THE ROLE OF VOCABULARY IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Abstract

In this article we have looked at the difference between teaching language structure and teaching vocabulary. We have discussed how counts of frequency alone are not enough to determine what words should be taught. We have seen that knowing a word means more than just knowing its meaning. Even that is problematical since meaning includes sense relations and context, for example. To know a word we also need to know about its use, how it is formed and what grammatical behavior it provokes. Above all, in this article, we have approached the idea of how vocabulary teaching and learning need to be emphasized in order for students to be competent language users.