The issues of lexical skill formation of university students at non–linguistic schools

Abstract

The paper deals with the problem of vocabulary acquisition and lexical skill formation inteaching the university students who learn English as a second language at non–linguistic schools. Teacher classroom activities aimed at accelerating the acquisition of new words and expressions are a particular focus of this study. Due to the shortage of classroom hours several learning strategies are considered in order to work out the most appropriate ways to expand students’ vocabulary taking into consideration the fact that they are supposed to process a large amount of information both in class and at home. Involuntary memorization of new vocabulary units is presented as a very productive approach to teaching foreign languages. Evidently, the more active students are in class, the better results they can achieve. The lack of sufficient classroom practice leads to undesirable deterioration in students’ results. It has been emphasized that students are supposed to be equipped with the sufficient amount of English words and expressions enabling them to work with various professionally oriented English texts, to use special terms in their work, to participate in international conferences and communicate with their foreign colleagues. However, according to the current university curriculum, the teachers of English only have one double period a week to give all necessary instructions to their students. So they have to use the entire arsenal of teaching methods to ensure the acquisition of required language skills. An extensive practice is viewed as vital at all levels of language learning, and it must be provided both in classroom and for students’ self–studying. Several ways to speed up vocabulary acquisition are presented. Some practical experience is analyzed in an attempt to sort out the problems faced by teachers in presenting new vocabulary units. It does seem challenging to work with the students whose initial level of English is ―elementary‖ and help them learn the language within a period of two years and then they are to take an English exam. Therefore, much attention is to be focused on the most applicable and effective methods of teaching. On the basis of the authors’ working experience, some approaches concerning the
formation of student skills in the accelerated vocabulary acquisition are proposed.