As for me, I discovered two methods working in an optimized way. The first consists in using pictorials since the visual and thematic learning mixed together multiply their effects. Then the use of theta and delta states which, unplugging the critical mind, wipe out the resistance. The mind is inprinted more easily, and theta states are known to favorize rote learning, such as long lists of vocabulary. I relearnt English this way twice (dictionary rote earning) even though I already had a degree. Now I can read a book through rather quickly, perusing the key words and stopping to slowly read and reread what seems of interest. I also have a few tips and shortcuts to get a reinforcement effect, which I will mention later if anyone is interested.

Have you ever heard of the "Silent Way" of teaching introduced by Caleb Gattegno in the 20th century.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caleb_Gattegno

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Way

it is based the learner awareness.

Probably the Lozanov's method is among the best. Corresponds to what you are saying.

I am an admirer of Paul Nation (I.S.P. Nation) who has spent an academic lifetime researching this topic. One of his books is "Teaching Vocabulary: Strategies and Techniques" - Heinle, 2008 - which I have found both interesting and useful. All his papers are to be found on the internet, and Youtube has some of his lectures.

Hi James, frankly there is no such thing as the best approach."Best' approaches don't work all the time. The best apprach one time may be the worst another time around. As Jacques has mentioned, pictorials work very well with younger students but for older students I still find the traditional method of keeping a log of new words with sentences depicting meaning in different contexts quite effective. Students need to be reminded that there is no short cut to acquiring new vocab. The is no easy way but to deligently work on learning and using those words in their conversations and writing.

I support learning new vocabulary in context of a secondary association -- "visual vocabulary" Students create flash cards, the word with an illustrating picture, and then the student explains what the picture has to do with the word. Or the word in a song, associating with a beat. Also, use the word in a sentence mnemonic. But always pair the word with an alternate but related concept.

the learning of vocab needs to be constantly activated with mime , conversational interactions and constant reminders -- my students label everything around their home and workplace so that they constantly associate the symbols with a visual cue and they put new vocab into their ipods and mobile phones with audio so that they can hear, repeat and guess meaning and contextual use while travelling on bus -- common phrases and sense groupings in which the new vocab used are more useful than single words eg I love/hate chocolate/spinach/mushrooms; my friend is funny/intelligent/tall; I'm feeling happy/sad/tired...

New book may be helpful: info from http://www.tesol.org/BookLanding?productID=750

Teaching Vocabulary to English Language Learners

By: M. F. Graves, D. August, and J. Mancilla-Martinez

Description: K-12 teachers can use this comprehensive plan for vocabulary instruction with their English language learners. It is broad enough to include instruction for students who are just beginning to build their English vocabularies, as well as for students whose English vocabularies are approaching those of native speakers. The authors describe a four-pronged program that follows these key components: providing rich and varied language experiences; teaching individual words; teaching word learning strategies; and fostering word consciousness. This user-friendly book integrates up-to-date research on best practices into each chapter and includes vignettes, classroom activities, sample lessons, a list of children's literature, and more. "If teachers are teaching vocabulary, why do students not know the words they need to read their texts?... Anyone faced with that challenge should jubilate at the appearance of this book. It lays out in readable prose and logical order the basic facts about word learning, the research-based principles of good vocabulary teaching, and concrete examples of the practices that exemplify those principles." -From the Foreword by Catherine E. Snow, Cambridge, MA "The Common Core State Standards have ushered in an era of rigorous performance standards for all students, including English learners. But the conversation has taken place almost exclusively in policy and academic circles, leaving teachers without a roadmap on how to translate these standards into successful practices in the classroom. In Teaching Vocabulary to English Language Learners, the authors successfully address this gap. They provide practical, research-based strategies to build a solid foundation for the education of English learners." -Rosa Aronson, TESOL Executive Director "A timely, comprehensive, and readable account of what we know about teaching vocabulary to students in general and English learners in particular. No one should underestimate the enormity of the challenge English learners face in acquiring vocabulary essential for school success. This book will provide educators with an important foundation to help meet this challenge." -Claude Goldenberg, Stanford University, School of Education

Thank you everyone who gave suggestions and ideas. They really help me with what I am trying to do. There are so many ways out there and as some of you have noted, no one way is really, "the best" but a combination of many methods can be effective.

Again, all of the great responses are very much appreciated.

Older students need to acquire the vocabulary that is specific to their field of interest, so, rather than the teacher providing lists, have each student build their own list, according to the field of interest. This can be a boon to college- and career-bound students who face daunting exotic vocabulary-based special fields in technology, medical and science professions. They can share their new vocabulary with the class by teaching the words -- thus, flipping the class room. Done on a regularly-scheduled basis, every week (vocab days this can become very popular, and a relief to a hard-pressed teacher, but also providing some public speaking practice.

The only method that works the one that addresses learners' needs. If you do not address learner needs, it won't matter one bit whose famous method you follow. The first thing to do is learn what it is students need to learn so they can do what they want to do, and then design a program that will help them get there. The program has to take into consideration student learning/cognitive styles and cultural style, and use high frequency vocabulary from the target culture/language they want/need to learn. Nation's framework is the best available to use as a guide, taking into account learners' proficiency levels, and giving them the strategies they may lack to achieve their learning goals. Anything else will be a travesty; institutional or teacher ego getting in the way.

Thanks to everyone who gave me their input and especially those who gave actual methods they felt were good. I think we all know that there is no "ONE" method that works all the time, so it's good to have an arsenal I your belt to be ready to reach many different types of students.

Again, thanks to all who contributed.

It would be great to share vocabulary data set including different cognitive materials.

Knowing how to write is a skill that helps us think clearly - what ever our specialisation.

Learning anthing is about using or 'owning' what ever information or skill we encounter well enough to to be able to reflect on it or and think about it.

Memorizing will allow one to repeat something for a short time but it is difficult to feel comfort about it appropiate context. Being a confident learner requires more than repetition.

Writing is more than the mechanical act of stringing letters and words together. It also a visual activity as well as a study in logic and structure. It requires that the writer learn how to structure an idea so that it is understandable by other people.

In the best of worlds, everyone would have the opportunity to learn those skills as 6 or 7 year olds - when the effort is easiest and can be made a pleasurable experience.

@ Krushna Mishra - Your emphasis is for the students (whether primary, secondary, or tertiary) to create their learning EXPERIENCES. You have mentioned also COGNITIVE PRESENCE (in your words, you said "[to] understand and be able to use in an appropriate context, new vocabulary in contexts of...to get them ore and intimate awareness about their surrounding), Embedded in your two concepts of EXPERIENCE and AWARENESS is SPONTANEITY. Therefore, spontaneous activity can be another approach to teach new vocabulary. (Thank you for your insights.)

Again, some great answers and ideas popping up! I really like the spontaneity ideas and I have always pushed problem solving and critical thinking in my classrooms. Thanks again for all the great answers!

Two factors determine vocabulary learning: what you do with the word and how many times you come across it. Yous hould find/design meaningful tasks and make sure words are repeated before they are forgotten.

We can teach new vocabulary through games. I think it works out.

it is the approach introduced by Caleb Gattegno and the silence way,

The acquisition of new vocabulary is a mental exercise designed either as a form of assimilation or adaptation of new lexical items. The former presupposes that the lexical item in question carries new semantic information or category and the latter an extension of current semantic loading for an existing concept. For new vocabulary that is an assimilation, repetition would be the most appropriate instructional approach either through the audio or visual associations. As for new vocabulary that represents extension of existing semantic concepts, then exercises that tie in prior knowledge would be the best instructional approach.

Sometimes, I used to include exercises such as 'jumbled-up words' or using a single long word and asking the students to create as many meaningful words from it. I found that these exercises actually helped the L2 learners to develop their vocabulary. On top of it, at the same time, these exercises may be used in order to develop structural skills.

I wrote a little software for my two daughters. The first part is a dictionary which they are supposed to feed themselves which new words. It is simple : Word, definition, category.

Then there is the Multiple Choice Questionary; Ten words or idioms are taken out bv an an algorithm looking like mere chance, and the ten words' definitions are unsorted and displayed.

So with the mouse you have to put one definition on one word. If you are right the Word+definition place changes colors, you can't acess it any more, the definition dissapears from the list and you have to deal with the rest of the test.

I was satisfied with the reactions of my daughters (14 and 22) when they smiled out 'Dad, I made it right'.

No marks are given, no commentaries, just self training.

I may give away this software to whoever asks for it.

You may create new dictionaries. I made a latin one (3700 sords), english (words, sentences, expressions, idionms, from 144 up to 2300 words, culture, history, and even a personal notebook for friends and professionals adresses, phone numbers, commentraries, which allow me to know what is the plumbers phone number or order wood for winter. The research button will look for a word both in definition and word, then you press previous or next if necxessary.

This is not teaching but part of teaching, since you always have a few spare minutes to use the test.

I will build the English version quickly (one day's work) for those who wish to be part of the game and provide me with improvement suggestions.

@ Ihsan ünaldı - I would associate your “learning by using word lists or semantic maps” as “unnatural or unmotivated way of learning vocabulary.” I remember when I was young and my English was not good then, I forced myself to read “pocketbooks.” I also forced myself to investigate on the new vocabulary that I encountered. I perceived that this was a good discipline to really learn the meaning. Probably it was, but I “killed” my enthusiasm to continue reading. Later, I asked myself, which is important: enjoy the reading even with words that I do not understand or learn the vocabulary. Finally, I decided NOT to write down the new words that I encountered and to simply continue reading it and let my subconscious determine what it means. Occasionally, I stopped and looked at the dictionary on the word that intrigues me and learned ti with the context.

I am thinking out aloud. How about “spontaneous” learning of vocabulary as a technique? I hope to be enlightened from the ResearchGate community.:-)

The 'best' approach to vocabulary will of course depend on your students' ability, age, motivation and interests. So rather than generalise I will tell you what we do in our specific context - non English majors at a Japanese technical university.

With our students we have a two-pronged approach to vocabulary. The first is through explicit word learning in class (word lists, home made flashcards, paper and pencil tests, dictionary work, crosswords and word activities) and the second is reading books that are at their ability level - graded readers. The vocabulary studied explicitly is determined through a vocabulary tests (Paul Nation's Vocabulary Levels Test). In our context most of the students need to spend time explicitly learning the top 1000 words. This word learning is supported by the graded readers which review a lot of this high frequency vocabulary in interesting contexts. Students pick books themselves and are given reading targets, e.g. everyone must read 30,000 words before February 1st. To check they have read the books and to evaluate how much they have read we use a moodle based quiz system, similar to the free and easy to use http://mreader.org/ which I would recommend for this purpose.

Don't forget to use cognates if in a bilingual setting.

The most useful vocabulary improvement teaching would be to create a situation in a classroom and ask the students to write it in their own words otherwise in their own words and then compare the writing of one with the other so that they can understand how to use different words in the given situation. Another better method I personally experienced is to write down different words they know associated with a given word.For example the word "mobile phone" ask them to write as many words as possible associated with it.

Perhaps ask them to write notes or formal letters which ask for information or give information. Frank McCourt, an Irish author who taught school in Brooklyn, New York, taught his students to write narratives by asking them to write 'excuse' notes for imaginary people. For example, Winston Churchill asking to be excused from a meeting because he had a severe cold. Or a note from parents to the teacher telling the teacher that the child was at home sick with the flu. These are more 'natural' uses of language.

Instead of best practice, could we talk about a workable approach to teaching vocabulary. In that regard we could place emphasis on the learner's ability to understand the new vocabulary and how he or she can use the in appropriate contexts. We would then consider the thematic approach to vocabulary teaching. These steps could then be followed.

1. Look for an authentic document which presents an event e.g. Fire ravages shops in Accra.

2. Select a theme e.g. fire

3. Underline all the words (nouns and verbs) used in the document which have direct bearing on fire.

4. Use the underlined words to form such that the learners can readily guess the meaning.

5. Let the learners tell the meaning of each word as used in each sentence.

6. Project the passage to them to read silently

7. Ask some few general questions on the passage e.g. Questions on place, time, number of victims etc.

8. Divide the class (e,g.  a class of twenty students into four groups with each group having four members).

9. Let each group write down three objects, three persons and three verbs associated with fire.

10. Let them use the words in sentences which bring out their meaning clearly.

11. Compose sentences with dashes which the learners will fill with some words that  you have selected from their group presentations.

12. Let the learners do this testing exercise. (NB. You could list the selected words above or at the bottom) of the exercise

13. Indicate clearly the instruction e.g. Fill in the dashes above with the words below. Each word should be used only once.

14. Mark the exercise ,give them scores and give their work back to them

15. Study the pattern of their performance and try to find out which group performed best and which one did worst. Find out from the first group the reasons for their success and the last group too the reasons for their poor performance.

15. Make use of the reasons assigned for their performances in your subsequent vocabulary teaching lessons.

16. Reinforce the acquisition of vocabulary by introducing further testing activities on the words they did not use correctly.

17. Further expand their vocabulary acquisition by giving them an assignment on, let us assume,  the location of Accra. In this case each student writes down four directional words and four directional expressions.