Strategies to improve English vocabulary teaching a literature review

No.19_Dec 2020|Số 19 – Tháng 12 năm 2020|p.70-77 
TẠP CHÍ KHOA HỌC ĐẠI HỌC TÂN TRÀO 
ISSN: 2354 - 1431 
STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE ENGLISH VOCABULARY TEACHING 
A LITERATURE REVIEW 
Nguyen Thi Huong Lan 
1,* 
1
Hanoi Law University 
* 
Email: bihuonglan@gmail.com 
Article info Abstract: 
Recieved: 
20/8/2020 
Accepted: 
10/12/2020 
 Having a good command of English vocabulary plays an important role in 
second language acquisition because without sufficient vocabulary learners 
cannot understand English speakers or express their own ideas in English. 
This study conducted a literature review about the necessity to apply some 
effective strategies to improve learners‟ English vocabulary instruction. The 
results indicated that it is advisable for teachers to use different vocabulary 
teaching techniques i.e. explicit, implicit and independent vocabulary 
teaching. Based on three approaches, some pedagogical implications for 
vocabulary development are put forward as resourceful references for 
teachers of English to exploit effective vocabulary teaching opportunities 
through different vocabulary teaching strategies. 
Keywords: 
second language 
acquisition; vocabulary 
instruction; techniques; 
pedagogical implication, 
vocabulary teaching 
strategies 
1. Introduction 
Vocabulary can be regarded as the core 
component of verbal communication. The structure 
of a simple sentence including 3 basic factors; 
subject, verb, and object comprises two things, 
namely keywords or content words, and function 
words. Keywords are those which carry the 
meaning of the sentence while content words are 
grammatical structure. Although they are normally 
combined to form a sentence, content words and 
function ones are separately used. However, 
without keywords, a message cannot be understood 
thoroughly but function words may be conjugated 
incorrectly or missed from the sentence, its 
purposeful communication could be deduced from 
the utterance. In fact, individuals who can express 
themselves precisely with appropriate language are 
likely to make a good impression on the minds of 
people who are addressing [1]. 
Vocabulary can be defined as the words of a 
language, counting single items and phrases or 
chunks of several words which covey a particular 
meaning, the way individual words do. Vocabulary 
addresses single lexical items, words with specific 
meaning(s), but it also includes lexical phrases or 
chunks [2]. Vocabulary knowledge implies 
knowing a word in the spoken form and the spoken 
form can be recognized and understood it in and out 
of context rather than guessed at. Moreover, 
vocabulary knowledge is often defined as the 
ability to give a target language paraphrase. This 
means that vocabulary knowledge requires the 
ability to react to words that students do not need to 
think about. The words just come into students‟ 
minds to be used in an effective and natural way. 
When students have knowledge of a word, they do 
not take much time thinking about the word. They 
just have to use the word naturally and 
appropriately [3]. 
Vocabulary knowledge requires not only word 
meanings knowledge, but it requires the usage of 
the words in the appropriate context and in a natural 
 N.H.Lan/ No.19_Dec 2020|p.70-77 
way and also includes the relationship between new 
words acquired and the ones already acquired. 
Hence, governesses should use techniques that 
teach the meaning of words in context and help 
apprentices associate the new vocabulary learned 
and what they already knew and help apprentices 
memorize the words and their meanings [2]. 
Vocabulary teaching is one of the most important 
components of any language class. As pointed out 
by [4], “Words are the building blocks of language 
and having a good supply of them is very important 
for students‟ right from the beginning of their 
English learning.” In fact, without vocabulary 
communication in a second or foreign language is 
not possible in a meaningful way. No matter how 
well the student learns grammar and how 
successfully the sounds of second language are 
mastered, without words to express a wide range of 
meanings, communication in a second language just 
cannot happen in any meaningful way. Therefore, 
teaching vocabulary is very important in language 
learning since it is seen as a key element to achieve 
a high level of proficiency in the target language. 
Overall, teaching vocabulary plays a significant 
role in language acquisition since vocabulary will 
help students develop the language skills such as 
speaking, listening, reading and writing. 
Vocabulary can make the practice of English 
language structures easier; having a stock of words 
is useful for describing daily life ideas and feelings 
that students express in their native language. In 
this review paper, the researcher reviewed some 
effective strategies of teaching vocabulary. This 
paper intended to increase teachers‟ awareness of 
the strategies of teaching vocabulary so that 
suitable and effective actions can be adopted in 
English language teaching. 
2. Some challenges in teaching vocabulary 
Since a good knowledge of vocabulary has a 
great effect on the learners‟ improvement of other 
aspects of languages such as reading 
comprehension, listening comprehension, speaking 
and writing. There are difficulties that lessen the 
students‟ word knowledge. The following are the 
most fundamental obstacles. 
a. The size of the task: The number of words 
that students need to learn is exceedingly large. On 
average, students add 2,000 – 3,000 words a year to 
their reading vocabularies [5]. This means that they 
learn from six to eight new words each day for an 
enormous achievement. Individual differences in 
vocabulary size also involve large numbers. 
b. The complexity of word knowledge: Knowing 
a word involves much more tha ... peak or write 
fluently [26], [27], [28]. 
4.3. Teaching vocabulary with semantic field 
Semantic field refers to the organization of 
related words or expressions into a system which 
shows relationship to one another. When teaching 
vocabulary, several aspects of lexis are thought to 
be in consideration such as synonym, antonym, 
homonym, hyponym, and polysemy [29], [30], 
[31]. 
4.3.1. Synonyms 
Synonym is defined as a word which has the 
same, or nearly the same, meaning as another word. 
Teachers should remind learners that many 
synonymous words have exactly the same meaning 
and can be used interchangeably in different 
connotations, but some synonyms have to be paid 
attention to the contexts they are used. 
Consequently, teachers have to emphasize the fact 
that “true” synonyms are relatively rare and the 
alternation words can be “near” synonyms [29]. In 
order for learners to enrich their vocabulary bank, 
they are instructed to make crosswords, word 
snakes or other puzzles for each other using the 
synonyms. 
4.3.2. Antonyms 
Antonym is a word which is opposite in 
meaning to another word. One activity helping 
learners develop their antonym words is to make a 
list of opposite words, this activity can be done in 
groupworks or pairworks. Teachers assign different 
themes for targeted groups or pairs, then each party 
has to write as many opposite words in comparison 
with the others as possible. As a result, the groups 
or pairs writing down more opposite words than the 
others win the contest. This word game requires 
learners to brainstorm lexis so that they can recall 
or learn new words better [31], [29]. 
4.3.3. Homonyms 
Homonyms are words which sound the same or 
are spelled the same as another word but have 
different meanings. When teaching new 
vocabulary, teachers should guide their learners to 
have a small word book to write down the 
hononyms they frequently use in learning English 
[29]. In particular, hononyms are divided into two 
types. Firstly, homonyms are written in the same 
way and sound alike but they have different 
meanings, i.e. fly (a kind of insects) and fly (the 
action of a plane operating in the sky), lie (not tell 
the truth) and lie (put the body in a flat surface, not 
stand or sit). Secondly, homonyms are words which 
sound alike but are written differently, and often 
have different meanings, for instance, ant/aunt, 
eye/I, ate/eight, fare/fair, and so on. 
4.3.4. Hyponyms 
Hyponym or superordinate is a word with a 
particular meaning that is included in the meaning 
of a more general word, for example „dog‟ and „cat‟ 
are hyponyms of „animal‟ [29]. When introducing 
new words, teachers point out the differences 
between a hyponym and other words in accordance 
with the possibility that learners are guided to study 
new vocabulary as hyponyms. As such, McCarthy 
[32] states that many course book writers directly 
or indirectly use this frame work as a technique of 
organizing vocabulary items. 
4.3.5. Polysemy 
Poleyemy is a word which has two or more 
closely related meanings. A polysemous word may 
have in different contexts or denotations [21]. For 
example, in English, people talk about the “head” 
of a pin, the head of a person or the head of an 
organization. To solve this problem of polysemy, 
learners need to see the appropriate representation 
of words and practice the word meanings in context 
since context allows students understand the 
meaning of words. 
4.4. Using dictionary 
Students need to use dictionaries, print or 
online, during their schooling and throughout their 
lives. In most cases, adults use a dictionary after a 
word is read in context and they are unable to 
determine the word‟s meaning. Since adults have 
more life experience, they are generally able to use 
context clues to help them select the correct 
meaning in the dictionary. Students, however, often 
have difficulty with this. They tend to select the 
first definition or the shortest definition. Teachers 
must show students how to identify and select the 
most appropriate meaning of the word based on 
how the word is used in context [30]. Students also 
need other skills in order to use the dictionary, such 
as knowing how to alphabetize and knowing how to 
use the guide words at the top of each page to 
 N.H.Lan/ No.19_Dec 2020|p.70-77 
locate specific words. To help students learn how to 
select the appropriate meaning in the dictionary, 
teachers can use the following steps [19]. Similar to 
other strategies in this book, the teacher models this 
process approach to solving words, and students 
will internalize it with more practice. 
- Read the sentence containing the unknown 
word. 
- Before looking in the dictionary, think aloud 
and guess the meaning of the word based on the 
clues in and around the word. 
- Explain that many words have several 
meanings and then read all of the dictionary‟s 
definitions for that word. 
- Decide which definition makes sense within 
the context of the text being read. 
- If the meaning is still unknown, provide 
further discussion about the context and look at 
word parts. 
4.5. Vocabulary network 
The notion of vocabulary network or so-called 
word web, word map, mind map, and word 
association explains that beyond sameness, 
oppositeness and inclusion of meanings of words, 
there is a complex interconnection or network 
among group of words. In other word, vocabulary 
network can be defined that the semantic 
relationship in relation with synonym and antonym 
tends to simplify the complex nature of the mental 
lexicon [32]. Similarly, Schmitt [33] confirms that 
words are not stored in mind in isolated pattern but 
in an organized and systematic manner. That 
organization is suitably explained as association or 
network. Grasping this organizational principles, 
teachers are supposed to change the curriculum, 
taking advantages of the task-based language 
learning approach to help learners to get the best 
achievement of vocabulary network technique 
which is believed to function as a convincing 
framework of organizing lexical items; the 
scholars‟ idea ensures that vocabulary can be taught 
better through vocabulary network. 
5. Conclusion 
Vocabulary which is considered as the most 
important component of communicative 
competence conveys messages in conversations. 
Quite different from function words, vocabulary 
supports speakers to exchange what they want to 
communicate in a dialogue. Of the 4-micro English 
skills, i.e. listening, speaking, reading, and writing, 
learners cannot be successful in second language 
acquisition without a good command of lexical 
English. In terms of teaching vocabulary, teachers 
should not only understand the students‟ difficulties 
of word study but also use some useful strategies 
and methods. This review of literature examined 
the strategies of teaching vocabulary with the hope 
that the research findings contribute to the 
improvement of the strategies of vocabulary 
instruction in English language teaching. 
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TỔNG QUAN NGHIÊN CỨU CHIẾN LƯỢC 
 NÂNG CAO DẠY TỪ VỰNG TIẾNG ANH 
Nguyễn Thị Hương Lan 
Thông tin bài viết Tóm tắt 
Ngày nhận bài: 
20/8/2020 
Ngày duyệt đăng: 
10/12/2020 
 Có vốn từ vựng tiếng Anh tốt đóng vai trò quan trọng trong việc học ngôn ngữ 
thứ hai bởi vì nếu không có đủ vốn từ vựng người học khó có thể hiểu người 
nói tiếng Anh hoặc diễn tả quan điểm của mình bằng tiếng Anh. Bài viết này 
thực hiện tổng quan nghiên cứu về sự cần thiết áp dụng một số phương pháp 
hiệu quả để nâng cao việc giảng dạy từ vựng tiếng Anh. Kết quả đã chỉ ra rằng 
giảng viên nên sử dụng các thủ thuật giảng dạy từ vựng khác nhau như giảng 
dạy từ vựng chủ động, tự nhiên, và tự học. Dựa vào 3 phương pháp này, một số 
khuyến nghị sư phạm về phát triển từ vựng được đề xuất như là nguồn tham 
khảo hữu ích cho giảng viên tiếng Anh khai thác các cơ hội giảng dạy từ vựng 
hiệu quả thông qua các chiến lược giảng dạy từ vựng khác nhau. 
Từ khóa: 
học ngôn ngữ thứ hai; 
giảng dạy từ vựng; thủ 
thuật, khuyến nghị sư 
phạm; các chiến lược dạy 
từ vựng