The Effect of Vocabulary on Listening

Introduction

With the help of language, people understand each other. With the help of words, people can identify the type of conversation. With the help of listening, there is a communication. Vocabularies on the other hand are the way that people comprehend on the information given to them. Through enhancing the vocabularies, a student can understand the thoughts given to them. This is also same by simply watching movies. Because people can understand the thoughts delivered for them, they can easily jump into that particular and make assumptions or conclusions.

Background and Problem Statement

Vocabularies may just be a collection of words that conveys one idea. This might appear to be simple but most of the students find it difficult to master the vocabulary because of several factors such as the learning disability, lack of social skills, lack of self confidence, and many others. However, teachers and school administrators currently pursued the importance of vocabulary in learning. Because of the benefits brought by vocabularies, the teachers find it easier to teach if the students can easily comprehend the similarities of the words, their differences, and meanings. It is also easier to teach while listening, aside from preparing the visual aids. In this case, what is the effect of vocabulary on listening of the students?

Research Aim and Objectives

The main aim of the study is to provide the comprehensive approach on the effects of vocabulary on listening skills of the students. In order to provide this aim, the study should satisfy the three objectives. First is to understand the level of literacy among the students. Second is to recognize the intervention of the schools or the pedagogical methods in order to achieve this trait. And third is to determine the factors that affect its success, as well as perceptions of the students.

Literature Review

Many children are born with hearing disability which makes it hard for them to understand the things around them. As immediate actions of the social workers, the establishment of the schools that focuses on giving attention on the special children is a great help for the parents. In the continuous aim of the schools to deliver the changes towards the children, they were first assessed based on their movement. The behavior of the children regarding the non-verbal characteristics might be the result of the poor focus and the lack of interests of children in conversation. Although some of them are interested, they are still in favor in playing. This is where the interaction of an adult is important and attending to the children’s needs is one of the common and basic steps that might divert their attention in playing into conversation (Padula, 2006). As the child grows, the changes occur as well the way he/she interacts with others. Apparently, if the child managed to master the vocabulary, it can be the basis of his learning. The incidental learning is the process of learning about something without any intention of doing so. Normally, when the attention or the interest of the child is captured, learning might follow. Also, this is the kind of learning one thing while there is an intention of learning the other. In terms of language acquisition, incidental learning is said to be an effective way of learning vocabulary from context or books. Languages or the vocabulary can be acquired depending on the activity involved. If the child has he ability to listen (which is the most difficult skill to possess because of the disturbing factors), the vocabulary can be enhanced. For such, encountering one single word might lead to the full knowledge and understanding the meaning of the word. The child should maintain this process in order to acquire the knowledge that he aims to. Many suggested that inquiry should be partnered with reading to expose the child in more in-depth vocabulary (Brown, Waring, & Donkaewbua, 2008).

Methodology

The suggested method in the study is the use of comparative case studies. This is an advantage for the study for it gives the opportunity to view the various scenarios that a student, or the teacher, or both faced during the process of learning. In addition, the case studies are based on the real-life situations in which the study can easily apply. The learning gained by reviewing the cases are the key in determining the effects of vocabulary in listening, as well as obtaining the significant effects of listening in enriching the vocabularies of he students.

References:

Brown, R., Waring, R., & Donkaewbua, S., (2008) Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition from Reading, Reading-while-listening, and Listening to Stories, Reading in a Foreign Language, 20(2) [Online] Available at: http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/rfl/October2008/brown/brown.pdf [Accessed 19 July 2010]

Padula, M.L., (2006) Case Study – The Listening Program: Mary Clare, Age 2 years 10 months, Bilateral Occipital Stroke [Online] Available at: http://www.thelisteningprogram.com/PDF/Case_Studies/CS_MaryC_Age3_Stroke.pdf [Accessed 19 July 2010].