Ministry of education and science of ukraine

The object of the course paper is the process of teaching foreign language vocabulary.
The subject of the course paper is the character and complex of exercises for teaching vocabulary which are the most efficient for mastering the foreign language.
The aim of the course paper is to develop the methodic of teaching vocabulary and suggest such exercises which will stimulate the teaching process.
The tasks of the course paper are the following:

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  determine the main patters of difficulty in vocabulary;
  
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  characterize the specific features of the vocabulary introduction;
  
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  give effective methodologies in teaching the English language vocabulary;
  
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  investigate the key strategies in teaching vocabulary;
  
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  and specify the ways of determining the vocabulary comprehension.
  

The practical value of the course paper is to develop methodical approaches to teaching vocabulary.
The structure of the course paper: introduction, two chapters, conclusion, summary, references, appendix, and glossary.

Chapter I. The Problem Teaching and Learning Vocabulary

1.1 Patterns of Difficulty in Vocabulary

Broadly defined, vocabulary is knowledge of words and word meanings. However, vocabulary is more complex than this definition suggests. First, words come in two forms: oral and print. Oral vocabulary includes those words that we recognize and use in listening and speaking. Print vocabulary includes those words that we recognize and use in reading and writing. Second, word knowledge also comes in two forms, receptive and productive. Receptive vocabulary includes words that we recognize when we hear or see them. Productive vocabulary includes words that we use when we speak or write. Receptive vocabulary is typically larger than productive vocabulary, and may include many words to which we assign some meaning, even if we don’t know their full definitions and connotations - or ever use them ourselves as we speak and write (Kamil & Hiebert, in press).

Adding further complexity, in education, the word vocabulary is used with varying meanings. For example, for beginning reading teachers, the word might be synonymous with "sight vocabulary," by which they mean a set of the most common words in English that young students need to be able to recognize quickly as they see them in print. However, for teachers of upper elementary and secondary school students, vocabulary usually means the "hard” words that students encounter in content area textbook and literature selections [3, p.225].
For purposes of this booklet, we define vocabulary as knowledge of words and word meanings in both oral and print language and in productive and receptive forms. More specifically, we use vocabulary to refer to the kind of words that students must know to read increasingly demanding text with comprehension. We begin by looking closely at why developing this kind of vocabulary is important to reading comprehension.
If a person wants to say something, read something, listen to something, be something then he needs to have a great vocabulary. That is the bottom line of the story.
Teaching vocabulary requires nurturing a clear understanding of words to know what is actually being said. Students need to be able to carry this knowledge over into the real world in phrases and sentences. Merely repeating words like a parrot will not assist them in what they're trying to say.
If we merely throw a series of words at students and expect them to stick, then we have taught them virtually nothing. We have to find meaning behind each word so that they can fit them together and build sentence structure (grammar) and therefore create complete thoughts and expressions.
Robert Lado (1955) talked about patterns of difficulty in vocabulary teaching. He highlighted key issues related to words, the native language factor and about patterns. He even analyzed Spanish, French and Mexican patterns of difficulty in their respective vocabulary items. He stated that while dealing with vocabulary one should take into account three important aspects of words - their form, their meaning and their distribution - and one should consider various kinds of classes of words in the function of the language. He said that the forms, meaning distribution and classification of words are different in different languages. He revealed that these differences might lead to vocabulary problems [23, p.23].
Vocabulary is the knowledge of words and word meanings. As Steven Stahl (2005) puts it, "Vocabulary knowledge is knowledge; the knowledge of a word not only implies a definition, but also implies how that word fits into the world." [22, p.150]
Vocabulary is simply the ability to know the meaning of words and use those words in context.
The truth is, and the research shows, students need multiple and various exposures to a word before they fully understand that word and can apply it. They need also to learn words in context, not stand alone lists that come and go each week. Of course the way we learn words in context, or implicitly, is by reading, then reading some more.
Vocabulary knowledge is not something that can ever be fully mastered; it is something that expands and deepens over the course of a lifetime. Instruction in vocabulary involves far more than looking up words in a dictionary and using the words in a sentence. Vocabulary is acquired incidentally through indirect exposure to words and intentionally through explicit instruction in specific words and word-learning strategies.
According to Michael Graves, there are four components of an effective vocabulary program:

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  wide or extensive independent reading to expand word knowledge
  
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  instruction in specific words to enhance comprehension of texts containing those words
  
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  instruction in independent word-learning strategies, and
  
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  word consciousness and word-play activities to motivate and enhance learning [28, p.70].
  

Components of vocabulary instruction:
It was concluded that there is no single research-based method for teaching vocabulary. It is recommended using a variety of direct and indirect methods of vocabulary instruction.

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  Intentional vocabulary teaching
  
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  Specific Word Instruction
  
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  Selecting Words to Teach
  
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  Rich and Robust Instruction
  
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  Word-Learning Strategies
  
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  Dictionary Use
  
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  Morphemic Analysis
  
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  Cognate Awareness
  
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  Contextual Analysis
  

The explicit instruction of vocabulary is highly effective. To develop vocabulary intentionally, students should be explicitly taught both specific words and word-learning strategies. To deepen students' knowledge of word meanings, specific word instruction should be robust. Seeing vocabulary in rich contexts provided by authentic texts, rather than in isolated vocabulary drills, produces robust vocabulary learning. Such instruction often does not begin with a definition, for the ability to give a definition is often the result of knowing what the word means. Rich and robust vocabulary instruction goes beyond definitional knowledge; it gets students actively engaged in using and thinking about word meanings and in creating relationships among words.
Research shows that there are more words to be learned than can be directly taught in even the most ambitious program of vocabulary instruction. Explicit instruction in word-learning strategies gives students tools for independently determining the meanings of unfamiliar words that have not been explicitly introduced in class. Since students encounter so many unfamiliar words in their reading, any help provided by such strategies can be useful [5, p.351].
Word-learning strategies include dictionary use, morphemic analysis, and contextual analysis. For students whose language shares cognates with English, cognate awareness is also an important strategy. Dictionary use teaches students about multiple word meanings, as well as the importance of choosing the appropriate definition to fit the particular context. Morphemic analysis is the process of deriving a word's meaning by analyzing its meaningful parts, or morphemes. Such word parts include root words, prefixes, and suffixes. Contextual analysis involves inferring the meaning of an unfamiliar word by scrutinizing the text surrounding it. Instruction in contextual analysis generally involves teaching students to employ both generic and specific types of context clues.
Visnja Pavicic dealt with a way to improve students' abilities to explore, store and usage of vocabulary items. He determined the role of vocabulary teaching and how a teacher could help their learners. He laid emphasis on self initiated independent learning with strategies, in which formal practices, functional practices and memorizing could be included. He said that the teacher should create activities and tasks to help students to build their vocabulary and develop strategies to learn the vocabulary on their own [18, p.49].