EFL vocabulary learning and teaching. A preliminary overview of collocations and idioms in CSE in Andalusia

Abstract

This paper reflects on TEFL in Andalusian secondary schools. More specifically, it focuses on vocabulary learning and teaching from a communicative approach. For the development of this topic, the context in which English is studied has been considered (namely, a public bilingual high school in the province of Málaga, Spain). More specifically, this project is aimed at 4th year of CSE students, with an average of a B1 level, who are 15– 16 years old. Thus, this research is aimed at covering effective methods to enhance students’ communicative competence in English and helping them expand their vocabulary in this language, analysing activities, routines, and techniques to be promoted in class to improve learners’ motivation, as well as suggesting general measures and a suitable method to cater for mixed abilities and respond to the learners’ real needs and interests. Each of them will be discussed in the literature review. Moreover, other ideas will be considered, including the fact that words group together to belong to more complex structures, such as collocations and idioms. In addition, a wide range of approaches and techniques to teach vocabulary in the EFL context will be detailed. To conclude, vocabulary learning will be achieved through situations in which students will see how native speakers use English. Learning them will help them increase their range of English vocabulary.