BAHIR DAR UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF HUMANITIES
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND
LITERATURE

ASSESSING THE PRACTICE OF TEACHING

VOCABULARY AT FERESBET PREPARATORY
SCHOOL

BIMELIS ATNAFU

AUGUST 2017

BAHIR DAR, ETHIOPIA

I
 ASSESSING THE PRACTICE OF TEACHING VOCABULARY AT
FERESBET PREPARATORY SCHOOL

BIMELIS ATNAFU

A THESIS SUBMITTED TO DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE

AND LITERATURE IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENT FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF EDUCATION IN
TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE (TEFL)

ADVISOR

DAWIT AMOGNE (PhD)

AUGUST 2017

BAHIR DAR

BAHIR DAR UNIVERSITY

II
 FACULTY OF HUMANITIES

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

ASSESSING THE PRACTICE OF TEACHING VOCABULARY AT

FERESBET PREPARATORY SCHOOL

BIMELIS ATNAFU

Approved by Board of Examiners

Advisor Signature Date

________________ ______________ ____________

Internal Examiner Signature Date

______________ _______________ _____________

External Examiner Signature Date

_____________________ _____________ ______________

III
 DECLARATION

I, the undersigned, declared that this thesis is my original work, and has not been presented for a
degree in other university.

Name: Bimelis Atnafu

Signature:__________________

Date of submission: 28 August 2017

IV
 Acknowledgement

First of all, I would like to thank my M.A thesis advisor Dr. Dawit Amogne for his constructive
comments for the successful completion of this paper.

I am also deeply grateful to Feresbet Preparatory School English teachers who participated in
this research work. I thank them for their patience and co-operation.

Moreover, my love and deepest gratitude go to my family for their love and have helped to do
this research and for encouragement to attend this education.

I
 Table of Contents

Topics page
Acknowledgement..........................................................................................................................................I
Table of Contents..........................................................................................................................................II
List of Abbreviations...................................................................................................................................IV
Abstract.........................................................................................................................................................V
CHAPTER ONE............................................................................................................................................1
1.INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................................1
1.1. Background of the Study....................................................................................................................1
1.2. Statement of the problem...................................................................................................................4
1.3. Objectives of the study.......................................................................................................................6
1.3.1. General Objective........................................................................................................................6
1.3.2. Specific Objectives......................................................................................................................7
1.4. Significance of the Study...................................................................................................................7
1.5. Scope of the Study..............................................................................................................................7
1.6. Operational Definitions of Terms used in the Study..........................................................................7
2. REVIEW LITERATURE..........................................................................................................................9
2.1. What is Vocabulary?..........................................................................................................................9
2.2. Teachers’ Vocabulary Teaching Awareness....................................................................................10
2.3. The Teaching of Vocabulary............................................................................................................11
2.4. The Importance of Vocabulary.........................................................................................................15
2.5. What Does to Know a Word Mean?.................................................................................................16
2.6. What Need to be Taught?.................................................................................................................18
2.7. Different Vocabulary Teaching Approaches and Strategies............................................................19
2.7.1. Showing Actual Objects and Models.........................................................................................20
2.7.2. Using Demonstrations and Pictures...........................................................................................20
2.7.3. Teaching Words in the Context.................................................................................................21
2.7.4. Using Pictures............................................................................................................................21
2.7.5. Associated Vocabulary..............................................................................................................22
2.7.6. Dictionary..................................................................................................................................22
2.7.7. Collocation.................................................................................................................................22
2.7.8. Synonyms...................................................................................................................................23

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 2.7.9. Antonyms...................................................................................................................................23
2.8. How are Words Remembered?.........................................................................................................23
2.9 Research on Vocabulary Teaching Strategies....................................................................................26
CHAPTER THREE.....................................................................................................................................28
3.RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY....................................................................................28
3.1. Research Design...............................................................................................................................28
3.2. Source of Data and Population of the Study....................................................................................28
3.3. Research Instruments and Procedures of Data Collections..............................................................29
3.3.1. Classroom Observation..............................................................................................................29
3.3.2. Interview....................................................................................................................................30
3.4. Data Gathering and Analyses Procedures........................................................................................31
CHAPTER FOUR........................................................................................................................................32
4.RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS............................................................................................................32
4.1. The Analysis of Classroom Observation..........................................................................................32
4.2. Strategies and Techniques Used in the Classroom to Teach Vocabulary.......................................32
4.3. Analysis of Data Obtained through Interview..................................................................................47
CHAPTER FIVE.........................................................................................................................................53
5.CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS...................................................................................53
5.1. Summary..........................................................................................................................................53
5.2. Conclusions......................................................................................................................................53
5.3. Recommendations............................................................................................................................55
References....................................................................................................................................................56
Appendices...................................................................................................................................................63

III
List of Abbreviations

FL - Foreign Language

L1 - First Language

L2 - Second Language

ESL - English as a Second Language

EFL -English as a foreign language

T-Teacher

SL-Second Language

FL-Foreign Language

ELT-English Language Teaching

IV
 Abstract
Without language there is no communication. Without communication there is no development
because people do not exchange ideas that help them to do things. Because of this and other, the
researcher of this study tried to conduct research on vocabulary.

The main purpose of this study was to assess the practice of teaching vocabulary at Feresbet
preparatory. This study mainly focused on teachers’ practice of teaching vocabulary in the actual
class room. The study used qualitative research method to generate the required qualitative data
through classroom observation and semi-structured interview. The classroom observation was
held in three rounds for each ten English teachers. Ten English teachers were interviewed. The
purpose of the semi-structured interview was to verify the validity and reliability of the teachers'
responses of the actual classroom observation.

The collected data were discussed and analyzed thematically from the actual classroom
observation and as per the interview questions. Most of the teachers did not use different
teaching strategies and techniques in the classroom. . In the observation, most teachers taught
vocabulary using definition of words, translation, context and sometimes collocation of words.

Based on the findings, it was suggested that using valuable vocabulary teaching methods and
techniques will promote teaching English language. Therefore, an eclectic way involving
varieties of vocabulary teaching techniques should be used integrally so as to improve English
vocabulary teaching techniques.

V
 CHAPTER ONE

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background of the Study

The history of second language learning traces back to Romans. During this period and
afterwards different approaches to language learning, each with different perspectives on
vocabulary learning, have been introduced. Sometimes, vocabulary has a good place in language
teaching methodologies; other times, it was completely neglected (Allen, 1983; Carter and
McCarty, 1988; Taylor, 1991; Schmitt, 2000). Vocabulary is a very important means to express
our thoughts and feelings either in spoken or written form. It is mainly through using words that
we compose and express our feelings to others. We can tackle our own task through words. It
shows words are powerful tools. McCarthy (1990:76) argues “No matter how well the student
learns grammar, no matter how successfully the sounds of L2 are mastered, without words to
express a wide range of meanings, communication in an L2 just cannot happen in any
meaningful way.”Therefore, the study of vocabulary is at the center while learning a new
language.

Vocabulary, as one of the knowledge areas in language, plays a great role for learners in
acquiring a language (Cameron, 2001). Learners’ vocabulary development is an important aspect
of their language development. Although it has been neglected for a long time, researchers have
increasingly been turning their attention to vocabulary (see Carter and McCarthy, 1988; Nation,
1990 and Schmitt, 2000). Vocabulary knowledge is often viewed as a critical tool for second
language learners because a limited vocabulary in a second language impedes successful
communication. Nation (2001) further describes the relationship between vocabulary knowledge
and language use as complementary. Knowledge of vocabulary enables language use and,
conversely, language use leads to an increase in vocabulary knowledge. The importance of
vocabulary is demonstrated daily in and out of the school.

Researchers such as (Laufer and Nation, 1999; Read, 2000; and Gu, 2003; and Abebe, 2009)
have realized that the acquisition of vocabulary is essential for successful second language use
and plays an important role in the formation of complete spoken and written texts. In English as

1
a second language (ESL) and English as a foreign language (EFL) learning vocabulary items
plays a vital role in all language skills (i.e. listening, speaking Writing and reading) Nation
(2011).Rivers and Nunan (1991), furthermore, argue that the acquisition of an adequate
vocabulary is essential for successful second language use because without an extensive
vocabulary, One will be unable to use the structures and functions he/she may have learned for
comprehensible communication. Research has shown that second language readers rely heavily
on vocabulary knowledge and the lack of that knowledge is the main and the largest obstacle for
L2 readers to overcome Huckin (1995). When we have a meaning or concept that we wish to
express, we need to have a store of words from which we can select to express this meaning or
concept. ‘‘When students travel, they don’t carry grammar books, they carry dictionaries’’
(Krashen, 1989; as cited in Lewis, 1993:25). Many researchers argue that vocabulary is one of
the most important components in learning a foreign language, and foreign language curricula
must reflect this. Wilkins (1972:97) states “there is not much value in being able to produce
grammatical sentences if one has not got the vocabulary that is needed to convey what one
wishes to say. Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be
conveyed.’’ Scholars such as (Richards, 1980; and Krashen, 1989) State many reasons for
devoting attention to vocabulary. “First, a large vocabulary is of course essential for mastery of a
language. Second language acquirers know this; they carry dictionaries with them, not grammar
books, and regularly report that the lack of vocabulary is a major problem.’’

Though vocabulary is important in language teaching and learning, it has been undervalued in
the past 50 years of ELT history (Carter & McCarthy, 1988; and Seal, 1991). The role of
vocabulary is typically considered in terms of the classic ELT methodologies and the theories of
reading models. Celce-Murcia (2001) classifies the major trends in language teaching in the
twentieth century into nine approaches: Grammar-Translation, Direct, Audio-lingual, Oral-
Situational, Cognitive, Affective-Humanistic, Comprehension-Based and Communicative. The
importance given to vocabulary and the way it was taught within each of these approaches. Two
major directions towards vocabulary teaching and learning have been the cause of debate among
vocabulary researcher: (1) Explicit instruction which involves diagnosing the words learners
need to know, presenting the words for the first time, elaborating word knowledge, and
developing fluency with known words; and (2) Incidental learning which is acquiring vocabulary
through other communicative skills such as listening, reading, speaking, or writing. Nation
2
(2002) argues for a systematic rather than an incidental approach to the teaching of vocabulary
and asserts that such a focus is an essential part of a language course. On the other hand, Hunt
and Beglar (2002) recommend the combination of these two approaches and also acknowledge
the need for strategy training. They suggest that learners need to be taught strategies for inferring
words from contexts as well as those which can help them retain the words they have
encountered.

After many decades of being neglected and receiving little importance, teaching and learning
second language (L2) vocabulary has now markedly become into the focus of interest of many
applied linguistic researchers and language teachers (Barcroft,2004; Decaricco,2001;
Read,2000). Moreover, lexical competence is currently acknowledged to be a core component of
communicative competence by many vocabulary specialists, which provides much of the basis
for how well learners speak, listen, read and write (Coady & Huckin, 1997; Richards &
Renandya ,2002). In the past, it was thought that vocabulary could simply be learned effortlessly,
and received only incidental attention in many textbooks and language programs. However,
mastering vocabulary is one of the most challenging tasks that any learner faces when learning a
foreign language and, thus, many language learners devote a great deal of time on memorizing
lists of L2 words and rely on their bilingual dictionary as a basic communicative resource;
furthermore, they consider L2 acquisition as essentially a matter of learning vocabulary.

As an EFL teacher, I can be one of the witnesses that limited English vocabulary has been
challenged for Ethiopian secondary school students to learn English and other subjects since it
serves as a medium of instruction from this level upwards. This may be for various reasons.
First, there are so many vocabulary items, to be studied. Secondly, a large number of words have
several different meanings, which most teachers cannot manage to teach. Thirdly, many words
constitute abstract concepts and it may be too difficult for students and the teacher. Through my
long experience of teaching, I have seen that one of the major problems for high school students
have been vocabulary. Here, the problem is not only for students but teachers too. Vocabulary
has also seemed to become too difficult for EFL learners in general unrau (2004) has confirmed
the fact that EFL language learners have problems with recalling different amount of vocabulary,
which are very essential to gain proficiency. (Beckeer, cited in Unrau, 2004) claimed that limited
knowledge of vocabulary is one of the major contributing factors to the failure of children in the

3
schools, which may be true for Ethiopian students. In general, there is shortage of vocabulary
knowledge.

With regard to vocabulary teaching, the teachers will focus on what words to teach rather than
showing their students the way to learn words. As a result, the students will get the access to
repeat very important words, and the teachers would not show such appropriate vocabulary
teaching strategies as using word cards and dictionaries (Block, 1977; Nunan, 2003). In a word,
the teachers may not teach how to expand vocabulary knowledge independently. Edwin (2003)
expose that may the previous vocabulary teaching technique that teachers have used are not
meaningful if they did not help students to retain as well as retrieve vocabulary words.

The purpose of this study is to assess English teaches’ practice of vocabulary teaching in EFL
classes during vocabulary instruction at Feresbet Preparatory School and possibly attempts to
assess the type of vocabulary teaching strategies practiced. And finally, conclusions and
recommendations will be given on how often different vocabulary teaching strategies should be
practiced.

1.2. Statement of the problem

Vocabulary teaching has not been given concern for many years. Although it was believed that
vocabulary could be taught only in isolated word lists for a long time, there are lots of ways to
teach vocabulary in recent time. The most common idea among these is the fundamental
importance of vocabulary in communication and in language teaching and learning. It is believed
that the more words we know, the more fluently we can communicate (Schmitt 2000, Coady &
Hucking 2000, and Richards & Renandya 2002). However; vocabulary teaching learning has not
received enough attention in English language teaching and learning contexts. After many years
of neglecting, methodologists and linguists have increasingly been turning their attention to
vocabulary and stressing on its importance and strategies in language teaching.

Mastering vocabulary is one of the most challenging tasks that any learner faces while acquiring
another language (Nyikos & Fan, 2007) because vocabulary knowledge is a multidimensional
and complex construct (Read, 2000). In Ethiopia, most of the students seem to be in trouble with
regard to vocabulary knowledge because knowing a word involves numerous types of word

4
knowledge, such as meaning, word form, collocation, synonyms, antonyms, context and register
(Nation, 2001). They also seem to have little knowledge about how to and when to use affixes in
the word, problems in spelling and punctuations.

Traditional vocabulary instruction for many teachers involves having students look words up in
the dictionary, write definitions, and use words in sentences (Basurto, 2004).Word lists, teacher
explanation, discussion, memorization, vocabulary books, and quizzes often are used in an effort
to help students learn new words. But these methods ignore what research and theory tell us
about word learning and sound vocabulary instruction. Vocabulary is a principle contributor to
comprehension, fluency, and achievement.

As Carter (1988) indicated, for many years vocabulary has been the victim of discrimination by
researchers who claimed syntax to be a more significant issue in the language development
process. As a result, vocabulary teaching and learning has not received enough attention in
English language teaching contexts. Because of the effect of structuralism and the Chomsky’s
School of linguistics, which did not regard vocabulary as an area to focus on, the issue of
vocabulary remained ignored (Carter &.McCarthy, 1988). Moreover, lexical competence is
currently acknowledged to be a core component of communicative competence by many
vocabulary specialists, which provides much of the basis for how well learners speak, listen, read
and write (Coady & Huckin, 1997; Richards & Renandya, 2002). The movement toward
effective methodologies for teaching vocabulary has emerged and researchers and language
teachers have also suggested many strategies and techniques for vocabulary learning, which are
dependent on the efforts of each learner (Cohen & Macaro, 2007; Mizumoto & Takeuchi, 2009).

Hence, there are few local studies on vocabulary teaching strategy in the Ethiopian context, little
attention is given to assess language teachers’ practice of different vocabulary teaching strategies
in general and at Feresbet preparatory School in particular. In line with this, (Getinet, 2008;
Abebe, 2009; Dessalegn, 2015; and Demisew, 2015) attempted to conduct their research on
vocabulary teaching. Though these researchers attempted to look in to vocabulary teaching in
EFL classrooms, none of them attempted to show how English language teachers practice
different strategies in vocabulary teaching at preparatory level. And to the knowledge of the
researcher there has not been any research carried out on assessing the practice of strategies in

5
teaching vocabulary skill at Feresbet School. For example; Getinet(2008) and Dessalegn(2015)
conducted their research on “ problems of vocabulary teaching techniques English teachers
faced.” The finding was focus on the obstacles that are meant to hinder students new vocabulary
learning was not clear and lack of knowledge and skill of how to use new vocabulary learning
strategies, students’ over- reliance on teachers’ answer and feedback on the meaning of words,
wish to know only the equivalent meaning of words in mother tongue and lack of practice.

Demisew(2015) conducted on “impact of vocabulary learning strategies in high and low

achievers.” The conclusion indicated that, there is a relationship between language learning
achievement and vocabulary learning strategies, i.e. high achievers frequently or always use
more wide range of vocabulary learning strategies than low achievers. The entire researcher
focused on grade nine and grade ten vocabulary teaching and learning strategies.

Therefore, the present researcher understood that the practices of vocabulary teaching through
different strategies are one of the most important components of language classes. Because using
different strategies enable teachers and students to probe and grasp the essential concepts of
different vocabularies in the classroom. Understanding the problem of vocabulary teaching at
Feresbet preparatory School and the existing research gap, the researcher is initiated to conduct a
research on how Feresbet preparatory English teachers teach vocabulary during their classes.
Based on this, the study attempted to answer the following research questions:
1. How do teachers present vocabulary lessons in English classes?
2. Do English teachers practice different vocabulary teaching strategies in the classroom
when they teach vocabulary?
3. What are the major challenges in the teaching of vocabulary in EFL classes at Feresbet
preparatory school?

1.3. Objectives of the study

1.3.1. General Objective

The main objective of the study is to assess the practice of teaching vocabulary at Feresbet
preparatory school.

6
7
1.3.2. Specific Objectives

Based upon the main objective, this research is intended to achieve the following specific
Objectives:
a) To assess the way teachers present vocabulary lessons in the class.
b) To analyze the practice of different vocabulary teaching strategies in the classroom.
c) To identify the major problems that hinder vocabulary teaching in the classroom at Feresbet
preparatory school.

1.4. Significance of the Study

After discovering the mentioned research questions, the research will have several useful results
on teaching and learning vocabulary. The results of the study will be significant to English as
foreign language teachers, students and other concerned bodies. The study would give way
researched evidences on how teachers are teaching vocabulary and what could they consider to
improve the practices in the teaching of vocabulary. This research will have also significance for
language teachers showing different teaching strategies in the class room. Finally, teachers will
use this study as a source of information for further study.

1.5. Scope of the Study

The scope of this study was encircled to certain aspects. The study was focused on assessing
vocabulary teaching practice used by English teachers specifically in West Gojjam, Degadamot
werda at Feresbet preparatory school and the participants of the study were only grade eleven
and twelve English language teachers at Feresbet preparatory school.

1.6. Operational Definitions of Terms used in the Study

Assessing refers to evaluation of teaching process held by teachers whether they teach
vocabulary using different kinds of vocabulary teaching techniques in EFL classrooms.
Practice refers to the teacher’s usual vocabulary teaching systems/activities performed in actual
EFL classroom.
Technique refers to the techniques that teacher used to teach vocabulary in EFL classroom.

8
Strategy: refers to the skill of making or carrying out plans to achieve a goal.

9
 CHAPTER TWO

2. REVIEW LITERATURE

2.1. What is Vocabulary?

According to Richards (2002) vocabulary is the core component of language proficiency and
provides much of the basis for how well learners speak, listen, read, and write. Vocabulary is one
of the language components that can affect macro skills. Some definition of vocabulary is
proposed by some experts. Nunan (1999:101) states that vocabulary is a “list of target language
words.”

Hornby (1995) defines vocabulary as ''the total number words in a language; vocabulary is a list
of words with their meanings”. While Ur (1998:65) states “Vocabulary can be defined, roughly,
as the words we teach in the foreign language. However, a new item of vocabulary may be more
than just a single word: for example, post office, and mother-in-law, which are made up of two
or three words but express a single idea. A useful convention is to cover all such cases by talking
about vocabulary "items” rather than "words."In addition, Burns (1972) defines vocabulary as
the stock of words which is used by a person, class or profession. According to Coady and
Huckin (1997) vocabulary is central to language and of critical importance to the typical
language learning. From the definitions above, it can be concluded that vocabulary is the total
number of words that are needed to communicate ideas and express the speakers' meaning. That
is the reason why it is important to learn vocabulary

Graves (2000, as cited in Taylor, 1990) defines vocabulary as the entire stock of words
belonging to a branch of knowledge or known by an individual. He also states that the lexicon of
a language is its vocabulary, which includes words and expressions. Krashen (1998, as cited in
Herrel, 2004) extends Grave’s definition further by stating that lexicon organizes the mental
vocabulary in a speaker‘s mind. An individual‘s mental lexicon is that person‘s knowledge of
vocabulary (Krashen, 1998, as cited in Herrel, 2004). Miller (1999) states that vocabulary is a set
of words that are the basic building blocks used in the generation and understanding of sentence.

10
2.2. Teachers’ Vocabulary Teaching Awareness

Language teaching awareness has been defined in a number of different ways. Mostly, it has
been described as “the knowledge that teachers have of the underlying systems of the language
that enables them to teach effectively” (Thornbury, 1997). Language awareness is referred to as
conscious language learning on a meta-cognitive level within a learner-centered approach,
(PrticSoons, 2008). In particular, language awareness encompasses morphological awareness,
phonological awareness, awareness of the structural patterns and pragmatic awareness.
Furthermore, teacher language awareness incorporates ‘strategic competence’, ‘language
competence’ and ‘knowledge of subject matter’ (Andrews 2001). According to Wright (2002)
teachers’ language awareness encompasses an awareness of the extent to which the language
content of materials or lessons poses difficulties for students. Teachers’ language awareness is
Meta cognitive in nature Andrews (2003). It also involves reflection upon knowledge of teaching
methodology and language proficiency. Moreover, Wright (2002) states that “a linguistically 13
aware teacher not only understands how language works, but understands the student’s struggle
with language and is sensitive to errors and other inter-language features” (Wright 2002).

There is a consensus that in order to understand language teaching better, we need to know more
about teachers’ perceived beliefs concerning language learning and teaching. Teachers’ beliefs
are closely related to their values, views of learners, attitudes toward learning, and conceptions
of teachers’ roles in teaching practices. Therefore, the information about teachers’ beliefs is
extremely important in terms of improving both professional development and teaching
effectiveness (Nespor 1987).

Teachers' beliefs and knowledge are also considered to cause misinterpretations related to
language learning, language awareness, and language learning strategies. The findings of
previous studies Lewis & McCook (2002) showed that not only different educational values and
practices but also misconceptions of teaching and learning among teachers are the main reasons
for difficulties in implementing communicative language teaching.

11
2.3. The Teaching of Vocabulary

New research-based approach to vocabulary teaching examined relevant research concerning

student motivation and need and the complexity of knowing a word, as well as factors that affect
L2 vocabulary acquisition. Compared with traditional approaches, vocabulary is often taught
unsystematically in class and teachers tend to leave their students to learn vocabulary on their
own without much instruction or guidance. In recent vocabulary teaching approach, students are
expected to meet frequently, and use words systematically based on a careful consideration of
needs analysis in real situation. A final point to note is that teachers reduce vocabulary learning
activities in class (e.g. word lists, flashcards) whereas implementing more “partially
contextualized” (e.g. word association, visual and aural imagery, semantic mapping) or “fully
contextualized” activities (e.g. reading, listening, speaking, and writing in authentic
communication activities); (Oxford, 1990).

Nevertheless, some potential problems arise if learners mainly acquire vocabulary in this way.
For example, acquiring vocabulary through guessing in context is probably a rather slow process
given the limited amount of time learners can afford in class. In addition, guessing from context
does not necessarily help learners commit the guessed words into their long-term memory. For
example, a study of intermediate level adult ESL students by Wesche and Paribakht (1994)
learners who read and complete accompanying vocabulary exercises perform better in word
acquisition than those who only do extensive reading.

During the last three decades, the outlook on vocabulary has radically changed and researchers
have shown outpouring interests towards this area. Therefore, the movement toward effective
methodologies for teaching vocabulary has emerged and researchers and language teachers have
also suggested many strategies and techniques for vocabulary learning, which are dependent on
the efforts of each learner (Cohen & Macaro, 2007; Mizumoto & Takeuchi, 2009). Two major
directions towards vocabulary teaching and learning have been the cause of debate among
vocabulary researcher: (1) Explicit instruction which involves diagnosing the words learners
need to know, presenting the words for the first time, elaborating word knowledge, and
developing fluency with known words; and (2) Incidental learning which is acquiring vocabulary
through other communicative skills such as listening, reading, speaking, or writing. Nation

12
(2002) argues for a systematic rather than an incidental approach to the teaching of vocabulary
and asserts that such a focus is an essential part of a language course. On the other hand, Hunt
and Beglar (2002) recommend the combination of these two approaches and also acknowledge
the need for strategy training. They suggest that learners need to be taught strategies for inferring
words from contexts as well as those which can help them retain the words they have
encountered. Since the onset of learning strategy research three decades ago, there is a consensus
in this field that strategy training warrants time and effort both in and out of the classroom (see,
Fan, 2003; and Macaro, 2001). There are not yet clear insights from research studies to inform
teachers what they should do to best help their learners improve their foreign language
vocabulary knowledge.

According to Richards J. and Rodgers T. (1986) there are different approaches concerning
methods of teaching English. They list the followings: The first one is Scientific Approach
improved methods of Teaching English are urgently needed as it is the language of modern
technology, science, art, politics, medicine, etc. A systematic and scientific approach is required
for its adequate teaching. It causes a lot of confusion if taught haphazardly; really a hard task to
accomplish. Unless the teacher adopts befittingly structured and cautiously designed methods,
ultimate success is unthinkable. Concerted efforts are needed to charter a well planned program
me for the purpose

Community Language Learning: as the name indicates, this method follows a “humanistic”
approach which was supported by Charles A. Curran, a specialist in counseling and a professor
of psychology at Chicago University. His method is known as Counseling-Learning, and it
redefines the roles of the teacher (counselor) and learners (the clients) in the language classroom.
He developed a holistic approach to language learning, since human learning is both cognitive
and affective. For him, learning takes place in a communicative situation where teachers and
learners are involved in an interaction. One of its main tenets is for the student to develop his
relationship with the teacher. This process is divided into five stages and compared to the
ontogenetic development of the child. Thus, feelings of security are established; achievement of
independence from the teacher; the learner starts speaking independently; a sense of criticism is
developed; and finally, the learner improves style and knowledge of linguistic appropriateness.

13
Learning by doing: a lot of emphasis is laid on teaching the action verbs by actually performing
the actions. The concepts thus formed sink deep into the mind and one tends to become what one
does. Activity provides vividness to experience. For instance, when the students have just
returned from the zoo, they would describe their experiences most enthusiastically. Likewise,
they would write interestingly about a picnic party or a boating trip, immediately after having a
trip. This is how learning process is accomplished by “doing.” It improves vocabulary in general
and action words in particular.

Functional Approach: before the Functional Approach was taken into fashion, reading and
writing were initiated with the letters of alphabets which are abstract to the students and is
devoid of interest at all. The modern trend opines to establish the functional approach in the
teaching of the both. It is necessitated to begin with the words of immediate interest to them and
come from the range of their experience. They should also be provided with variety of exercises
for the purpose to prepare them to read and write conveniently. The readiness tenure is
considered to be a very significant one.

Audio- Visual Aids: modern trend of Teaching English emphasizes a lot on the use of Audio-
Visual aids to attract the interest of the students. These are considered to be an integral part of
the teaching of foreign language in the advanced countries. The exercise of pictures, films and
lingua phone records infuses a new life in their bones. A teacher, who is considerably dedicated
to this work, taps up all possible sources to procure the required material. He harnesses the
potentialities and capabilities of the students for the purpose

Oral Work: with a view to laying a concrete foundation in the teaching of English, oral work is
highly recognized as the vital skill. It is crystal clear that the unerring language sense which is
independent of all grammar can only be cultivated by forming good speech habits. No syntax
knowledge can be of any avail in this regard. Reading and writing are part and parcel of a
language but speaking is the natural mode of expression. The traditional methods of teaching
language are now considered to be vague ones rather modern trend is very much inclined
towards oral practice.

Controlled Vocabulary: this is a considerable inclination towards conversational approach does

not mean a haphazard presentation of new vocabulary and structures. An arrangement of oral

14
work should be made that befits our conditions. The modern trend is in favor of teaching
scientifically selected and suitably graded structures and vocabulary. The words of high
frequency should precede those words which occur less frequently in the course of speaking and
reading. The teacher should not impart everything whatsoever strikes his mind or comes his way.
He should rather follow a carefully chartered programmer and well-tried methods and principles
of selection and gradation.

Play-way-Method: the interest of the student is the main concern of the modern way of
education. While learning through “Play-Way-Method,” he is less conscious of a sense of work,
hence no feeling of tiresome, the better he learns. Play-Way-Method captures the attention of the
student yielding remarkable results and feedback. Plays, dialogues, declamation contests, debates
and competition of vocabulary tests stimulate the interest of the students in language learning.

Problem solving approach: the way the modern trend fascinates the students, is throwing out a
problem challenging the students to solve it. It targets at creating in them the habits of reflection
and thinking.

Brain Storming: is an advanced and modern teaching technique in which the teacher is not to be
a full time participant or speaker rather provides opportunity to the students to guess or seek
answers. Having given some clues, the teacher strives to elicit answers from them. Students
guess the answers of the desired questions or the meanings of the new vocabulary using hit and
trial method but the right answer is finalized by the teacher in the end. The method enhances the
capabilities, potentialities and self confidence of the student.

The Silent Way: It is a classroom technique wherein the teacher remains silent while students
output the language through simulated experiences using tokens and picture charts as central
elements. For instance, a color-coded phonics (sound) chart called a Fidel, with both vowel and
consonant clusters on it, is projected onto a screen to be used simultaneously with a pointer, thus
permitting the pupil to output continually the target language in a sequence of phonemes.
Brightly colored rods are integrated into this method for students to learn spatial relationships,
prepositions, colors, gender and number concepts, and to create multiple artificial settings
through their physical placement. This method works effectively to promote small group
discussion. Students are encouraged to produce as much language as possible and to self-correct

15
their pronunciation errors through manual gesticulation on the part of the instructor. The greatest
strength of this method lies in its ability to draw students out orally, while the teacher listens.
This inner criterion allows learners to monitor and self-correct their own production. It is here
where this method differs notably from other ways of language learning.

The way of language learning by memorizing forms of verbs, nouns, adjectives, pronouns and
grammatical rules is still being used today in formal classes in universities. But there are signs
that this is not going to stay for long because of the recent new trends in language learning:

For one, there are now many courses on language learning in the Internet, some of them are free,
at least for the fundamentals. Of course these free courses have ads inserted here and there with
options to upgrade for a cost. But if one is really interested and has the time and the Internet
connection, language learning is no longer a big problem, unlike before where we have to pay
tuition and miscellaneous fees to learn a language in university.

Secondly, there are now video and audio lessons on language learning that can be accessed
through the interne .Before learners only had the textbooks and the dictionaries. They were never
sure if their teacher pronounced the foreign words correctly since he or she was also not a native
of that foreign language.

Thirdly, students have now translations with the click of their computer mouse. This was
unthinkable before. They have talking dictionaries and just by typing a word in English, choose
the language they want a translation of this word in, and hit the return key and they hear the word
in the other language. Apprentices learn languages through cell phones, mp3 players and other
gadgets. They can have live online tutors with the use of Skype.

2.4. The Importance of Vocabulary

Vocabulary is central to English language teaching because without sufficient vocabulary

students cannot understand others or express their own ideas. Wilkins (1972:111) wrote that “. . .
while without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be
conveyed.” This point reflects my experience with different languages; even without grammar,
with some useful words and expression, I can often manage to communicate. Lewis (1993:89)
went further to argue, “Lexis is the core or heart of language”. Particularly, students develop

16
greater fluency and expression in English; it is significant for them to acquire more productive
vocabulary knowledge and to develop their own personal vocabulary learning strategies.
Students often instinctively recognize the importance of vocabulary to their language learning.
As Schmitt (2010:4) noted, “learners carry around dictionaries and not grammar books”.
Teaching vocabulary helps students understand and communicate with others in English.
Voltaire purportedly said, “Language is very difficult to put into words.” I believe English
language students generally would concur, yet learning vocabulary also helps students master
English for their purposes.

2.5. What Does to Know a Word Mean?

Knowing a word means: Having the ability to the vocabulary in its spoken and written forms,
knowing its different meanings, knowing its part of speech [e.g. a noun, a verb, being able to
pronounce it properly, being able to use it correctly within a sentence in an appropriate
grammatical form, for technical words, recognizing it in context and being able to recognize
different types of English. (E.g. boot/trunk, lift/elevator

Concept of a word can be defined in various ways, but three significant aspects teachers need to
be aware of and focus on are form, meaning, and use. According to Nation (2001), the form of a
word involves its pronunciation (spoken form), spelling (written form), and any word parts that
make up this particular item (such as a prefix, root, and suffix).An example for word parts can
been seen with the word uncommunicative, where the prefix un- means negative or opposite,
communicate is the root word, and -ive is a suffix denoting that someone or something is able to
do something. Here, they all go together to refer to someone or something that is not able to
communicate, hence uncommunicative. Nation (2001) stated that meaning encompasses the way
that form and meaning work together, in other words, the concept and what items it refers to, and
the associations that come to mind when people think about a specific word or expression. Use,
Nation noted, involves the grammatical functions of the word or phrase, collocations that
normally go with it, and finally any constraints on its use, in terms of frequency, level, and so
forth. For form, meaning, and use, Nation (2001) declared there is both a receptive and
productive dimension.

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Knowing a word involves more than knowing a word's definition (Johnson & Pearson, 1984;
Nagy & Scott, 2000). Word knowledge is multifaceted and can be characterized in various ways.
Some facets of this complexity include (a) incremental, (b) multidimensionality, and (c)
receptive/productive duality.

Knowing a word is not an all-or-nothing phenomenon. Word learning happens incrementally;

with each additional encounter with a word, depth of understanding accrues. Dale (1965) posited
the existences of (at least) four incremental stages of word knowledge are stated. Stage 1: Never
having seen the term before, Stage2: Knowing there is such a word, but not knowing what it
means, Stage 3: Having context-bound and vague knowledge of the word's meaning, Stage 4:
Knowing the word well and remembering it and the final stage of Dale's conceptualization of
word knowledge can be further broken down into additional stages, including the ability to name
other words related to the word under study and knowing precise versus general word
knowledge.

Instead of stages, Beck, McKeown, and Omanson, (1987) referred to a person's word knowledge
as falling along a continuum. These include (a) no knowledge of the term, (b) general
understanding, (c) narrow but context-bound understanding, such as knowing that discriminate
means to pay special attention to subtle differences and exercise judgment about people but
unable to recognize that the term could also be used to refer to singling out sounds in phonemic
awareness activities, (d) having knowledge of a word but not being able to recall it readily
enough to use it appropriately, and (e) de-contextualized knowledge of a word's meaning, its
relationship to other words, and extensions to metaphorical uses.

Bravo and Cervetti (2008) posited a similar continuum for teaching vocabulary. These points on
a continuum can range from having no control of a word (where students have never seen or
heard the word) to passive control (where students can decode the term and provide a synonym
or basic definition) and finally active control (where students can decode the word, provide a
definition, situate it in connection to other words in the discipline, and use it in their oral and
written communications).

For example, some students may have never heard the term observe while others may have a
general gist or passive control of the term and be able to mention its synonym see. Yet others

18
may have active control and be able to recognize that to observe in science means to use any of
the five senses to gather information and these students would be able to use the term correctly in
both oral and written form. Such active control exemplifies the kind of contextual and relational
understanding that characterizes conceptual understanding. Word knowledge is a matter of
degree and can grow over time. Incremental knowledge of a word occurs with multiple
exposures in meaningful contexts.

Additional dimensions of word knowledge include lexical organization, which is the

consideration of the relationship a word might have with other words (Nagy & Scott, 2000; Qian,
2002). Students' grasp of one word is linked to their knowledge of other words. In fact, learning
the vocabulary of a discipline should be thought of as learning about the interconnectedness of
ideas and concepts indexed by words. Word knowledge is acquired incrementally. Students
might be familiar with the term, know words related to the term, or have flexibility with using it
in both written and oral form. It is clear that to know a word is more than to know its definition.
Teaching and testing definitions of words looks much different than contemporary approaches to
instruction and assessment that consider incremental, multidimensionality, and the students' level
of use.

2.6. What Need to be Taught?

Methodologists and linguists suggest that, teachers can decide and select the words to be taught
on the basis of how frequently they are used by speakers of the language. Carter & McCarthy
(1991:43) “Knowing a word involves knowing its spoken and written context of use, its patterns
with words of related meaning as well as with its collocation partners, its syntactic, pragmatic
and discourse patterns. It means knowing it actively and productively as well as receptively.”

Richards (1976) list the different things teaching need to know about a word before we can say
that they have taught it. These include: The meaning(s) of the word, Its spoken and written
forms, What “word parts” it has (e.g., any prefix, suffix, and “root” form), its grammatical
behavior (e.g., its word class, typical grammatical patterns it occurs in), its collocations, its
register, what associations it has (e.g., words that are similar or opposite in meaning) , what
connotations it has and its frequency.

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2.7. Different Vocabulary Teaching Approaches and Strategies

An effective vocabulary teaching program involves two approaches: intentional and incidental
instructions. In a comprehensive review of research on incidental vocabulary teaching mostly in
the first language context, Krashen (1989) concluded that, incidental vocabulary teaching
achieves better results than explicit or intentional vocabulary teaching.

However, when it comes to an FL/SL teaching and learning, it tends to be less effective in that
learners have limited exposure to the target language. In the process of L1 vocabulary acquisition
where learners have rich source of the language data, incidental learning with no uncertainty
plays a fundamental role in helping learners pick up new words every day. But it is less
significant for FL vocabulary learning particularly for beginners and pre-intermediate students
whose reading ability and experience is very low. In this connection, Nation (2000) and Schmitt
(2000) concluded that only small amount of incidental vocabulary learning occurs from reading.
Gu (2003) also specifies incidental learning to be more effective for native speakers and
intermediate and advanced L2 learners who have acquired the receptive skills of reading and
listening. Even for these learners, the usefulness of incidental learning does not exclude the use
of intentional learning strategies. Hence it may be argued that both approaches, incidental and
intentional, are more effective than either of them. Recent studies of L2 learners, Schmitt (2000)
indicated that a combined approach is more essential than incidental vocabulary alone.

Different types of instructional modes, approaches, vocabulary building activities and skills
proved to be effective in developing children and college students' vocabulary in L2
environments. Teaching vocabulary in context, combining vocabulary with reading and writing
activities, and providing the students with different lexical information about the words under
study enhanced children and adult students' vocabulary.

While there may be no well-established or ‘best’ way to teach vocabulary, it is Possible to derive
some useful guidelines from the literature aimed at optimizing Vocabulary learning. In the
project, we focused on: increasing the quantity of Vocabulary taught; explicit approaches to
teach vocabulary; and incidental approaches to teach vocabulary.

20
Schmitt (2000) suggests that, in terms of increasing the quantity of vocabulary, four approaches
can be useful. The first is focusing on frequent words, using vocabulary for a specific context.,
Asking learners to nominate vocabulary (e.g. based on contexts/topics identified through needs
analysis), developing vocabulary for classroom participation (e.g. classroom artifacts such as
whiteboard, pen, computer and classroom instructions.

Sökmen (1997) provides useful principles for an explicit focus on vocabulary teaching: build a
large sight vocabulary, integrate new words with old, provide a number of encounters with a
word, promote a deep level of processing, facilitate imaging and make new words ‘real’ by
connecting them to the student’s world in some Way, use a variety of techniques and encourage
independent learning strategies..

2.7.1. Showing Actual Objects and Models

It is a very useful technique to teach vocabulary to the beginners. The names of many things can
be taught by showing actual objects. It gives real experience and sense to the learners. The words
like pen, chalk, table, chair, football, flowers, tomato etc. can be taught in the classroom. Objects
or models of real objects are very effective and meaningful in showing meanings but in handling
of real objects, a teacher must be practical and should not be superfluous.

It is neither possible nor necessary to bring all the things in the classroom. Therefore, some
words are to be taught by showing models. They are easily available in the market. They are
inexpensive too. Hence, teacher should make frequent use of such models to teach vocabulary.
For example, the words like tiger, brain, elephant, can be shown to the learner.

2.7.2. Using Demonstrations and Pictures

Teacher can perform some words. It can be fun and frolic. It makes the class student-centered.
Teacher can act and learners try to imitate it. For example, the words like jump, smile, cry, nap,
sleep, and dance can be demonstrated. Miming works well with younger students. You can mime
out emotions and everyday activities to teach new words. This method can be practiced at ease. It
can win the favor of the students as learners like dramatizations and can easily learn through
them. Many situations can be dramatized or demonstrated. This works well with young students

21
or students studying a foreign language to help introduce them to new concepts. After explaining
new vocabulary, you can then ask the students to perform the actions.

The prominent role of vocabulary knowledge in second or foreign language learning has been
recently recognized by the theorist and researcher in the field. Nation(2001) properly states that
teaching vocabulary should not only consist of teaching specific words but also aims at
equipping learners with strategies necessary to expand their vocabulary knowledge.

2.7.3. Teaching Words in the Context

Most people agree that vocabulary ought to be taught in context (Nilsen 1976; Chastain 1976).
Words taught in isolation are generally not retained. In addition, in order to grasp the full
meaning of a word or phrase, students must be aware of the linguistic environment in which the
word or phrase appears. Setting a good context which is interesting, plausible, vivid and has
relevance to the lives of the learners, is an essential prerequisite for vocabulary teaching as it
helps in both engaging the attention of the learners and naturally generating the target vocabulary

2.7.4. Using Pictures

Maintaining the context and making sure the language surrounding the context is easy to
comprehend, the teacher should start eliciting the target vocabulary. Therefore, in selection of
vocabulary, the teacher must be sure that the words or phrases chosen can be immediately
incorporated into the students' linguistic range. Stahl (2005:123) stated, “Vocabulary knowledge
is knowledge; the knowledge of a word not only implies a definition, but also implies how that
word fits into the world.” It is an easy and quick technique of introducing vocabulary to the
learners. For students, drawing can be a fun medium to explain vocabulary. It is not necessary
that teacher must be an expert in drawing pictures accurately. He can draw rough sketches to
make an idea clear. Basic sketches will often work well. You can even have students do their
own drawings, which further reinforces their understanding of the vocabulary. Comparative
words and prepositions can be made clear by simple sketches. Pictures of many types and colors
can be used successfully to show the meaning of words and sentence. Drawings can be used to
explain the meaning of things, actions, qualities, and relations.

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2.7.5. Associated Vocabulary

If one topic consists of number of words, it is easy to teach these entire words altogether. For
example, it is easier to teach words like orange, banana, grapes, lemon, pineapple, mango, and
watermelon together in the context of ‘fruits’ than to teach anyone of these words in isolation.
Examples of lexical fields: Parts of the Face as: If one topic consists of number of words, it is
easy to teach these entire words altogether. For example, it is easier to teach words like orange,
banana, grapes, lemon, pineapple, mango, and watermelon together in the context of ‘fruits’ than
to teach anyone of these words in isolation. Examples of lexical fields are parts of the face and
parts of body.

2.7.6. Dictionary

It is an important tool in the teaching and learning of vocabulary. Teacher should encourage
students to search words in dictionaries. Therefore, the habit of its use should be inculcated right
from the beginning. Gonzalez (1999) found that dictionary work was laborious but necessary,
and that ESL college students need to be taught practical use of the dictionary. Exploring
dictionary entries can be one important and effective component of understanding a word deeply.
Allen (1983:82) perceives, ‘Dictionaries are passport to independence and see them as one of the
student centered learning activities’. The following are some current recommended English
dictionaries: Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, Longman Dictionary of Contemporary
English, Cambridge International Dictionary of English and Oxford Picture Dictionary.

2.7.7. Collocation

It’s a widely accepted idea that collocations are very important part of knowledge and they are
essential to non-native speakers of English in order to speak or write fluently. Nattinger (1980) in
Carter and Mac McCarthy (1988), “It teaches students expectations about which sorts of words
go with which ones. Students will not go about reconstructing the language each time they want
to say something”

The term collocation generally refers to the way in which two or more words are typically used
together. For example, we talk about light heart but not light arm, or we say that we make or

23
come to a decision, but we don’t do a decision. So, light heart and make a decision are often
referred to as collocations and we say that light collocates with heart. For example, Verb + Noun
(e.g. broken windows, breakfast), Noun + Verb (e.g. water freezes, water vapors), Adjective +
Noun (e.g. small boy, best answer).

2.7.8. Synonyms

A synonym may be used to help the student to understand the different shades of meaning, if the
synonym is better known than the word being taught. Synonyms help to enrich a student's
vocabulary bank and provide alternative words instantly. These can be effective since they build
on words and phrases that students already recognize. Adjectives often have several symptoms,
and phrasal verbs will usually have a non-phrasal verb equivalent. Use caution that you do imply
that all the words have exactly the same meaning, since different words often are used for
different connotations or to imply different meanings. The same procedure can be used to elicit
synonyms. The teacher needs to highlight the fact that “true” synonyms are relatively rare and
the answers will often be “near” synonyms. The students could make crosswords, word snakes or
puzzles for each other using these synonyms.

2.7.9. Antonyms

The students were asked to make lists of opposite words. Two groups were made; one group
gave one word while the other group asked to give an opposite word to it. For example,
sharp/blunt, rude/polite, flexible/rigid, generous/mean etc. One group gave word ‘sharp’ and the
other group gave opposite word for it as ‘blunt’. Marks were written on the board. They found it
very interesting and memorized more words in order to win the contest. Thus, by play way
method they can learn new words.

2.8. How are Words Remembered?

The learner needs not only to learn a lot of words, but to remember them. In fact, learning is
remembering. Unlike the learning of grammar, which is essentially a rule-based system,
vocabulary knowledge is largely a question of accumulating individual items. Researchers into

24
the workings of memory customarily distinguish between the following systems: the short-term
store, working memory, and long-term memory.

The short-term store is the brain's capacity to hold a limited number of items of information for
periods of time up to a few seconds. It is the kind of memory that is involved in holding in your
head a telephone number for as long as it takes to be able to dial it. Or to repeat a word that
you've just heard the teacher modeling. But successful vocabulary learning clearly involves more
than simply holding words in your mind for a few seconds. Focusing on words long enough to
perform operations on them is the function of working memory. Many cognitive tasks such as
reasoning, learning and understanding depend on working memory. It can be thought of as a kind
of work bench, where information is first placed, studied and moved about before being filed
away for later retrieval. The information that is being manipulated can come from external
sources via the senses, or it can be 'downloaded' from the long-term memory or both. Material
remains in working memory for about twenty seconds. This capacity is made possible by the
existence of the articulator loop, a process of sub vocal repetition, a bit like a loop of audio tape
going round and round. It enables the short-term store to be kept refreshed. Having just heard a
new word, for example, we can run it by as many times as we need in order to examine it.

The holding capacity of the articulator loop seems to be a determining factor in the ability to
learn languages: the longer the loop, the better the learner. Or, to put it another way, the ability to
hold a phonological representation of a word in working memory is a good predictor of language
learning aptitude. Likewise, any interference in the processes of sub vocal repetition - e.g.
distracting background talk - is likely to disrupt the functioning of the loop and impair learning.
Another significant feature of the articulator loop is that it can hold fewer L2 words than Ll
words. This has a bearing on the length of chunk a learner can process at any one time. Also
linked to working memory is a kind of mental sketch pad. Such as, visual mnemonics (or
memory prompts) can be placed and scanned in order to elicit words from long-term memory
into working memory. Long-term memory can be thought of as a kind of filing system. Unlike
working memory which has a limited capacity and no permanent content, long-term memory has
an enormous capacity, and its contents are durable over time.

However, the fact that learners can retain new vocabulary items the length of a lesson (i.e.
beyond the few seconds' duration of the short-term store) but have forgotten them by the next

25
lesson suggests that long-term memory is not always as long-term as we would wish. Rather, it
occupies a continuum from 'the quickly forgotten' to 'the never forgotten'. The great challenge for
language learners is to transform material from the quickly forgotten to the never forgotten.
Research into memory suggests that, in order to ensure that material moves into permanent long-
term memory, a number of principles need to be observed. Here is a brief summary of some of
the research findings that are relevant to the subject of word learning:

Repetition means the time-honored way of 'memorizing' new material is through repeated
rehearsal of the material while it is still in working memory - i.e. letting the articulator loop just
run and run. However, simply repeating an item (the basis of rote learning) seems to have little
long-term effect unless some attempt is made to organize the material at the same time. But one
kind of repetition that is important is repetition of encounters with a word. It has been estimated
that, when reading, words stand a good chance of being remembered if they have been met at
least seven times over spaced intervals.

Retrieval is another kind of repetition that is crucial is what is called the retrieval practice effect.
This means, simply, that the act of retrieving a word from memory makes it more likely that the
learner will be able to recall it again later. Activities which require retrieval, such as using the
new word in written sentences, 'oil the path' for future recall.

Spacing is better to distribute memory work across a period of time than to mass it together in a
single block. This is known as the principle of distributed practice. This applies in both the short
term and the long term. When teaching students a new set of words, for example, it is best to
present the first two or three items, then go back and test these, then present some more, then
backtrack again, and so on. As each word becomes better learned, the testing interval can
gradually be extended. The aim is to test each item at the longest interval at which it can reliably
be recalled. Similarly, over a sequence of lessons, newly presented vocabulary should be
reviewed in the next lesson, but the interval between successive tests should gradually be
increased.

Pacing shows learners’ different learning styles and process data at different rates, so ideally they
should be given the opportunity to pace their own rehearsal activities. This may mean the teacher

26
allowing time during vocabulary learning for learners to do 'memory work' such as organizing or
reviewing their vocabulary silently and individually.

Use indicates Putting words to use, preferably in some interesting way, is the best way of
ensuring they are added to long-term memory. It is the principle popularly known as Use it or
loses it.

Personal organizing indicates the judgments that learners make about a word are most effective if
they are personalized. In one study, subjects who had read a sentence aloud containing new
words showed better recall than subjects who had simply silently rehearsed the words. But
subjects who had made up their own sentences containing the words and read them aloud did
better still.

2.9 Research on Vocabulary Teaching Strategies

From the late 1980s, vocabulary was an area that had drawn researchers' interest within the
majority of L2 acquisition (Nation, 1997). Researchers realized that many of learners'
difficulties, both receptively and productively, result from an inadequate vocabulary, and even
when they are at higher levels of language competence and performance, they still feel in need of
learning vocabulary (Laufer, 1986; Nation, 1990). One of the research implications about the
importance of vocabulary is that "lexical competence is at the heart of communicative
competence" (Meara 1996:35).

Meanwhile, there was an increasing output of teaching and learning handbooks or guidelines
which directly focused on vocabulary (Carter 1987, 1998; Gairns and Redman 1986; Gough
1996; Holden 1996; Jordan 1997; McCarthy 1990; Nation 1990; Lewis, 1997). Claims that EFL
vocabulary teaching was reformed outside Western contexts also bloomed (Chia 1996; Gu 1997;
and Hong 1989). Vocabulary has got its central and essential status in discussions about learning
a language. Particular approaches were developed, like discourse-based language teaching
(Carter and McCarthy 1988), the lexical phrase approach (Nattinger and DeCarrico 1992), the
lexical approach (Lewis 1993, 1997), and the lexical syllabus (Sinclair and Renouf 1988; Willis
1990). Selection of core vocabulary or corpus by modern technology was also systematically
developed (Carter, 1988; and Nation, 1996). Moreover, approaches to assessing vocabulary have

27
become particularly specialized (Nation, 1993 and Read, 2000). Therefore, the weak or
discriminated status of vocabulary as criticized (Levenston 1979) in both L2 acquisition research
and teaching methodologies has changed and is no longer the case.

Local researchers have conducted research on vocabulary. For example, Seged Ashagrie(2016)
made a study on effect of integrated vocabulary and grammar pre teaching on EFL learners
reading comprehension schemata theoretic view of reading. Her findings showed that the
students were poor in their English language proficiency, but after experiment showed a little
progress and were motivated to learn. Dessalegn (2010) also conducted study vocabulary
teaching and learning strategies and their significant roles on fostering reading comprehension.
His findings showed that vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension are strongly
correlated and are inseparable components.

Moreover, Naygi Kidane (2016) conducted study on exploring EFL teachers’ belief and practice
of vocabulary teaching techniques. The result showed the beliefs of teacher on vocabulary
teaching were very low. From the researcher experience/knowledge and from the researches
mentioned above, the practice of teaching vocabulary has not been addressed adequately.

28
 CHAPTER THREE
3. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

As the aim of this study is assessing the practice of teaching vocabulary at Feresbet Preparatory
School, descriptive survey type of research was employed to assess how often teachers’ practice
different vocabulary teaching and practically use them in the classroom. The design of the
research, source of data, sample of the population and sampling techniques instruments and
procedures of data collection, and method of data analysis are presented.

3.1. Research Design

In this research a qualitative design was used. These techniques were chosen because that could
to provide information concerning the status of the current practices of vocabulary teaching
strategies in teaching and learning English as a Foreign Language in the preparatory school.
Therefore, qualitative techniques help the researcher to draw valid conclusions for advance
planning of the methods to be adopted for collecting the relevant data and techniques were used
during analysis.

3.2. Source of Data and Population of the Study

In this study there were ten English teachers at Feresbet preparatory school at grade eleven and
twelve in the year 2016/2017. The target populations of the study were grade eleven and twelve
English teachers at Feresbet preparatory School at Degadamot woreda, West Gojjam zone,
Amhara region .Having this, ten English teachers from grade eleven and twelve were taken as a
population for the study. Two of them were female. The respondents were selected in
compressive sampling techniques of the total population of both grade levels. Since the research
includes all of the participants, there was no doubt in sampling methods.

The researcher decided to choose grade eleven and twelve English teachers because teachers at
this grade level had better experience than other grade level and the researcher taught in this
grade level at Feresbet preparatory school. So, the researcher felt that the study would fill out a
gap to other grade level.

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3.3. Research Instruments and Procedures of Data Collections

The researcher of this study used two instruments. These were classroom observation and
interview based on the number of participants of the research. Before collecting data, the
researchers introduced himself to the school principal and the participants of the research and
told the reason why the researcher was there. So that, they could allow him to gather data from
the concerned body that were English teachers of grade eleven and twelve.

3.3.1. Classroom Observation

According to Best and Kahan (1989), observation gives the firsthand account of situation under
study and combined with other data collecting tools. It allows for a holistic interpretation of the
situations which are being studied. Robson (2002:310) further states: “Data from direct
observation contrast with and can often usefully complement information obtained by virtually
any other techniques”. Observation is considered as a major data collection tool among second
language acquisition researchers, because it allows the study of the phenomena at close range
with many of the contextual variables present (Selinger and Shahomy, 1989). It is one method of
data collection and it is a systematic, purposeful, and selective way watching and listening to an
interactive phenomenon as it occurs (Kumar, 2005).

Classroom observation was an important tool and the main instrument used to collect data for the
present study.0bservation as a research method has a number of clear advantages for the
researcher so as to gather sufficient information about the physical environment and about
human behavior that can be recorded directly by the researcher without having to rely on others.
The main reason to select this method was to avoid bias and to check what happened currently.
In other words, observation enables the researcher to note down what the researcher saw as it
occurred, and the observational data are often more accurate. The researcher employed overt
type of observation. Overt observation is where those being observed are aware that the
observation is taking place. This was employed when the teacher taught vocabulary according to
their experience and different ways of teaching strategies. Sometimes teachers believed they did
and the actual teaching procedures in the classroom differ (Wragg 1999) considering this .The
researcher observed from February to May 2017 three times for each English teachers. The focus

30
of observation was to see how teachers practice vocabulary teaching strategies and problems
related to teaching vocabulary in the class rooms. To this end, the researcher prepared classroom
observation checklist in order to collect additional data and substantiate the results obtained
through observation. The checklist was prepared based on the objectives of the study which was
focused on classroom teaching techniques which were employed by teachers. In addition to this,
the researcher observed the challenges that English language teachers faced during actual
implementation.

Therefore, in this research observation focused on the teachers’ practice while teaching
vocabulary and the technique used in the class room.

3.3.2. Interview

Interview is a means of interaction in which the interviewees give information orally. The
information gained by interview is personal and it helps to get detailed information. It is used to
get information concerning feeling, attitude, or emotion to certain questions which is not possible
to answer through classroom observation Koul (1984)

The main purpose of using the interview was to verify whether or not some of the information
obtained from the observation was correct, and to draw out more consistent information from the
interviewees as they described their own practicing of vocabulary teaching strategies and factors
that hinder teaching vocabulary in the class room. It was believed that, therefore, better evidence
could be obtained if teachers were invited to tell the researcher in a face to face communication
about what they did in teaching vocabulary (Lynch, 1996). This data collecting instrument was
preferred to get adequate information, free discussion, and response and flexibility that cannot be
obtained through other data collection instrument that is classroom observation. According to
Nunan (1992), the interview is suitable for the descriptive study for two reasons. First, interview
could be employed for securing relevant data. Second, the respondents with whom the interview
was conducted were few in which case interview is appropriate. Thus, the semi-structured
interview, which was prepared based on the objectives of the study and the review of related
literature, was set to collect relevant data. Therefore, the researcher believes that this would help
to get more significant information to support the data obtained through classroom observation.

31
The researcher employed semi-structured interview which is used to collect qualitative data by
setting up a situation that allows a respondent the time and scope to talk about their opinions on a
particular subject. Having this, two interview questions were prepared for ten English teachers.
The interview has taken averagely 15 minutes and it was conducted in the selected school
compound from February to May 10-2017. The procedure of interviewing was held through note
taking while the interviewee was explaining his/ her ideas and by recording respondents’ idea.

3.4. Data Gathering and Analyses Procedures

In order to analyze the data which were collected through classroom observation and interview;
qualitative method of data analysis were employed for the study. When collecting data, first
observation was employed. Since the required data is from teachers to assess how they practiced
different vocabulary teaching in their classes. Next classroom interview was made. The
observation was made based on check lists about different vocabulary teaching strategies so as to
assess the teachers’ actual practices of strategies in vocabulary teaching whether they practice
different strategies or not. Finally, the data were collected from teachers and the data with similar
categories were organized in a way that they can be easily analyzed.

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 CHAPTER FOUR

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

The purpose of this study was to assess the practice of vocabulary teaching in English language
classrooms at Feresbet preparatory School in EFL classes. To collect relevant data for the study
interview and classroom observation were employed. The analysis and discussion was started
with the data obtained from classroom observations which were collected from vocabulary
teaching practice of teachers. Then, the teachers’ responses given in the interview data were
discussed.

4.1. The Analysis of Classroom Observation

The following result of observation was obtained using the procedure mentioned in the
methodology part as scholars’ idea adopted from review of related literature. The problem of
classroom teacher during the vocabulary lesson and the nature of vocabulary teaching techniques
were observed.

4.2. Strategies and Techniques Used in the Classroom to Teach

Vocabulary

To assess the practice of vocabulary teaching in the classroom, the researcher developed the
checklists (see appendix 1 to 3). The information in the checklist and the actual observation were
used to see if the teachers used different techniques effectively in teaching vocabulary and
problems related to vocabulary teaching. The checklist was used and filled three times for each
teacher for thirty classes or periods of observation in total. So the researcher tried to classify
actual classroom observation in three rounds in different classes and units. For grade eleven, the
researcher observed the participants on unit seven, eight, nine and ten vocabulary section and for
grade twelve the observation took place on unit six, eight, nine and ten. Even the unit except unit
six and seven were similar but differ in grade level. In this round all the ten English teachers
were observed and presented as follow.

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 Classroom observation-Round one

The classroom observation was took place on grade eleven and twelve English teachers on
different units. The first classroom observation was taken place 14/02/2017.

T1 entered the class and greeted students after that the teacher wrote the topic on the blackboard
about describing objects in the vocabulary section.T1 instructed the students to open their text on
page 135 and see on the picture given on the right column. The teacher asked the students to
describe the objects in group using the pictures given. The teacher said, “The first picture is
made of….” After ten minutes of discussions, the teacher gave a description of each object on
the board by translating the word into Amharic like this:

“Mobile is made of ….” the teacher said. The students became silent. Then, the teacher
continued. “abizagnaw mobile ena leloch ke plastic yiseralu dominate yemeyaderigew hagerim
chayina new.”

Finally, the teacher ordered the students to open their book on page 139 and take the definitions
of the words like “Horizon is a place where earth meets sky.”After giving in this way, the teacher
summarized the lesson.

T2 entered the class and greeted students after that the teacher wrote the topic and date on the
blackboard about word group. Then, the teacher informed the student to open their exercise book
and text book. ”student in the previous period, we have seen the meaning of the word on page
139. Today, we will group the words on page151. So, open your text book on page 151 and
group the words in your exercise book,” said the teacher. After few minutes, the teacher grouped
the words on the blackboard and gave definition for each word like the following.

Character-the way some one thinks feel sand behaves some ones personality.

Peace-keeping-the preservation of peace, especially as a military mission in which troops attempt

to keep formerly warring armed force from starting to fight against.

T3 stepped into the class and greeted the students. Then, the teacher ordered the monitor to clean
the blackboard. After that, the teacher wrote the date and topic on it. The teacher ordered the
student to take out their exercise book and text book. “Students turn on page 151. This page is

34
about grouping words in their relatives or categories, so I will give you the group first and the
meaning next. Take out your exercise book and take the note. Finally, I will explain to you. Is it
ok students?” said the teacher. “Yes” said the students together. The teacher gave the groups of
the given words on this page and their meaning like:

The teacher said,” students write the words which are grouped under:

A) films and movies: character, copywriter, novelist, editor, and comedy.” The teacher continued
in this way for the other group and gave the meaning for each group.

1) Character- all the qualities and features that make a person, group of people, and places
different from others. In short a person plays a role in fiction. (This means getse bahiry in fiction
and film.)
2) Exchange- rate means a number that is used to calculate the difference in value between
money from one country to another country.
3) Export- to send a produce to be sold in another country. After that the teacher gave the
meaning in Amharic.

T4 entered the class and cleaned the blackboard. The teacher ordered the students to open the
text book and to open on page 175 exercise three. The teacher said,” Student since the lesson is
about human development, this may be difficult word for you, so let me give you the definitions
of the words. Take out your exercise book and take the meaning.” After giving the explanation
the teacher ordered the students to go to on Page 177. The teacher said, “Look at the picture and
match the words.” Finally, the teacher translates into Amharic like this:

“Ape mallet tota mesel be arat eger yemehedu malt new”

“Homo sapiens mallet degimo ahun yalewn ye sew zer malet new”

T5 set into the class and cleaned the blackboard. The teacher said,“ in the previous section we
have seen the meaning of words on page 175 and you took the notes that I gave you. Now, open
on page 186 the vocabulary section.” After that the teacher ordered the students to highlight the
words from the passage.

The teacher said, “Students turn your text book on page 184 paragraph one on the reading
passage. The word citadel means…….please guess. Citadel means large buildings for storing

35
large quantity of goods, so the answer is number 14 on page186.Please, continue in this way.
Finally, we will do it together.”After 15 minute the teacher said, “Enough. Based on the passage,
we can guess the meaning.”

“Paragraph two; “ivory” means a small shiny shell that used to…… that is number on page 186
ye zihon tiris mallet new be diro genie be tam wud new.”
“Text B paragraph one; “pharaoh” means an ancient ………that is number 10 yedro ye gibits
mery mallet new.” The teacher continued in this way.

T6 came into the class and greeted the students. After that, the teacher wrote the topic about
weather and climate change. Then, the teacher ordered the students to take out their text book
and to open on the vocabulary sections about phrasal verbs. The teacher said, “student in B6.2,
we have seen phrasal verbs in different ways. Today, I will give you the meaning of phrasal
verbs with “on” and “off” take out your exercise book and take the meaning.”

1) Get on means receive little or no punishment for a crime/cope/make out

2) Get off means develop/make progress/start/leave
3) Go on means continue/proceed/come about/happen
4) Go off means explode/leave/proceed……..these are the synonyms of different phrasal
verb.”

T7 entered the class and greeted the students. After that the teacher wrote the topic about weather
and climate change. “Student” said the teacher, “in the previous period, we tried to see about
word formation from adjective to noun. For example, the adjective short plus “-en” gives the
verb shorten. Today, open on the vocabulary sections about phrasal verbs on page 189 and match
the phrasal verbs. Finally, I will give you the meaning.” After 20 minutes, the teacher gave the
meaning. At the end of the class, the teacher said, “Students for tomorrow, you will bring another
phrasal verbs followed by “on” and “off” at list six phrasal verbs.”

T8 stepped into the class and greeted the students. After that the teacher wrote the topic about
“the tape of the tale.” The teacher instructed the students to open the text book on page 201.The
teacher said, “Students guess the meaning of the words base on the passage on exercise six. For
example, a light heart (line one) means….”

36
A light heart (line one) means…….
A foggy head (line one) means……..” The teacher continued in this way and explains the
meaning.

Finally, the teacher said, “tomorrow, you will bring dictionary to find the meaning of words
which is related to water on page201 exercise one.”

T9 came into the class and greeted the students. After writing the topic, the teacher said, “In the
previous period, I gave you an example how to find words using dictionary and I gave you a
home work. Now, let us do together. Who can try the first word……?” After discussion, the
teacher gave the meaning on the board like:

A) Flow means to move in a continuous and smooth way.

B) Pool means small and rather deep body usual fresh water.

T10 entered the class and greeted the students. The teacher instructed the student to take out their
exercise book and text book. The teacher said, “Today, we are going to discuss on page
201exersice one about water. Almost all the words on the boxes are talking about water. So, let
me give you the meaning of each word. Please take the meaning.”After the students took the
note, the teacher translated the words in to Amharic like this:

A) “Flow mallet kes bilo yemeword wiha mallet new.be lela ababal teketatilo mehed end
mallet new”
B) “Swimming pool mallet mewagna genda mallet new.” The teacher continued in this way
and sum up the lesson.

At the end of the class the teacher summarized the lesson by giving home work.

Classroom observation-Round two

T1 as usual came into the class and greeted the students. The teacher instructed the students to
open the text book on page 175 exercise three.” The lesson is about “human development.” Take
out your exercise book and take the meaning.” After giving the explanation, the teacher informed
the students to go to on Page 177. The teacher said, “Look at the picture match the words.”
Finally, the teacher gave the definition like this.

37
 A) “Ape (for all fours) means …….look the picture and guess it means…… yes means…”
B) “Australopithecus afarenis (up right) means…….look and guess…..ok ….”

After finishing in this way, the teacher said, “Now, let us go to on page 186 and try to read the
passage to guess the meaning of the highlighted words for tomorrow. I will ask you. Do it.”

T2 stepped into the class and cleaned the blackboard. The teacher started his lesson by asking the
students to remind the previous lesson: “what was our topic in the previous period?” the teacher
asked. The students answered together “it is about prefixes.”

The teacher ordered, “take out your exercise book and let me give you note on the meaning of
words on page 175. After that I will give you an explanation” After the explanation, the teacher
said, “Now, open on page186 the vocabulary section.” After that, the teacher ordered the
students to highlight the words from the passage.

The teacher said “student turn your text on the reading passage on page 184 paragraph one. The
word citadel means…….please guess. Citadel means large buildings for storing large quantity of
goods, so the answer is number 14 on page186.Please, continue in this way .Finally, we will do it
together.”After 15 minute, the teacher said, “enough based on the passage, we can guess the
meaning in the following way:”

A) “Paragraph two ivory means a small shiny shell that used to…… that is number three on
page 186.”
B) “Paragraph three mortars means …..” The teacher continued in this way for the other
words.

T3 entered the class and greeted the students. Then, the teacher cleaned the blackboard and wrote
the date and topic on it. “In the previous period, I gave you the meaning of the words which is
found on page 186 and I explained to you. Today, we are going to discuss on page 188 definition
of the word given on the text book.” The teacher ordered the student to take out their exercise
book and text book. “Students turn on page 188 this page is talking about the meaning of
different words, so discus the meaning in your group and finally we will see the meaning
together,” Said the teacher. After 20 minutes of discussion, the teacher explained like:

38
 A) Drizzle is soft/light rain. We call it “kafiya’’ in Amharic.
B) Harbinger is a sign that something is going to happened soon.
C) Roost is a place where birds rest and sleep. We call “ye wof gojjo.” The teacher
continued in this way and order students to write on their exercise book.

T4 came into the class and cleaned the blackboard. The teacher ordered the students to open the
textbook on page 203. The teacher said, “take out your exercise book and let me give you note
on the meaning of words on page 203. The words are synonym. Student you know synonym
words means words that are almost having the same meaning or similar meaning. For example,
alter ,adjust and change are almost similar……”After finishing in this way, the teacher order the
students “open your textbook on page 207 the vocabulary section in this page is about word
building. I order you to bring dictionary. Have you brought? Good. Let us begin our discussion.”
The teacher ordered them to find the word alcoholism.

“Students the word alcoholism is noun, have you seen it? Good, find the word alcohol it
is………..” Students said,” noun”
The teacher then said, “the word alcoholic is………” After some minutes, “it is adjective said
the teacher.
The discussion continued in this way.

T5 came into the class and cleaned the blackboard. The teacher said, “In the previous section, we
have seen word formation from noun to adjectives. For example, alcoholism (noun) to alcoholic
(adjective). Now, open on page 218 on the vocabulary section about puzzle. Please, find out lists
of words from the table in your groups. After that, I will provide the meaning of each word.”
After 15 minutes students came with lists of words. The teacher tried to give definitions for each
word like this:

A) Self motivated means motivating him/her self in doing something.”

B) Solution means homogenous mixture, which may be liquid or solid formed by dissolving
one or more substance.” The teacher continued in this way and summarized it.

T6 stepped into the class and cleaned the blackboard. After writing the topic, the teacher order
students to open the text book on page 222 exercise three. The teacher said, “Find words and
expressions with this meanings in text on page 223 to 224 from the reading section about

39
Kibuukas’ fast track to fame, Prudence’s song of success and about Heller keller. I will give you
20 minutes. After twenty minutes, the teacher asked students in this way:

Long narrow pieces of wood or plastics that you fasten to boots so you can move across snow.
What is that student? This is from Kibuuka’s passage. The word is……skis. Skis means long
narrow………
An international sports event for disable people. Who can tell me the word? The teacher
continued in this way and summarized the lesson

T7 entered the class and greeted the students. After that, wrote the topic about “disability is no
obstacle to success.” The teacher told students to open their text book on page 222 exercise three.
The teacher said, “Students guess the meaning of the word from the reading passage in your
group on page 223 to 224 about different people ability. After that, we will discuss together.”

After15 minutes, the teacher tried to explain the meaning based on the reading passage. The
teacher said, “Open your text book on page 225 increasing word powers about physical
disability. Read the definition of words and write on your exercise book. Tomorrow, we will
discuss.
T8 entered the class as usual and greeted the students. The teacher wrote the date and topic of the
lesson about disability. The teacher said,” find words and expressions with this meanings in text
on page 223 to 224 from the reading section about Kibuukas’ fast track to fame, Prudence’s song
of success and about Heller keller. I will give you 15 minutes. After fifteen minutes, the teacher
gave the meaning in this way:

A) Ski is long narrow pieces of wood or plastics that you fasten to boots so you can move
across snow.
B) Paralympics games are an international sports event for disable people. The teacher
continued in this way and finished the lesson.

T9 entered the class and cleaned the blackboard. “Students “said the teacher, “open your text
book on page 225 about increasing word power. I think you wrote exercise one on your exercise
book, so let me give you the explanation” Then, the teacher continued in this way:

40
 A) Paralysis means when you lose the ability to move your body or part of your body.
(sewinetachin lay bemederis gudat manikesakes alemechal mallet new)
B) Amputation means when the arm or leg cut off. (ye egir woyim e ej mekoret mallet new)
The teacher continued in this way and summarized the lesson.

T10 set into the class and cleaned the blackboard. The teacher started the lesson by asking the
students to remind the previous lesson. “What was our topic in the previous period?” the teacher
asked. The students answer together “it is about reading comprehension.” After writing the
topic, the teacher informed students to open the text book on page 222 exercise three. The
teacher said,” find words and expressions with these meanings in the text book on page 223 to
224 from the reading section about disability. I will give you 20 minutes. After twenty minutes,
the teacher asked students in this way:

A) Long narrow pieces of wood or plastics that you fasten to boots so you can move across
snow. What is that student? This is from Kibuuka’s passage. The word is……skis. Skis
means long narrow………
B) An international sports event for disable people. Who can tell me the word? The teacher
continued n this way and summarized the lesson.

Classroom observation-Round three

T1 entered the class and cleaned the blackboard. The teacher ordered the students to open the
text book on page 203. The teacher said, “take out your exercise book and let me give you note
on the meaning of words on page 203. The words are synonym. Student you know synonym
words mean words that are almost having the same meaning or similar meaning. For example,
alter, adjust and change are almost similar……”After finishing in this way, the teacher ordered
the students “open your text book on page 207 the vocabulary section. This page is about word
building. I ordered you to bring dictionary. Have you brought? Good .let us begin our
discussion.” The teacher ordered to find the word alcoholism.

“Student the word alcoholism is noun. Have you seen it? Good, find the word alcohol. It
is………..” said the teacher.

Students said, “Noun”

41
The teacher then said, “the word alcoholic is………” After some minutes, “it is adjective said
the teacher.” The discussion continued in this way.

T2 entered the class and cleaned the blackboard. The teacher said, “In the previous section we
have seen words formation from noun to adjectives. For example, alcoholism (noun) to alcoholic
(adjective). Now, open on page 218 the vocabulary section about puzzle. Please, find out twelve
words from the table in your groups. After that, I will give you the meaning of each word.” After
15 minutes, students came with lists of words. The teacher tried to give definitions for each word
like this:

A) Self motivated means motivating him/her self in doing something.

B) Solution means homogenous mixture, which may be liquid or solid, formed by dissolving
one or more substance. The teacher continues in this way and summarized it.

T3 came into the class and greeted the students. Then, the teacher wrote the date and topic on the
blackboard. The teacher ordered the students to take out their exercise book and the text book.
The teacher said, “From the table on page 218 list twelve words. For example; go to row five,
column four begins with letter “c” have you seen it? The word cooperative” Students said “yes.”

The teacher ordered, “Find the other words in this way.”After 25 minutes, the teacher listed the
words on the blackboard and the definition of the words.

T4 entered the class and cleaned the blackboard. The teacher instructed the students to open the
text book on page 228. The teacher ordered, “Open your textbook on page 228 and read the short
paragraph about phrasal verbs. Find out phrasal verb which consists of three words that go
together and give the meaning of the phrasal verbs.’’

After 10 minutes, the students list some phrasal verbs and the teacher tried to give the definitions
of some other phrasal verbs like the following:

A) Grew up means to grew towards or arrive at full stature or physical or mental maturity.
B) Made up means to form by fitting together or assembling.
-To combine to produce (a sum or whole).
-To wrap or fasten.
-To apply cosmetics to body.

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 C) Keep up means to continue without interruption.
- To keep adequately informed or up – to- date.
- To maintain contactor relation with someone.

After giving the definition for the other phrasal verbs like the above, the teacher ordered students
to read about phrasal verbs which were found at the back of text book.

T5entered the class and greeted the students. Then, the teacher wrote the date and topic of the
lesson about phrasal verbs. The teacher said,” Now, open on page 228 on the vocabulary section
about phrasal verbs. In this section, we are going to see the definition of some phrasal verbs with
the participle “up”. Take out your exercise book and take the notes.” After that, the teacher gave
the notes phrasal verbs consists of the participle “up’’ like the following:

A) Cut up means to divide into small pieces.

B) Pick up means to lift something.
C) Take up to begin to study or practice something.
D) Pull up means to stop moving.

The teacher gave other phrasal verbs in this way and summarized the lesson.

T6 as usual entered the class; greeted the students and wrote the date and topic. The teacher said,
“Students open your text book on page 249 and find the meaning of the words in exercise four.”
Then, the teacher wrote the words on the blackboard like the following:

A) Rich (paragraph one) means affluent. It is found in line two.

B) The total value of goods and services produced in a country in one year divided by the
number of people who live there. (Paragraph one) means GDP (ye anidin hager ediget
Masaya zedie new). This is found in line three.

The teacher continued in this way for the other nine vocabulary words. Finally, the teacher gave
an assignment to write about the difference between “rich” and “poor.

T7 stepped into the class and greeted the students. After that, the teacher wrote the topic about
poverty and development.” Student” said the teacher, “in the previous period, we tried to see
comprehension questions about poverty and development exercise three page249. Isn’t it? The

43
students said “yes.” Today, I will give you the meaning of the words which is found on page 249
exercise four. Take out your exercise book and take notes.” Then, the teacher gave the notes and
explained like this:

A) Rich (paragraph one) means affluent/wealthy.

B) The total value of goods and services produced in a country in one year divided by the
number of people who live there. (Paragraph one) means GDP.

The teacher continued in this way for the other nine vocabulary words and summarized the daily
lesson.

T8 entered the class; greeted the students and wrote the date and topic. The teacher said,
“Students open your text book on page 249 and find the meaning of the word s on exercise four.”
Then, the teacher wrote the words on the blackboard like the following:

A) Rich (paragraph one) means affluent. It is found in line two

B) The total value of goods and services produced in a country in one year divided by the
number of people who live there. (Paragraph one) means GDP. This is found in line
three.

The teacher continued in this way for the other nine vocabulary words. Finally, the teacher gave
an assignment to write about the difference between “rich” and “poor.

T9 entered the class; greeted the students and wrote the date and topic. The teacher said, “student
open your text book on page 258 in the previous period, we have seen prefixes like (un, in-, im-,
il-, ir- and dis-and today, we are going to discuss on page 258 exercise four. The instruction says;
add prefixes to these words to give them opposite meaning, so let us find the opposite for:

A) Agree……….disagree
B) Available…….unavailable
C) Co operative……uncooperative
D) Developed …….undeveloped
E) Divided………..undivided.

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The teacher continue to the other words to find the opposite together with the students and
summarize the lesson

T10 entered the class and greeted the students and wrote the date and topic. The teacher said,
“Students open your text book on page 258. In the previous period, we have seen prefixes. The
instruction says; add prefixes to these words to give them opposite meaning, so let us find the
opposite for:

A) Agree……..disagree.
B) Available…….unavailable.
C) Cooperative…..uncooperative.
D) Developed….undeveloped.
E) Divided…….un divided.

The teacher continue to the other words to find the opposite together with the students and
summarize the lesson

As can be seen from the observation using checklist, teachers were presenting the lessons
traditionally, mainly through explanation, definitions, translation to mother tongue and
sometimes context in all of the observation days. They spent much of the time presenting the
lesson, as mentioned above, mainly through explanation. Moreover, the teachers were not seen
using different strategies which let the students use English words in speaking, listening, reading
and writing or the language under practice. Even though, this is partly due to large class size. All
of them were not seen using monitoring mechanism to see that the performance of the learners is
satisfactory. The main activities done in the class were seen to be answering questions orally
without having any vocabulary notebook but on their exercise book. The data from observation
also showed that teachers practice in developing vocabulary was found to be low because
teachers used the same techniques.

The data which were gained from classroom observation about the teachers’ strategies in
teaching vocabulary in EFL classes were rarely seen in organizing group work, supervising and
managing the activities, checking students’ vocabulary performance, and giving activities which
help students practice new language in communication. In addition, it was observed that teachers

45
mostly used the local language or Amharic and isolated ways of teaching vocabulary was also
the dominant one.

The data in the checklist and the actual classroom observation were used to identify the
techniques of teachers to teach vocabulary in their classrooms, the effort they made to teach
vocabulary). McCarthy (2002:222) stated that “the successful teachers are those who develop
techniques and disciplines for teaching and learning vocabulary; it might be just a question of
keeping a notebook, or using a dictionary properly or perhaps disciplining yourself to look over
your notes or to read a lot outside of class. The more independent you become as a learner, the
better and stronger your vocabulary becomes, I think.‟. However, most teachers do not
implement this were observed to be almost none in the class room. They were rarely seen asking
and answering questions using other strategies like reputation of words, role play, antonyms and
synonyms, real objects and pictures. They were hardly observed taking active participation in the
pair/group work on the side of students because teachers did not encourage to do independently
instead giving meaning of words on the blackboard. It could be seen that they showed little
individual effort and interest toward the existing techniques.

The researcher conducted classroom observation repeatedly to find out the vocabulary teaching
methods and techniques practice used by the classroom teacher. During these classroom
observations, the method used by the classroom teacher were teacher centered method, The
teachers’ teaching practice were also usual, they used similar teaching methods for all three
rounds of classroom observation. They did not use different vocabulary teaching methods.
Currently, there are different kinds of vocabulary teaching techniques that suggested by different
scholars, to make the teaching and learning process more effective. During classroom
observation, the techniques were observed by the researcher and used by the classroom teacher
commonly were definition of words, direct translations, contextual meanings and sometimes
collocation and dictionary. These vocabulary teaching techniques that were used by the
classroom teachers only might not that much useful for students. To make the vocabulary
teaching/learning process more effective. The teacher should use different kinds of vocabulary
teaching techniques.

As far as the continuous observations were concerned, teachers were not using modern
techniques to develop students’ vocabulary skill. Nation, P. (2005) suggested different

46
techniques that teachers of English could implement in their teaching vocabulary, all of the
teachers were mainly using the traditional approaches (teacher-based-techniques) for most of the
observation sessions. The techniques used were questions and answers, giving instruction/
explanation, teaching new words in isolated way or without a context, translating. Hence, all of
the teachers were not using effective techniques which are used for practice and production
stages in order to teach vocabulary skills. They were not seen encouraging students to read
different texts to improve their vocabulary and even allowing students to use the language they
learned in the classroom.

Teachers were not seen teaching a meaning of a word in relation to meaning relationship such as
synonyms and antonyms but T1, T4 and T6 from all round of classroom observation except T6
and T7 in round one. They were not observed teaching word formation to recognize its parts like
prefix, suffix, and root with their meaning in the classroom compared to definition and
translation. They were not seen writing new words on the blackboard and explaining their
meaning with examples using a context except in some reading passage. Students should be
encouraged to guess different meaning of a word in different sentences that it has in different
context and teachers should show the way students can pick the meaning unfamiliar words from
different context. However, in the classroom observation this was not seen. Using a context to
teach vocabulary (sentence, paragraph) helps learners to learn a new word. Research indicates
that contextual word teaching is more effective than non-contextual word teaching (Biemiller &
Boote, 2006).

Richards (1976) lists the different things teachers need to know about a word before they have
taught it. These include: The meaning(s) of the word, its spoken and written forms, what “word
parts” it has (e.g., any prefix, suffix, and “root” form), its grammatical behavior (e.g., its word
class, typical grammatical patterns it occurs in), its collocations, its register, what associations it
has (e.g., words that are similar or opposite in meaning), what connotations it has and its
frequency.

However, teachers were not teaching all these things in English language classroom.
Encouraging students to use new words in speaking or writing, motivating students to use the
words to their own sentences to check whether they have learned them correctly, pushing to use
contextual clues (definition, restatement, cause and effect, compare and contrast, examples and

47
etc.) to find the meaning of unfamiliar words were generally neglected in classroom observation
even if these were another techniques of teaching vocabulary. For example, the first round of
classroom observation was almost focused on definition and translation the other techniques
were ignored like role play, using real objects, synonyms and antonyms of words but T4 and T6
in the first round. The activity was dominated by the classroom teachers. They simply gave the
definition and translated to students’ mother tongue but three teachers only show word formation
and two teachers show collocations using dictionary. In the second round of classroom
observation except one teacher all the teachers implemented context, definition and translation to
students’ mother tongue. The teacher used synonym, dictionary and word formation in addition
to context, translation and definition of words and even in the third round of the observation
definition and translation took much of the time but in this round three teachers used antonyms
and collocation.

Generally, during these classroom observations, the methods used by the classroom teacher were
teacher centered method. The teacher’s teaching practice was also usual, they used similar
teaching methods for all three round classroom observations. They did not use different
vocabulary teaching methods. Currently, there are different kinds of vocabulary teaching
techniques suggested by different scholars Nunan (1991) to make the teaching and learning
process more effective, from that vocabulary teaching techniques, during classroom observation
the techniques were definition of words, translation and contextual meanings. These vocabulary
teaching techniques were commonly used by the classroom teachers. To make the vocabulary
teaching/learning process more effective; the teacher should use different kinds of vocabulary
teaching techniques. In each day of observations, teachers tended to use more of Amharic to
explain the concept of the language materials to be learnt in the classroom, they did not
encourage students to use the new language patterns in the classroom and teachers practiced the
traditional way of teaching vocabulary without a context.

4.3. Analysis of Data Obtained through Interview

Taking the results of teacher’s classroom observations into consideration, the researcher
prepared two interview questions (see the Appendix 4). The contents of the interview questions
were classroom problems in teaching vocabulary and the techniques or strategies used by the

48
teachers and problem of teaching vocabulary in the classroom. The researcher tried to include all
the ten participants using by nominating T1, T2, T3 … and T10 like the observation.

Q1. What types of techniques or strategies do you implement in the classroom

when you teach vocabulary?

T1 gave response. As the students asked us to give them notes which were related to
vocabularies that appear in entrance exam, I usual gave the definition of words. But sometimes, I
gave or show contexts opposite especially in using affixes (prefixes and suffixes) and finally
translate to Amharic language.

T2 ok good. The students asked us to prepare them for the exam, so I gave the meaning of words.
Sometimes, I informed to bring dictionary especially when the lesson ordered us to do so.

T3 oh good question, first I ordered students to guess the meaning. Finally, I gave the meaning of
the words on the board and I translated the word into Amharic. Even, the text book order us to
use other like pronunciation (sometimes), context. I prefer to give their meaning related to their
exam.

T4 the teacher said that he gave the definitions of words by translating into Amharic when he
believed it was difficult for the students. Actually, he used contexts, after the reading passage
and gave the meaning.

T5 usually, I gave the definition since students criticized you not giving notes for all subjects, so
I preferred to give the definition of words using context and sometimes others like synonyms
related to the definition. Finally, I translated into mother tongue when I assumed difficult for
them.

T6 as the students asked us to give them notes which is related to vocabularies that appears in
entrance exam. I usual gave the definition of words. But sometimes I gave or show contexts
finally translated into Amharic language.

T7 I gave the definition since students criticized you not giving notes for all subjects, so I prefer
to give the definition of words using context and sometimes others like synonyms related to the
definition. Finally, I translated into mother tongue when I assumed difficult for them

49
T8 First, I ordered students to guess the meaning and finally I gave the meaning of the words on
the board and finally, I translate into Amharic. Even, the text book order us to use other like
pronunciation (sometimes), context. I prefer to give their meaning related to their exam.

T9 the students asked us to prepare them for the exam, so I gave the meaning of words.
Sometimes, I ordered to bring dictionary especially when the lesson ordered us to do so and
finally I translate it to Amharic.

T10 I ordered students to guess the meaning and finally I gave the meaning of the words on the
board. Finally, I translated into Amharic. Even, the instruction of the text book ordered us to use
other like pronunciation (sometimes), context. I preferred to give their meaning related to their
exam.

Q2.what are the problems that hinder you to teach vocabulary in the
classroom?

T1 the main problems in this school were students’ interest, lack of teaching material and large
class size these hindered me to teach vocabulary effectively. As you have seen the plasma
doesn’t give function more than three years. As you have seen, we couldn’t move freely in the
classroom because there were a lot of students in the class. This forced me to focus on giving the
meaning of words on the board and not to use other techniques.

T2 the problems that hindered me most were lack of students interest and lack of back ground
knowledge. Even most of the time students’ didn’t do their home work properly.

T3 large class size and shortage of time were the major problems. The text books have twelve
units and more than 300 pages with different sections, so it was difficult to overcome these
problems. The other main problem was students’ lack of motivation. The students focused only
exam related contents.

T4 there were different problems. These were lack of teaching material in the classroom like
plasma, real object and picture; lack of students’ interest and large class size were the major
problems.

50
T5 large class size and shortage of time were the major problems. The students didn’t do their
home work regularly this was because of lack of motivation.

T6 large class size and shortage of time were the major problems. The text books have twelve
units and more than 340 pages with different sections, so it is difficult to overcome these
problems. The other main problem was students’ lack of motivation.

T7 the problems that hindered me most were lack of students’ interests and lack of background
knowledge. Even most of the time students’ did not do their homework properly and participate
actively.

T8 there were different problems. These were lack of teaching material in the classroom like
plasma, real object and picture; lack of students’ interest and large class size were the major
problems. There were problems on the curriculum.

T9 large class size and shortage of time were the major problems. The students did not do their
home work regularly. This was because of lack of motivation.

T10 the main problems in this school were students’ interest, lack of teaching material and large
class size these hindered me to teach vocabulary effectively. As you have seen the plasma did
not give functions. As you have seen also we couldn’t move freely in the classroom because
there are a lot of students in the class. This forced me to focus on giving the meaning of words
on the board and note to use other techniques.

There were ten English teachers who participated in detailed interview. Even if they agreed on
the importance of practicing different strategies in vocabulary teaching, the researcher did not
observe them while they practiced different strategies effectively in their language classes during
classroom observation. Next, the teachers’ interview discussion is presented as follows. The
analysis of data gathered through interview has also shown reliable results with findings of the
observation. For example, when answering the first interview item (what type of strategies
/techniques did you implement in the classroom when you teach vocabulary?) Almost all
teachers agreed on using context, translation, definition rarely dictionary and collocation as
vocabulary teaching strategies in their English classes. This was also supported by the classroom

51
observation. Teachers were asked about their vocabulary teaching techniques, that they used in
vocabulary lesson

Except T3 and T10 the other eight teachers said, as the students asked them to give notes which
were related to vocabularies that appear in entrance exam, they usual gave the definition of
words. But sometimes, they gave or show contexts opposite especially in using affixes (prefixes
and suffixes) and finally translated into Amharic language. The techniques used by those two
teachers were; translation and contextual meaning, assumed by the teachers as different
vocabulary teaching techniques.

T3 and T10 used only translation and giving definitions of words. But according to different
language scholars’ arguments, using these two kinds of vocabulary teaching techniques, are not
satisfactory, because there are many vocabulary teaching techniques are left. Using different
teaching technique is more useful than single teaching technique, Nunan D, (1992).

From the above teachers’ responses, it is possible to say that, all teachers did not use all the
necessary vocabulary teaching techniques, except definition of words; translation and contextual
meaning for some teachers. As language scholars suggested this kind of vocabulary teaching
technique did not much helpful to teach new words effectively. From the above response it is
possible to understand that majority of the teachers agreed with the point and they belief by the
importance of this vocabulary teaching technique, but they did not use it because of different
reasons what they raised above quotation. In contrast to this, language scholars widely discussed
about the importance of any sense relation in vocabulary teaching classroom. Teachers should
reduce vocabulary learning activities in class (e.g. giving definition of word lists, translation)
whereas implementing more “partially contextualized” (e.g. word association, synonyms and
antonyms, visual and audio imagery, semantic mapping) or “fully contextualized” activities (e.g.
reading, listening, speaking, and writing in authentic communication activities, (Oxford and
Scarcella 1994)

Regarding to interview question two; what are the problems that hinders you to teach vocabulary
in the classroom? Teachers gave reasons almost in the same way except two teachers (T1 and
T10). Even teachers(T2 andT4) gave other reasons like lack of material in the classroom and lack
of back ground knowledge as a problem of teaching vocabulary in addition to time

52
constraint ,large class size and lack of interest. The other teachers gave similar problems like
lack of students interest, large class size and time constraint. All these directly or indirectly held
back the practice of vocabulary teaching and learning in the classroom.

As supported by different scholars in the field lack of motivation lead to use inappropriate
teaching methods to cover the content of the text book only. Motivation wasn’t the only factor to
teachers to teach vocabulary in the classroom but motivation to learn English as a foreign
language demands many things from the learners, teachers, and material designers. This was so
because motivation is a broad concept dealing with components such as attitudes, aspirations,
interests, and effort in learning English inside and outside of the classroom. Lack of motivation
and other related problems may hamper teaching in the actual classroom (Edge, 1987; Oxford,
2001; Richard, 2001). Another problem faced from the respondents was large class size.
Teachers in large classes may want to delegate some of the works. Many language teachers hold
a negative view on teaching English in large classes. We heard them to say such words as “out of
control”, “hard to organize class activities” or “impossible to communicate”. Kennedy (1996)
feels that it is difficult to control what happens when the number of group passes a certain
number. Harmer (2000) also finds out in his study that large classes bring difficulties to both
teachers and students and process of teaching and learning. It is difficult for teachers to contact
with the students sitting at the back and for students to get the individual attention, and it is even
impossible to organize dynamic and creative teaching and learning sessions. Most importantly,
large classes are especially demoralizing for inexperienced teachers.

As can be seen from the response of the interviewees, time constraint was considered as a
problem by many of the teachers that were more than half of the participants. This could be an
indication that, as scholars argue (Hall, 1990; Collins and Getner, 1980), time is usually a
concern of teachers, when teaching vocabulary and others skills, specifically, carried out under
time pressure. Time constraints have been responded in teacher’s interview.

Generally, the data from the teachers‟ interview, too, indicated that the teachers were using
inappropriate techniques /strategies to teach vocabulary skills. It could also be recognized that
vocabulary was not given attention at the school at all and did not follow the text book
instructions (syllabus) .Teachers simply taught students traditionally.

53
 CHAPTER FIVE
5. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This chapter presents conclusions and recommendations drawn based upon the presentation,
analysis and interpretation of data made in chapter four. This study, as mentioned in the previous
chapters, was intended to assess English language teachers practice vocabulary teaching
strategies in EFL classes. Therefore, to arrive at the whole purposes of the study, two types of
data gathering methods (interview and classroom observation) were used. Thus, the data were
gathered through these instruments and were presented, analyzed and interpreted in chapter four.
Based on the major findings, the following conclusions and recommendations are forwarded by
the researcher.

5.1. Summary

The main aim of the study was to assess the practice of teaching vocabulary. Basically, this study
was intended to find out the vocabulary teaching practice that was employed by the targeted
teacher and in the range of vocabulary teaching practice used by the sample teachers and the
extent to various types of vocabulary teaching techniques and strategies discussed. In order to
achieve the purpose of this study the research was depend on the research questions these were
mentioned in the statement of the problem. The findings of the results discovered that teachers
did not use vocabulary teaching techniques intended in the textbook. They also used teacher
centered approach.

5.2. Conclusions

Based on the major findings of the study, the following conclusions are drawn. The teachers
hardly practiced different vocabulary teaching strategies during vocabulary instruction. The
findings of the results discovered that teachers did not use vocabulary teaching techniques
intended in the textbook properly because of lack of students’ interests about the vocabulary and
the vocabulary teaching techniques. They also used teacher centered approach. Teachers’ seems
to be less concerned with the importance of vocabulary in the process of language acquisition
and appeared to have a tendency that vocabulary is not such a prominent component of language

54
teaching to be given special consideration compared to other skills. In addition, the teachers
appeared to give less attention to vocabulary teaching lesson and did not tolerantly practice these
strategies in teaching vocabulary. The teachers frequently used translation to give definition of
words when they taught vocabulary in EFL classes. Strategies such as vocabulary synonyms,
antonyms, role play and others that promote learners’ knowledge of vocabularies in the
classroom and outside the classroom were not practiced during vocabulary lessons by the
teachers. Therefore, it seemed that there was a gap between the teachers’ knowledge on the
theoretical orientations of practicing vocabulary teaching strategies in EFL classes.

The researcher also observed that there was lack of teaching materials on the vocabulary
teaching strategies in EFL classes directly or indirectly held back the practice of vocabulary
teaching and learning.

The teachers frequently used traditional way of teaching vocabulary such as translation and
isolated way of defining words when they taught vocabulary in EFL classes. As Gairns&
Redman (1998) stated using traditional way of teaching vocabulary may consider as clear and
easiest way of teaching vocabulary to convey meaning. It might lead teachers ineffective in their
vocabulary achievement in student future life if teachers repeatedly used this method of teaching.

In short, it is obvious that different teachers use different strategies in the classrooms. Currently
vocabulary teaching practices through different strategies at Feresbet preparatory school,
however, practice a very limited number of vocabularies teaching strategies appeared to be given
a secondary importance by the teachers. So, teachers were less worried with the practice of
vocabulary teaching strategies compared to other aspects of vocabulary teaching and they
focused on definition of words and translation which were the most dominantly practiced
strategy compared to the other vocabulary teaching strategies

55
5.3. Recommendations

Based upon the findings and the conclusions drawn from the study, the following
recommendations could be made:
As vocabulary knowledge is not only the knowledge of meaning, its teaching should effectively
respond to the inquiry of pronunciation, spelling, parts of speech and other essential aspects of
word knowledge Since language learning is mainly the result of acquiring sufficient amount of
targeted language vocabulary, English language teachers should develop favorable tendency to
the primacy of teaching vocabulary in the process of language teaching and learning, so that they
will be able to consider vocabulary teaching as the major component of their language lessons.
It would be advisable for the teachers to practice vocabulary teaching strategies and implement
them as much as possible when they teach vocabulary in EFL classes, because vocabulary
teaching is one of the most important components of any language class. The main reason is the
fact that it is a medium, which carries meaning; learning to understand and express the meaning
is what counts in learning languages (McCarthy 1990). English language teachers should
develop favorable tendency to the primacy of vocabulary in the process of language teaching and
learning so that they will be able to consider vocabulary teaching strategies as the major
component of their language lessons.

The research findings showed that teachers’ practices of vocabulary teaching strategies were
very limited and this was because of almost all teachers hadn’t attended courses on how to apply
vocabulary teaching strategies in language classroom. Thus, it would be helpful if teachers got
adequate training to bridge gaps between the teachers’ knowledge on the theoretical orientations
of vocabulary teaching and their practical skills of practicing these strategies in EFL. Further
research should be conducted at some time in the future to assess the practice of vocabulary
teaching strategies in EFL classes at each grade level

56
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 Appendices
Appendix 1
Classroom observation program in different round
For grade eleven English teachers

Unit Round for observation

Round 1 round2 round3

Unit7 T6 and T7

Unit8 T8,T9 and T10

T6 , T7 and T8

Unit9 T9 and T10

T9 and T10

Unit10

T6 T7 and T8

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Appendix 2
Classroom observation program in different round
For grade twelve English teachers

Unit Round for observation

Round 1 round2 round3

Unit6 T1, T2 and T3

Unit8 T4 and T5

T1 , T3 and T5

Unit9 T2 and T4

T3 and T5

Unit10

T1 T2 and T3

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Appendix 3
Classroom Observation check list round one
Date of Observation February to May 2017
Name of the School Feresbet
Grade and Section 11 and 12

Do teachers teach
vocabulary using
T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9 T10

Context

Definition

Synonyms

Collocations

Role play

Dictionary

Antonyms

Translation

Showing picture

Real objects

Hyponyms

Drilling

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Appendix 4

Semi-structured interview guide for teachers.

Dear Teachers: I am conducting a study on “Assessing the practice of vocabulary

teaching.”Therefore, you are kindly requested to give me your attention and appropriate
explanation genuinely and carefully. The interviews have two questions about vocabulary
teaching. Your answers and explanations to the interview should be based on what you
practically do in teaching vocabulary in the classroom.

The result of the study completely depends on how true and factual answers you provide in
terms of what you believe, know and do with regard to vocabulary teaching.

Thank you very much.

Explain the following interview questions based on your belief and experience of vocabulary
teaching, Please.

1. What type of techniques /strategies do you implement in the classroom when ou teach
vocabulary?............................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
.............................................................................................................................................
2. What are the problems that hinder vocabulary teaching in the class
room?.....................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
........

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