Sample Set II-31: Techniques for Teaching Elements of Vocabulary Development to Intermediate and Advance Levels

Intermediate- and advanced- level students also need direct instruction in vocabulary. Like beginning-level learners, their oral vocabulary is below the level needed to learn word meanings from context (Folse, 2004). The following activities that build learners' vocabularies are described below: building vocabulary lists, teaching prefixes and suffixes, using the dictionary, and using 3 x 5 cards to study vocabulary.

Vocabulary List Activity: Intermediate and Advanced Levels

Keep a running list of vocabulary items posted in the class. On a flip chart, write words that are new to most of the learners. These can be words from instructional materials, class discussions, or outside the classroom (i.e., words that learners have heard at home, at work, or in the community and bring to the class to find out the meaning). Have the learners keep their own vocabulary notebook where they write down the word and its definition and other strategies that help them remember the words (e.g., translation in native language, drawing, use in a sentence).

Every class period, review several of the words in a different way so that the learners have lots of exposure to the words. Choose from the following list:

  1. Give the meaning of the word and ask which word it is.
  2. Find a theme and ask which words belong. For example, ask which are colors or numbers or things to eat, as appropriate.
  3. Ask about words that can go together. For example, ask which words can be used to describe something else on the list.
  4. Ask which words are hard to remember and which words are easy to remember.

Activity for Teaching Prefixes: Intermediate and Advanced Levels

Knowing that certain prefixes can change the meaning of a word can increase students' vocabulary. To focus students' attention on prefixes that make a word negative, the following activity could be done:

  1. Present a sentence, optimally from students' reading, which contains a word with a negative prefix; e.g., in the United States it is illegal to sell certain drugs without a prescription.
  2. Explain that the underlined part of the word is called a prefix because it comes at the beginning of the word. It changes the meaning of the word. In the case above, the "il" makes the word negative, so the meaning of the word illegal is "not legal." Other prefixes that change the meaning of a word to make it negative include un, ir, im.
  3. Provide the students with examples of words that use these prefixes:
    Unopened
    She returned the letter unopened.

    Irresponsible
    It is irresponsible to cry "fire" in a crowded theater when there is no fire.

    Impossible
    It is impossible to travel faster than the speed of light.
  4. Exercise: Give the students an exercise with negative prefixes that attach to words they already know, such as opened, used, polite, responsible, possible, legal, safe, able, decided. Review the meaning of these words so that you are certain students do understand them. Then hand out a worksheet such as the following that the students will fill out in pairs. When they have completed the activity, go over it orally in class.