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Language is a primary source of communication. It is the method through which people share ideas and thoughts with each other. Nowadays, English is considered as the most commonly used language among foreign language speakers all over the world. Countries, associations and people devote much of their time and effort to teach and learn English since English has become dominant in many different fields. English also has become a necessity for people if they want to enter a global workforce, access to a great wealth of entertainment, being able to have a greater cultural understanding, communicate with people from any country in the world and create many opportunities that surly change matters for better.
Consequently, English as a language has become an essential demand for all levels and in different fields. This led to teaching English from grade one to grade twelve in Palestinian schools. Keshta (2000, p. 4) clarifies that “English language through the years has become increasingly important, not only in the West but also in the Middle East and the rest of the world. He maintains that English has become the common language between people from different backgrounds. In the Middle East, governments provide programs for English language in almost every school and university.”
However, teaching and learning English is not that easy thing. In fact, the way teachers present English as a new language to their pupils plays a great role in their development. So, teachers should always work hard on finding new ways and methods that enhance the acquisition of this new language, they should not stick to traditional ways which may impede the desired goals. And to do so, teachers should always be updated with new techniques and tools that their pupils would prefer much.
In fact, brilliant teachers, who really would like to use whatever preferable to their students should always put in their consideration some questions that may help them achieve the desired goals and enhance the teaching learning process:
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How to help students acquire and produce English better than ever before.
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How to make English learning an enjoyable process more than ever before.
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How to engage and involve pupils as much active as possible in the teaching learning process.
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How to make use of everyday technology to help students learn English more easily than ever before.
Vocabulary learning and reading comprehension are strongly correlated processes. Each one of them is a hard base for the other. Research regarding vocabulary and word knowledge shows that there is a high and strong correlation between knowing vocabulary and comprehending the text (Beck, McKeown, & Kucan, 2008). The Report of the National Reading Panel (2000) states: “The importance of vocabulary knowledge has long been recognized in the development of reading skills.”
Huang (1999, p. 43) indicates that second language learners need to develop their receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge and they also need to increase their vocabulary size. (Bernhardt & Kamil, 1995) add, when readers' vocabulary size is increased, their use of language skills directly increases, and their knowledge of the world also becomes broader. A larger vocabulary enhances other language skills of second language learners. In order to effectively read in the language, language learners must acquire as much vocabulary as they can.
Perfetti and Hart (2001) indicate that, “It is important to mention that fluent reading depends on high-quality lexical representation and this is based on, “Lexical Quality Hypothesis‟ according to which learners ability to know words thoroughly may be one of the best indicators of reading ability levels. Many ESL/ EFL studies confirm the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension. However, the degree at which these two constructs relate is still controversial.”