REACTION PAPER 2.Etymological Information, Can it help our students?

Veronica Egas
The study of etymological terms into the classroom corresponds to a trend based on the origin of
words and their roots in other languages. Its apparition in monolingual learners dictionaries, differ
from bilingual dictionaries in connotation and denotation. Then, etymology seems to be productive
in class when the vocabulary and the meanings become useful in an English Foreign Language as
Technical vocabulary.
In order to pick up as much language and intend to establish it in our daily communication, in the
article appeared two contrapositions and till three contrapositions in the study of etymology and its
convenience in our classrooms. It is broadly the usage of bilingual dictionaries, which is a general
practice in Ecuadorian classroom, and refers to it to the typical translation of words in the mother
tongue and the relation to the foreign language acquisition that is expected to get in a productive
form.
I think at this stage this is the form as many of us, we are professionals now introduced and
conformed a lexicon in our brains. Although, that we consider the use of a Bilingual dictionary as
an old fashioned tendency, it is highlighting to consider this traditional technique into the
classroom. However, the supporting of the teacher during the use of bilingual is crucial, because of
the multiple literal translations of a same word in the mother tongue.
In my English classroom the word miss or the word meet provides multiple meanings and if
they are not used properly the meaning can change considerably. It is learnt miss that is a polite
treatment for a young woman when it is written with capital letter; it is a lack or absence of; fail to
reach or get to on time; be without. On the other hand, it is important to recognize the part of speech
we are talking about, if it is a noun, verb, preposition, adverb or adjective. The guidance of the
teacher at this part is important, to use properly the bilingual dictionary.
The article defends the use of a monolingual learners dictionary and something that I agree is the
quantity of entries that differs from a bilingual to a monolingual dictionary. The extensive
parameters include in it. For example, thesaurus, use of language and collocations, among other
utilities that can increase student vocabulary more meaningfully. It is difficult, but not impossible to
introduce this type of dictionary into our social context. On the other hand is natives but with less
considerations.
Who remembers is my teacher at university, asking for using English-English dictionary with our
own students when we become teachers, too. I share this experience as useful in our own classroom,
even though till nowadays is difficult to introduce it at once, but in a progressive way and as a
contrastive study vocabulary more deeply. Something that most students love is laziness and if there
is no an easy form to use it or memorize it, they lose interest easily.
It is not only the means, it sometimes is a path that a teacher should be able to modify it and
manipulate it wisely. Much more, when in our real classroom situation the vocabulary construction
is really important in all stages. The mean is companied by the technique or strategy that the teacher
performs. It is important to know the learning differences among students to consider this. As the
language and the vocabulary are introduced many techniques had better be executed, in function to
students acquire meaning.
English is a variable and changing language that is why is very interesting, apart from its concise or
precise use, it is more valuable decoding than encoding meaning of words for extensive and
conscious use of language without the need to study its Etymology. Students need to know the
variety of forms that they can use language bike for bicycle, fridge instead of refrigerator, depot for
depository, and many other abbreviations. Students will be able to manage in everyday
communication formal and informal entries for acquiring more vocabulary in the second language
functionally in any context.