Context means the everything surrounding the thing you are focused on. Think back on when we talked about background. We talked about how the background is all of the details that add to the story. This is the same as context. So why is context important for understanding vocabulary?
The first thing you learn by paying attention to context is whether or not a word is important. By listening to the information around the word, you will know if it is a word that is necessary for you to know in order to understand the main idea and major details of the speaker.
If the word is frequent, important, and a definition is not provided, this is the time to stop and find the meaning of the word. If you are listening to a recording, pause it and look up the meaning. Think about the context of the word when you look at the possible meanings. Look at the example below for the word discipline and the possible definitions on the Oxford Learner Dictionary site. Notice how the meaning would change based on context and the grammar of the sentence:
So in the context of education, the word may refer to the management of the classroom and the behavior of students, but it could also mean the material that they are studying. It is important to be aware of the context to know which meaning is used.
Here is an example of a speaker talking about modern education. Listen for words that you think are important. The transcript is provided below with some marked words that are frequently used, or used differently in this context.
Marked Transcript
Some frequently used vocabulary has been marked for your reference. Notice how these words would be important to understand in order to get the major details in those sections. Some words have slightly different meanings in this context, like the word
honor.
"Get comfortable with being uncomfortable." T
he phrase is not my design, but I use it a lot, and if I knew who to give credit to I would. Students often come to me to have discussions about things like whether or not they should go for a district leadership position or apply for transfer to an Ivy League school. They know me well enough to know what my silent smiling nod means, and they say, "Get comfortable with being uncomfortable." I am fortunate to work with honors students, so I do get to say this phrase a lot. And honor students are here for educational experiences that are more than just transactional exchanges of information. When they repeat the phrase, I feel such pride, and I feel immense joy when I see them participating within it.it's interesting working in higher
education in the 21st century. The rhetoric is often on a debt versus reward ratio. On whether or not students are workforce ready when they cross that graduation stage. Those are valid discussions. However, so is the value of exploration in education. So as educators, should we be discussing a balance of the workforce readiness and create an educational exploration? Absolutely! And to approach this justly, let's start by dismissing some fallacies about the liberal arts. My students have been reading Fareed Zakaria's In Defense of a Liberal Education the past few spring semesters. Zakaria quickly dispels a myth, one that's even perpetuated by people who have careers in education: the basic definition of liberal arts. The liberal in liberal arts does not refer to the opposite of conservative. It refers to the concept of freedom. In its Latin origins liberal means of or pertaining to freemen, worthy of a free man. Another myth is that the liberal arts starts ends with arts and humanities. Rather, it includes arts and humanities but also mathematics political science economics social and physical sciences.Here is another speaker talking about the same topic. You will only watch the first part of her speech. Notice how she provides a definition of an essential vocabulary word that she wants to be sure here audience understands.
Marked Transcript
So I'm here to talk about what is liberal arts, but in order to do that I think we all need to have a common definition of what it is. So Webster's Dictionary defines liberal arts as: college or university studies as language philosophy and literature intended to provide chiefly general knowledge and to develop general intellectual capacities as reason and judgment as opposed to professional or vocational skills. So that's a really big definition. That's a really big mouthful, but there are two things I want you to remember from that. The first is when it says intended to provide chiefly general knowledge, and the second was when it said to develop general intellectual capacities. So why liberal arts? Why am I up here speaking to 1200 of my closest friends about liberal arts? I always go home for holidays and breaks, and my family and colleagues even ask me what are you going to do with that? And a lot of people get that question. A lot of college students will get that question, but the follow-up question is the one that really differentiates. They always ask why not pick something more technical, like nursing or engineering, something that is definitely going to get you a job. And I never know how to react to that question, but my response is that I love what I'm learning.I love going to class and then reading the headlines in the newspaper the next day, and what I've learned in class is right there in the headlines. I love learning more about our shared humanity, and I love learning more about what governs our everyday lives.
In some situations, you have the opportunity to pause the conversation if you need to ask for a definition. Below are some examples of ways to ask clarifying questions to help you understand new vocabulary without stopping the conversation completely.
Notice how the man uses these strategies to try to understand the unfamiliar words the reporters are using.
In the lesson on Speaking Strategy: Circumlocution, we will talk about a strategy that can also help in these situations.
Here is a video about culture in a sociology class. Watch the video thinking about these vocabulary strategies.
Individual Activity: Listen for Vocabulary
Partner Activity: Can you eplain that?
Group Activity: Find it
For this game, you will include an unfamiliar vocabulary word as you talk about a topic or tell a story. You will include the definition of the unfamiliar word naturally in your speaking and your group will show that they understood what the word means. There are two ways to play. The first is for conversational English practice and the second for topic specific language practice.
Conversational
Topic Specific
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