A teacher divided her class into five groups with five learners in each group and asked them to find words related to home, school, road, land and sky. Each group found ten to fifteen words each and shared with the other group. What technique did the teacher adopt for teaching vocabulary here?
A teacher divided her class into five groups with five learners in each group and asked them to find words related to home, school, road, land and sky. Each group found ten to fifteen words each and shared with the other group. What technique did the teacher adopt for teaching vocabulary here? Correct Answer <span style="">Thematic vocabulary</span>
Vocabulary refers to the set of words an individual uses as a tool for communication. It is a collection of familiar words used or understood by an individual or group of people.
- The core vocabulary of the first language is learned quite naturally at home. Neither the child nor his/her family has much to say about the words that must be learned - those are given by the immediate environment and the culture.
- The vocabulary of a second language can thus be decided by the teacher, the textbook, or the school. Class teaching and classroom activities enrich the vocabulary and keep the students engaged.
Key Points
- From the above-mentioned information, it is clear that for teaching vocabulary, the teacher has adopted the Thematic Vocabulary technique.
- Thematic Vocabulary refers to a set of words that belong to a specific theme that is familiar to the learners. For example, words related to home, school, road, land, etc.
- It represents a theme that makes words easy to retain for learners and makes learning natural and less segmented. Thematic groups of words can prevent the interference effects caused by the semantic sets.
- A thematic group that contains words such as a sweater, changing room, tries on, wool, and striped belongs to a specific theme. The use of thematic sets in the teaching of L2 vocabulary can lead to a better retention of lexical items.
- As an example, one can refer to an exercise used in McCarthy and O’Dell’s book (2002). The question asks the learners, “Whose job do these things belong to?” In this question, learners are encouraged to find the word appropriate for a group of words categorized according to a certain theme.
Hence, we conclude that the teacher has adopted the Thematic Vocabulary technique.
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Feb 20, 2025