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Language learning strategies encourage greater overall self-direction for learners. Self-directed learners are independent learners who are capable of assuming
responsibility for their own learning and gradually gaining confidence,
involvement and proficiency Oxford, 1990.
2.2.1.3 Method in Teaching Vocabulary
Language learners are faced on a daily basis with the task of acquiring, and retaining, new vocabulary. One of the main tasks of a language teacher, then,
is to help students develop a sufficiently large vocabulary. Nevertheless, some language teachers ignore this fundamental fact, assuming that the vocabulary will
take care of itself through repeated exposure and classroom activities. As I.S.P. Nation notes in Teaching and Learning Vocabulary Heinle Heinle:1990,
however, developing a principled and systematic approach to teaching, as well as learning, vocabulary, can be a valuable use of class time.
Direct vocabulary teaching occurs when teachers do exercises and activities in class that focus the learners’ attention on vocabulary, such as guessing
meaning from context and vocabulary games. In direct vocabulary learning, therefore, a conscious effort is made by the learner to remember new words.
While indirect learning is still where most vocabulary acquisition takes place, there is room for more direct teaching methods in the second language L2
classroom, when and if certain factors are taken into consideration. In order to retain learned vocabulary, learners need to “meet” the words
in a variety of contexts, anywhere from 5-16 different times. Learners’ best remember words when they have manipulated them in different ways, so variety is
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essential for vocabulary teaching. Recycling and reviewing vocabulary is an important part of the lesson plan as most new words are forgotten in the first
twenty-four hours after class. For long-term retention, no more than 10-12 new words should be presented at a time.
2.2.1.4 Memory Strategies for Learning New Vocabulary
New words need to be related to learners existing knowledge or schema, sounds, images, personal feelingsresponses, diagrams, etc. The
following activities can be used to reinforce the learning of new vocabulary. First,
connecting words to a personal experience. In this stage, learners can think about
they way they respond to new words by categorizing them into groups: the words they likedislike e.g., based on the way they are spelled or pronounced, or the
words they think will be easy or difficult to remember, and why. Second, sorting
and ranking activities. In the case of learning a list of animals, for instance,
learners can separate the new animals by dangerousnot dangerous, or eatdon’t eat. For a list of food, learners can rank the food items from those they like most
to those they like least. Third, TPR Total Physical Response. In this stage, learners associate a verb to an action or an emotion to a gesture by physically
acting out the word. Fourth, pictorial representations. In this stage, the small drawings in context a picture of a house labeled with window, door, roof, etc.
can aid retention of new words. Imaging, where learners use the way a word looks to associate it with its meaning, also helps. Fifth, grouping words by collocations.
In this way for learners to manipulate and remember new words is to join them
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according to the words they are often found with. i.e., idea: original, brilliant,
unusual, great .
2.2.2 Theory of Direct Method
