How To Make Vocabulary Selection In EFL

Apr 3, 2021 | Vocabulary Tips

Vocabulary selection

Vocabulary selection can be a problem in vocabulary teaching:

  • How should we select what words to teach?
Vocabulary Selection:
Concrete and Abstract Words
Frequency and Coverage
The Role Of The Learner
vocabulary selection

Vocabulary Selection: Concrete and Abstract Words

Firstly, let me consider a general principle used both in the past and nowadays: teaching more concrete words at lower levels and gradually become more abstract. 

Therefore when talking about “The Environment” words like BAG, BOTTLE, TREE… would be taught first and then perhaps something like RESPONSIBILITY.

Vocabulary Selection: Frequency and Coverage

Another criteria, a more scientific one, shows that teachers should cover different types of vocabulary, amongst which two of the more important ones are FREQUENCY and COVERAGE.

  • FREQUENCY: teaching first the words based on how frequent they are used; checking which come up more frequently and which are used least often.
  • COVERAGE: according to these criteria, words are more useful if they cover more things than if they only have one very specific meaning.

According to these principles, a word like FOREST should be learnt earlier than words like RAINFOREST, DEFORESTATION, REFORESTATION, etc.

Or a word like RAIN should be learnt earlier than words like RAINBOW, RAINFALL, RAINWATER, RAINSTORM, RAINFOREST, etc.

However, the problem of selection is not yet solved. 

Vocabulary Selection: The Role Of The Learner

Other factors, such as the topic, functions, structure, teachability, needs and wants that belong to a specific moment and a specific group of learners… are also important!

Even though we can choose different criteria for selecting vocabulary, there should always be a common and vital principle: the real world in which we, the teachers and the learners live.

Several factors influence the teacher’s selection and organisation of lexical items for the classroom, but the role of the learner does play an important part in making some of those decisions.

Most learners perceive the relevance of grammar whatever their field of interest and the reasons for learning the language.

The same cannot be said of vocabulary: students may consider some lexical items irrelevant just because they are not interested in that particular subject.

For this reason, teachers often find it difficult to justify time being spent on lexical items that cannot arise the students’ interest. 

One way to solve this problem is to allow students more autonomy in lexical decision-making. In this way, the teacher will let students define their needs and “select” the vocabulary that will be relevant to those needs.

But how many of these selected items is the teacher going to teach?

The input should be reasonable. 

vocabulary selection

External Factors To Be Considered

1# How similar in form is the words to an equivalent in the learner’s language?

2# How easy is it to illustrate the meaning? (is it concrete or abstract?)

3# What is the student’s learning environment? (time of the day, place, etc)

4# What language aptitudes does the learner have?

Factors Within The Teacher’s Control

1# What else do you intend to cover?

2# How much exposure will you give the word?

FLASHCARDS

I’ll leave you now with some FLASHCARDS (all downloadable PDFs) you can use about the topic I am currently teaching: The Environment.

  • environment flashcards

Get the 6-page bundle HERE for FREE.

MATCHING EXERCISE

Also, you can find an ENVIRONMENTAL MATCHING EXERCISE. 

matching exercise about the environment
matching exercise about the environment

FREE downloadable PDF with answers.

Sign up to receive updates on my posts and support all my FREE work!  

THANKS!

If you need more ideas about ways of exploring vocabulary in EFL, read my related posts below.

You can also find other FREE DOWNLOADS, FREE TEMPLATES and different RESOURCES FOR ESL which are vocabulary related too. Take some time to check them out! 

Don’t forget to scroll down till the end of the pages to find what you are looking for.

I’m on Pinterest And Facebook as well! I’ve recently added an Instagram page too.

Follow me there!

Finally, the posts below include resources for teachers working in face-to-face classrooms where Covid-19 restrictions are in place or for teachers working from home:

“By words, we learn thoughts, and by thoughts, we learn life.” —Jean Baptiste Girard