Dealing with unfamiliar vocabulary
Question 8 in the interview concerns how teachers help candidates deal with unfamiliar vocabulary. Both Teachers A and B encouraged candidates not to panic when they come across unknown words, as it is possible to work out the possible meaning by using appropriate strategies. Sometimes they do not even need to figure out the exact meaning of every word in the examination. Teacher A introduced five main strategies: context, definition, word class, connective words and affixes to deduce the meaning. In Question 10 in the questionnaire, candidates were asked whether the teachers’ methods were effective. The following table displays their feedback on the five strategies.