Abstract:
This paper argues that to understand language, the meaning of words has to be understood. These words have
to be as many as possible. Language is used to communicate one’s ideas, feelings and information either orally or in
written form. This however is only possible if teachers understand that vocabulary plays an important role as a means of
understanding the meaning of words and that mastery of vocabulary cannot be ignored. I further argue that vocabulary is
central to English language teaching because without sufficient vocabulary, students cannot understand other speakers or
express their own ideas. I have also suggested that when vocabulary words are being taught, teachers need to consider
how to teach these words to students based on the learner’s age, educational background, area of interest and other
sociolinguistic variables in which the words will be used. It is also argued that direct instruction of vocabulary may make
little differences in terms of vocabulary development, whereas direct instruction in specific words might be extremely
beneficial, while vocabulary development can be enhanced if students learn to relate to new concepts to their existing
concepts and background knowledge. In this paper, I use the Kenyan secondary schools to state that vocabulary must not
only be known but must be readily available for use. However, it is my feeling that Kenya shares a considerable
similarity with other nations in terms of approaches, techniques and strategies to vocabulary teaching and hence many
issues raised may be relevant to other countries.
