A twenty-year research
conducted by Johnson O’Connor
on the impact of vocabulary on people’s lives led to the conclusion that a person’s vocabulary level is the best
single predictor of occupational success.
As I write this, I am fully
aware that the possibility of my article getting read and being recommended
by the reader to another person solely
depends on my ability to choose the
right words to clearly communicate my ideas and thoughts. So
I too had at a certain stage in my life
paid a lot of attention to learn new words!
Teachers of language know that
a good repertoire of vocabulary and a knack to use them often helps one to communicate accurately. So they constantly
provide exercises in the class room aimed at improving the students’ knowledge
of words. It may also be noted that the ‘No Child Left Behind legislation’ sees
vocabulary as one of the five pillars of
reading comprehension. In short, the more words students know, the better they
are able to comprehend.
In a country like India Kerala
State
Imagine an ordinary working day
in a school… The teacher of English begins a new lesson and naturally a few new words are taught in the class which the students
have to learn. Now what does learning a new word involve? Well, learning to spell,
pronounce and use the new word appropriately in new and varied contexts! The
same could happen in the Hindi and Malayalam classes. But
in a normal working day, a student is also taught new concepts in
Science, have to master the skill of working out problems in Mathematics and familiarize oneself with facts and figures
related to History. But things do not end there! In Kerala for instance they
sensitize learner to ‘issues’ and all the text books at the secondary level now focusses on the following::
* Lack of scientific land-water
management
* Issues related to agriculture
* Lack of cohesive universal
vision
* Lack of human resource
development
* Lack of cultural
consciousness
* The issues of the
marginalized
* Lack of eco-friendly
industrialization and urbanization
* Issues related to health and
public health
Now what happens when the child
returns home, he would love to play, but some parents send him for extra
tuition and coaching. At any rate the child is expected to master the new words
lest he will be taxed the following
working day by teachers who are task
masters.
Ask yourself dear reader, is
this approach scientific? Does this suit the temperament of a learner in a
school ? I would like to hear from you… Do post your valuable comments.
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