Didactic Proposal to Contribute to the Development of the English Vocabulary in the Teaching Learning Process, November, 11th 2016

HIGHER PEDAGOGICAL SCHOOL OF KWANZA NORTE
ACADEMIC REGION VII
Final Course Work
DIDACTIC PROPOSAL TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE
ENGLISH VOCABULARY IN THE TEACHING LEARNING PROCESS IN 11TH
GRADE STUDENTS FROM “SANTA MARIA GORETTI MISSIONARY
SCHOOL” IN NDALATANDO.
Author: Didí José António Vicente
Tutor: MSc. Luisa Belén Regalón Ballester
N’dalatando, 2016

HIGHER PEDAGOGICAL SCHOOL OF KWANZA NORTE
ACADEMIC REGION VII
Final Course Work
DIDACTIC PROPOSAL TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE
ENGLISH VOCABULARY IN THE TEACHING LEARNING PROCESS IN 11TH
GRADE STUDENTS FROM “SANTA MARIA GORETTI MISSIONARY
SCHOOL” IN NDALATANDO.
Author: Didí José António Vicente
Scientific Research Paper presented as
requisite to obtain the graduation in
educational sciences, in English
Linguistics option.
Ndalatando, 2016

INDEX
ABBREVIATIONS i
DEDICATION ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii
ABSTRACT iv
RESUMO v
INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER I – THEORETICAL FOUNDATION 4
1.1 Definition of terms and concepts 4
1.1.1 Didactic 4
1.1.2 Proposal 4
1.1.3 Contribute 4
1.1.4 Development 5
1.1.5 Vocabulary 5
1.2 Acquisition and development of vocabulary in foreign language 6
1.3 Acquiring vocabulary through grammar 11
1.4 Importance of the English language vocabulary 13
1.5 The importance of motivation to learn a foreign language 14
CHAPTER II – SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 16
2.1. Population and sample 16
2.2. Types of research 16
2.3. Methods and techniques 17
2.3.1. Methods used in theoretical level 17
2.3.2. Methods used in empirical level 18
CHAPTER III – ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF THE RESULTS 19
3.1 Analysis and interpretation of the results 19
3.2 Didactic proposals to contribute to the development of the English vocabulary in the
Teaching Learning Process in 11th
grade students from “Santa Maria Goretti Missionary
School” in Ndalatando 30
CONCLUSIONS 44
BIBLIOGRAPHY
APPENDIXES

ABBREVIATIONS
L1 – First Language
L2 – Second Language
EL – English Language
FL – Foreign Language
SLA – Second Language Acquisition
TLP – Teaching Learning Process
ME – Ministry of Education
INIDE – Instituto Nacional de Investigação e Desenvolvimento da Educação

DEDICATION
To my parents and my lovely son.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Thanks to God above all, for giving me health, power and daily disposition, enabling me to
share knowledge with brotherhood feeling with all people in my academic journey,
professional career and daily life, the same Lord who makes me day by day a virtuous and
honest man.
I also address my thankfulness to our Angolan government for providing their citizens
access to higher education, even with less conditions, I ensure you that we are really
learning and becoming real human resources to contribute to the development of our
country.
My gratitude to my late mother Emília Morais da Costa, the woman who persuaded me to
study in my childhood;
I couldn’t let behind the Higher Pedagogical School of Kwanza-Norte team, particularly our
professors, as well as everyone who contributed to become true this my first step of higher
academic journey, specifically my tutor MSc. Luisa Belén Regalón Ballester, who guided
me during the development of this work.
Special thanks to the “Missionary Santa Maria Goretti School” team, people whose
proficiency on teaching vocation attracted me to the education field, aiming to follow their
example, in special priest José Maria Segunda (my secondary school best teacher), priest
Zola (the ‘obstetric’ as he likes to be treated) not forgetting the current Director of school,
sister Beth and a wonderful educator, teacher Maninha (women with notable human
character and moral on their relationship with students).

ABSTRACT
The present work aims to provide a set of activities to contribute to the development of the
English vocabulary in the teaching learning process, by suggesting different teaching
procedures to the teachers and new learning techniques in 11th
grade students from “Santa
Maria Goretti Missionary School” in Ndalatando. The students presented a low knowledge
in vocabulary, that were determined through observed lessons and some applied techniques,
such as questionnaire, interviews and pedagogical test which enabled collecting the data that
helped the author of this work to realize their low level of vocabulary. To contextualize the
students’ reality with the languages teaching procedures, there were analyzed different
authors’ works, who dedicated their studies to present easy routes and instructions on the
teaching learning of the English language. This work has as importance to promote the
development of the English vocabulary through the practice of listening, speaking, reading
and writing skills as part of language subsystem, using a learning environment that
combines the current social dynamic with the new information technologies. The suggested
activities took into account the students difficulties, for that reason there were selected
simple aspects and basic principles to learn the vocabulary of such language. It is a practical
and useful proposal not only for the students referred, but also for students from other
schools, as well as for the English teachers, who can use it as guide or as consultation
material for the teaching of the English vocabulary. The type of research used, according to
the approach is qualitative, considering its nature is applied research, taking into account
the objective is descriptive vs. explicative and regarding the procedures is field research.
Keywords: Didactic proposal, contribute, development, vocabulary, teaching/learning.

RESUMO
O presente trabalho, visa providenciar um conjunto de actividades, para contribuir no
desenvolvimento do vocabulário da língua inglesa, no processo de ensino aprendizagem,
sugerindo diferentes procedimentos de ensino aos professores e novas técnicas de
aprendizagem aos estudantes da 11ª classe da Escola Missionária Santa Maria Goretti em
Ndalatando. Os estudantes apresentaram um baixo conhecimento no vocabulário, que foi
determinado através das aulas observadas e algumas técnicas aplicadas, tais como
questionário, entrevistas e teste pedagógico, que permitiram a recolha de dados que ajudou o
autor deste trabalho a constatar o baixo nível do vocabulário deles. Para contextualizar a
realidade dos estudantes com os procedimentos de ensino de línguas, foram consultadas
obras de diferentes autores, que dedicaram seus estudos para apresentar vias mais simples e
instruções no ensino e aprendizagem da língua inglesa. Este trabalho tem como importância
promover o desenvolvimento do vocabulário da língua inglesa, através da prática de ouvir,
falar, ler e escrever como parte dos subsistemas da língua, usando um ambiente de
aprendizagem que combina a actual dinâmica social com as tecnologias de informação. As
actividades sugeridas tiveram em conta o problema dos estudantes, por essa razão foram
selecionados aspectos simples e princípios básicos para aprender o vocabulário da referida
língua. Trata-se duma proposta de carácter prático e útil não apenas para os estudantes em
causa, mas também para estudantes de outras escolas, assim como para os professores de
inglês, que podem utilizá-lo como guia ou como material de consulta no ensino do
vocabulário da língua inglesa. O tipo de pesquisa utilizado quanto à abordagem é
qualitativa, considerando a sua natureza é pesquisa aplicada, tendo em conta o seu objectivo
é descritiva vs. explicativa e de acordo com os procedimentos é pesquisa de campo.
Palavras-chave: Proposta didáctica, actividades, contribuir, desenvolvimento, vocabulário,
ensino e aprendizagem.

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INTRODUCTION
Languages are known by words, both historically and in terms of how each person learned his
first and any subsequent language. The coining of new words never stops, nor does the
acquisition of words. Even, in peoples’ first language they are continuously learning new
words, and learning new meanings for old words.
Several languages are spoken in the world, with widely varying distribution, and almost all of
them have been learned as second languages by some portion of their speakers. English is by
far the most common second language (L2) learned in the world. A recent estimate of
numbers of people studying English exceeds 155 million: 10 million in elementary school, 80
million in high school, at least 5 million in universities, and 60 million adults in other
instructional contexts.
Nowadays, English has become the main language used in trade, science, information
technology, international conferences, entertainment, business, electronic products, tourism,
diplomacy, literature, pop music, advertisement, sports, international ranking, airports and air-
traffic control, etc.. It is the planet's language for almost every kind of transaction.
Languages have words as the tools to express ideas, thoughts, feelings, etc. in spoken or in
written form. Even in nonverbal form like gestures, sign, facial or corporeal expression, words
comes out first, the human brain captures an image firstly representing the external idea or
meaning of that gesture, sign or corporeal expression into words, such as when someone
moves his head up and down meaning yes, left and right meaning no; or when the semaphore
in road traffic lights red, meaning stop.
All stated above, suggests that to communicate fluently in any language a person need to have
a wide range of words or simply vocabulary. A person’s vocabulary is the set of words within
a language that are familiar to him. Acquiring an extensive vocabulary is one of the largest
challenges in learning a foreign language, especially in older stage, in which students tend to
rely less on creating word’s association to remember vocabulary.
As affirmed earlier, English is the global language for almost every kind of transaction, that’s
why the Angolan government in goal of political strategies for education and other
international purposes, has included in its curriculum both 1st
and 2nd
cycle of the secondary
teaching, the foreign language (FL) subjects English and French, as it can be seen in the

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National Institute of Investigation and Development of Education program (INIDE in
Portuguese). There are also some private formation centers that use to teach English courses.
The school is known to be the appropriate place in which people learn vocabulary, through
reading, writing and speaking. However, vocabulary can be learned outside the school. In
Angola, students learn English in private formation centers or simply in official schools, that's
why some of them reach school already with a certain knowledge and other without any
knowledge of the English language (EL). The official schools deal with difficulties on
applying some learning techniques, useful to develop vocabulary in the teaching of a foreign
language, considering the notable lack of teaching means and conditions on it. Thus, evidently
most of the students in first and second cycle, especially those who had never attended an
English course, present lots of difficulties with English words both in spoken and in written
form, reflected on their low level of vocabulary. Besides of the teaching conditions which are
not favorable for learning a FL, there is also the problem of non-specialized English teachers.
During the teaching learning process (TLP), the author of this work found the following
difficulties in the students:
– Most of them were not participating in classes, because of the little knowledge of the
English words;
– Some of them presented bad writing of some words that they supposedly already know in
spoken form;
– Other revealed interferences of mother tongue, mixing Portuguese terms when they were
speaking or writing in English language, which has to do supposedly with a bad formation
that they seemed having from the previous classes;
– There were observed a limitation of tasks and creativity on diversifying the ways of
teaching and learning the English vocabulary;
– There were observed exceeding classes for a teacher, so they had no time enough to attend
students in the same way, nor getting well prepared for the teaching challenges.
The facts described previously, led the author to the following scientific problem: How to
contribute to the development of the English vocabulary in the Teaching Learning Process in
11th
grade students from “Santa Maria Goretti Missionary School” in Ndalatando?.
To present a responsive solution to the faced problem, there were defined the following

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General objective: to systematize didactic activities to contribute to the development of the
English vocabulary in 11th
grade students from “Santa Maria Goretti Missionary School” in
Ndalatando.
Specific objectives: – To find out and classify the real level of the English vocabulary in 11th
grade students from “Santa Maria Goretti Missionary School” in Ndalatando;
– To figure out the theoretical and methodological basis that supports the learning and
acquisition of the English vocabulary in the teaching learning process of foreign language;
– To propose didactic activities and tasks to contribute to the development of the English
Vocabulary in the students referred previously.
Importance of the scientific research paper
The present work aims to help teachers and students by presenting them clear activities,
simple and easy, including some suggested procedures and contents, particularly useful to
help the teachers to organize more reasonably their teaching tasks and offer to the students
good learning opportunities, that enables them to manage some individual practices and free-
time exercises, so as to learn the English vocabulary at the time that they prefer and in the
place that they want. It presents what students need to comprehend, speak and write
satisfactorily the EL, considering the problem presented by them. It can be used also by
particular learners, teachers or students from other schools, as guide for a practical purpose or
as a support material for the teaching/learning of the English vocabulary.
Structure of the work
This work is structured in three chapters.
The first chapter, defines the main concepts of the words that support the theme, also it
presents the theoretical foundations regarding the development of the English vocabulary;
The second chapter, refers to methodology, it presents the population and sample, the
methods and techniques applied to diagnose the real situation of the English vocabulary in
11th
grade students from “Santa Maria Goretti Missionary School” in Ndalatando;
The third chapter, presents the analysis and discussion of the results obtained, as well as the
didactic proposal to contribute to the development of the English vocabulary in that students.

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CHAPTER I – THEORETICAL FOUNDATION
To proceed with this research work, the author has decided to define the main terms and
concepts that support the theme and continue with an extensive foundation, based on
scientific theories stated by different authors, regarding the English vocabulary knowledge.
1.1. Definition of terms and concepts.
This section explains the origin and concept of the words, based on different authors’
statements, such as they described scientifically in different context, as following explained.
1.1.1. Didactic
The word didactic has its “origin in mid 17th
century: from Greek didaktikos, from didaskein
‘teach’, which can be translated as art or technique of teaching”. Didactic is part of the
pedagogy that deals with teaching methods and techniques designed to put into practice the
guidelines of pedagogical theory. It studies the different teaching and learning processes. The
elements of the didactic action are: the teacher, the student, the subject matter or content, the
learning context, and the methodological strategies. (APPLE, 2014).
Taking into account the definitions above, the author of this research employs the word
‘didactic’ to this work, focusing on those pedagogical actions or strategies that can be done
not only at school, but anywhere at whatever time, on entertainment or leisure, submitting the
symbiosis of the teachers' role with the students' need on developing the English vocabulary.
1.1.2. Proposal
According to HORNBY, A. S. (2005) it is a formal suggestion or plan, the act of making a
suggestion, specially a formal or written one. That is exactly the real intention of the author of
this work, in response to the problem faced in the students referred previously.
1.1.3. Contribute
According to APPLE, (2014) the word has its “origin mid 16th
century: from Latin contribut-
‘brought together, added’, from the verb contribuere” meaning “give (something specially
money) in order to help achieve or provide something; [with no object] (contribute to) help to
cause or bring about, give one's views in a discussion, lead to,” etc.

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Considering the previous definitions, the author of this work uses the word ‘contribute’
holding the concept of giving someone’s view, help, or lead to different ways of learning and
acquiring a wide range of words to develop the English vocabulary.
1.1.4. Development
Development is a noun that derives from the verb develop with “origin mid 17th
century (in
the sense ‘unfold, unfurl’): from French developer”, meaning “the process of developing or
being developed; a specified state of growth or advancement; an event constituting a new
stage in a changing situation. The process of gradually becoming bigger, better, stronger, or
more advanced”. (ADRIAN-VALLANCE, E. et al. 2009).
For HORNBY, A. S. (2005) development is “the gradual growth of something so that it
becomes more advanced, stronger, etc”. On the other hand, COLLINS, W. (2011) defines it
as “the act or process of growing, progressing, or developing a fact, event, or happening,
especially that one that changes a situation”.
In agreement with the previous statements, the author of this research uses the word
‘development’ in this work, focusing the gradual growth or progress to become more
advanced and better in the knowledge of the English words or simply vocabulary.
1.1.5. Vocabulary
According to APPLE (2014), etymologically the word has its “origin in mid 16th
century
(denoting a list of words with definitions or translations): from medieval Latin vocabularius,
from Latin vocabulum,” meaning “the body of words used in a particular language, […]
subject or sphere of activity; the body of words known by an individual person; a list of
difficult or unfamiliar words with an explanation of their meanings, accompanying a piece of
specialist or foreign-language text”.
Vocabulary of a language is the total number of words in it, while someone’s vocabulary is
the total number of words in a language that he or she knows. In a recent theory, vocabulary is
described as “a listing, either selective or exhaustive, containing the words and phrases of a
language, with meanings or translations into another language; the aggregate of words in the
use or comprehension of a specific person, class, profession, etc; all words contained in a
language”. COLLINS (1989 & 2011).

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The last author's definitions, points out vocabulary, as also the words organized in a
dictionary, as well as the set of words of a specific subjects, e.g. in medicine (syringe,
thermometer, ambulance, x-ray, surgeon, etc) or in army (soldier, gun, tank, missile, etc).
ADRIAN-VALLANCE, E. et al. (2009), explains vocabulary as all the words that someone
knows or uses; the words that are typically used when talking about a particular subject; that
most technical jobs use a specialized vocabulary.
Based on previous definitions, the author of this work speaks about ‘vocabulary’ centering
attention to the total number of words in the English language that students know and uses,
including when typically they are talking about a specific subject.
1.1.6. Teaching-learning
Teaching-learning is a compound word meaning that when teaching takes place, consequently
learning happens at the same time, it’s a feedback process. Nevertheless, teaching derives
from teach which means “to give instruction or lessons in ‘a subject’, to help to learn; give
lessons in, explain, inculcate, inform someone about,” whereas learning derives from learn,
that means “knowledge gained by study, instruction or scholarship; by experience or
example; to become informed about something”. (COLLINS, W. 2011).
Taking into account the previous statement, the author of this work, uses this compound word
referring specifically to the scholarship process, which joins teachers available to give
instruction in a sphere of knowledge, while students gain by study such knowledge.
After being analyzed the definitions that support the theme, the author of this work continues
with theories about FL learning, focusing on acquisition and development of the English
vocabulary, based on different authors foundations, as well as it can be seen next.
1.2. Acquisition and development of vocabulary in foreign language
The field of second language acquisition (SLA) is studied and characterized by different
processes, in which learners build up their vocabulary knowledge of the L2, through an innate
capacity of their L1 learning aptitudes, clarifying that the process of learning reveals different
operational regularities. People have a common set of wants and needs, which they express
through language, that’s why it is necessary a cohesion in the way the L2 is being learned.

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Learners manage the task of learning the L2 through different learning styles, considering that
human beings are individuals, they differ in gender, age, motivation, personality, self-esteem,
behavior, etc. Each person has her own manner of going about things, for that reason learners
choose the methods that most sweets them, in both the way they learn and in way they
achieve any content, according their individual skills.
In view of the previous observations, it is a task of the teachers to organize the
teaching/learning process, selecting contents that combine with the behavioral aspects of the
students, take into consideration their needs, so as to reach the learning goals. For instance in
a speaking lesson, the teacher have to organize the topic of the conversation e.g. speaking
about water (its chemical form, its usage for drinking, washing cloth, taking shower, irrigation
of plants, in hydroelectric industry, etc.), this delimitation give the students opportunities of
using different words that involves water. The same must happen in other lessons, however
for basic language learners, the subjects easy for them are those based on daily activities.
STOBBE, G. (2008, p. vii), states how to teach foreign language in elementary stage,
according the author “before you can put words together effectively, you must comprehend
basic language concepts”. In the acquisition of a FL, one of the basic language concepts is the
knowledge of the words, which means having the ability to recognize it in its spoken and
written forms, knowing its different meanings, being able to pronounce it properly, knowing
its part of speech [e.g. a noun, a verb], being able to use it correctly and grammatically
appropriately within sentences, and for technical words, recognizing it in context.
The author of this work comes in agreement with the previous statement and makes a
correlation with NATION, P. (2014, p. 9) statement, who refers on balancing the learning
through the principle of the four strands, a principle that says if someone want to have a well-
balanced language course, he need to spend equal amounts of time on learning from meaning-
focused input (listening and reading), learning from meaning-focused output (speaking and
writing), language-focused learning (studying pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, etc.),
fluency development (getting good at using what you already know), therefore, the author
reinforces that it does require some skill and effort in applying it.
According to this author, if the learners’ language course does not provide large amounts of
input through reading and listening at the right level for them, then they are missing a very
important opportunity for learning. Research with very young FL learners, found that by

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increasing the amount of interesting and understandable written input without increasing class
time, learners had almost doubled the language proficiency gains of those who followed a
program, involving the same amount of class time but with much less input. These gains were
maintained a year later.
At the beginning of this work, there was referred that people learn a language to communicate
and according to STOBBE (op. cit. p. vii), communication generally means putting words
together to express thoughts in context; and words are tools for communication, organized in
grammar as parts of speech, which the author considers to be the overall framework of the EL
knowledge, in which learners add important information, essential to build their basic
grammar foundation, in other words, becoming familiar with the tools.
COLMAN, R. (2005, p. 3), states that when people want to speak, they need ways of
indicating things and people (nouns), talking about actions (verbs), describing things
(adjectives), describing actions (adverbs), showing how things relate to other things
(prepositions), joining sections of speech (conjunctions), expressing strong emotion or
surprise (interjection).
Agreeing with the previous statement, the author of this work sustains that when people
speak, they face the mechanics of words, all the parts of speech play an important role, the
words in sentences works like a machine components, each one with its specific function,
enabling to express ideas with a certain sense; if it is set in a wrong position, communication
cannot take its normal course, just like in machines, if a component is set in a wrong place, it
will not work correctly, that’s why it becomes necessary to let learners to comprehend the
basic language concepts, having knowledge of the adjectives for instance, as a component of a
tool-kit, so it would be necessary to understand such component function; when people speak
what they want to say with the adjectives?. From such principle and after knowing its
function, the teacher can teach different words that are part of the adjectives; thereafter, the
students are going to learn a wide range of words about adjectives vocabulary.
When people think of vocabulary acquisition, they think about learning words that make up
speech (oral language) or text (both reading and writing) and their meanings. The good news
is that with around 120 words and phrases (which would take a total of four hours of
deliberate study to learn); people should deal with the most basic requirements of
communication. These basic requirements, include meeting and greeting people, being polite

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(please, thank you), going shopping, ordering food, seeking directions, reading signs, finding
somewhere to stay, talking about themselves, and controlling language input. (NATION, P.
(2014, p. 14)
If a person wish, then, to increase his vocabulary, of course he must become observant of
words and inquisitive about them. In communication most of people use words, not as
individual things, but as parts of a whole, as cogs in the machine of utterance by which they
convey their thoughts and feelings. People do not think of them separately at all. Some words
are better learnt when contextualized in specific field or profession; the word ‘tank’ for
example, when referred in army means a war machine, a heavy armoured fighting vehicle
carrying guns and moving on continuous articulated metal track; differently, when referred as
recipient it means a “large storage chamber for liquid or gas; the word like as an adjective
means similar, while as a verb means to enjoy, feel pleasure, be pleased with.
Taking into account the previous statements, the author of this work assumes the everyday
topics developed by McCARTHY, M. & O’DELL, F. (1999 p. 6-124), intended to help to
learn a wide range of vocabulary, from a very basic stage to a level where learners can be able
to use around 2,000 words and phrases, as well as described next.
 Word and grammar: it combines the teaching of grammar and the acquisition of
vocabulary, e.g. everyday verbs (have, do, make, come, take, bring); phrasal verbs (put on,
turn down); irregular verbs (eat, drink); conjunctions and connecting words (because, only,
and); time words (today, month, year; seasons: Monday, July, winter); places (middle, front,
abroad); manner (fast, loud); common nouns (water, food, army, forest, fleet of ships, crowd
of people, swarm of bees);
 Job, study and work: it focus on specific vocabulary from each branch e.g. jobs (doctor,
teacher, police, secretary, hair dresser, baker, engineer, farmer, cooker) at work (boss,
colleagues, routines, career, promotion, hierarchy, director, workmates, secretary); at school:
classmate, professor, students, director, research work, education, exams); business career
(contracts, payment, investment);
 People and relationships: it suggests all about things people do everyday e.g. (wake up,
get up, go to bathroom, have shower, have breakfast, go to work or for a walk, come home,
listen to music, make dinner, phone a friend, watch TV, go to bed, clean the house, wash

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clothes); relationships (love, girlfriend, sympathies, friendships, bride); problems in
relationships (jealousy, disloyal, rivalry, unsupportive, misunderstanding, pretentiousness,
antipathies); birth marriage and death (born, single, divorced, caesarean, wedding, funeral);
 Global problems & issue: it provides vocabulary with reference to war and peace (soldier,
ambush, ceasefire, missile, tank, peace agreement); natural disasters (hurricane, earthquake,
floods, tsunami); crime, law & order (murder, drug traffic, vandalism, terrorism, police
officer, sentence, innocent, judge, lawyer); McCARTHY, M. & O’DELL, F. (1999, p. 122-124).
 Leisure and lifestyle: it suggests about vocabulary regarding to free time (relaxation,
leisure, shopping, dancing); clothes and fashion (jeans, shirts, tennis shoe, suit, skirt,
glasses, jewel, smart-casual clothe, winter clothing); arts (decorative arts, plastic arts, literary
arts); books (romance, drama, comedy, memoirs);
 Transportation: it presents vocabulary for what is on the road (traffic, driving, tailback,
give-way, accident, crash); air travel (airplane, helicopters, first class, economic class, airport,
passport, ticket, baggage, pilot, flight attendant); means of transportation (car, metro,
bicycle, airplane, motorcycle, boat); tourism (excursion, nature, countryside); moving without
transportation (walk, run, jump, dance, fall). (McCARTHY, M. & O’DELL, F. 1999, p. 86).
 The environment: it describes vocabulary about weather (sun, rain, cloud, snow, wind,
lightning); climate (tropical, humid, dry, hot, cold); vegetation (forest, trees, plants);
agriculture (banana, palm oil, manioc, potato’s production); industry (pharmacy industry, car
factory, drink factory, ceramic factory); people & migration (Chinese, Malian, Arabs,
Vietnamese); animals (pig, eagle, goat, bull, cow, horse, parrot, lion, elephant, rhinoceros);
 Health & illness: there are common illness e.g. (heart attack, sneeze, cholera, malaria,
asthma, fever, headache); problems affecting health (stress, panic, anger, hate, sadness);
nutritional information (fat, cholesterol, calorie, vitamin, mineral, nutrients); sport & fitness
(swimming, jogging, cycling, tennis, beach). (McCARTHY, M. & O’DELL, F. 2002, p. 128).
 Media & Technology: radio, TV, digital photography, videos, sound recording, cellphones,
computers, MP3 players, internet, email, newspapers, magazines, satellite, network, profiles);
 Countries, languages and people: it provides vocabulary of countries e.g. (Angola, Italy,
Jamaica, England, Brazil, Liberia, etc.); language and people e.g. (German, English,
Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Russian); (SARGEANT, H. 2007, p. 9).

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 In the town: it presents vocabulary of things characteristic to this places e.g. streets
(Republic avenue, Brazilian avenue; Missionary street, Ndalatando street); buildings (e.g.
Cine Ndalatando building); shop areas (Shoprite, Nosso Super); banks (BFA, BPC, BAI);
hotels (Terminus Hotel, Porcelana Hotel); Stations (bus station, railway station); other
services (parking, library, museum, hospital, schools etc).
 In the countryside: it presents vocabulary of things or activities characteristic of such place
e.g. things that can be encountered in the countryside (mountain, village, river, farm,
farmers, forest, wood, field);
 Foods and drink: it provides vocabulary concerning to everyday food (bread, rice, fish,
etc.); fast foods (hamburger, hot-dog, pizza, sandwiches, etc.); fruits and vegetables (orange,
banana, pineapple, carrot, beans, garlic); drinks (tea, coffee, milk, beer, fruit juice, etc.);
 At home: it explains about vocabulary of things in the living room (curtain, TV, remote
control, light switch, chair, carpet, armchair, books, bookshelf); in the kitchen (cooker,
microwave, work top, fridge, freezer); in the bedroom and bathroom (bed, bedside lamp,
alarm clock, cupboard, hairbrush, comb, pyjamas, nightdress, wardrobe, mirror, soap,
toothpaste, toilet, toothbrush, towel); things used in kitchen (frying pan, kitchen paper,
saucepan, teapot, coffee maker, washing liquids); thinks used for eating and drinking (cup,
plate, bowl, fork, spoon, knife, glass). (McCARTHY, M. & O’DELL, F. 1999, p. 92-96).
The topics above were adopted to this work, for presenting clear examples based on concrete
objects, pictures and other kinds of easy samples, which expresses an easy way for foreign
language students to learn, because they anxiously need to know the names of things around
them, so that they can convey their thoughts regarding to the subjects of their daily life. The
teachers can take the most of such topics, for being useful to help them to prepare and carry
out their lessons more systematically and practical, making use of immediate environment of
the students and their community, using things that can be brought into the classroom,
demonstrating actions and then get them to perform the same or similar actions.
1.3. Acquiring vocabulary through grammar
Learning vocabulary means learning words and words are verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs
etc, as stated by TESCHNER & EVANS (2007, p. 5) “any language words can be classified
according the part of speech (grammatical category) that it belong”. Typically, learning

12
grammar involves learning the names and meaning of the parts of speech, as stated
previously, learning to describe grammatical constructions, and learning how to correct errors.
Based on this statement, it is considered helpful to teach grammar starting with the 'class of
words' and its functions in sentences; most of 'word classes' can be divided into subclasses,
nouns for instance are categorized into proper (specific people, places, or things); common
(general groups, places, people, or things); concrete (things experienced through the senses
of sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch); abstract (things not knowable through the senses);
collective (groups as a unit, e.g. crowd of people or fish, family); and compound (a single
concept composed of two or more words);
Pronouns are divided into personal (subject pronouns: I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they «used
before the verb in sentence»; object pronouns: me, you, him, her, it, us, them «used after the
verb in sentence»); reflexive (myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves
and themselves «the action of the verb falls back to the same actor»); indefinite (anyone,
someone, no one, anything, something, nothing); relative/interrogative (who, whom, which,
what, whose, where, when, why, that); demonstrative (this, these, that and those); possessive
(mine, yours, his, hers, ours, yours, theirs «in sentence it is never followed by its noun e.g.
This is mine; Give it to Peter: it's his; The money is ours»); (BATKO, A. 2004, p. 71-76).
Adjectives are ordered into qualitative (hot, ugly, beautiful, new, old, strong, etc); descrip-
tive (Angolan, aquatic, yellow, big, small, happy, difficult, long, large, narrow); quantity
(much, many, some, a lot of, a little, any, a few); possessive (my, your, his, her, its, our, your,
their «in sentences it’s always followed by its noun, e.g. It's my car; That's his mother; This
is our house»); comparative (faster, newer, older, shorter, taller, slower, thicker «than is
mainly followed after the comparative adjectives ending in –er»), superlative (highest, sim-
plest, longest, hottest, worst, more beautiful, most active, most important, more investment);
Adverbs are grouped into mode or manner (well, legibly, fast, clearly, safely, honestly,
hardly, horribly); time (yesterday, next, later); place (upstairs, outside, here, there); degree
(almost, quite, only); intensity (extremely, highly, very); frequency (always, never, some-
times, occasionally, monthly); sentence adverbs (obviously, definitely, completely, excep-
tionally, «they modify the whole sentence or clause and often expressing degrees of certainly
and/or the speaker opinion»); question or interrogative (how? why? where? When? what?);
negative (not, no, never); quantity (much, more, less, enough); (VINCE, M. 2008, p. 140).

13
Prepositions are organized into place and position (at, in, on, off, across, around, among,
below, over, inside, beside, by, near, against, behind, along, next to, close to, down); direc-
tion and motion (in, into, to, towards, out of, from, about); time (at, in, on, after, during,
since, till, until, before,); some other prepositions (for, despite, with, of, without, except);
Conjunctions are grouped into coordinate (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet); correlatives (ei-
ther, or, neither, not only, but also, both…and); subordinate (because, since, as, than,
as, if, unless, though, although, so that, in order that, until, while);
Verbs in English are divided into two classes, such as regular (the past tense and past parti-
ciple forms are created by adding -d or -ed, to the present form, but the root doesn’t change;
for example walk, walked, walked); and irregular (group 1: all three forms «simple present,
simple past and past participle» are the same – e.g. ‘shut, shut, shut’; group 2: verbs where
two of the three forms are the same – e.g. ‘become, became, become’; group 3: verbs where
all three forms are different – e.g. ‘choose, chose, chosen’); (HUGHES, A. 2001).
When people use language in spoken or written form, words acts in group as stated above to
convey the meaning of communication. In spoken form, speakers are under pressure to
produce language quickly, they have no time for planning or for editing, so grammar lacks
much of the elaborate structure, rules are frequently ignored, speakers always tend to save
time and energy, so frequently they use elision and/or contractions like ‘it's, can't’ and other
morphologically reduced forms like gonna, etc. Speaking takes place in real time and in
shared context, it’s interactive, it expresses emotion and attitude, that's why people easily use
expressions of mother-tongue and slang. On the other side, the written form requires much
more information to avoid comprehension problem, because each language has its particular
way of writing words. It is the written form that introduces the notion of error, so the grammar
rules must be carefully observed; sentences well elaborated with a well cared vocabulary.
1.4. Importance of the English language vocabulary
The importance of vocabulary is expressed in short words and simple sentences by the author
David Wilkins apud THORNBURY, S. (2002, p. 13) when he said that “without grammar
very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed”. Sharing a similar
thought Dellar & Hocking apud THORNBURY, S. (op. cit. p.13) said “If you spend most of
your time studying grammar, your English will not improve very much. You will see most

14
improvement if you learn more words and expressions. You can say very little with grammar,
but you can say almost anything with words”.
Particularizing the importance of the English language vocabulary, the author of this research
work, run over to an excerpt from the history of the English language, referring that its
importance is related on events that shape the balance of its power among nations. The British
Empire colonized among other countries the United States of America, whose political,
economic, technological and military actions reflects favorably the strength of a powerful
nation, providing the English language a certain prestige against other languages, their
peoples and states participant of similar events. On the other hand, the arts and sciences
expressed through the English language increase its advantages, including the opportunities
for propagation in all the countries of the world.
1.5. Motivation as an important factor to learn a foreign language
Motivation is an internal stimulus that moves someone to react doing things in order to reach
a desired purpose. According the value that an individual gives to a desired thing or goal, it
defines the intensity of motivation in acts. Motivation factors represent the reasons of people's
actions, desires, and needs. Motives prompt persons to act in different ways, and/or orienting
themselves to a specific behavior.
Maslow (1962) apud BROPHY, J. (2004, p. 6) suggests some needs theory stated in the
following priority: 1. Physiological needs (sleep, thirst) 2. Safety needs (freedom from
danger, anxiety, or psychological threat) 3. Love needs (acceptance from parents, teachers,
peers) 4. Esteem needs (mastery experiences, confidence in one’s ability) 5. Needs for self-
actualization (creative self-expression, satisfaction of curiosity).
BROPHY, J. (2004, p. 7) says
“In the classroom, Maslow’s hierarchy implies that students who come to school
tired or hungry are unlikely to become engrossed in lessons. Similarly, students
who feel anxious or rejected are unlikely to take the intellectual risks involved in
seeking to overcome confusion and construct clear understandings, and even less
likely to try to be creative when working on assignments. This is especially the
case when need frustration is chronic.”
Although Maslow's theories have been criticized and rejected by scientific psychologists, the
author of this work agree with that, because it is clear that motivation is influenced by
different factors such as internal and external that partially are related to his referred need

15
theories, which the author of this work adds the self-desire, determination, need of learning,
attitudes, beliefs, interest and effort in mastering a subject to gain knowledge, the importance
of the aimed purpose, self-control and confidence, desire to be taken as important, to acquire
good social status, etc. It is accepted for most fields of learning that motivation is essential to
success: that we have to want to do something to succeed at it without such motivation we
will almost certainly fail to make the necessary effort. Effort consists of a number of factors,
including an inherent need to achieve, good study habits, and the desire to please a teacher or
parent. (HARMER, J. 2001, p. 51-52); (GASS & SELINKER, 2008, p. 426-428).
It is clear that, as in any learning situation, not all humans are equally motivated to learn
languages, nor are they equally motivated to learn a specific language. Differential motivation
does not appear to interrupt a person’s success or lack of success in learning language. All
human beings without cognitive deficiency or impairment learn a first language.
BROPHY, J. (op cit. p.17) says
“If you confine yourself to responding to the motivational orientations that your
students bring with them, you will limit your options and fail to capitalize on
opportunities to guide your students’ motivational development in desirable
directions […], it is helpful to view motivation to learn as a schema—a network
of connected insights, skills, values, and dispositions that enable students to
understand what it means to engage in academic activities with the intention of
accomplishing their learning goals and with awareness of the strategies they use
in attempting to do so”.
People are born with the potential to develop a great range of motivational dispositions. A few
such dispositions appear to be inborn as part of the human condition and can be observed in
everyone. Motivation to learn, are developed gradually through exposure to learning
opportunities and socialization influences. So, the motivation is of paramount importance in
the teaching learning process. For many students, language learning is pursued only in school,
as an academic requirement. Many adults study foreign language to fortify their skills with the
aim of better understanding of a culture, to achieve another goal in society and qualify for
work in target industries or companies, or simply achieve their desires or aptitude to build
relationships and meaningful communication.
The author of this work, presented in this chapter the main aspects regarding the acquisition
and development of the English vocabulary in the teaching learning process, starting from the
definition of the main terms and concepts, as well as the theoretical foundation that supports
the present work.

16
CHAPTER II – SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This chapter expresses the methods and techniques applied to analyze and comprehend the
real level of development of the English vocabulary in the students previously mentioned, the
types of research used to collect the data, as well as the population and sample, as it can be
observed next.
2.1. Population and sample
To achieve the purpose of the present research, the author worked out with one-hundred and
nine (109) students of 11th
grade, from the school referred previously, representing 100% of
the population, belonging to the general formation courses, namely Human Sciences and
Juridical and Economic Sciences, whose ages round about 17 to 26 years old.
As sample, there were selected twenty-seven (27) students, representing 25 % of the
population, whose genders are distributed specifically in seventeen (17) boys and ten (10)
girls. It is a selection criterion based on probability sampling, also known as ‘random
sampling’, which design is supposed that population has an equal chance of inclusion in the
sample. So, this selection procedure aimed to guarantee the purpose that each one of the
students in that grade has the same probability of being compared with the results obtained
from the selected as sample.
2.2. Type of research
According to GERHARDT, T. E. & SILVEIRA, D. T. (2009, p. 31-41), research vary taking
into account the approach, the nature, the objectives and the procedures. So, in agreement
with this statement, regarding the approach the author of this work used qualitative research,
because he was interested on comprehending the reasons of the little knowledge of the
English vocabulary in the teaching learning process in the students referred previously;
Taking into account the nature, the author used applied research, because his central aim was
to discover a solution for the practical problem, identified in the students already referred,
which from the taken conclusion,s there were proposed activities relating to their difficulties;
Considering the objectives, the author used descriptive vs. explicative research, because for
having no control over the variables, his purpose was the description of the faced problem as

17
it exists or as it is happening at present, by means of enquiries, interviews, as well as using
facts and information already available in the social reality of the students, to bring to the
surface the causes of their difficulties as stated in the introduction;
In reference to the procedures the author used bibliographical vs. field research, taking into
account that he went to the “Santa Maria Goretti Missionary School” in Ndalatando, attended
some lessons, contacted with teachers and students, carried out interviews and questionnaire,
which enabled him to find out the referred problem and proceeding with lifting of theoretical
statements, published by different authors to present a solution for that.
2.3. Methods and techniques
Methods represent the tools used to collect data, as well as instructions to analyze
information, so as to help the author to select the most important contents, useful for the
solution of the stated problem. For that reason it was necessary to choose and use right kind of
methods for this particular research, with special purpose of taking most precise conclusions
and being convinced about the didactic activities to suggest to guarantee a proficient solution.
2.3.1. Methods used in theoretical level
These methods were used by the author of this work to evaluate and qualify the empirical data
and the theoretical information consulted, to understand the main problem faced in that
students, as well as to select the most important aspects for its solution, such as proposed by
KHOTARI, C. R. (2004, p. 18); DINIZ, C. R. & SILVA, I. B. da, (2008, p. 6); DESCARTES,
René (1596-1650) apud GERHARDT, T. E. & SILVEIRA, D. T. (2009, p. 26).
 Analysis: it was used during the research to analyze the literature of different authors and
the results of the information collected through the questionnaires and interviews, to convey
the foundation of the work;
 Synthesis: it was used for the selection of the most significant aspects conformed to this
research work. It was closely related to the analysis;
 Deduction: it was used to infer the general reason that if students have difficulty on writing,
speaking and using the English words; and words are part of vocabulary of a language, then
they have law development of the English language vocabulary;

18
Induction it was used to assure the logical reason that the 27 observed students have law
development of the EL vocabulary; the 27 observed students and the 82 non-observed are
students of the 11th
grade from the same school, referred previously; then all the 11th
grade
students from that school have law development of the EL vocabulary.
2.3.2. Methods used in empirical level
The author of this work used these methods to get at facts firsthand, at their source, and
actively to procedures that stimulate the production of desired information; then he worked
out to get enough data, in order to prove or disprove the hypothesis by setting up experimental
designs in the students referred previously; as stated by KHOTARI, C. R. (2004, p. 96-191).
 Observation: it was used to be awareness about the situation of the English language in the
teaching learning process in 11th
grade students from the school named previously. The main
advantage of this method was to provide relevant information in relation to what is currently
happening in that students, so as to formulate the research purpose, according to the facts
faced by the author of this work.
 Survey: this method allowed the author of this work to use questionnaires, in which he
organized the questions and received replies, without actually having to talk to every
respondent. This technique was applied to the sampled students with the intention to know
their knowledge regarding the English vocabulary. The advantage of using this technique was
the low cost even with a large universe and widely spread geographically in the teachers and
students location, allowed collecting their opinions.
 Interview: it was used a semi-structured interview, containing structured and unstructured
sections with standardized and open type questions, suitable for quantitative data collection,
which was particularly useful, because qualitative data was required.
 Pedagogical test: It was applied to test the students concerned, in order to evaluate their
real level of development of the English vocabulary in speaking, reading and writing skills.
The test was helpful; it allowed comprehending the students’ strength and weakness in EL.
 Statistical-mathematical: this method was used to provide the percentage analysis,
tabulating the results and get a clear description of the sample, as well as better interpretation
of the diagnosed results from the empirical data.

19
CHAPTER III – ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF RESULTS
This chapter, refers to analysis and discussion of the results, obtained through the observation
and the survey methods applied, so as to understand the real situation of the teaching learning
process of the English language in 11th
grade students described previously, also it includes
the didactic proposal, designed to contribute to the development of vocabulary, in response to
the problem faced, as stated before.
3.1. Analysis and interpretation of results
The following, it will be analyzed and interpreted the data collected through the methods and
techniques applied by the author of this research, which influenced to proceed with this work,
to find out possible solutions to help to solve the students’ problem as referred previously.
3.1.1. Observation
During the observation carried out, the author of this work arrived to the conclusion that there
are some basic problems, which has to do with the lack participation of the students in classes,
their little knowledge of the English words, associated with the difficulties to articulate
several of it in writing and speaking, the strong interference of mother tongue (L1) presented
on writing and speaking the EL, and the problem regarding the previous bad formation of
some of them in such subject. Yet, there were observed limitations' tasks and low creativity
on teaching the English vocabulary, lacking the practice of listening and well structured
lessons of speaking, reading and writing; there were observed classes with more than fifty
(50) students, which is excessive number for a class, moreover a teacher is given more than
five (5) classes, which lets him having not time enough to attend all students in the same way.
The author of this work, observed twelve (12) classes of the teaching of the English language
in 11th
grade students from “Santa Maria Goretti Missionary School” in Ndalatando.
Objective: To identify the teaching procedures and means used to teach the English language
in the students concerned.
Table 1: Results of the observations
Number of lessons Observed lessons Percentage
12
10 (they didn’t practice the activities to develop vocabulary) 83,3 %
02 (he practiced the activities to develop vocabulary) 16,7 %
Total 12 100 %

20
According to the results obtained, ten (10) of the twelve (12) classes observed, which
represents 83,3 % didn’t work the necessary activities considered important to develop the
students vocabulary, specifically those tasks that the teacher should plan and organize in
which for instance should be spent three-quarter of the learning time, practicing the four
language skills, giving the students a specific activities e.g. talking about the weather,
listening to a record speaking about directions and making a composition based on it, reading
text that most suits learners, all this procedures should balance their opportunities for learning
across range of words, just choosing useful material met for each stage of learning.
In the other two (2) classes that represent 16,7 % even not effectively, was possible to observe
the practice of some activities, helpful for students to acquire certain number of words and
develop their vocabulary, considering that the teacher gave them some tasks of reading,
interpretation and speaking about themselves. However, the practice of these activities were
not enough, e.g. in reading there weren’t respected the recommended steps, such as reading in
silent, in collective, in group and individually, to take out and explain the difficult words,
lastly as seemed necessary, translating into Portuguese the main ideas to let students to
understand the text, perhaps it would extend their desires or stimulus to learn time after time.
3.1.2. Survey by questionnaire applied to the students (Appendix 1)
The questionnaire was applied to the students, in order to understand their faculty knowledge
regarding the English vocabulary.
Table 2: Results of the first question of the questionnaire directed to the students
Question Answers Number of students Percentage
When did you start to study English?
1 year ago 05 18,5 %
2 years ago 08 29,7 %
3 or more years ago 14 51,8 %
Total 27 100 %
In the first question, five (5) students representing 18,5 % answered one year ago; eight (8) of
them representing 29,7 % answered two years ago; and fourteen (14) of them representing
51,8 % answered more than three years;
Table 3: Results of the second question of the questionnaire directed to the students
Where did you start to learn English at first
time?
At school 22 81,5 %
In a formation center 05 18,5 %
Total 27 100%

21
In the second question, twenty-two (22) students that represent 81,5 % answered at school and
the other five (5) of them representing 18,5 % answered in professional formation’ centers.
The results in this question, has proved that the students who started to learn English in
formation' centers, have more knowledge than those who started to learn it only at school.
Besides, most of the public official schools presents few conditions and spend less time
teaching the foreign language. Yet, the teachers rebate themselves as being not possible to
teach efficiently the EL in the public schools. So they limited themselves on diversifying the
teaching tasks and procedures that should be helpful for the students to learn the language.
Table 4: Results of the third question of the questionnaire directed to the students
Does teacher promote activities of listening, speaking,
reading and writing?
Yes 04 14,8 %
No 16 59,2 %
Sometimes 07 26 %
Total 27 100%
In the third question, four (4) students that represent 14,8 % answered yes; sixteen (16) of
them that represent 59,2 % answered no; and seven (7) of them representing 26 % answered
sometimes. This question was made to know if the teachers use to work the students’
vocabulary, because people begin to learn a certain language firstly by listening, then
speaking, thereafter follow the reading and writing needs or other aspects to use the language.
Table 5: Results of the fourth question of the questionnaire directed to the students
Mention where do you present more
difficulties in the four language skills
Listening, speaking, writing 15 55,6%
All four language skills 06 22,2%
Reading and writing 06 22,2%
Total 27 100%
In the fourth question, fifteen (15) students representing 55,5 % mentioned listening, speaking
and writing; six (6) representing 22,2 % mentioned having any knowledge of the four
language skills; and the rest of other six (6) of them that represent 22,2 % mentioned reading
and writing. This question was made to know the students’ skills and weakness regarding the
English vocabulary in listening, speaking, reading and writing.
Table 6: Results of the fifth question of the questionnaire directed to the students
From 100 to 2000 mention the approximated
number of words you know in the English
language.
100 to 500 13 48,2%
500 to 1000 09 33,3%
1000 to 2000 05 18,5%
Total 27 100%

22
In the fifth question, thirteen (13) students that represent 48,2 % mentioned 100 to 500 words;
nine (9) of them representing 33,3 % mentioned 500 to 1000; and the other five (5) of them
that represent 18,5 % mentioned 1000 to 2000 thousand words. This question was
intentionally applied to know the number of words known by the students.
The results of the questionnaire, has shown that almost all the students enjoy to learn the
English language and fortunate or unfortunately most of them started learn it just in school,
thus their aspirations on developing such language, depends mainly from the teacher's
creativity, impulse and stimulus in response to the students desires and needs, so as to keep
them motivated and maintain their dream alive on becoming more advanced, to improve their
listening skill, to be able to correspond other speakers in speaking, reading and writing.
3.1.3. Interview directed to the students (Appendix 2)
An interview was directed to the 27 sampled students, with the intention to know the
relevance of their interest and compromise in the teaching/learning of the English language.
Table 7: Results of the first question of the interview directed to the students
2
Do you like to learn English?
Yes 23 85,1 %
No 4 14,9 %
Total 27 100 %
In the first question, twenty-three (23) students representing 85,1 % answered yes; the other
four (4) of them representing 14,9 % answered negatively;
Table 8: Results of the second question of the interview directed to the students
Do you speak English fluently?
Yes 03 11,1 %
No 16 59,2 %
More or less 08 29,7 %
Total 27 100 %
In the second question, three (3) students that represent 11,1 % answered yes, and commented
that their only difficult is not to practicing, sustaining that there are no people with whom to
talk daily around them; sixteen (16) of them representing 59,2 % answered no, they don´t,
considering the difficulties that they present in the articulation of some words, they
recognized do not speak it fluently; eight (8) of them that represent 29,7 % answered more or
less, they argued having some difficulties to comprehend when someone speaks, also in
writing of some words;

23
Table 9: Results of the third question of the interview directed to the students
Do you agree that teachers should teach you the four
language skills particularly for you to learn English
more easily?
Yes 19 70,4 %
No 03 11,1 %
Total 27 100 %
In the third question, nineteen (19) students representing 70,4 % answered yes, supporting
that that is what people want in learning a FL; five (5) of them that represent 18,5 % answered
more or less, and said that grammar is also important in the process of acquisition of a second
language; and the rest them (3) that represent 11,1 % answered no, supporting that grammar is
more important, if someone learns grammar it is more simple for him to learn the second
language;
Table 10: Results of the fourth question of the interview directed to the students
Do you think easy to learn the EL through grammar or
through vocabulary e.g. everyday things, jobs, food,
cloths, leisure e lifestyle and fashion?
Grammar 06 22,2 %
Vocabulary 13 48,1 %
Both 08 29,7 %
Total 27 100 %
In the fourth question, six (6) students that represent 22,2 % answered grammar; thirteen (13)
of them representing 48,1 % answered vocabulary, saying that when someone knows lots of
words it is more easy for him to speak, that it helps learners to form expressions, etc.; eight
(8) of them representing 29,7 % answered both grammar and vocabulary, supporting that
learning a wide range of words and grammar, it is more easy to communicate whether in
spoken or in written form;
Table 11: Results of the fifth question of the interview directed to the students
What do you do to develop your English vocabulary?
Positive 06 22,2 %
Negative 21 77,8 %
Total 27 100 %
In the fifth and last question, twenty-one (21) students representing 77,8 % answered
negatively, saying that they use to look for their classmates who has more abilities to practice,
as well as to help them to solve their difficulties regarding the FL, which according to these
classmates, they only look for them in the moment of exams; six (6) of them representing 22,2
% answered positively, they said they have been listening to music, read contents in EL and
practicing speaking with other classmates.

24
The interview carried out to the students, was based on free and opened question, so as to let
them to express their own opinions. For that reason, it was possible to recognize that almost
all the students have a great interest and desire to learn the EL, they expressed their feelings
saying to be very fond of English, “it is a beautiful language” and they wish to learn to speak
it as good as when they hear a native speaking. Some of them alleged to be one of the most
important languages of the world, whose advantages provides best chances to get a job and
opens the doors for the future. On the other hand the four students who said don’t like to learn
English, argued being a very difficult language, besides they began to learn French in first
cycle, but they were forced to change the option by the lack of other optional courses.
In a particular conversation with some students, they suggested the author of this work that
the teachers should promote more the practice of talking and reading constantly, to let
students free on the board to expose their difficulties and take out their doubts in the
classroom, to teach basic aspects, being more clear, precise and objective, etc. The students’
suggestion seemed having relation with what has been happen to them; teachers do not
reserve time enough to solve their main difficulties in classes, neither suggests students some
useful material or procedures that enables them to practice some individual activities or free-
time tasks. So the students’ great desire on learning to speak fluently, comprehending written
contents, being able to understand other English speakers becomes just a dream.
After interviewing the students, the results obtained revealed to the author of this work that
there were a certain limitation from the teachers, in relation to some tasks to teach the
English language, as already stated previously, also from the students who doesn’t practice
different activities intended as useful to introduce them into real-life scenarios of learning,
with interesting characters, engaging simple ways of acquiring a wide range of words e.g.
trying to arrange a regular time to interact with a native speakers or people with good
proficiency, so as to practice speaking face-to-face or on the web, practice useful role plays of
common situations, such as do lots of easy reading week, listening when watching a TV
program or a movie, etc.
3.1.4. Interview directed to the teachers (appendix 3)
The author of this work interviewed three (3) teachers, with the aim to understand the
inferences regarding the teaching of the English vocabulary in 11th
grade students from the
school named previously.

25
Objective: To find out their teaching experience in English language, as well as the means
and procedures used by them to teach such language and to develop the students' vocabulary.
To find out what difficulties the teachers have been facing in the teaching of the English
language, which has implications with the students learning process, mainly in the acquisition
and development of vocabulary of such language.
Table 12: Results of the first question of the interview directed to the teachers
Question Answers Number of teachers Percentage
How long have you taught English language?
2 years 2 66,7 %
3 or more years 1 33,3 %
Total 03 100 %
In the first question, two (2) teachers representing 66,7 % answered that they have taught EL
two years, however they have just taught other subjects like Portuguese and geography for a
long time; one (1) of them representing 33,3 % said he has taught EL more than three years;
Table 13: Results of the second question of the interview directed to the teachers
Are you a specialist of English language
teaching?
Yes 2 33,3 %
No 1 66,7 %
Total 03 100 %
In the second question two (2) teachers that represent 66,7 % said yes, that they are about to
defend their final course work for a qualification in such subject; one (1) of them representing
33,3 % answered negatively;
Table 14: Results of the third question of the interview directed to the teachers
Where do you get the contents you teach to
the students?
In the subject program 2 66,7 %
In the EL official book 1 33,3 %
Total 03 100 %
In the third question, two (2) teachers representing 66,7 % said that the Ministry of Education
(ME) gives a program for each level to all the schools, of which they get their content; one (1)
of them that represent 33,3 % said that he gets the contents from the text book of the English
language of 11th
grade, which has lessons already organized;
Table 15: Results of the fourth question of the interview directed to the teachers
Do you agree that vocabulary is important
for a fluent communication?
Positively 03 100 %
Negatively 0 0,0 %
Total 03 100 %

26
In the fourth question, all the three (03) teachers that represent 100 % answered yes, and one
of them commented that grammar is also important for learning the FL, from the principle
that language learners must learn how to create sentences, to postulate the grammatical
structure, to organize correctly the ideas of what they want to say, as well as knowing the
functions of the words in sentences;
Table 16: Results of the fifth question of the interview directed to the teachers
Do you teach specific lessons about
vocabulary?
Yes 0 0%
No 0 0 %
Sometimes 3 100 %
Total 03 100 %
In the fifth question, all the three (3) teachers that represent 100 % answered they sometimes
teach specific lessons about vocabulary, because they teach basic aspects of everyday
vocabulary, such as personal information, the family, hobbies, they give some tasks in which
students use to read, speaking each other and copying some contents.
Table 17: Results of the sixth question of the interview directed to the teachers
What difficulties do you find on
teaching the English language?
Lack of teaching means 02 66,7 %
Students early bad formation 01 33,3 %
Total 03 100%
In the sixth question, two (2) teachers representing 66,7 % answered that there aren't teaching
means and conditions such as a language laboratory, and that some students have not the
English language text book of 11th
grade; one (1) of them that represent 33,3 % answered that
he receives the students just in 10th
grade, some of them without basic aspects of the language,
he argued that it would be better if he started teaching them from 7th
grade up to 11th
or 12th
grade, so as to take into account their difficulties and try to solve them;
Table 18: Results of the seventh question of the interview directed to the teachers
Do you workout the students skills in listening,
speaking, reading and writing during your lessons to
develop their vocabulary?
Yes 0 0 %
No 0 0 %
Sometimes 03 100 %
Total 03 100%
In the seventh question, the three (3) teachers representing 100 % answered that in some
lessons students sometimes practice the reading of some texts, speaking two by two while
other listen attentively their classmates speaking in front of the class, also write the contents

27
on their notebooks; two of them argued that they don’t use to teach listening and writing
specifically, taking into account that they cannot consider the moment that students copy the
contents to their notebooks or when they listen to the teacher and other classmates speaking as
specific practice such skills, it is totally different.
The interview directed to the teachers, was intended to identify some reasons that has to do
with the problem faced in the students, so as to provide useful activities with most precision to
solve their difficulties. The results obtained, helped the author of this work to comprehend
some reasons regarding the lack of vocabulary of the students, which has to do with the lack
of teaching means and conditions; also, some of them are not specialized to teach such
subject; almost all of them do not make a diagnosis of the students’ level, so as to diversify
the teaching contents or procedures in classes; another factor is that most of students begin to
learn the EL too late, as stated in INIDE program, they start it in 7th
grade, while other start to
learn French in first cycle and continue with English when they reach the second cycle,
because they don't have their optional courses; such circumstance is similar to start learning
English in 10th
grade. All these factors have to do with the students’ problems designed early.
In a particular conversation with the pedagogical sub-director of general formation courses of
the secondary teaching of the school described previously, he said that years ago, he and
another teacher of the primary teaching, tried to teach the basic concepts of the English
language in 5th
and 6th
grade for two years, whose results were wonderful, according to him,
in 7th
grade students were already capable to greet each other, asking for permission to get in,
to go out, go to the bathroom, asking explanation of something they didn’t understand, to
answer basic questions like how old are you? What is your name? How did you spend the
night? etc. According to that responsible, it would be better starting to teach the EL from that
grades, because the students’ age and psychological aptitudes are favorable to learn and
mastering a L2 easily, however this decision depends of the ME policy.
3.1.5. Test applied to the students (appendix 4)
A pedagogical test was applied to the twenty-seven (27) sampled students, to identify their
main difficulties regarding the English vocabulary.
Objective: To check the students’ aptitudes in writing, reading and speaking so as to
understand their level of development of the English vocabulary.

28
Table 19: Results of the first question of the test applied to the students
Read the text “I wanna die” or “Sonya” in 11th
grade English book, p.5 or 16
Good 10 37 %
Bad 03 11,1 %
Total 27 100%
In the first question (reading), ten (10) students representing 37 % were classified good,
fourteen (14) of them that represent 51,9 % were classified more or less, and three (3) of them
representing 11,1 % were classified bad.
Table 20: Results of the second question of the test applied to the students
Make the interpretation of the text that you read
Good 03 11,1 %
Bad 15 55,6 %
Total 27 100%
In the second question (interpretation), three (3) students that represent 11,1 % were
classified good, nine (9) of them that represent 33,3 % were classified more or less and fifteen
(15) of them representing 55,6 % were classified bad.
Table 21: Results of the third question of the test applied to the students
Speak about yourself giving your personal
information
Very good 05 18,5 %
Good 12 44,4 %
More or less 07 26 %
Bad 03 11,1 %
Total 27 100%
In the third question (speaking) five (5) of them representing 18,5 % were classified very
good; twelve (12) of them that represent 44,4 % were classified good; seven (7) of them
representing 26 % were classified more or less; and the other three (3) of them representing
11,1 % were classified bad;
Table 22: Results of the fourth question of the test applied to the students
Basic question of Angolan general culture: e.g.
Who was the first president of Angola? Who
was Nzinga Mbande? etc.
Very good 0 0 %
Good 05 18,6 %
Bad 12 44,4 %
Total 27 100%

29
In the fourth question (general culture), five (5) students representing 18,6 % were classified
good; ten (10) of them representing 37 % were classified more or less; and twelve (12) of
them representing 44,4 % were classified bad.
Table 23: Results of the fifth question of the test applied to the students
Select which words are part of home vocabulary,
grammar, animals, technology, jobs or war and peace.
Positive 09 33,3 %
Negative 18 66,7 %
Total 27 100%
In the fifth question (multiple-choice) fifteen (15) students representing 55,6 % answered
correctly and twelve (12) of them that represent 44,4 % answered incorrectly.
Table 24: Results of the sixth question of the test applied to the students
2. Complete the following sentence using the words
from 1st
, 2nd
and 3rd
questions
Positive 16 59,2 %
Negative 11 40,8 %
Total 27 100%
In sixth question (blank space) sixteen (16) students representing 59,2 % answered
positively; and eleventh (11) of them that represent 40,8 % answered negatively.
Table 25: Results of the seventh question of the test applied to the students
Write a composition using words to describe
your personal information as already studied
Good 03 11,1 %
Bad 04 14,9 %
Total
In the seventh question (composition), analyzing their writing, three (3) students that
represent 11,1 % were classified good, twenty (20) of them representing 74 % were classified
more or less, and the other four (4) of them that represent 14,9 % were classified bad.
The most common problem that students presented in he pedagogical test were miswriting of
some basic words, e.g. they wrote ‘namy’ instead of ‘name’, ‘Englês, inglish’ instead of
‘English’, ‘ai’ instead of ‘I’, ‘21th
old’ instead of ‘21 years old’, ‘worke’ instead of ‘work’,
‘sturent, sterent’ instead of ‘study, student’, ‘tanchip’ in place of ‘township’, ‘phather,
fathda, fada’ instead of ‘father’, ‘mathda, mada’, instead of ‘mother’, ‘yerars’ instead of
‘years’, ‘wos’ instead of ‘was’, ‘11ª grad’ instead of ‘11th
grade’, ‘história, filosofia,

30
sociologia, psicologia, literatura, francês, português and matemática’ in the place of history,
philosophy, sociology, psychology, literature, French, Portuguese, math’ respectively.
On the other hand, they wrote with interference of mother tongue and misplaced some
prepositions, conjunctions and possessive adjectives in sentences like ‘I live and Kipata
quarter’, ‘I were born of Kwanza Norte’, I study is 11ª grade’, ‘may grade is 11ª’, I was born
is Ndalatando’, ‘I am a stedent 11ªth’, ‘… and my family are my father, mother, in my
sister’, ‘my study ande school Saint Mary Goretti’, ‘of the namy of my mother is’, ‘of de
centro de formation’, ‘...end my mother is’, ‘Englês language in or society has born so
important’, ‘I am two brother and ane sister’.
The results obtained from the pedagogical test revealed clear indicators that enabled the
author of this work to evaluate the level of development of the English vocabulary of the
students, which is still lowly, taking into account the problems they presented in the four
language skills. However, students are not too bad neither too good, they need to be intensely
involved with the knowledge of words in all its forms, with practical approaches, not focusing
on rules and definitions, instead, studying how words work and what they do in sentences.
After analyzing all the inquest results, the author of this work understands that the teachers
are not balancing neither contextualizing the contents to the students reality, considering that
they limit their lessons to the contents stated in the official program or text book, as results it
hasn’t been satisfying all the students needs. They should suggest them good materials nor
procedures that enable them to learn individually. On the other hand students also have
individual problems, most of them have interest to learn the EL only to reach the goal of
academic formation, they are not interested to have knowledge of a foreign language.
All the difficulties stated above, gave reasons to the author of this work to present a didactic
proposal based on foundations as following.
3.2. Didactic proposals to contribute to the development of the English Vocabulary in
the teaching learning process in 11th
grade students from “Santa Maria Goretti
Missionary School” in Ndalatando.
Research studies show that people remember new words much more easily if they think about
them in relation to their own experience and use them in a context that is meaningful to them

31
as individuals. Therefore, the following authors’ statements are considered useful learning
activities, in which students can certainly think about words and using them in different
context, through their own experience.
NATION P. (2014, p. 18) states that a useful thing to do in the very early stages of learning
another language is to listen to the way in which the language is spoken, even when people
don’t understand anything at all. Doing this, it is supposed to develop the listening activities
and an effective way to do this is to watch a movie with subtitles that uses that language. This
kind of form-focused listening helps students get a feel for the language that will be very
useful when they begin to speak it themselves.
Later, as the students’ skill in the language develops, a good way to get some listening
practice is to find a movie where they can download the script of the movie and study it
before watching it. The first step is to read the script looking up the words they don’t know
and working out what the sentences mean. Then they can watch the movie with subtitles.
After that a few weeks later watch it again. In the same way, many graded readers now come
with an accompanying CD that provides the spoken version of the text. Students can try
reading before listening, and reading while listening.
Young people enjoy listening to English music, such as rap, RnB, hip-hop, house, dance,
souls; listen to radio programs; watching movies from Hollywood, Disney, FOX, MTV;
watching TV programs and series such as CSI, 24 hours, American Dad, 60 Seconds, OPRA
& Celebrities, mainly produced in English language; watching news from British
Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Euro-News, Cable News Network (CNN), etc. All these
technologic resources are useful to acquire a wide range of words by listening and reading
activities, also it offers good choices to practice the writing skills. In this case, the teacher can
play the role of suggesting to the students the most useful kinds of interactive learning
activities that they can do in their free time, when they are taking fun or simply relaxing.
Regarding the reading activities research has shown that through reading people learn
vocabulary, word groups, grammatical features, and improve their reading skill. It is not
necessary to sit comprehension tests on the reading, although […] it helps language learning
by providing the important learning condition of repetition. That is, through reading learners
meet words, word groups and grammatical constructions several times and so have a good
chance of learning them. NATION, P. (op. cit. p. 20).

32
The students could strategically use technology means e.g. computers, cellphones, tablets,
handheld PCs, which almost is at everyone’s disposition and enables them to learn by self-
study interactively, yet if they connect internet on it, they should do amazing things, such as
accessing useful sites e.g. www.languageguide.org/english, in which is available a set of
vocabulary subjects from almost all social spheres, reading various newspapers, downloading
music lyrics, etc.
Young girls and ladies for example enjoy watching to novels, commonly more than the time
they spend in revision of the school contents, perhaps it seems uninteresting, but it should be
useful to give them some tasks like writing a composition in EL about today’s episode in a
ZAP novel for instance, this should let them interested on writing even without knowing
which words to use, it is supposed that they should find help to do the task, anyway the
intention remains, which is awaking their attention on learning the school tasks. This is a kind
of enjoyable pastime for that group of people, so it would be taken to help them to learn range
of words, considering that they comprehend very well novels almost better than they
comprehend the school contents.
The teachers can suggest students other different task to practice their reading through
listening e.g. these sites www.agendaweb.org/listening/practical-english-conversations,
www.youtube.com/user/TheKARAOKEChannel, www.youtube.com/user/bbclearningenglish,
offer lots music with lyrics, good learning material available in video lessons, audio books,
listening, speaking, reading and writing contents useful for an interactive learning.
To develop speaking activities, NATION, P. (op. cit. p. 24), says that the quickest way to
begin speaking in another language is to memorize useful phrases and sentences. The author
supports that the very first phrases and sentences should come from the survival vocabulary
which includes greetings, expressions of politeness, the language needed for shopping and
moving around, numbers, the language needed in a restaurant, and “brief descriptions of
yourself, your work, and your reasons for being in the foreign country”.
The following are some memorization activities suggested by the author.
Memorized sentences and dialogues: write the sentences you want to memorize on small
cards with their first language translation on the back. Ideally, you should get some help with
pronunciation of these phrases and sentences before working on memorizing them. When
memorizing, look at the first language translation and try to recall the foreign language phrase

33
or sentence. The phrases and sentences should be ones that you can use immediately.
Deliberate memorization is fast and long-lasting and makes material readily available for
language use.
Role play: – These activities involve two or three people working together acting out the
parts in a common situation such as going to the doctor, buying things in a shop, seeking
directions, ordering food in a restaurant, and starting up a conversation with a stranger. Each
person in the pair or group takes on a different role and they act out the situation. At the end
of each role-play, the players should comment on how they could improve what they just did.
Then they should immediately do the role-play again adding in the improvements; if it is
possible to do it a third time straight after that, then that is a good thing to do. The same role-
play should be practiced again two or three times in later sessions. If the topic is carefully
chosen, role-play activities prepare you for spoken language use;
Prepared talks: – It is worth developing short talks that you can write out, memorize, get
checked, and then practice. These can include topics that you would be likely to talk about
with other people, for example, the work that you do, your hobbies, interesting things that you
have done, your family, etc.
– Another useful activity involves imaginary mental conversations. This activity can be
largely silent but there is value in speaking aloud (although not in public places!). The activity
involves imagining a conversation with a real person who you can visualize, perhaps a movie
star. You simply practice speaking to them in your mind, polishing the conversation until you
are happy with it.
Regarding the development of writing activities, NATION, P. (op. cit. p. 26) states that there
should be three kinds of writing in any language course you take. The first kind of writing is
done carefully, with the help of a dictionary if necessary, and focuses on accuracy. He
supports that someone else who is proficient in the language should correct it so that learners
can get feedback about the accuracy of their writing. The second kind of writing should focus
on fluency, and the most useful activity for doing this is 10 minute writing. Finally he state
that the third kind of writing focuses on quantity of writing under careful conditions and does
not require feedback on the language, although it would be useful to get it.
The author also suggests that writing is easier if people bring a lot of knowledge to what they
write, read and write, choose a topic that is relevant for them, read about it in their native

34
language and in the foreign language, and then write about it, using everything that they have
read. Lastly, instead of just reading and writing, people can listen and write, or watch, listen
and write. Yet, he states that listening and reading are called the receptive skills because they
involve receiving input, while speaking and writing are called the productive skills. In
general, producing language is more difficult than receiving it because when producing it,
choices have to be made about which words to use and which grammatical constructions they
occur in.
HARMER, J. (2004), speaks about writing habit and describes a set of activities,
which should specifically enthuse students to write, build their confidence, and make
them feeling more comfortable with writing.
In relation to the teacher’s role in all activities to learn vocabulary NATION, P. (op. cit. p.
47) says that the teachers most important job is to plan and organize the TLP so that there is a
balance of opportunities for learning across the principle of the four strands, in which three-
quarters of the learning time should be spent using the language for communicative purposes
meaning-focused input, meaning-focused output, language-focused learning, and fluency
development at the level that most suits students and meet at each stage of learning the most
useful material.
Learners can plan their own learning, but they need to know about the language they are
learning. For that reason a well-informed teacher can be a big help providing correct models
for learning vocabulary and grammar, giving feedback on errors, explain words and grammar
difficulties, as well as giving useful cultural information. But a well-informed learner can do
many of the teacher’s jobs, and […] become more informed about language learning.
Based on previous foundations, the author of this work designed the following didactic
proposal supported by the theories of NATION, P. (2014, p.12-41) in association with some
other authors that are referred in footnote in the page of each activity, as it can be seen next.
General objective of the proposal
To extend the teaching/learning procedures of the English language, aiming the acquisition
and development of vocabulary, through useful activities that enable students to learn with
the help of a teacher or individually using modern technology means and other learning tools.

35
Activity 1
Topic: Pre-Listening1
.
Objective: To make students to practice listening exercises, through English music or other
audio contents, so as to get them involved with the language to be familiarized with its spoken
form.
Time: 45 minutes.
Material: Lesson plan, text papers, computer or Mp3-player or Smartphone and adapted
speakers to amplify the sound, notebooks, pen and pencils.
Procedure: The teacher distributes a text with around 200 or 300 words to the students,
which is also available in a recording that he puts playing in a computer or a Smartphone with
personalized speakers, which they will listen while looking to the written version.
Listen to the following song, while you looking into its lyric text attentively, for you can
understand the words in its spoken form.
1
RICHARDS, Jack C. (2008, p. 7) NATION, Paul. (2014, p. 18, 39, 45); VERGARA, Mairo (2015, p. 23). Audio contents
also available in written form can be found in audiobooks, internet sites like: www.youtube.com/user/bbclearningenglish, in
movies & music CD/DVDS’s.
Forever Young
Alphaville
Let's dance in style, lets dance for a while
Heaven can wait we're only watching the skies
Hoping for the best but expecting the worst
Are you gonna drop the bomb or not?
Let us die young or let us live forever
We don't have the power but we never say never
Sitting in a sandpit, life is a short trip
The music's for the sad men
Can you imagine when this race is won
Turn our golden faces into the sun
Praising our leaders we're getting in tune
The music's played by the, madmen
Forever young, I want to be forever young
do you really want to live forever? forever or
never
do you really want to live forever? Forever young
Some are like water, some are like the heat
Some are a melody and some are the beat
Sooner or later they all will be gone
why don't they stay young
It's so hard to get old without a cause
I don't want to perish like a fading horse
Youth like diamonds in the sun
and diamonds are forever
So many adventures couldn't happen today
So many songs we forgot to play
So many dreams swinging out of the blue
We let them come true
do you really want to live forever? forever, or
never
do you really want to live forever? forever, or
never
Forever young, I wanna be forever young
do you really want to live forever?

36
Evaluation: The teacher asks the students if they caught some words that they still remember
hearing the song; then, he asks them to mention them in the order that they heard them, e.g.
dance, can, hope, sky, water, me, music, etc, to analyze how they are to recognize the words.
Activity 2
Topic: Talk as interaction2
.
Objective: To take the students to practice the language, through speaking about specific
subjects, to develop their level of comprehension of the English words according to their use
in context.
Time: 90 minutes.
Material: Board, lesson plan, chalk, notebook and pencil.
Procedure: The teacher directs a talking in classroom, inviting students to interact two by
two or more, speaking about ‘eating habits’, so as to get them practicing the language, using
words about a specific vocabulary, taking into account the context of the subject.
Two to four students in front of the class, are going to talk each other about their eating
habits, as exemplified below by Joseph and Emily.
Joseph: Hello, how are you today?
Emily: Hi, I’m very well, thanks. And you?
Joseph: I am very well too. Do you like to take breakfast before come to school?
Emily: Yes I do.
Joseph: That's good. What do you like to eat in the morning?
Emily: I like a coup of milk and some delicious toasts.
Joseph: Wau! that's great.
Emily: Yes it is. So, tell me, what is your favorite food in the morning?
Joseph: Well, I simply prefer some coffee, bread and frying eggs.
Emily: Aha! not bad, I like coffee too.
Joseph: Really?
2
RICHARDS, Jack C. (2008, p. 21-23) speaks about styles and functions of speaking. He refers that different styles of
speaking reflect the roles, age, sex, and status of the participants [...] and reflect perceptions of the social roles of them in a
speech event"; on functions of speaking he states about transactional functions, from which can be find 'talk as interaction', or
simply “conversation”, which involve to know choosing topics, making small-talk, joking, interrupting, etc.

37
Emily: Yes.
Joseph: Yippee! at least we match in something.
Evaluation: The teacher checks the pronunciation of the words of the students, analyze their
ways of asking questions, asking for clarification, confirming information, justifying an
opinion, making suggestions, making comparisons, agreeing and disagreeing, etc, so as to
correct them, if there were found any wrong in any of this aspects.
Activity 3
Topic: Reading3
and comprehension of a text.
Objective: To work out the reading skills of the students, so as to develop their vocabulary
and increase their level of comprehension of texts in English language.
Time: 90 minutes
Material: Board, lesson plan, chalk, eraser, book, notebooks and pencil.
Procedure: The teacher selects a text, asks the students to read it silently first, then aloud;
after, he asks them to read it aloud in groups, then all the class; and then, one by one; after, he
asks them to reread the words mispronounced, and helps them to pronounce it correctly.
Next, he asks them to write on the board the difficult words and explains its definitions,
referring back to mother-tongue if necessary, so as to enable the interpretation of the text
together with the students.
Open your books in page 16, lets read the testimony of Sonya talking about the best
moment of her life.
3
The Department of Education of South Africa (2008, p. 3-40), states about reading activities in different stages,
focusing the guided reading, the independent reading and the shared reading, etc. and a gradual instructions for
each stage. For apprentices students it is recommended a variety of short texts (300 – 600 words) on topics such
as: popular names, famous people, jobs, shopping, etc.

38
Evaluation: The teacher asks the students to make the interpretation of the text to analyze if
they understood the content of it; then he asks them to select from the text two personal
pronouns, two possessive adjectives, one definite article and one indefinite article, five
common nouns, three verbs in past and one in present, four adjectives including one
comparative, three adverbs, three conjunctions and one interjection to check if they
understand the function of words within sentences.
Activity 4
Topic: Talking about language4
Objective: To develop in the students the knowledge of words according the grammatical
category and its functions, in order to help them to recognize it easily in a text.
Time: 45 minutes.
Material: Board, chalk, lesson plan, grammar or vocabulary book, notebooks, pencil.
Procedure: The teacher introduces to the students the basic aspects of language regarding the
parts of speech, and explains its function while they pay attention; after, he asks them to
mention some examples related and its equivalent in L1. Lastly, he asks them to take note of
the contents in their notebooks, letting homework for next lessons.
Words and their functions
Class Function Example L1 Equivalent
Nouns: names a person, place, or thing book, girl, Luanda
Pronouns: takes the place of a noun I, you, this, that, mine, his
Verbs: talk about actions study, write, rain
Adjectives: describes things or person good, black, big, happy
Adverbs: describes actions slowly, badly,
Article: determines nouns a person, the girl, an apple
Prepositions: relates words to another words lady in red, dinner at 7.30pm, man on stage
Conjunctions: joins sections of speech me and my friend, he is small but strong.
Interjection: express enthusiasm or emotion hey!, wau!, excellent!
4
McCARTHY, M. & O’DELL, F. (1999, p. 6) speaks about language words; SARGEANT, H. (2007, p. 8-138), states in
detail and lesson by lesson the main aspects about words in parts of speech such as nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, articles,
adjectives, conjunctions, interjections, and its subparts e.g. degrees of the adjectives, class of nouns, kinds of adverbs, etc.

Didactic Proposal to Contribute to the Development of the English Vocabulary in the Teaching Learning Process, November, 11th 2016

Didactic Proposal to Contribute to the Development of the English Vocabulary in the Teaching Learning Process, November, 11th 2016

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