Vocabulary Activities

According to recent research in EFL, students need to encounter a new word 10-16 times in order to “learn” it- Is this the same for CFL do you think? whatever the answer is, it’s safe to say that exposure to, and recycling of, vocabulary is vital to building up vocabulary from character, to structure, to sentence level.

Claudia Pesce on Busyteacher.org states that, to effectively acquire new vocabulary, students must go through four essential stages:

  • first, they notice a new word with help;
  • secondly, they recognize the word at first with help,
  • then later on their own;
  • and lastly, they are able to both recognize and produce the word.

We as teachers need to ensure that our activities don’t just introduce new vocabulary, but that we give students multiple opportunities to put these new words to use in controlled and freer practice. Here are some ways to do so.