In this week's reading, the focus is on the teaching of vocabulary and grammar, two important areas which have undergone quite a lot of ups and downs in the language teaching history.
Generally speaking, i myself feel highly identified with a lot of ideas which are brought up in the reading, such as no matter how important the communication approach is in the modern language teaching world, vocabulary and grammar cannot be underestimated, since these two elements provide the backbone for all language skills. Anothing i like is the conclusion that grammmar and vocabulary are acquired most effectively when they're presented in concurrence with other language functions and items. That is to say, students will learn best when the lesson is not primarily focused on intense learning of grammar or vocabulary, but is designed with a specific communicative goal in mind.
Also, i find the Grammar teaching techniques in the Teaching and Principle book really helpful. As a language learner, i have experienced many of these techniques such as charts, objects, maps and drawings and most of them worked for me. Since grammar has a lot to do with rules, these systematic generalizations, in my opinion, help make grammatical structures ease their way into students' mind. However, since grammar is dynamic, it is necessary that language teachers also direct students' attention to some exceptions and changes that may happen, especially in real-life language usage.
As far as vocabulary learning is concerned, apart from the main principles put forward in the book, in my experience, it is important and helpful that the language teacher guide students toward developing vocab-acquisition strategies. This may include a number of factors, which may vary depending on learners' learning style and preferences. For instance, visual learners may learn best when associating new words with pictures and illustrations; while auditory learners may prefer to listen to the word several times before they really remember it. Also, memorization, even though it is passive, is greatly needed in learning new words and phrases. Encountering and using words in context is also a very effective way to learn vocabulary. To me, a new word cannot enter my mind until after i actually use it in speaking or writing, or after i encounter it at least 3 times. The use of monolingual dictionary, as mentioned in the book, is also a good method to learn vocabulary, since it minimizes the incidence of L1 translation. The list of vocab learning strategies can then continue to be built up by both the teacher and students and at the end of the day, students will have a wide range of options from which to choose those that work best for themselves.
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"Encountering and using words in context is also a very effective way to learn vocabulary. To me, a new word cannot enter my mind until after i actually use it in speaking or writing, or after i encounter it at least 3 times." I totally agree because this was one of things that was lacking in my own L2 learning. Since I learned German only in the US I have had a hard time learning and acquiring new vocabulary because memorization is not enough to maintain this knowledge. I think that sometimes EFL teachers here in the US get carried away with adding so much new knowledge that they fail to reinforce what has been learned sufficiently.
I've also been told that in order to learn a word in a new language that you should associate it with the idea rather than by translation into your L1. I think that may have been the best advice I was given about learning new vocabulary in my L2.
It is interesting to hear what was helpful for you. You bring up a good point; vocabulary and grammar instruction is best accompanied by other language elements and it is not helpful to learn them in isolation.
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