Jay Doubleyou: vocabulary myths: applying second language research to classroom teaching
Myth 4: The use of translations to learn new vocabulary should be discouraged.
In the real world
Folse writes of a lesson when he failed to understand a Japanese word, despite the patient explanations of his teacher. He was put out of his misery when another student in the class told him the meaning of the word in English.
What the research says
Folse starts this section with an overview of the reasons why many teachers try to avoid all use of L1 in the L2 classroom. He goes on to cite recent research that he summarizes as follows:
Research is clear: Translations are not bad but are in fact a helpful tool in learning new foreighn language vocabulary.
What you can do
- Do not stop a student who is jotting down a translation of a new English word.
- Let a more knowledgeable student help another student who speaks the same language.
- Learn what you can about your students' native language.
Here are some very useful tips:
How People Learn Vocabulary
When teaching vocabulary, the grammar-translation method fails because it goes against the natural way one learns his native or first language. When learning your first language, concrete vocabulary is acquired from mental images of what you see and experience from your other senses. For example, a toddler will see, hear, and feel water, and then hear the word "water" spoken by his mother or father.
When the child gets a little older, other abstract vocabulary is learned from associations. For example, the young child will acquire the meaning of "bad" by associations with actions such as not eating his food, hitting playmates, and not taking a nap which are not rewarded. Citing another example, the concept of "freedom" will be acquired by seeing animals both in and out of cages, and by viewing people who are and aren't wearing handcuffs.
When I began learning Chinese Mandarin, I was fortunate to have a native speaker who taught me using a direct method which is very similar to how you learn your first or native language. Mr. Chen expended great effort in explaining new vocabulary with pictures and actions which created mental images of the Chinese character being taught. All of his lesson sheets were more than 98 percent in Chinese characters. If he could not explain a new concrete or abstract character or word using a picture to create a mental image or association, he explained it with simpler synonym characters which were all student friendly. I learned how to think in Chinese, and it was extremely helpful to me in acquiring fluency in the language.
When Should We Use Translation?
I am not advocating that translation should never be used when teaching vocabulary. It should be extremely limited and only used as a last resort when the teacher can't explain words with images or associations, and when the teacher is certain the translation is absolutely correct. Acquisition of vocabulary is extremely important when learning a language, and it must be learned by the natural process that one uses in learning his native language.
And some more ideas:
The Five Principles of Effective Second Language Acquisition
How to learn the vocabulary of foreign languages
3 Ways to Learn Vocabulary in a Foreign Language - wikiHow
Michael Swan | The influence of the mother tongue on second language vocabulary acquisition and use
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