Teaching Vocabulary to Intermediate Learners

Intermediate learners of a foreign language tend to share certain features of beginners and those more advanced. On the one hand, they have learnt a considerable number of foreign language words and expressions, but on the other hand they still need teachers’ help in order to produce the target language. It seems that teaching intermediate learners is like raising a child who is not prepared to live on his own and still heavily relies on parental assistance. Teachers act as students’ “parents” and help them to achieve “maturity” so that they could become more independent and use freely the target language. One of the key factors to achieve this goal is acquiring a sufficient vocabulary size that enhances learners’ language learning process. Contrary to beginners, who are very enthusiastic about meeting new words and expressions in a foreign language, and advanced learners, who have gained a considerable vocabulary size and are able to use it effectively and this gives them a sense of satisfaction as they can perform well when doing different kinds of activities in the classroom, intermediate learners are no longer so motivated to acquire a foreign language vocabulary items because “[they] have become aware of the difficulties. Their efforts may bring less satisfaction, fewer rewards” (French Allen 67). This does not necessarily imply that teaching vocabulary to intermediate groups is troublesome experience because teachers can encourage their students to use foreign language words and expressions in effective ways. Then students may be highly involved in the lessons and learning a foreign language may become a memorable experience.
Teaching vocabulary to different level groups requires various sorts of techniques that best apply to a particular group. It is obvious that teachers should not use long definitions of   unknown words when teaching beginners, but rather short and easy explanations. As far as intermediate learners are concerned, a key way to make them...