There are three stages of vocabulary acquisition. They are the following:

1.     Noticing: the learner notices the new word in a context or with the help of visual clues.

2.     Recognition, first, with help, then, the student’s own.

3.     Production, that is the ability to use the word in appropriate situations.

Researches say that a word has to be encountered in different settings 10-16 times before it is put in the long-term memory. Thus, we have to provide plenty of activities at different stages of vocabulary acquisition.

To aid noticing, we, teachers, are to provide plentiful exposure to the language. Any learner can say, that, after they paid attention to a new word, they start to come across it in multiple situations. This way, the word becomes something familiar.

To help recognition, the following types of exercises can be used:

1)               Circle the word you hear. I usually write about 20 words on the board, then ask my students to circle the words I pronounce. It can be a team game.

2)               Pointing.

3)               Matching.

4)               Total Physical Response activities, when, for example, the teacher gives a command, and the students obey.

5)               Drawing activities. Today I asked my students to draw fruit I named, then they compared their drawings. Next time I’ll also include numbers.

6)               Sorting/categorizing the words.

7)               Multiple choice.

8)               Students guess what/which person the teacher is describing.

     To transfer to the production stage, the following activities are of use:

1)    Dictation.

2)    Translation.

3)    Picture description.

4)    Using the word in dialogues.

5)    Answering questions.

6)    Open-ended tasks.

7)    Filling-in the gaps with appropriate words.

For proper vocabulary acquisition it is necessary that all the stages follow each other.

References:

Harmer J. The Practice of ELT, Longman, 2007

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