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CONCLUSIONS
The present paper was intended as a necessary tool for both
students and colleagues, and for
anyone who might be interested in finding out more about
vocabulary teaching at advanced
level and its importance.
On the one hand, there is the theoretical part which was
projected as a way to a better
understanding of some important notions related to the study of
English vocabulary. On the
other hand, there is the practical part which may represent a
valuable source to better grasp
some realities that teachers of English in Romania are
confronted with, as well as a way of
coping with different teaching situations. In the theoretical
part, we have attempted to give a
comprehensive picture of vocabulary teaching, based on our
personal teaching experience,
whereas in the research part we have tried to point out specific
problems teachers are
confronted with and provide some viable solutions. The practical
activities focused on specific
areas of difficulty for students: phrasal verbs, idioms, levels
of formality, metaphorical
language, collocation and word building.
Having made a detailed analysis of the five chosen coursebooks
at advanced level from the
viewpoint of vocabulary selection and teaching techniques they
employ, we have reached the
conclusion that they all have their strong and weak points and
no coursebook is perfect. Once
teachers become aware of a coursebooks strengths and weaknesses,
they should select what
they want to use and bring in supplementary materials. Relying
too much on the textbook and
the syllabus may lead to monotonous classes and decrease
students motivation. Consequently,
the textbook should be seen as an aid and not something to be
followed slavishly. It can be a
fine source of useful, exploitable material provided teachers
adapt and vary the activities to the
needs of a particular class.
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Good teaching, based on a careful selection of coursebooks, a
good lesson planning, teaching
methods and aids, often provide a sensible progression of
language items, summarizing what
has been studies so that the students can revise those points
they have been working on, and
showing them what is to be learnt next. Some teachers tend to
follow the same format from
one unit to the next; over-relying on the textbook and the
syllabus may lead to monotonousclasses and affect students
motivation. This danger can only be avoided if the teacher
believes
that the learning experience should be permanently stimulating
and interesting. This is no easy
task, but if the strategies and activities are varied, then the
students interest will be raised.
For a lot of reasons what we have planned in advance may not be
appropriate for a certain
class on a particular day. The flexible teacher then will be
able to change the plan in such a
situation, to supplement and modify the material according to
what he thinks would be most
beneficial and motivating for the students. The teacher who
believes in variety will have to be
flexible since the only way to provide variety is to use a wide
range of techniques.
In conclusion, there are no universal recipes for successful
vocabulary development.
Ideally, students should be provided with relevant and useful
input, by presenting items in
context and within known structures. Emphasis on vocabulary work
should also include
items of relevance to students in order to ensure their
incorporation into the students'
active vocabulary.
Exercises encouraging students to develop independent vocabulary
learning strategies, namely
the ones where the context is used as a means of providing
clues.
a wider range of inputs, vocabulary teaching techniques and
tasks promotes better vocabulary
learning
To cover several areas that need improving (in the coursebooks):
a wider range of inputs, a
wider range of vocabulary teaching techniques, a higher degree
of students involvement. All
these are time-consuming, but they are well worth the
effort.
Sometimes we felt that the students may be overloaded with words
and consequently the class
may be boring, as the range of exercises was limited and there
was too much information to be
taken in.
