An analysis of the pedagogical approach to vocabulary teaching at a language school in Southeast Brazil

• Autor(a) principal: Marques, Erika Martins Carvalho
• Data de Publicação: 2019
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/75216
• topic: Escola de idiomas; Técnicas de ensino; Vocabulário; Método audiolingual; Vocabulary; Audiolingual method; Teaching techniques; Language school; Domínio/Área Científica::Humanidades::Línguas e Literaturas

This study aims to examine how English teachers develop the second language vocabulary of their students in a private language school in Vitoria, Espirito Santo located in the Southeast Brazil. The literature review of this topic includes teaching techniques and some principles behind the audiolingual method compared to other methodologies, such as the communicative approach. Through interviews with English teachers and students, the researcher questioned them about the importance of vocabulary, the challenges in the classroom and their personal beliefs on how vocabulary is best learned. In this school, all teachers used a traditional approach and strictly followed the coursebook lesson because they were limited to the school methodology and could not implement their own lesson plan. They faced many challenges, such as, class time, pedagogical materials, teachers’ autonomy, motivation of the students, and so on. These teachers suggested and designed a strategic lesson plan and made adaptations of the coursebook lesson to better accommodate learners and encourage them to use the target language in a meaningful way. The results indicated that all participants emphasized a belief in an effective instruction of vocabulary when they are able to use a variety of strategic activities. This study also investigates how teachers could use eclectic method and benefit from various pedagogical approaches to teach vocabulary on an everyday basis.