fact, I was struggling
to explain “ripple down” in a rather dense text for C2 students when I realised
all I had to do was simply show this:
And then I moved on to “a
ripple of laughter”, “a ripple of fear” and so on and the students caught on
without as much as a word by way of explanation.
A similar approach could
be adopted for the many onomatopoeias in English. Young learners have a keen
ear and take great pleasure in imitating sounds. This is not the case with
teens or adults –not in their majority, at least. It would therefore be
extremely easy for an advanced learner who has already heard and imitated “rustle,”
or “cackle” or “boom” at a more tender age to appreciate sentences like the
following without the mediation of a dictionary or a teacher’s explanations.
Skirts rustled
like dead leaves as Frau von Rogoff descended the stairs.
The interns began cackling
with furious laughter.
Hope was getting dim when a deep voice boomed, “Children of the Earth, get out
of the way!”
To sum up, what a
wonderful learner’s world it would be if dictionaries illustrated words with
images and/or sounds wherever this would facilitate and speed up learning. After
all, what is technology for if we can’t make the most of it?
