This language skill called vocabulary, how best can it be taught in Kenyan secondary schools?

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.