Moving from Vocabulary Acquisition to Functional Proficiency: Techniques and Strategies.

Abstract

THE STUDENT WHO TAKES A COURSE IN COMMERCIAL LANGUAGE will certainly acquire a set of new vocabulary words, many technical in nature. Teachers preparing such a course for the first time must, in many cases, reorient themselves and master a content that involves knowledge of economics, political science, and trade. From the point of view of the teacher venturing into the area of commercial studies, the primary challenge, or, in some cases, obstacle, is the need to learn the many specific terms needed to express concepts in the second language. Some of those terms, for example bill of lading, may not be completely familiar in English. As a consequence, the teacher views his or her preparation in terms of learning words. Because of the attention demanded by vocabulary, the teacher of the commercial language course may find that the resulting course that he or she structures is oriented to acquiring isolated words and to learning lists of vocabulary items organized in terms of fine distinctions among them. In fact, the goal of the commercial course should be to lead the students to achieve a far broader goal: the acquisition of proficiency. The term functional is a broad one; it covers awareness of culture-based language functions as well as sensitivity to style. A course that has the development of proficiency as its goal focuses on three areas:

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