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ȘCOALA ONLINE. ASPECTE. PROVOCĂRI. SOLUȚII.
Casa Corpului Didactic Simion Mehedinți Vrancea
Traditional vocabulary instruction has taught students
to look up word meanings and memorize them. Dictionary use
teaches students about multiple word meanings, as well as the
importance of choosing the right definition to fit the certain
context. But this teaching approach provides only superficial
and short-term learning of words. Students who just memorize
the meanings of words, often have trouble applying the
information in contexts and often make mistakes about the
meanings.
To have a good knowledge of a word, students need to
see it in context and learn how its meaning relates to the words
around it. Contextual analysis involves deducting the meaning
of an unfamiliar word by exploring the text it belongs to. A
method that includes definitions as well as context can generate
a complex knowledge of word meanings. When students are
given several sentences that use a word in different situations,
they start to see how a word’s meaning change and shift
depending on context.
Vocabulary Ninja is a fantastic website full of useful
resources, word banks and games. I particularly like the 100
overused words and their alternatives document and the Vocab
Lab App for iPads.
Word Hippo is a fantastic vocabulary tool that allows
the user to explore synonyms, antonyms, meanings, rhyming
words, the word in context and audio pronunciations.
Vocabulary.co.li is one of my favorite vocabulary
websites. It offers hundreds of amazing games and activities for
building and teaching vocabulary.
Students must see words in various contexts in order to
learn them thoroughly.
"If we can get students interested in playing with words
and language, then we are at least halfway to the goal of
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