LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 10 : 8 August 2010
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         K. Karunakaran, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.

HOME PAGE

AN APPEAL FOR SUPPORT

  • We seek your support to meet the expenses relating to the formatting of articles and books, maintaining and running the journal through hosting, correrspondences, etc.Please write to the Editor in his e-mail address languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com to find out how you can support this journal. Thank you. Thirumalai, Editor.

BOOKS FOR YOU TO READ AND DOWNLOAD FREE!

REFERENCE MATERIAL

BACK ISSUES

  • E-mail your articles and book-length reports in Microsoft Word to languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.
  • Contributors from South Asia may e-mail their articles to
    B. Mallikarjun,
    Central Institute of Indian Languages,
    Manasagangotri,
    Mysore 570006, India     mallikarjun@ciil.stpmy.soft.net.

  • PLEASE READ THE GUIDELINES GIVEN IN HOME PAGE IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE LIST OF CONTENTS.

  • Your articles and booklength reports should be written following the APA, MLA, LSA, or IJDL Stylesheet.

  • The Editorial Board has the right to accept, reject, or suggest modifications to the articles submitted for publication, and to make suitable stylistic adjustments. High quality, academic integrity, ethics and morals are expected from the authors and discussants.

Copyright © 2010
M. S. Thirumalai
 
Web www.languageinindia.com

Mind Your Vocabulary!

N. Pratheeba, Ph.D.

Introduction

In recent years, English is turning out to be the preferred medium of instruction for mathematics and sciences. Most States in India have made English compulsory for all classes. Immediately after Independence, regional languages replaced English as the medium of instruction in many states. However, current economic realities have necessitated the turn around. English is now seen to be a pre-requisite for success in most careers. IT revolution brought thousands of jobs and such jobs were available mostly to those who had adequate skills in English. With the bio-technological boom also in the offing, the demand for English skills will rather increase, not decrease.

This paper presents some methods with which an ESL learner can increase his English vocabulary. Some play-way methods are listed here to help students (and teachers) to increase their active as well as passive vocabulary. When learners uses the methods listed below, they certainly can increase the number of vocabulary they have and use such vocabulary efficiently.

Kinds of Vocabulary

Here, vocabulary refers to all the words that a person knows or uses. It is divided into two groups: Active Vocabulary and Passive Vocabulary. Active Vocabulary refers to the words that one uses in his or her day-to-day life. On the other hand, passive Vocabulary refers to the words that one understands and recognizes but does not use. The passive vocabulary of any learner is usually larger than his active Vocabulary. It is very tough to distinguish between the two.

Importance of Language Games in the Acquisition and Use of Words

Games help students to make and sustain the effort of learning (Kim, 1995). The benefits range from cognitive aspects of language learning to more co-operative group dynamics (Lengeling and Malarcher, 1997). Many experienced textbook and methodology manual writers have argued that games are not just time-filling activities but have a great educational value (Uberman, 1998). Games are highly motivating since they are amusing and at the same time challenging (Aydan, 2000). Games are used not only for mere fun, but more importantly, for the useful practice and review of language lessons, thus leading toward the goal of improving learners' communicative competence (Nuyen and Nga, 2003).

Vocabulary Games Suggested in This Paper

Six games are chosen by the researcher. It is expected that these will improve not only the word power of the ESL learners but also their cognitive ability. As games provide intense and meaningful practice of language, an ESL learner can hone his or her communicative competence by getting involved in the same.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Ethnic Relations and the Media - A Study of the Malaysian Situation | Lexical Borrowing: A Study of Punjabi and Urdu Kinship Terms | Novel as Contemporary Indian History - A Glimpse of Works by Manohar Malgonkar,
His Contemporaries, and Precursors | Gender Issues in Teacher Training Materials of ELTIS (English Language Training for Islamic Schools) - A Study from Indonesia | Mind Your Vocabulary! | Semantic Variations of Punjabi Toneme | Contemporary Indian Women Writing in English and the Problematics of the Indian Middle Class | Thought Boundary Detection in English Text through the 'Law of Conservation of thought' for Word Sense Disambiguation | Theme of Isolation in the Select Works of Canadian Women Playwrights | Developing an ESP Course for Students of Applied Sciences in Pakistan | Socio-cultural Context of Communication in Indian Novel - A Pragmatic Approach to Inside the Haveli | Socio-cultural Context of Communication in Indian Novel - A Pragmatic Approach to Inside the Haveli | An Overview of Face and Politeness | Technical Language Lab and CALL - A Descriptive Report | Teaching Composition to Adult Learners of ESL - Strategically Bridging Learner Deficiency and Metacognitive Proficiency through Emotional Intelligence - A Case Study of Indian and Libyan Situations | A Comparison of Students' Achievement in the Subject of English - A Pakistani Context | Code Switching and Code Mixing in Arab Students - Some Implications | A Descriptive Analysis of Diminishing Linguistic Taboos in Pakistan | "Who's that Guy?" - A Discourse Representation of Social Actors in a Death | Contributions of Anna to Tamil Culture and Literature | Ignorance - A Maiden Spoilsport in Thomas Hardy | Classical Language Issues for Teulugu and Kannada | A PRINT VERSION OF ALL THE PAPERS OF AUGUST 2010 ISSUE IN BOOK FORMAT. This document is better viewed if you open it online and then save it in your computer. After saving it in your computer, you can easily read all the pages from the saved document. | HOME PAGE of August 2010 Issue | HOME PAGE | CONTACT EDITOR

N. Pratheeba, Ph.D.
Kamaraj College of Engineering and Technology
Virudhunagar-626001
TamilNadu, India
pratheeba.bose@yahoo.com

 
Web www.languageinindia.com
  • Send your articles
    as an attachment
    to your e-mail to
    languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.
  • Please ensure that your name, academic degrees, institutional affiliation and institutional address, and your e-mail address are all given in the first page of your article. Also include a declaration that your article or work submitted for publication in LANGUAGE IN INDIA is an original work by you and that you have duly acknolwedged the work or works of others you either cited or used in writing your articles, etc. Remember that by maintaining academic integrity we not only do the right thing but also help the growth, development and recognition of Indian scholarship.