ОСОБЕННОСТИ РАБОТЫ С АНТОНИМАММИ В ШКОЛЕ

Plan
:

INTRODUCTION........................................................................................... 3

THE AIMS OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING................................ 4

THE IMPORTANCE OF TEACHING VOCABULARY............................. 5

HOW TO TEACH VOCABULARY IN SCHOOL....................................... 7

GUIDELINES ON GIVING EFFACTIVE EXPLANATIONS..................... 9

WHAT IS ANTONYMY............................................................................... 10

WORDS THAT ARE THEIR OWN OPPOSITES..................................... 12

HOW TO TEACH ANTONYMS................................................................. 13

ANTONYM QUESTIONS TEST KNOWLEDGE OF VOCABULARY.. 14

WORD RETRIEVAL ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN............................. 16

ABOUT THE ACTIVITIES......................................................................... 16

PLAYING GAMES INVOLVING ANTONYMS........................................ 17

AANTONYMS QUIZ............................................................................... 19

AMATCHED PAIRS................................................................................. 20

ADEVELOP CHILDRENS’ UNDRESTANDING OF E MEANINGS.. 21

ACHOOSE THE CORRECT ANSWER............................................... 23

CONCLUSION............................................................................................. 24

THE LIST OF LITERATURE:.................................................................... 26

INTRODUCTION

It is generally known that school leavers’ vocabulary is poor. They have troubles with hearing, speaking, reading and writing. One of the reasons is poor teaching of vocabulary.

At all stages of teaching vocabulary the teacher should constantly use all kinds of vocabulary testing to see how his pupils assimilate the form, the meaning, and the usage of the words. For testing the retention if the written form dictations may be suggested. For testing the meaning special tests may be recommended such as writing synonyms, antonyms, derivatives, identification, and some others. For testing the usage of the words the teacher may administer such tests as composing sentences using the words given, composing a story on a picture or a set of pictures, and some others. The teacher should bear in mind that most of the exercises offered for the stages of presentation and retention may be fruitfully utilized for vocabulary testing.

Learning may take place without conscious teaching, but teaching is intended to result in personal learning for students, and is worthless if it does not do so. In other words, the concept of teaching is understood as a process that is intrinsically and inseparably bound up with learning. There is no separate discussion of language learning; instead, both content and process of the various modules consistently require the teacher to study learners’ problems, needs and strategies as a necessary basis for the formulation of effective teaching practice and theory.

It is necessary to distinguish between “teaching” and “methodology”. Foreign language teaching methodology can be defined as ‘the activities, tasks and learning experiences used by the teacher within the language teaching and learning process’. Any particular methodology usually has a theoretical underpinning that should cause coherence and consistency in the choice of teaching procedures. ‘Foreign language teaching’, on the other hand, though it naturally includes methodology, has further important components such as lesson planning, classroom discipline, the provision of interest – topics.

THE AIMS OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING

The aims of foreign language teaching are threefold: practical, educational and cultural.

Its practical aims are consequent on the basic function of language, which is, to serve as a means of communication.

International intercourse is realized directly, through the spoken language, or indirectly, trough the written language, that is through printed, or hand-or type-written, texts. Therefore the school programmes set forth the following practical requirements: the instruction must be such as ensure that the graduates can observe on the foreign language on simple every day subjects, using the speech material dealt with in the course, cab read and understand without a dictionary an easy text in the foreign language, and with the occasional help of a dictionary a text presenting moderate difficulties, and can express in written form simple thoughts (write a short letter).

The educational aims of foreign language teaching in schools consist in inculculating in the children through instruction in the foreign language the principles of morality.

The cultural aims mentioned on school programme of foreign languages imply the following tasks: widening the pupils’ general outlook, developing their powers abstract thinking, cultivating their sense of beauty and their appreciation of art. The reading of English texts acquainting the pupils with the life and culture of the English-speaking nations, and with their manner and customs, will contribute to the mental growth of the pupils.

Later the ability of reading English and American authors in the original and texts in the English language reflecting the culture of the countries where that language is spoken will likewise serve the pupils as a mean of attaining a higher general education level.

Reading good authors in the foreign language will develop in the children a feeling of beauty.

A widening of their philological outlook will result from the unconscious and conscious comparison of the foreign with the native language.

THE IMPORTANCE OF TEACHING VOCABULARY

To know a language means to master its structure and words. Thus, vocabulary is one of the aspects of the language to be taught at school. The problem is what words and idioms pupils should retain. It is evident that the number of words should be limited because pupils have only 2-4 periods a week; the size of the group is not small enough to provide each pupil with practice in speaking; schools are not fully equipped with special laboratories for individual language learning. The number of words pupil should acquire in school depends wholly on the syllabus requirement. The latter are determined by the conditions and methods used. For example, experiments have proved that the use of programmed instructions for vocabulary learning allows us to increase the number of words to be learned since pupils are able to assimilate them while working independently with the program.

The vocabulary, therefore, must be carefully selected in accordance with the principle of selecting linguistic material, the conditions of teaching and learning a foreign language in school.

Scientific principles of selecting vocabulary have been worked out. The words selected should be:

1. frequently used in the language;

2. easily combined (nice room, nice girl, nice weather);

3. unlimited from the point of view of style (oral, written);

4. included in the topics the syllabus sets;

5. valuable from the point of view of word-building (use, used, useful, useless, usefully, user, usage).

The first principle, word frequency, is an example of purely linguistic approach to word selection. It is claimed to be the soundest criterion because it is completely objective. It is derived by counting the number of occurrences of words appearing in representative printed material comprising novels, essays, plays, newspapers, textbooks and magazines.

Modern tendency is to apply this principles depending on the language activities to be developed. For developing reading skills pupils need “reading vocabulary”, thus various printed texts are analyzed from the point of view of word frequency. For developing speaking skills pupils need “speaking vocabulary”. In this case the material for analysis is the spoken language recorded. The occurrences of words are counted in it and the words more frequently used in speaking are selected.

The other principles are of didactic value, they serve teaching aims.

The words selected may be grouped under the following two classes (M. West):

1. Words that we talk with or form (structural) words which make up the form (structure) of the language.

2. Words that we talk about or content words.

In teaching vocabulary for practical needs both structural words and content words are of great importance. That is why they are included in the vocabulary minimum.

The number of words and phraseological units the syllabus sets for a pupil to assimilate is 800 words.

The selection of the vocabulary although important is not the teacher’s chief concern. It is only the “what” of teaching and is usually prescribed for him by textbooks and study - guides he uses. The teacher’s concern is “how” to get his pupils to assimilate the vocabulary prescribed. This is a difficult problem and it is still in the process of being solved.

The teacher should bear in mind that a word is considered to be learned when:

1. it is spontaneously recognized while auding and reading;

2. it is correctly used in speech, the right word in the right place.

HOW TO TEACH VOCABULARY IN SCHOOL

The process of learning a word means to the pupil:

1. identification of concepts, that is learning what the word means;

2. pupil’s activity for the purpose of retaining the word;

3.pupil’s activity in using this word in the process of communication in different situations.

Accordingly, the teacher’s role in this process is:

1. to furnish the explanation, that is to present the word, to get his pupils to identify the concept correctly;

2. to get them to recall or recognize the word by means of different exercises;

3. to stimulate pupils to use the words in speech.

Teaching and learning words are carried on through methods you are familiar with; the teacher organizes learning and pupils are involved in the very process of learning, that is in the acquisition of information about a new word, its form, meaning and usage; in drill and transformation to form lexical habits; in making use of the lexical habits in hearing, speaking and reading, or in language skills. Various techniques are used to attain the goal- to fix the words in pupils’ memory ready to be used whenever they need them[1]
.

Presentation of new words. Since every word has its form, meaning and usage to present a word means to introduce to pupils its forms (phonetic, graphic, structural and grammatical) and to explain its meaning and usage.

The techniques of teaching pupils the punctuation and spelling of a word are as follows:

1. pure orcoscious imitation;

2. analogy;

3. transcription;

4. rules of reading.

Since a word consists of sounds if heard or spoken and letters if read or written the teacher shows the pupils how to pronounce, to read and write it. However the approach may vary depending on the task set (the latter depends on the age of pupils, their progress in the language, the type of words, etc.). For example, if the teacher wants his pupils to learn the word orally first, he instructs them to recognize it when hearing and to articulate the word as an isolated element (a book) and in a sentence pattern or sentence patterns alongside with other words. (This is a book. Give me the book. Take the book. Put the book on the table.).

As far as the form concerned the pupils have but two difficulties to overcome: to lean how to pronounce the word both separately and in the speech; and to recognize it in sentence patterns pronounced by the teacher, by his classmates, or by a speaker in case the tape- recorder is used.

If the teacher wants his pupils to learn the word during the same lesson not only for hearing and speaking but for reading and writing as well, he shows them how to write and read it after they perform oral exercises and can recognize and pronounce the word. The teacher writes down the word on the blackboard (let it be spoon) and invites some pupils to read it (they already know all the letters and the rule of reading). The pupils read the word and put it down in their notebooks. In this case the pupils have two more difficulties to overcome: to learn how to write and to read the word; the letter is connected with their ability to associate letters with sounds in a proper way.

There are two ways of conveying the meaning of words: direct way and translation. The direct way of presenting the words of a foreign language brings the learner into direct contact with them, the mother tongue does not come in between, and it establishes links between a foreign word and the thing or the concept directly. The direct way of conveying the meaning of foreign words is usually used when the words denote things, objects, their qualities, sometimes gestures and movements, which can be shown to and seen by pupils, for example: a book, a table, red, big, take, stand up, etc.

The teacher should connect the English word he presents with the objects, the notion it denotes directly, without the use of pupils’ mother tongue.

The teacher uses various techniques for this purpose.

It is possible to group them into (1) visual and (2) verbal. The first group involves the use of visual aids to convey the meaning of unfamiliar words. These may be: besides, the teacher may use movements and gestures.

E. g., the teacher uses objects. He takes a pencil and looking at it says: a pencil. This is a pencil. What is this? It is a pencil. Is it a pencil? Yes, it is. Is it a pen? No, it is not. Is it a pen or a pencil? It is a pencil. The pupils do not only grasp the meaning of the word pencil, but they observe the use of the word in familiar sentence patterns.

GUIDELINES ON GIVING EFFACTIVE EXPLANATIONS

1.
Prepare

You may feel perfectly clear in your own mind about what needs clarifying, and therefore think that you can improvise a clear explanation. But experience shows that teachers’ explanations are often not as clear to their pupils as they are to themselves! It is worth preparing: thinking for a while about the words you will use, the illustrations you will provide, and so on; possibly even writing these out.

2.
Make sure you have the class’s attention

One of the implications of this when giving the instructions for a group-working task is that it is advisable to give the instructions before you divide the class into groups or give out materials, not after!

3.
Present the information more than once

A repetition of the necessary information may make all the difference: learners’ attention wanders occasionally, and it is important to give them more than one chance to understand what they have to do. Also, it helps to represent the information in a different mode: foe example, say it and also write it up on the board.

4.
Be brief

Learners-in fact, all of us-have only a limited attention span; they cannot listen to you for along time with maximum concentration. Make your explanation as brief as you can, compatible with clarity. In some situations it may also mean using the learners’ mother tongue, as a more accessible and cost-effective alternative to the sometimes lengthy and difficult target- language explanation.

5.
Illustrate with examples

You may explain, for instance, the meaning of a word, illustrating your explanation with examples of its use in various contexts, relating these as far as possible to the learners’ own lives and experiences.

6.
Get feedback

When you have finished explaining, check what they have understood. It is not just enough to ask “Do you understand?” ; learners will sometimes say they did even if they did not, out of politeness or unwillingness to lose face, or because they think they know what they have to do, but in fact completely misunderstood! It is better to ask them to do something that will show their understanding: to paraphrase in their own words, provide further illustration of their own.

WHAT IS ANTONYMY

Traditionally antonyms are defined as words that have opposite meaning. This definition is open to criticism. The latest linguistic investigations emphasize that antonyms are similar as words belonging to the same part of speech and the same semantic field, having the same grammatical meaning and functions, as well as similar collocations. Like synonyms antonyms are interchangeable at least at some contexts (hot
in its figurative meaning “angry, excited
” is chiefly combined with the names of unpleasant emotions: hot resentment, hot scorn
; its antonym cold occurs with the same words). Unlike synonyms antonyms do not differ in style, or emotional colouring (they express, as a rule, emotional characteristics of the same intensity).

So antonyms are two or more words belonging to the same pat of speech, contradictory or contrary in meaning, and interchangeable at least at some contexts.

Almost every word can have one or more synonyms; comparatively few have antonyms because not all notions can be opposed to one another. Antonyms are primarily found in adjectives, nouns expressing quality and state.

It should be noted, that as words are polysemantic ones and the same words may have different antonyms (light bag-heavy bag; light wind-strong wind; light colors-dark colors).

Generally we may divide antonyms into 2 groups: absolute
and derivational
.

Absolute antonyms
are subdivided into antonyms proper where opposition is gradual (cold (cool)-(warm) hot; large-little or small)
, complementaries
having a binary opposition (dead-alive, single-married)
, conversives
denoting one and the same referent from different points of view(to sell-to buy, to give to receive).

Derivational

antonyms may be affixal
(happy-unhappy, logical-illogical) or suffixal
(hopeful-hopeless).

It is not always possible to replace a word by its opposite. Where it is possible you may notice that some words have several opposites depending on the context.

The opposite of “old”,
for example, can be “new”
or “young”
depending on the situation.

WORDS THAT ARE THEIR OWN OPPOSITES

There are some antonyms that are called auto-antonyms - words that have two opposite meanings. For example, to "clip" may mean to cut a little piece off, or to put a little piece on. To "look over" may mean careful scrutiny or that you missed an important detail. Sometimes the antonymy may be historical: "nice" used to denote an unpleasant quality. There is a discussion of whether any generalities could be made about such pairs. Are they regularly motivated, or always a coincidence? Meanwhile, here are more auto-antonyms that got left out of last post: One auto-antonym is "moot", which at once means "suitable for debate" and "not worth discussing".

Impregnable:

able to impregnated or inable to be pregnated, cope(s)mate: used to mean antagonist and now means partner or comrade, It turns out that they were having a week celebrating "fence-setters", evidently another term for what is calling auto-antonyms. BRUCE NEVIN reminds us of an intercontinental auto-antonym pair: "public school" in Britain is "private school" in the USA and vice versa.

Infer:

historically (and now, informally) this means "imply" as well. Rent, lease: several pointed out to me that these means both lend and borrow. In addition, Chinese operates similarly with respect to this pair, and WOLFGANG LIPP notes a similar auto-antonymy to represent "give" and "take" in pronunciation but not in writing.

Learn/teach:

in "sub" - Standard English, these two meanings fuse into “learn”, as they do in standard Russian “uchit'” Here is “sensitive”: this may describe either someone with profound understanding for the feelings of others, and tolerates differences of opinion (thus "sensitivity training" for group leaders) as well as a paranoid who doesn't listen to what people are really saying, and decides to take everything as a personal insult.

Hole/whole:

Spelled the first way, an entire absence of matter; the second, entire presence. This reminds me of "pit" which can be either a hollow or the stone of a fruit. Which reminds me of "seeded" oranges (insert your favourite fruit here) - oranges with seeds (as opposed to navel oranges, which have no seeds), OR oranges that have had their seeds removed. If you think you're beginning to see some patterns here, you're not alone! There were received a few theories on the ultimate essence of auto-antonymy, historical, psychological, and sociological approaches. These theories show that auto-antonymy comes about for a variety of reasons.

“I've been enjoying the discussion of words that are their own antonyms.

At first I thought the class

ic example of Latin Altus "high" or "deep"

might fit in, but as I thought about it I figured it was just unmarked

for point of view (say when cleaning out an empty swimming pool then

"Deep" becomes "high") so I just looked to see if it was on the list and

got a comment. No. Good. But one that I have long wondered about is

"risk" as in "he risked winning the game". I was shocked (as a teenager)

the first time I saw "he risked losing the game" (or something like that)

in print, because I previously thought (and am still inclined toward)

the complement of risk being the desirable result, not the undesirable

one. Whether or not this fits into this discussion, I wonder if anyone

else has had a similar (or opposite) reaction or any thoughts

about what's going on in the case of "risk"[2]
”.

HOW TO TEACH ANTONYMS

Teaching antonyms requires great skill and practice. For this purpose the teacher uses various techniques and methods.

For example, while teaching antonyms “small”
and “big”
he uses pictures for presenting them. He says: In these pictures you see two balls
. (The balls should differ only in size.) This is a small ball, and this is a big ball. This ball is small, and that ball is big. Now, Sasha, come up to the picture and point to the small ball (big ball).

Then the teacher shows another picture with two houses in it – a white house and a yellow house, and he asks another pupil to point to the white house, to the u yellow house, and so on.

The teacher may use gestures, for example, for conveying the meaning of stand up, sit down. He says: Lena, stand up
. He shows with his hands what she must do. Lena stands up. Now, sit down
. Again with the movement of his hands he shows the girl what she must do. The other pupils listen to the teacher and watch what Lena is doing. Then many pupils are invited to perform the actions.

If the antonyms are difficult for understanding the teacher may use the learners’ mother tongue and translate them directly or to give the analogies. Forexample, theteachersays: антоним слова “широкий” на русском языке будет “узкий”, а по-английски это слово звучит как “narrow
”.

ANTONYM QUESTIONS TEST KNOWLEDGE OF VOCABULARY

The teacher must be sure of his vocabulary. . These questions obviously test vocabulary. So if yours could use some work, spend time improving it. Apart from having a great vocabulary, you can also do well on antonyms by using test-smarts and strategy.

Antonyms present you with a single word followed by five answer choices containing words or short phrases. Your task here is to find the answer choice that’s most nearly opposite in meaning to the original word. If you’re stumped about the meaning of a word, try to think of a context where you’ve heard the word before. You may not be able to recite the definition of the word covert, for instance, but you’ve probably heard the phrase “covert operation” to describe some type of cloak-and-dagger activity. Also, use your knowledge of foreign languages and word roots to help “decode” the meaning of a tough word. For instance, you may not know what benediction means, but you may be able to determine that the root bene means “good” from knowing the more common word “benevolent.” That may be all you need to answer a question if you spot a word like “curse” among the answers.

Although antonym questions test knowledge of vocabulary more directly than do any of the other verbal question types, antonym questions measure not merely the strength of your vocabulary but also your ability to reason from a given concept to its opposite. Antonyms may require only rather general knowledge of a word, or they may require that you make fine distinctions among answer choices. Antonyms are generally confined to nouns, verbs, and adjectives; answer choices may be single words or phrases.

Here are some approaches that may be helpful in answering antonym questions:

· Remember that you are looking for the word that is the most nearly opposite to the given word; you are not looking for a synonym. Many words do not have a precise opposite, so you must look for the answer choice that expresses a concept most nearly opposite to that of the given word.

· In some cases more than one of the answer choices may appear at first to be opposite to the given word. When this happens, try to define more precisely or in greater detail the meaning of the given word.

· In weighing answer choices, it is often useful to make up a sentence using the given word or words. Substitute the answer choices in the phrase or sentence and see which best “fits”. The best answer will be the one that reverses the meaning or tone of the sentence or phrase.

· Remember that a particular word may have more than one meaning.

· Use your knowledge of root, prefix, and suffix meanings to help you determine the meanings of unfamiliar words.

WORD RETRIEVAL ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN

What is a word-retrieval problem?

The terms “word retrieval problem” or “word finding difficulty” imply that the person knows and understands the word, and has used it correctly before. However, they have difficulty retrieving such known words at times. Children and adults with language disorders are frequently found to have word retrieval difficulties. Often when a person (child or adult) is having difficulty retrieving a word they will have the sense that it is “on the tip of their tongue”: a state of affairs familiar to all of us; at other times they seem simply to “go blank”.

ABOUT THE ACTIVITIES

These activities are intended for children
.

Not all of the activities will suit all children - so be selective.

Put the emphasis on listening, thinking and speaking.

The activities are aimed at having the child retrieve known words - not at extending the vocabulary by teaching new words.

Use a minimum of visual cues. If the word to be “retrieved” does not come easily for the child, provide an auditory cue (e.g., say the first sound or syllable of the word) or a verbal clue (e.g., “it rhymes with...).

Give the child time to think, but don’t leave it so long that they are struggling to find the word. Rather than letting them persist unsuccessfully, tell them the answer, and go on with the next few items. Then ask them the one that was difficult again.

Aim for a high success-rate to encourage motivation and confidence.

Adapt the tasks to suit the (developmental) age of the person. Talk about words and word-meanings.

As natural opportunities arise talk about such topics as “Why is Big Bird called Big Bird?” Talk about people being named after other people. Talk about why certain names might have been chosen for pets and TV characters (Cookie Monster, Vinny the Poo, Uncle Scrooge, The Fat Controller, etc). Try to work these conversations in around topics of genuine interest to the child.

PLAYING GAMES INVOLVING ANTONYMS

Do this as a sentence completion (cloze) activity (e.g., “The opposite of hot is...”) or use a question-and-answer format (e.g., “What is the opposite of hot?”), or as a confrontation naming task using pictures in which the child has to name “opposites pictures” as rapidly as they can (e.g., hot cold, wet dry, big little, fast slow, deep shallow, apart together).

A
Play word games involving differences

For example, “What is different about a bird and a plane? They can both fly, but they are different because...”

A
Checking test

Each of the following questions begins with a single word in capital letters. Five answer choices follow. Select the answer choice that has the meaning most opposite to the word in capitals.

1.
CEDE: (A) estimate (B) fail (C) get ahead of (D) flow out of (E) retain

2.
ACRID:

(A) surly

(B) vapid (C) damp (D) steady (E) sweet

3.
NOISOME:

(A) lurid

(B) healthful (C) peaceful (D) morose (E) rancorous

B
Answers

This question type is heavily based on vocabulary. The better your vocabulary, the better you will do. But there are a few tricks you can try to use. For example, if a choice doesn’t have a clear opposite, it can’t be the correct answer. Such words as “hinterland” or “automobile” don’t have very clear opposites and would be incorrect if you were to see them as answer choices. In this case, answer choice (A) does not have a clear opposite and can be eliminated even if you don’t know what “cede” means.

Also, if it’s a tough question and the keyword is really hard, remember to stay away from choices that are too good to be true. The hard questions, which are the last few questions of each question type, often contain choices that are misleading or tricky. For instance, the word “cede” will remind many people of “succeed,” so they’ll pick (B). But the test maker will never reward students for making mistakes. (B) can’t be correct. By the same logic, you could probably eliminate (C) and (D) because “cede” will remind some people of “recede,” as in “receding tide.” That leaves you with choice (E) as the right answer. “Cede” actually means to yield or surrender, which is in fact the opposite of “retain.”

B
Note
: You will seldom, if ever, be able to eliminate all four wrong answers to an antonym question just by using these kinds of guessing strategies. They can help you eliminate a few choices and increase your guessing odds, but the best way to tackle antonyms is to know what kinds of words tend to show up on the GRE, make flashcards of them, and improve your vocabulary.

1.
C

Cede is to give up one’s rights or possessions. The most opposite phrase in meaning is to get ahead of.

2. E

Something that is ACRID is sharp and biting to taste or smell. The word most opposite in meaning is sweet.

3. B

NOISOME can mean harmful or injurious. The best opposite t
o this is therefore healthful.

A
ANTONYMS QUIZ

FACETS

Handout

Prefix:

Score

1. What is the prefix that gives the opposite meaning of “happy”?

Write the word here:....................................................

2. What prefix makes the word “possible” into something you cannot do?

Write the word here:...................................................

3. Which prefix creates the antonym for “practical”?

Write the word here:...................................................

4. Choose the prefix that creates the antonym for “satisfied”.

Write the word here:...................................................

5. The prefix that creates the opposite of the word “patient” is...