RAISING AWARENESS OF TEACHING OR LEARNING VOCABULARY THROUGH LATIN AND GREEK ROOTS AMONG ENGLISH TEACHERS AND LEARNERS IN TURKEY

Background: Vocabulary knowledge is the most daunting part of language learning as there are thousands of words to cope with before a learner. However, children do not have any fear of learning words and they learn their mother tongue without even thinking about it. The secret of children, in learning a language without even noticing, is a clue for huge amount of vocabulary learned or retained successfully. Aim: The aim of this article is to raise awareness about the effectiveness of teaching or learning and retaining large number of vocabulary through Latin and Greek roots. Method: A pre- and post-written interview with two open ended questions (What vocabulary learning strategies do you use? What vocabulary learning strategy do you prefer to use/Why?) were implemented to see whether the students were aware of their own vocabulary learning process. A ‘Vocabulary Learning Strategies’ (VLSs) questionnaire was used in the study to see students’ VLS preferences and their attitude to Latin/Greek word roots instruction or learning. Finally, a mini-syllabus was developed and utilized by the author of this article throughout the study whose aim is to use and promote the inclusion of Latin/Greek roots instruction in classrooms to help teach, learn, retain and recall new words. Results and Conclusions: English preparatory year students at School of Foreign Languages in Adana Science and Technology University have developed a positive attitude towards learning words with roots, which is a strategy that has been neglected. The results of this study are parallel to previous studies alike in the field. Therefore, the opportunity to guess, retain and gain the power to control the meaning of English words with the use of roots and affixes should be grasped.